21 December, 2012

Radio 4 Listings for 22/12/2012 - 28/12/2012

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SAT SATURDAY 22 DECEMBER 2012 SAT SAT 00:00 Midnight News b01pcvym (Listen) SAT The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. SAT Followed by Weather. SAT SAT 00:30 Book of the Week b01pcvkw (Listen) SAT Shakespeare's Local - Six Centuries of History Seen through SAT One Extraordinary Pub, Episode 5 SAT SAT Tony Robinson reads Pete Brown's history of British pubs as SAT seen through the story of one remarkable London inn, the SAT George in Southwark, said to be the one-time local of SAT Chaucer, Dickens and Shakespeare. SAT SAT The George Inn is one of the few remaining galleried SAT coaching inns in Britain, and lies a few minutes' walk from SAT the Thames. 'Shakespeare's Local' takes us on a literary pub SAT crawl through the history of this pub, from its regulars - SAT the watermen, merchants, actors, craftsmen, writers and SAT coachdrivers - as well as the many incarnations of the pub SAT itself - from lawless Southwark tavern to coaching inn, SAT theatre pub to Victorian drinking den, unfashionable boozer SAT to tourist attraction. SAT SAT Today: the myths and the ghosts of landlords and ladies SAT past. SAT SAT Producer: Justine Willett. SAT SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast b01pcvyp (Listen) SAT The latest shipping forecast. SAT SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes b01pcvyr (Listen) SAT BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes SAT at 5.20am. SAT SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast b01pcvyw (Listen) SAT The latest shipping forecast. SAT SAT 05:30 News Briefing b01pcvyy (Listen) SAT The latest news from BBC Radio 4. SAT SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day b01pcwtc (Listen) SAT A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day Archbishop SAT Vincent Nichols. SAT SAT 05:45 iPM b01pcwtf (Listen) SAT 'Will you marry me, Mister?' A listener proposes to her SAT boyfriend during a special show about love. What will he SAT say? SAT SAT 06:00 News and Papers b01pcvz0 (Listen) SAT The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers. SAT SAT 06:04 Weather b01pcvz2 (Listen) SAT The latest weather forecast. SAT SAT 06:07 Open Country b01pcs63 (Listen) SAT Christmas in Norfolk SAT SAT Helen Mark is in Norfolk where preparations for Christmas SAT are underway. In Great Hockham Helen meets Vincent SAT Thurkettle whose life has been defined by a love of trees SAT and the great outdoors. During the early part of the year, SAT Vincent tends his fields of Christmas trees, which are SAT allowed to grow with wild flowers at their roots, before SAT spending his summers diving for sunken treasure off the SAT coast of Britain. Returning to Norfolk later in the year, SAT Vincent begins his Christmas tree deliveries and Helen joins SAT him as he sets off. SAT In the coastal town of Cromer, a rather more unusual SAT Christmas tree has appeared in the churchyard and Helen SAT meets fisherman, John Davies, to find out about the 150 SAT lobster pots that were used to build the tree which now SAT lights up the town and celebrates the town's fishing SAT heritage. SAT Helen also finds out how to decorate a Christmas tree for SAT garden birds before heading back to Great Hockham where SAT Vincent Thurkettle has finished the day's deliveries. SAT Vincent, who also spends a week each year chopping wood to SAT heat his cottage and cook his food gives Helen a lesson in SAT how to lay the best wood fire and where the chestnuts will SAT soon be roasting. SAT SAT Presenter: Helen Mark SAT Producer: Helen Chetwynd. SAT SAT 06:30 Farming Today b01pf5cq (Listen) SAT Farming Today This Week SAT SAT The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. The SAT presenter is Charlotte Smith and the producer is Rich Ward. SAT SAT 06:57 Weather b01pcvz4 (Listen) SAT The latest weather forecast. SAT SAT 07:00 Today b01pf5cs (Listen) SAT Morning news and current affairs with John Humphrys and SAT James Naughtie. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports SAT Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day. SAT SAT 09:00 Saturday Live b01pf5cv (Listen) SAT Richard Coles and Sian Williams with Sanjeev Bhaskar and the SAT Inheritance Tracks of Children's Laureate Julia Donaldson SAT SAT Sian Williams and Richard Coles talk to actor and writer SAT Sanjeev Bhaskar who's appearing in a Christmas TV special of SAT 'Outnumbered', hold a poetry prescription surgery to solicit SAT listeners requests for poems about solitude with William SAT Seighart the founder of National Poetry Day, hear from Derek SAT Amato who hit his head in a swimming accident, lost part of SAT his memory and awoke able to play the piano brilliantly, dig SAT the furious sound of the 'fuzz box' in our regular feature SAT 'soundsculpture', listen to the thoughts of soldiers at SAT Headley Court Defence Medical Rehabilitation Unit who are SAT recovering from injuries sustained on active duty, listen to SAT Children's Laureate Julia Donaldson's Inheritance Tracks, SAT thrill to the atmosphere of Hawksmoor Churches in East SAT London, with John McCarthy and writer Iain Sinclair, and SAT jump with joy to John Sessions' imagining Al Pacino at SAT Christmas. SAT SAT Producer: Chris Wilson. SAT SAT 10:30 ...But Still They Come b01pf5cx (Listen) SAT "...But Still They Come' explores the enormous impact and SAT influence of Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of The SAT World's, telling the story of the recording of the original SAT album, the various incarnations produced in the 35 years SAT since its release and the 2012 version, re-recorded for a SAT new generation. SAT SAT This programme explains how and why Jeff Wayne began working SAT on a concept album based on H.G. Wells' science fiction SAT masterpiece and the years of hard work it took to realise SAT his vision. SAT SAT In the summer of 1978, the UK album charts were dominated by SAT Disco and Punk, with the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack SAT firmly entrenched at number one. It was an audacious move SAT and a huge gamble to release a double concept album based on SAT a Victorian science fiction novel. But the compelling blend SAT of progressive rock, classical music, Richard Burton's SAT narration and the fascinating story struck a chord with SAT music fans all over the world and the album became a massive SAT hit, supported by the singles Forever Autumn and Eve of the SAT War. SAT SAT Guests contributing recollections of the part they played in SAT Jeff's creation include David Essex who voiced The SAT Artilleryman and Justin Hayward who sang Forever Autumn. The SAT programme also contains never-before-heard studio SAT interaction with Richard Burton, David Essex and Jeff Wayne SAT during the original recording sessions. SAT SAT In the years since its release The War Of The Worlds has SAT morphed in to live stage shows, computer games and apps. Now SAT Jeff has re-interpreted the record for a 21st century SAT audience with a new recording featuring Liam Neeson and Gary SAT Barlow (who both contribute to this programme), and Joss SAT Stone. SAT SAT Produced by Des Shaw and Chris O'Shaughnessy SAT A Ten Alps production for BBC Radio 4. SAT SAT 11:00 Week in Westminster b01pf5cz (Listen) SAT George Parker of The Financial Times looks behind the scenes SAT at Westminster. SAT For the last Week In Westminster of 2012, George Parker of SAT The Financial Times talks to 2 ex- chancellors Ken Clarke SAT and Alistair Darling, and discovers they have more in common SAT than one might think. SAT Liberal Democrat President Tim Farron assesses his leader SAT Nick Clegg's important speech this week, drawing sharp SAT dividing lines between the parties of the coalition. SAT And if you've drawn a blank on Christmas presents, how about SAT a political biography? Every year Conservative MP Keith SAT Simpson produces a reading list of political and historical SAT books for MPs. This year he lists Jack Straw's autobiography SAT Last Man Standing, and together they discuss the merits of SAT political biography. SAT SAT The Editor is Marie Jessel. SAT SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent b01pf5d1 (Listen) SAT A Parisian merry-go-round ride SAT SAT Kate Adie presents despatches from reporters across the SAT globe. SAT SAT Lucy Ash travels to Burma where she finds that Chinese SAT investment ventures are being challenged by local people. SAT SAT As Greece receives it latest tranche of bailout funds, Mark SAT Lowen looks back over a tumultuous year in the country. SAT SAT Andrew North looks at the controversy surrounding the SAT proposed introduction of foreign supermarkets to India. SAT SAT Joanna Robertson joins in the Parisian love affair with SAT fairgrounds. SAT SAT Horatio Clare explains why change might be coming to the SAT remote island of St. Helena in the very near future. SAT SAT Producer: Jane Beresford. SAT Crossing Continents: Burma SAT SAT 12:00 Money Box b01pf5d3 (Listen) SAT Package accounts - is the end now? Carbon discredits. The SAT taxman cometh...not. When you can and can't cool off SAT SAT Lloyds Bank has become the first bank to stop selling SAT paid-for current accounts through its branches and on the SAT phone. The accounts, which cost between £9.95 and £25 a SAT month, offer a range of benefits including insurance, SAT cheaper share dealing, and favourable overdraft terms. Many SAT people don't - or cannot - use all the add-ons and the FSA SAT has raised concerns about the way banks sell these accounts. SAT Some consumer groups warn they are almost always bad value SAT and are the next mis-selling scandal. Lloyds insists it has SAT only paused the in-branch and telephone sales and will SAT "fully re-enter the market later in 2013". We speak to Mike SAT Dailly from the FSA Consumer Panel. SAT SAT After landbanking - selling rectangles of muddy fields on SAT the promise of big development gains later - comes carbon SAT trading. This time the property is even further away - often SAT in South America - and the promise is that the carbon SAT credits are earned by, for example, not cutting down SAT rainforest and then resold to businesses who use them as a SAT permit to pollute. Of course it's a daft idea. The FSA and SAT an IFA explains to one investor why he shouldn't throw good SAT money after bed. SAT SAT What we all suspected is in fact true - it takes too long SAT and costs too much to phone Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs. SAT And it's the National Audit Office that says it. Twenty SAT million calls lost, an average wait of nearly five minutes, SAT and a cost of £33m due to the 0845 numbers used by the SAT Revenue for customer helplines. HMRC chief Lin Homer SAT responds. SAT SAT Normally when you buy something online you get a seven day SAT cooling off period during which time you can cancel the deal SAT and get your money back in full. But it does not apply to SAT some things you buy online. We reveal what. SAT SAT 12:30 The News Quiz b01pcwr3 (Listen) SAT Series 79, Episode 1 SAT SAT A satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Sandi SAT Toksvig. Panellists are Jeremy Hardy, Susan Calman, Samira SAT Ahmed and Nick Doody. SAT SAT Produced by Lyndsay Fenner. SAT SAT 12:57 Weather b01pcvz6 (Listen) SAT The latest weather forecast. SAT SAT 13:00 News b01pcvz8 (Listen) SAT The latest news from BBC Radio 4. SAT SAT 13:10 Any Questions? b01pcwr9 (Listen) SAT Haddenham Village Hall, Buckinghamshire SAT SAT Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate from Haddenham SAT in Buckinghamshire - the panel includes the Labour MP Frank SAT Field, Green Party leader Natalie Bennett, Daily Mail SAT columnist Max Hastings and the Minister for International SAT Development Alan Duncan MP. SAT SAT 14:00 Any Answers? b01pf5d5 (Listen) SAT Listeners' calls and emails in response to this week's SAT edition of Any Questions? SAT SAT 14:30 Saturday Drama b01pf5d7 (Listen) SAT Alice through the Looking Glass SAT SAT By Lewis Carroll, dramatised by Stephen Wyatt SAT It's mid-winter, the snow is falling against the window, SAT and Alice is learning how to play chess but then, on SAT a whim, she goes to the mirror and pretends her black SAT kitten is the Red Queen and suddenly everything SAT changes ... SAT SAT With Jim Al-Khalili, Roger McGough, Jenni Murray, Jane SAT Garvey, SAT Eric Robson, Pippa Greenwood, Peter Donaldson, Kirsty Young, SAT Andrew Marr, Evan Davies, Garry Richardson & Melvyn Bragg. SAT SAT This dramatisation brings out the intellectual spine of SAT Lewis Carroll's classic story - while losing none of the SAT fun. SAT When Alice crashes through the looking glass she enters a SAT world set out like a giant chess board and discovers SAT science, maths, poetry, riddles, and wordplay. It is SAT instantly entertaining and tantalizingly offers the listener SAT more than meets the ear. SAT SAT In this fast-moving and surrealist world, Alice has to SAT decode the bizarre rules of the mirror-world. If Alice can SAT get to The Eighth Square she will be Queen. Lewis Carroll is SAT ever present. He sets out the chess game for Alice, teasing SAT the listener into having an overview of his story and SAT exploring the ideas within it. SAT SAT On her chess journey Alice will meet the Red & White Queen, SAT Humpty Dumpty, Tweedledee and Tweedledum (who might be more SAT familiar than the listener can possibly imagine) and the Red SAT & White Knights. But there's a twist here - Alice will also SAT discover that Radio 4 can be found on the other side of the SAT glass. SAT SAT Published for Christmas 1871 this story is the mirror image SAT of Alice In Wonderland: the characters are chess pieces SAT instead of cards. It is Winter rather than Summer and time SAT runs backwards. Tim Burton's film was 'inspired' by Lewis SAT Carroll's books but it wasn't Lewis Carroll's book. This is SAT a chance for the Radio 4 listeners to discover the real SAT thing and show them why this classic appeals to SAT philosophers, linguists and chess fans, prefaced Modernism, SAT has provoked a wealth of academic study, and in doing so SAT remind them of the bits they loved in childhood (and the SAT bits they've forgotten). SAT SAT Mathematician Carroll, prefaced his book with a chess SAT problem. It is claimed the game is a part of a sequence of SAT numbers - that Alice's journey is code - that Carroll was SAT flirting with numerology and esotericism. It is intriguing SAT because Carroll loved number games and puzzles. He was SAT frighteningly clever. He regularly invented things. You SAT could say he was the Mark Zuckerberg of his time. SAT "it had to collide with Radio 4 itself.." SAT SAT Credits SAT Alice: Lauren Mote SAT Lewis Carroll: Julian Rhind-Tutt SAT The Red Queen: Carole Boyd SAT The White Queen: Sally Phillips SAT Humpty Dumpty: Nicholas Parsons SAT Tweedledee: Alistair McGowan SAT Tweedledum: Alistair McGowan SAT The White Knight: John Rowe SAT The White King: Robert Blythe SAT Messenger: Ben Crowe SAT Guard: Patrick Brennan SAT Pudding: Stephanie Racine SAT Writer: Stephen Wyatt SAT SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour b01pf5sj (Listen) SAT Weekend Woman's Hour: Cate Blanchett, Tove Jansson, Meow SAT Meow SAT SAT From Elizabeth to Galadriel, Cate Blanchett on taking on the SAT role of the Queen. We debate anonymity for defendants in SAT rape cases. Fashion designer Caroline Charles on 50 years of SAT dressing stars and royalty from Mick Jagger to Diana SAT Princess of Wales. Romeo Beckham's doing it, but can child SAT models ever start too young? International cabaret artist SAT Meow Meow on why she's been compared to Marlene Dietrich and SAT a "whiskey voiced angel". Teenage parties and alcohol - is SAT it ever possible for it to end well? The work of Moomin book SAT author Tove Jansson is remembered by her niece who inspired SAT the role of the grand-daughter in the seminal novel,The SAT Summer Book. Radio 4 announcer Carolyn Brown on the decision SAT to donate one of her kidneys to husband Bruce. SAT Presented by Jane Garvey. SAT Producer: Laura Northedge SAT Editor: Anne Peacock. SAT SAT 17:00 PM b01pf5sl (Listen) SAT Full coverage of the day's news presented by Ritula Shah. SAT SAT 17:30 iPM b01pcwtf (Listen) SAT [Repeat of broadcast at 05:45 today] SAT SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast b01pcvzd (Listen) SAT The latest shipping forecast. SAT SAT 17:57 Weather b01pcvzg (Listen) SAT The latest weather forecast. SAT SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News b01pcvzj (Listen) SAT The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. SAT SAT 18:15 Loose Ends b01pf5sn (Listen) SAT Macy Gray, James Purefoy, Bryan Ferry, Matthew McFadyen and SAT Freshsteps SAT SAT Clive talks All That Jazz with musician, songwriter and SAT Jealous Guy Bryan Ferry. Following the huge success of Roxy SAT Music in the 70's and 80's, Bryan is celebrating the 40th SAT anniversary of his incredible career and has re-recorded SAT some of his own compositions on new album 'The Jazz Age'. SAT It's performed by 'The Bryan Ferry Orchestra' in the style SAT of the decadent, roaring Twenties. SAT SAT Clive's on the run from actor James Purefoy, who's about to SAT star in cat and mouse thriller 'The Following', alongside SAT Kevin Bacon. After playing cunning Roman general Mark Antony SAT in the HBO series 'Rome', James is playing a notorious SAT serial killer who escapes from death row and embarks on a SAT new killing spree. 'The Following' starts on Tuesday 22nd SAT January on Sky Atlantic HD. SAT SAT Arthur Smith talks to Mr Darcy, 'Pride & Prejudice' star SAT Matthew MacFadyen. From aloof romantic hero to forward SAT thinking detective, Matthew's playing Inspector Edmund Reid SAT in a fictionalised trek into the heart of London's East End SAT in the blood soaked aftermath of Jack the Ripper. 'Ripper SAT Street' starts on BBC One on Sunday 30th December at 21.00. SAT SAT Clive checks in On How Life Is for Grammy award-winning SAT singer-songwriter Macy Gray. Since she shot to fame in 1999 SAT with 'I Try', Macy has been Dancing With The Stars, SAT collaborated with The Black Eyed Peas and appeared in such SAT Hollywood blockbusters as 'Spiderman'. Her latest album SAT 'Talking Book' is a love letter to its creator, Stevie SAT Wonder. Macy performs 'You and I' in the 40th Anniversary SAT year of Stevie's timeless masterpiece. SAT SAT And South Coast collective FreshSteps have just what we need SAT and perform 'Need You Now' from their album 'The Sound of SAT Urban Soul-Jazz Vol 1'. SAT SAT Producer: Cathie Mahoney. SAT SAT 19:00 From Fact to Fiction b01pf5sq (Listen) SAT Series 13, Episode 2 SAT SAT Topical drama. Writers create a fictional response to the SAT week's news. SAT SAT 19:15 Saturday Review b01pf5ss (Listen) SAT Life of Pi, Dance of Death and Restless are all reviewed SAT SAT Life of Pi, Yann Martel's 2002 Booker winner, was reputed to SAT be unfilmable. But now Ang Lee has attempted to prove SAT everyone wrong with an extraordinary 3D and CGI display that SAT brings not just a boy and a tiger to life, but a whole SAT ocean. How effective is it in telling the story? SAT SAT There are two television offerings: The Girl is a film SAT starring Toby Jones and Sienna Miller as Alfred Hitchcock SAT and Tippi Hedren which will go out on BBC 2 on Boxing Day. SAT It focuses on their relationship during the making of The SAT Birds, when Hedren had to endure days of live birds being SAT thrown at her as well as Hitchcock's unwanted attentions. SAT Restless, beginning on BBC1 on December 27, is an adaptation SAT of a novel by William Boyd, starring Hayley Atwell, SAT Charlotte Rampling, Rufus Sewell and Michelle Dockery, well SAT known for her role as Lady Mary in Downton Abbey. It is SAT based on the reality of how Britain spied during the Second SAT World War. SAT SAT At the Trafalgar Studios in London a new version by Conor SAT McPherson of Strindberg's The Dance of Death, a depiction of SAT a claustrophobic marriage starring Kevin McNally, Indira SAT Varma and Daniel Lapaine, provides an antidote to Christmas SAT fare. SAT SAT Finally, Tenth of December, a collection of short stories SAT from George Saunders, of whom Zadie Smith has said, "Not SAT since Twain has America produced a satirist this funny with SAT a prose style this fine". SAT SAT With Tom Sutcliffe and reviewers Kathryn Hughes, Misha SAT Glenny and Sarah Hall. SAT "I’m not sure there’s anything quite so depressing as SAT compulsory jollity.." SAT SAT Restless begins on BBC1 on Thursday 27th December at 9pm. SAT SAT Life of Pi is in cinemas nationwide, certificate PG. SAT SAT Dance of Death continues at the Trafalgar Studios in London SAT until the 5th of January 2013. SAT SAT 10th of December by George Saunders is published by SAT Bloomsbury. SAT SAT The Girl is on BBC 2 on Boxing Day at 9pm. SAT SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 b01pf5sv (Listen) SAT What Big Teeth You Have... SAT SAT Once upon a time in Kassel, two brothers set out to record SAT the traditional oral tales of their country, gathering SAT uniquely Germanic stories from the peasant folk to be SAT preserved, unchanged, throughout the ages. Except… that SAT romantic idea of the Grimms is probably the biggest fairy SAT tale of all. SAT SAT Children's author Anthony McGowan untangles the surprising SAT origins of the Grimm fairy tales and explores how the SAT stories have been used and abused, bowdlerized, distorted SAT for propaganda, given voice to the oppressed and were reborn SAT as therapy for sick children, before finally coming back to SAT us as endless playground for our imaginations, and a SAT boundless resource for storytellers. SAT SAT With expert insights from Jack Zipes, Valerie Paradiz, Hanne SAT Castein, Maria Tatar and Bruno Bettleheim, classic readings SAT and dramatisations of the Grimm tales and excerpts of Nazi SAT era fairy tale propaganda never before heard on the BBC. SAT SAT Archive Compiled by Elizabeth Ann Duffy SAT Produced by Liza Grieg and Mark Rickards SAT SAT 21:00 Classic Serial b01p9gjy (Listen) SAT The Count of Monte Cristo, Episode 4 SAT SAT By Alexandre Dumas adapted by Sebastian Baczkiewicz. SAT Caderousse is dead, and the Count's ward Andrea is poised to SAT marry Eugenie Danglars. While Heloise de Villefort pursues SAT her own murderous plans to secure General Noirtier's SAT inheritance for her son. The Count's revenge, so long in the SAT planning, is devastating in its conclusion. SAT SAT Music by David Tobin and Jeff Meegan SAT Directed by Jeremy Mortimer and Sasha Yevtushenko. SAT SAT Credits SAT The Count/Edmond Dantes: Iain Glen SAT Haydee: Jane Lapotaire SAT Younger Haydee: Amber Rose Revah SAT Mercedes de Morcerf: Josette Simon SAT Fernand, Count de Morcerf: Zubin Varla SAT Gerard de Villefort: Paul Rhys SAT Heloise de Villefort: Kate Fleetwood SAT Abbe Faria: Richard Johnson SAT Baron Danglars: Toby Jones SAT Hermine Danglars: Stephanie Racine SAT Eugenie Danglars: Eleanor Crooks SAT Valentine de Villefort: Lizzy Watts SAT Edouard de Villefort: Finn Monteath SAT Max Morrell: Adam Nagaitis SAT Andrea Cavalcanti: Will Howard SAT Bertuccio: Paul Stonehouse SAT Jacopo: Joe Sims SAT Actor: Sarah Thom SAT Director: Jeremy Mortimer SAT Director: Sasha Yevtushenko SAT Writer: Sebastian Baczkiewicz SAT SAT 22:00 News and Weather b01pcvzl (Listen) SAT The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, SAT followed by weather. SAT SAT 22:15 Unreliable Evidence b01pcqkf (Listen) SAT Unfair Dismissal SAT SAT Clive Anderson and guests discuss concerns that proposed SAT government changes to employment law are nudging us towards SAT a US-style 'fire at will' culture. SAT SAT Business secretary Vince Cable says he plans to cut "red SAT tape" in employment law in order to promote economic growth. SAT But the proposals, which include a cut in how much workers SAT can claim for unfair dismissal, have raised fears that SAT workers' rights are being eroded. SAT SAT With many recession-hit businesses looking for ways to SAT downsize their workforces, and the government determined to SAT simplify dismissal procedures, this programme asks if SAT current employment law strikes the right balance between SAT protecting job security and allowing employers the SAT flexibility to adjust their staffing levels. SAT SAT Leading lawyers representing the interests of employers and SAT employees explain how current law works in the areas of SAT dismissal and redundancy and argue about the need for SAT further change. SAT SAT Producer: Brian King SAT An Above the Title production for BBC Radio 4. SAT SAT 23:00 Brain of Britain b01pbk81 (Listen) SAT (4/17) SAT Which explorer gave the Pacific Ocean its name? And which SAT film actor played both Sergeant Bilko in 1996 and Inspector SAT Clouseau in 2006? SAT SAT Russell Davies asks the questions in this fourth heat of the SAT current series of Britain's longest-running general SAT knowledge contest. The competitors are from Chorley in SAT Lancashire, Stoke-on-Trent, Birmingham and Aberdare. They'll SAT each be hoping they can win through to the semi-finals in SAT the new year, with a chance of becoming the sixtieth holder SAT of the coveted Brain of Britain title. SAT SAT There's also a chance for a listener to win a prize by SAT devising questions tricky enough to stump the combined SAT brainpower of the contestants. SAT SAT Producer: Paul Bajoria. SAT SAT SCOTT DAWSON, a data processor from Stoke on Trent; SAT SAT BEL FREEDMAN, a housewife from Birmingham; SAT SAT DARREN MARTIN, a project analyst from Chorley in Lancashire; SAT SAT STEVE O'GORMAN, a voluntary IT trainer from Aberdare. SAT SAT 23:30 Poetry Please b01p9gk2 (Listen) SAT Presented by poet Annie Freud, with the former American Poet SAT Laureate Billy Collins, and poets August Kleinzahler and SAT Mark Ford. SAT SAT William Carlos Williams is known as a revolutionary figure SAT in poetry but, in comparison to his friend Ezra Pound and SAT American writers including TS Eliot and Gertrude Stein, who SAT sought a more exciting environment for creativity in Europe, SAT Williams lived a strikingly conventional life. SAT SAT A doctor for more than forty years serving the New Jersey SAT town of Rutherford, he relied on his patients and the SAT America around him to create a distinctively American verse. SAT His lifelong quest was that poetry should mirror the speech SAT of the American people. SAT SAT A second generation immigrant, he sought to make something SAT of the people and for the people in America. He was mocked SAT by Pound who came from centuries of Americans and wrote to SAT him "My dear boy, you have never felt the whoop of the SAT PEEraries", but their correspondence was vital in developing SAT the poetry of Imagism, which Pound would formally name in SAT 1912. SAT SAT Williams' sense of ordinary people, living in a real place SAT not an imagined city of ancient relics and memory, defined SAT America for him and infused his work. He got rid of the high SAT blown poetic language of Europe, paring down his verse to SAT essential, unemotional, broken lines. His famous poem The SAT Red Wheelbarrow, published in 1923, is 16 words on 8 lines. SAT SAT He was awarded the Pulitzer prize for poetry, posthumously, SAT in the year he died 1963. He is America's first true poet. SAT SAT Producer: Kate Bland SAT A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4. SAT SAT SUN SUNDAY 23 DECEMBER 2012 SUN SUN 00:00 Midnight News b01pf2sr (Listen) SUN The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. SUN Followed by Weather. SUN SUN 00:30 Rhys Davies Competition Winners b01pf5v0 (Listen) SUN Supper SUN SUN Supper by Linda Ruhemann. It's Christmas Eve and a woman SUN begins to decorate a very empty house. The kids have left SUN home and she's facing the prospect of her first Christmas SUN alone. However, she's expecting an unusual guest for supper: SUN Her ex-husband. Runner-up in the Welsh short story contest. SUN SUN Read by Sharon Morgan SUN Directed by James Robinson SUN SUN A BBC Cymru Wales Production. SUN SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast b01pf2st (Listen) SUN The latest shipping forecast. SUN SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes b01pf2sw (Listen) SUN BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. SUN SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast b01pf2sy (Listen) SUN The latest shipping forecast. SUN SUN 05:30 News Briefing b01pf2t0 (Listen) SUN The latest news from BBC Radio 4. SUN SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday b01pf6db (Listen) SUN The bells of St. Mary's Church, Ilmington, Warwickshire. SUN SUN 05:45 Four Thought b01pcqkh (Listen) SUN Series 3, Georgie Fienberg: Saying No to Pity SUN SUN Georgie Fienberg believes that endless fundraising by SUN overseas aid charities is not sustainable, and she argues SUN that charities should want to close. SUN SUN Georgie is Founder of Afrikids, a charity which supports SUN poor children in Ghana. When she started the organisation SUN she set a deadline for closing its UK fundraising arm, so SUN that the organisation in Ghana would be sustainable and SUN self-sufficient. SUN SUN Four Thought is a series of talks which combine thought SUN provoking ideas and engaging storytelling. Recorded live in SUN front of an audience, speakers air their latest thinking on SUN the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect our SUN culture and society. SUN SUN Producer: Giles Edwards. SUN SUN 06:00 News Headlines b01pf2t2 (Listen) SUN The latest national and international news. SUN SUN 06:05 Something Understood b01pf6dd (Listen) SUN When an Angel Passes SUN SUN William Blake's childhood vision of a tree on Peckham Rye SUN filled with angels, 'bright angelic wings bespangling every SUN bough like stars', offers a starting point for Alan Hall's SUN reflections on the angelic in the everyday. SUN SUN He makes reference to a short story by Gabriel Garcia SUN Marquez about a 'very old man with enormous wings', poems by SUN Rainer Maria Rilke and John Agard, and an extract from the SUN moving conclusion of James Agee's novel about the death of SUN his father. SUN SUN The programme also includes music by Sufjan Stevens, Gillian SUN Welch and Johannes Brahms and a clip from the Powell and SUN Pressburger film 'A Matter of Life and Death'. SUN SUN Produced by Eleanor McDowall. SUN A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4. SUN SUN 06:35 On Your Farm b01pf6dg (Listen) SUN Sarah Swadling visits Truro's annual Primestock Show in SUN Cormwall to find out how important such shows are to the SUN Christmas meat trade. Truro's show is unique because it is SUN held right in the middle of the city centre. For one day SUN only, cattle and sheep are offloaded, judged and then SUN auctioned off to butchers and local abattoirs ready for SUN Christmas. Primestock Shows, or Fatstock shows as they SUN otherwise known, are held all over the country in time for SUN the festive period. SUN SUN 06:57 Weather b01pf2t4 (Listen) SUN The latest weather forecast. SUN SUN 07:00 News and Papers b01pf2t6 (Listen) SUN The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers. SUN SUN 07:10 Sunday b01pf6dj (Listen) SUN This week we have a special edition of Sunday looking at SUN women and faith presented by Edward Stourton SUN SUN Inspired by the General Synod's vote against women bishops SUN in the Church of England , we look at the question of SUN whether religions discriminate against women . SUN Kati Whitaker has a report on whether the decision not to SUN allow women bishops in the Church of England was an issue of SUN equality.. or theology. SUN We also hear from the Rt. Rev. Mary Gray-Reeves, a bishop in SUN California about what it's like to have authority over a SUN parish which doesn't accept that it's possible for a woman SUN to have that role. SUN SUN We hear from Roman Catholic nun Sister Lynda Dearlove who is SUN engaged in the kind of caring that's traditionally been the SUN role of women in the Church. She works with prostitutes. SUN SUN Orthodox Jewish teacher Dina Brawer launches a programme SUN called the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance .. its SUN introduction follows a decision by the Chief Rabbi and SUN United Synagogue leaders to allow women to chair synagogues. SUN SUN Ann Holmes-Redding, a former priest in the American SUN Episcopal Church believes it is possible to be a Christian SUN and a Muslim at the same time. Matt Wells talks to her. SUN SUN Lyse Doucet reflects on the way women's lives in Pakistan SUN and Afghanistan are influenced by religion. SUN SUN And three guests - Muslim writer Khola Hasan, Rev Rosie SUN Harper and anthropologist Dr Tamsin Bradley discuss SUN religious leadership and influence on women both in the UK SUN and worldwide. SUN SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Appeal b01pf6dn (Listen) SUN Contact the Elderly SUN SUN Richard Wilson presents the Radio 4 Appeal for Contact the SUN Elderly SUN Reg Charity:1146149 SUN To Give: SUN - Freephone 0800 404 8144 SUN - Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal, mark the back of the envelope SUN Contact the Elderly. SUN SUN 07:57 Weather b01pf2t8 (Listen) SUN The latest weather forecast. SUN SUN 08:00 News and Papers b01pf2tb (Listen) SUN The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers. SUN SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship b01pf6dq (Listen) SUN Advent Expectations- 'Expectant Mothers' is the theme of SUN worship from the Chapel of Unity, Methodist College, SUN Belfast. The service is led by the College Chaplain, the Rev SUN David Neilands. Preacher: The Rev Dr Richard Clutterbuck and SUN the Rev Diane Clutterbuck. SUN The Chapel Choir is directed by Ruth McCartney. Producer: SUN Bert Tosh Billson. SUN SUN Advent is a time of expectation. The Biblical texts are SUN filled with anticipation of the coming Messiah, promises of SUN hope for the future, and expectations of the Second Coming SUN of Christ. It's a time that we're called on to question SUN what's expected of us and reflect upon what we can expect SUN from God. As we prepare for Christmas our hearts are filled SUN with expectations, which may or may not be fulfilled. And we SUN are also reminded that God does not show His love for us in SUN the way we expect; rather than making a great and triumphant SUN entry into the world, he comes to us as a tiny, vulnerable SUN child. SUN SUN At the heart of the Advent story there is a very human SUN moment - a moment where a young woman discovers that she is SUN expecting a child. The image of the expectant mother is both SUN powerful and humbling yet incredibly natural and unaffected. SUN We are also reminded that the that a mother shows to her SUN child can be compared to that which God shows to his SUN children.] SUN SUN The Gospel Reading (Luke 1.39-25) is an account of Mary's SUN visit to her cousin Elizabeth. Here two expectant mothers SUN share an intimate moment - but Elizabeth, and John the SUN Baptist within her womb, also reveal something of their SUN expectations for the future. This moment of joy causes Mary SUN to burst forth into song declaring her own expectations for SUN the child she is carrying and for the future of the world. SUN SUN 08:50 A Point of View b01pcwrc (Listen) SUN Economics Priesthood SUN SUN Will Self warns against the false prophets of the new SUN priesthood of economics who base their analyses and SUN predictions on "spurious notions of human behaviour". "In SUN place of the vulgate we require the holy books of economics SUN to be written in the language we actually speak, and along SUN with this we should actively seek a liberty of individual SUN conscience, so that we communicate directly with Mammon, SUN freed from the intercession of a priesthood who, when not SUN arguing about how many angels can be fitted on the head of a SUN pin, are spending our money producing elegant but utterly SUN spurious mathematical models of possible future angel-on-pin SUN scenarios." SUN Producer: Sheila Cook. SUN SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House b01pf6ds (Listen) SUN News and conversation about the big stories of the week with SUN Paddy O'Connell. SUN Letter From America: The Long Island train shootings and gun SUN control (1993) SUN SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus b01pf6dv (Listen) SUN Writer ..... Mary Cutler SUN Director ..... Vanessa Whitburn SUN Editor ..... Vanessa Whitburn SUN SUN Jill Archer..... Patricia Greene SUN Kenton Archer..... Richard Attlee SUN Elizabeth Pargetter..... Alison Dowling SUN Matt Crawford... Kim Durham SUN Lilian Bellamy..... Sunny Ormonde SUN Joe Grundy..... Edward Kelsey SUN Eddie Grundy..... Trevor Harrison SUN Will Grundy..... Philip Molloy SUN Emma Grundy..... Emerald O'Hanrahan SUN Edward Grundy..... Barry Farrimond SUN Neil Carter..... Brian Hewlett SUN Susan Carter..... Charlotte Martin SUN Mike Tucker..... Terry Molloy SUN Vicky Tucker..... Rachel Atkins SUN Lynda Snell..... Carole Boyd SUN Jazzer McCreary..... Ryan Kelly SUN Usha Franks..... Souad Faress SUN Jim Lloyd..... John Rowe SUN Paul Morgan..... Michael Fenton Stevens SUN Joyce Walters..... Ann Beach. SUN SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs b01pf6dx (Listen) SUN Dawn French SUN SUN Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Dawn French. SUN SUN Her career started back when dungarees were considered a SUN legitimate fashion choice and she's built her reputation on SUN borderline surreal skits and glowingly warm SUN characterisations. SUN SUN Brought up in a forces family she had to move schools a lot SUN and found making people laugh helped to make them her SUN friends. Since then it's made her a household name and she SUN may be moments away from becoming a 'national treasure'. SUN SUN Double act partner, sit-com star, sketch show performer, SUN writer, actor, Dawn has made us laugh for years. So does she SUN ever feel overwhelmed by people's expectations? She says "I SUN tell myself that I'm the sort of person who can open a SUN one-woman play in the West End, so I do .... I am the sort SUN of person who writes a book - so I do". SUN SUN Producer: Cathy Drysdale. SUN SUN 12:00 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue b01pbq3t (Listen) SUN Series 58, Episode 6 SUN SUN Back for a second week at the Charter Theatre in Preston, SUN regulars Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor SUN are joined on the panel by the great Victoria Wood, with SUN Jack Dee in the chair. Piano accompaniment is provided by SUN Colin Sell. SUN SUN Producer - Jon Naismith. SUN SUN 12:32 Food Programme b01pf6dz (Listen) SUN Christmas Necessary Pleasures SUN SUN Christmas Necessary Pleasures - Sheila Dillon hears from SUN leading chefs and writers on their favourite Christmas SUN foods. SUN SUN Jamie Oliver, Angela Hartnett and Great British Bake Off SUN judge Paul Hollywood are among the top chefs who create an SUN imaginary banquet of Christmas delicacies. Food writers Tom SUN Jaine and Kirsten Rodgers discuss these foods, and hear SUN about past Christmas traditions from food historian Peter SUN Brears as he cooks up dishes in Wordsworth's Cottage in SUN Grasmere. SUN SUN Presented by Sheila Dillon and produced by Emma Weatherill. SUN SUN 12:57 Weather b01pf2td (Listen) SUN The latest weather forecast. SUN SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend b01pf6f1 (Listen) SUN Shaun Ley presents the latest national and international SUN news, including an in-depth look at events around the world. SUN Email: wato@bbc.co.uk; twitter: #theworldthisweekend. SUN SUN 13:30 Hardeep's Sunday Lunch b01pf6f3 (Listen) SUN Episode 5 SUN SUN For his Sunday lunch Hardeep Singh Kohli helps to cook SUN traditional Congolese food with the help of Ben and Kongosi SUN Mussanza. Over lunch Ben and Kongosi tell Hardeep about life SUN in the Congo and how they and their children became caught SUN up in the ethnic fighting. But despite being almost killed SUN they talk of their determination to do peace and SUN reconciliation work to stop the violence and counsel the SUN victims. Eventually Kongosi had to flee the country with SUN some of her children and they have settled in Bradford where SUN Ben was studying peace studies. Hardeep talks to the family SUN about how they have tried to overcome the traumas they SUN suffered in the Congo and the problems of moving to another SUN country. SUN SUN Producers: Dawn Bryan SUN Amanda Hancox. SUN SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time b01pcwqq (Listen) SUN Muncaster Castle, Cumbria SUN SUN Eric Robson hosts a special Christmas edition of GQT from SUN Muncaster Castle, Cumbria. Chris Beardshaw, Bunny Guinness SUN and Matthew Wilson join in the seasonal fun as your SUN Gardeners' Question time panel. SUN SUN Produced by Howard Shannon SUN A Somethin' Else Production for BBC Radio 4. SUN SUN 14:45 The Listening Project b01pf6f5 (Listen) SUN Fi Glover presents conversations about babies, Christmas and SUN loved ones remembered in the Sunday Edition of the Radio 4 SUN series proving it's surprising what you hear when you SUN listen. The conversations come from Leeds, Liverpool, SUN Manchester, Wales and from the other side of the Atlantic, SUN courtesy of StoryCorps, the American enterprise on which The SUN Listening Project is based. SUN SUN The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a SUN snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the SUN UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to SUN them about a subject they've never discussed intimately SUN before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK SUN by teams of producers from local and national radio stations SUN who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're SUN not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - SUN lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key SUN moment of connection between the participants. Many of the SUN long conversations are being archived by the British Library SUN and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a SUN unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the SUN millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just SUN learn more about The Listening Project by visiting SUN bbc.co.uk/listeningproject SUN SUN Producer: Marya Burgess. SUN SUN 15:00 Classic Serial b01pf6f7 (Listen) SUN The Eustace Diamonds, Episode 1 SUN SUN Rose Tremain's dramatisation of Anthony Trollope's SUN enthralling novel stars Pippa Nixon as the beautiful Lizzie SUN Eustace, fighting to retain possession of her magnificent SUN diamond necklace, which she claims was left to her, as a SUN gift, by her late husband Florian. SUN SUN Her immediate relatives, spurred on by the intransigent SUN family lawyer, Camperdown, argue that the diamonds are an SUN heirloom, and on no account can be retained by her. The SUN dispute colours all Lizzie's subsequent relationships - with SUN her cousin Frank, her new lover Lord Fawn, and her admirer SUN Lord George. As gossip and scandal intensify, Lizzie is SUN driven to increasingly desperate behaviour in an attempt to SUN retain her jewels. SUN SUN Lizzie............................Pippa Nixon SUN Lord Fawn.....................Jamie Glover SUN Florian...........................Nicholas Boulton SUN Lady Linlithgow..............Richenda Carey SUN Lady Fawn....................Stella Gonet SUN Frank............................Joseph Kloska SUN Lucy.............................Amy Morgan SUN Camperdown..................Malcolm Sinclair SUN Crabstick.......................Alison Pettitt SUN Harter.............................Sam Kelly SUN Benjamin........................Stephen Critchlow SUN John Eustace..................Alex Waldmann SUN Augusta..........................Laura Hanna SUN Lydia..............................Ellie Butters SUN Nina................................Ella Dale SUN SUN Original Music: Lucinda Mason Brown SUN Produced and directed by Gordon House SUN A Goldhawk Essential production for BBC Radio 4 SUN SUN Harpist: Cecilia De Maria SUN Cellist: Alison Baldwin. SUN SUN 16:00 Open Book b01pf7kc (Listen) SUN Colin Firth's Five of the Best SUN SUN Colin Firth shares his 5 of the best books with Mariella SUN Frostrup SUN SUN Today's programme is devoted to the reading choices of an SUN actor whose abiding image in most women's eyes remains his SUN emergence from a Regency Lake, wet shirt plastered to his SUN torso and features furrowed in a classic Mr Darcy frown, in SUN the television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and SUN Prejudice. More recently he won both an Oscar and a BAFTA SUN for his portrayal of the stammering King George VI in The SUN King's Speech. SUN SUN He is also an avid bibliophile and he has co-compiled The SUN People Speak, a book which brings to life, through their own SUN words, the many voices of ordinary and extraordinary SUN individuals who took on the Establishment. SUN SUN Colin's Firth Five of the best choices; SUN SUN 1 The Sound and the Fury - William Faulkner SUN SUN 2 Coming Through Slaughter - Michael Ondaatje SUN SUN 3 The Leopard - Giuseppe di Lampedusa SUN SUN 4 The World as I Found it - Bruce Duffy SUN SUN 5 The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene SUN SUN Producer: Andrea Kidd. SUN SUN 16:30 Poetry Please b01pf7kf (Listen) SUN Roger McGough presents a varied, warm, yet slush-free SUN selection of Christmas poetry requests. SUN A moving poem called The Shepherd by Edward Kaulfuss will SUN strike a chord with anyone who has felt estranged at a SUN Christmas gathering. T.S. Eliot's 'The Journey of The Magi' SUN with its complexities and doubt features alongside other SUN classics like Hardy's ever hopeful poem The Oxen (it SUN wouldn't be Christmas without it, after all) and Laurie SUN Lee's Christmas Landscape. Another thoughtful nativity poem SUN comes from a poet perhaps better known for her caustic wit; SUN Dorothy Parker. SUN There are some nostalgic poems from Ireland, including SUN Patrick Kavanagh's poem 'A Christmas Childhood' where the SUN six year old Kavanagh saw the magic in the mundane ("my SUN child poet picked out the letters/On the grey stone/In SUN silver the wonder of a Christmas townland") as his father's SUN melodeon called out to his neighbours. John Montague's poem SUN The Silver Flask marks the brief reunion of a family SUN dispersed from County Tyrone to Brooklyn, where Montague SUN himself was born. SUN Coventry Patmore's poem The Toys might just move the hardest SUN cynic heart to tears, whilst Hugh MacMillan's 'Saturday SUN Afternoon at the Grotto' injects a healthy sense of SUN Glaswegian realism. SUN The readers are John Mackay, Ian McElhinney and Eleanor SUN Tremain. SUN Producer: Sarah Langan. SUN SUN 17:00 Europe Moves East b01p9l5f (Listen) SUN Allan Little looks at the changing dynamic of the European SUN Union SUN SUN The Europe that Britain joined forty years ago was a small SUN and loose association of nations on the western edge of the SUN continent. Germany was still divided, with its capital in SUN the sleepy town of Bonn near the Belgian border. France - SUN with its long-standing commitment to the sovereignty of SUN nation states - was the driving force of the European SUN project. SUN SUN But the last decade has seen a profound and irreversible SUN shift. Europe's centre of gravity has moved dramatically SUN east. After reunification in 1990, a much more powerful SUN Germany has emerged. The countries of the old Eastern bloc SUN look to Berlin for leadership. Their experience of Soviet SUN occupation and communist dictatorship has committed them to SUN building a much stronger and more tightly integrated Europe, SUN one that will help secure their young and still vulnerable SUN democracies. "I want the European Union to become a SUN superpower," the Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski SUN tells the programme. This changing dynamic is the subtle, SUN hidden undertow to the continuing tensions over the Euro. SUN SUN Forty years ago the European project was being shaped by SUN those who had survived the Second World War on the Western SUN Front. Now, more and more, it is being driven by those who SUN lived through the brutality and horror of the Eastern Front, SUN and who endured forty years of communist oppression. SUN SUN Power in Europe has shifted, from the old and familiar SUN Paris-Bonn relationship to the new and much more dynamic SUN Berlin-Warsaw. This is the new Europe. It is one in which SUN France - once the unchallenged leading voice - is SUN increasingly marginalised. And it is one in which Britain SUN seems, increasingly, reluctant to stay part of. SUN SUN Producer: Jane Beresford. SUN SUN 17:40 Letter from America by Alistair Cooke b01q16zd (Listen) SUN America's problem with gun ownership SUN SUN The problem of US gun ownership, and why the American SUN constitution doesn't actually guarantee a right to bear SUN arms, as examined by broadcaster and journalist Alistair SUN Cooke in 1993. SUN SUN Paddy O'Connell introduces a shortened archive edition of SUN Letter from America first broadcast 19 years ago on 29 SUN October 1993. SUN SUN In this edition, Alistair Cooke took the American nation's SUN temperature on gun control in the midst of that early-90s SUN panic, as Congress was about to pass the Brady Act in 1993, SUN after more than a decade of lobbying by Jim Brady, President SUN Reagan's former press secretary, shot with the President in SUN an assassination attempt in 1981. SUN SUN Alistair Cooke's talks on American life, history and SUN politics - Letter from America - were broadcast weekly on SUN BBC Radio from 1946 -2004. Over 920 archive editions are SUN available to listen or download for free on the Radio 4 SUN website. SUN SUN Presenter: Alistair Cooke SUN Introduced by: Paddy O'Connel SUN Archive producer: Zillah Watson. SUN Letter From America: The Long Island train shootings and gun SUN control (1993) SUN SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast b01pf2tg (Listen) SUN The latest shipping forecast. SUN SUN 17:57 Weather b01pf2tj (Listen) SUN The latest weather forecast. SUN SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News b01pf2tl (Listen) SUN The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. SUN SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week b01pf7kh (Listen) SUN There's a celebration of musical genius from J S Bach to SUN Dusty Springfield. We visit the Southwark inn reputedly SUN frequented by Shakespeare and Dickens and discover what SUN makes the perfect song for a drunk. There are Rumpolesque SUN reflections on the gentle art of blackmail, an episode of SUN The Archers which never quite found its way into Ambridge, SUN and the pleasures and perils of the hobo life on American SUN railroads. All this and the breathlessly-awaited end of the SUN world . in Pick Of The Week, presented by Gerry Northam. SUN SUN Programmes chosen this week: SUN SUN Train Hopping in the USA - Radio 4 SUN PM - Radio 4 SUN The Long Count - Radio 4 SUN 2012 - The End of Time - Radio 4 SUN For All Mankind - Radio 4 SUN Book of the Week - Shakespeare's Local - Radio 4 SUN Word of Mouth - Radio 4 SUN Dusty Springfield at the BBC - Radio 2 SUN I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue - Radio 4 SUN Rumpole and the Gentle Art of Blackmail - Radio 4 SUN Stage Door - Radio 4 SUN Night Waves - Radio 3 SUN Live in Concert - Radio 3 SUN SUN If there's something you'd like to suggest for next week's SUN programme, please e-mail potw@bbc.co.uk. SUN SUN 19:00 The Archers b01pf7kk (Listen) SUN Lilian lives it up. Meanwhile Kenton is in Lynda's good SUN books. SUN SUN 19:15 Just William - Live! b01pfrrc (Listen) SUN William Holds the Stage SUN SUN Last May, as part of Winchester's Best of British Festival SUN in celebration of the Jubilee, Martin Jarvis performed the SUN first of two of Richmal Crompton's comic classics, live SUN on-stage. SUN SUN In William Holds the Stage, when an old boy of the school SUN gives a lecture on Hamlet, William gets a somewhat confused SUN idea that Shakespeare's plays were written by a man called SUN Ham, and that Shakespeare poisoned Ham, and stole the plays SUN and pretended he had written them. Then a man called Bacon SUN got involved and possibly someone called Eggs as well. SUN SUN When it's announced that the class will perform a scene from SUN Hamlet in front of a live audience, William decides that, SUN despite being cast as an attendant, he'd prefer to play the SUN leading role himself. But things don't go entirely to plan. SUN SUN A packed house at the Theatre Royal rocks with laughter as SUN Jarvis performs William's hilariously inventive version of SUN Shakespeare's masterpiece. Just William as 'stand-up'. SUN SUN Performed by Martin Jarvis SUN Director: Rosalind Ayres. SUN A Jarvis and Ayres Production for BBC Radio 4. SUN SUN 19:45 The Apocalypse Clock b01pfrrf (Listen) SUN After the End SUN SUN A short story diptych written by the award-winning author SUN Patrick Ness. SUN SUN Read by Lindsay Duncan. SUN SUN A newly bereaved wife returns alone to her looted home. One SUN week on from the false apocalypse, the power is still down, SUN the fires are still burning; people are starting to emerge, SUN shame-faced, from their shelters, seeking food and SUN information. As the widow walks to a hastily established SUN food-bank, she glimpses the small boy who has shadowed her SUN since she returned from the hospital. In his right hand he SUN is carrying something precious; a small gift, a revelation. SUN SUN The Mayans predicted that the world will end on 21st SUN December 2012. These specially commissioned short stories SUN explore the nature of endings through the eyes of a woman SUN who loses everything on the day of revelation. SUN SUN Produced by Kirsteen Cameron. SUN SUN 20:00 More or Less b01pcwqx (Listen) SUN Fact-checking US gun crime statistics SUN SUN The recent massacre at a school in the United States has SUN re-opened the debate on gun ownership in the US. Tim Harford SUN investigates whether the anti-gun statistics being widely SUN shared on the internet stand up to scrutiny. SUN SUN Whether you're looking at crime statistics or the SUN effectiveness or hospitals, we've long argued on More or SUN Less that death is the one hard fact that it's very hard to SUN fudge. So imagine how surprised we are to find out it's not SUN very reliable an outcome at all. At least not in England. SUN Medical statistician Professor Sheila Bird tells Tim why SUN she's concerned that the death register in England is SUN causing delays for important health research. SUN SUN Eating more chocolate improves a nation's chances of SUN producing Nobel Prize winners - or at least that's what a SUN recent study appears to suggest. But how much chocolate do SUN Nobel laureates eat, and how could any such link be SUN explained? SUN SUN The average age of first-time buyers has been steadily SUN climbing for years - it's not just government ministers who SUN say this - everyone says it, everyone knows it. Apart from, SUN More or Less discovers, the people who actually calculate SUN the figure: the Council of Mortgage Lenders. SUN SUN Plus, the statistical paradox of road collisions caused by SUN deer; and the mathematics of juggling, with Colin Wright. SUN SUN Producer: Ruth Alexander. SUN SUN 20:30 Last Word b01pcwqv (Listen) SUN A Russian opera diva, a famous British housebuilder, a SUN reluctant union leader and a '60s trendsetter called 'Mr SUN Freedom' SUN SUN Matthew Bannister on SUN SUN Sir Lawrie Barratt who built hundreds of thousands of SUN Barratt homes during the 1970s and 80s SUN SUN The soprano Galina Vishnevskaya - a great interpreter of SUN Russian music who - with her husband the cellist SUN Rostropovich - was forced into exile by the Soviet Union. SUN SUN Jack Hart who led the fight to regain trade union SUN recognition at the government's listening station GCHQ SUN SUN And the design pioneer Tommy Roberts who sold flamboyant SUN clothes in a series of London shops. Dame Vivienne Westwood SUN and Sir Paul Smith pay tribute to his influence. SUN SUN 21:00 Money Box b01pf5d3 (Listen) SUN [Repeat of broadcast at 12:00 on Saturday] SUN SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal b01pf6dn (Listen) SUN [Repeat of broadcast at 07:55 today] SUN SUN 21:30 In Business b01pcsmc (Listen) SUN Can the Co-op Cope? SUN SUN The Cooperative movement is 168 years old and the Co-op SUN brand is a presence in food, funerals, travel and banking. SUN Peter Day reports on its relevance to the 21st century SUN consumer. SUN SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour b01pfrzr (Listen) SUN Preview of the week's political agenda at Westminster with SUN MPs, experts and commentators. Discussion of the issues SUN politicians are grappling with in the corridors of power. SUN SUN 22:45 What the Papers Say b01pfrzt (Listen) SUN Leading journalists analyse how the newspapers are covering SUN the biggest stories in Westminster and beyond. SUN SUN 23:00 The Film Programme b01pcs65 (Listen) SUN Life of Pi, Ewan MacGregor, Xmas films on TV SUN SUN Francine Stock meets with Ang Lee to discuss Life of Pi, the SUN hugely anticipated big screen adaptation of Yan Martel's SUN novel. SUN SUN Ewan McGregor reveals his reluctance to take on the part of SUN a father searching for his family in the aftermath of the SUN 2004 Asian tsunami in The Impossible, directed by Juan SUN Antonio Bayona. SUN SUN Critic Nigel Floyd picks out his favourite films showing on SUN television over Christmas. SUN SUN And Peter Jackson talks about his involvement with West of SUN Memphis, a documentary focusing on the case of three SUN teenagers arrested for the murders of three 8 year old SUN children. SUN SUN Producer: Craig Smith. SUN SUN Life of Pi, directed by Ang Lee, is released nationwide from SUN this weekend, certificate PG. SUN SUN The Impossible, directed by Juan Antonio Bayona, will be in SUN cinemas nationwide from 1st January 2013, certificate 12A. SUN SUN West Of Memphis, directed Amy Berg, is in cinemas in key SUN cities, certificate 15. SUN SUN 23:30 Something Understood b01pf6dd (Listen) SUN [Repeat of broadcast at 06:05 today] SUN SUN MON MONDAY 24 DECEMBER 2012 MON MON 00:00 Midnight News b01pf2vn (Listen) MON The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. MON Followed by Weather. MON MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed b01pc37z (Listen) MON Female jockeys; military migrants MON MON Military Migrants and the British Army. From Fiji to Ghana, MON the British military recruits soldiers to fight Britain's MON wars. Since 1998 overseas recruitment has been stepped up in MON response to labour shortages and diversity programmes. The MON sociologist, Vron Ware, talks to Laurie Taylor about her new MON book 'Military Migrants: Fighting for Your Country'. She MON argues that this new category of soldier inhabits a MON contradictory situation - on the one hand, praised as a MON 'hero' but on the other, stigmatised as an 'immigrant' and MON 'foreigner'. They're joined by the sociologist, Les Back. MON Also, Deborah Butler discusses her research on trainee MON female jockeys in the horse racing world. MON MON Producer: Jayne Egerton. MON MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday b01pf6db (Listen) MON [Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday] MON MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast b01pf2vq (Listen) MON The latest shipping forecast. MON MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes b01pf2vs (Listen) MON BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. MON MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast b01pf2vv (Listen) MON The latest shipping forecast. MON MON 05:30 News Briefing b01pf2vx (Listen) MON The latest news from BBC Radio 4. MON MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day b01pftb2 (Listen) MON A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day Archbishop MON Vincent Nichols. MON MON 05:45 Farming Today b01pftb4 (Listen) MON A third of sprouts grown in the UK will be harvested in the MON Christmas fortnight. Charlotte Smith meets the team MON harvesting tonnes of the festive favourite on a Yorkshire MON farm. MON MON This programme is presented by Charlotte Smith and produced MON in Birmingham by Angela Frain. MON MON 05:57 Weather b01pf2vz (Listen) MON The latest weather forecast for farmers. MON MON 06:00 Today b01pftb6 (Listen) MON Morning news and current affairs with John Humphrys and Evan MON Davis. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day. MON MON 09:00 Start the Week b01pftb8 (Listen) MON The Human Voice: Rolando Villazon and Mark-Anthony Turnage MON MON In a special recording of Start the Week, Andrew Marr MON explores the power of the human voice. From the emotional MON intensity of the tenor Rolando Villazón, singing Rodolfo in MON La Boheme, to the art of writing for the voice with the MON composer Mark-Anthony Turnage. Mary King trains the voice, MON and the neuro-psychiatrist Michael Trimble examines our MON reactions to it. MON MON 09:45 Book of the Week b01pftbb (Listen) MON Three Houses, Episode 1 MON MON A beautifully nostalgic childhood memoir of Britain in the MON late 1890s, written by the eminent author Angela Thirkell. MON She recalls in rich detail, and with a delightful sense of MON humour, the three houses which were seminal to her youth. MON MON The first is The Grange in North End Lane, Fulham, which was MON home to her grandfather, the pre-Raphaelite artist Edward MON Burne-Jones. She recalls that every Sunday her grandparents MON kept open house for their friends and that, given the MON chance, she would slip away from the august gathering to MON explore her grandfather's studio: "Sinister people called MON models lived there who had trays taken up to them at lunch MON and tea-time". MON MON Read by Sian Thomas. MON Abridged and produced by Jane Marshall MON A Jane Marshall production for BBC Radio 4. MON MON 10:00 Woman's Hour b01pftbd (Listen) MON Tracey Thorn, Diana Henry MON MON Tracey Thorn, of Everything But The Girl, plays songs from MON her new Christmas album and talks about what makes the MON perfect festive hit. Chef Diana Henry creates a delicious MON last minute gift. All you need is a jar, some fruit and MON quite a lot of booze. Presented by Jane Garvey. MON Producer: Dianne McGregor. MON MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama b01pftbg (Listen) MON A Little Twist of Dahl, Taste MON MON A series of stories by Roald Dahl MON Dramatised by Stephen Sheridan. MON MON Episode 1: Taste MON MON Charles Dance leads the cast as the urbane Storyteller in MON dramatisations of five classic tales by Roald Dahl. Bizarre MON and amusing by turns, these black comedies are justly famous MON for their surprise endings. MON MON The stories show Dahl at the height of his powers as a MON writer of adult fiction. They are stylishly plotted, vividly MON characterised and made unforgettable by their breezy MON cynicism, presenting as they do, a hilariously bleak view of MON family life. Their satisfying conclusions invariably leave MON bullies, schemers, adulterers and frauds soundly punished. MON MON In Taste, whenever Mike Schofield and Richard Pratt dine MON together, they play a little game. If Pratt, a conceited MON wine buff, can identify a rare vintage in a blind tasting, MON he wins a case of the wine in question. When Schofield MON boasts that he has acquired a wine whose obscurity renders MON it unguessable, Pratt suggests they increase their stakes. MON If he fails to identify it, he forfeits both his houses but, MON if he succeeds, he wins the hand of Schofield's delectable MON daughter in marriage. Despite the girl's protests, Schofield MON agrees to the wager. MON MON Produced and Directed by David Blount MON A Pier production for BBC Radio 4. MON MON Credits MON Storyteller: Charles Dance MON Richard Pratt: Jonathan Hyde MON Mike: Mark Heap MON Margaret: Rachel Atkins MON Louise: Charlie Russell MON Housekeeper: Jean Trend MON Director: David Blount MON Producer: David Blount MON Writer: Stephen Sheridan MON MON 11:00 Freedom Pass b01pftbj (Listen) MON It's been a good five years since the series created by MON Christopher Matthew and the late Alan Coren was last MON broadcast - but last Christmas Terry Waite revealed that he MON had been a huge fan of the programme in which the two would MON would hop on a bus to see where it takes them - MON geographically, historically and conversationally. So much MON of a fan that Terry even suggested that, were the MON opportunity ever to occur, he would be delighted to take MON Alan's place for another outing of the programme. MON MON What the original series of Freedom Pass managed to do was MON to introduce the idea of two sixty-year-old men engaged upon MON journeys of discovery not merely of the London bus system MON but also of themselves. Their aim was, in their own words, MON "to travel the bus routes together, rabbiting as we go. MON about the history inside us and outside us, about the people MON and events, the books and films, politics and wars, loves MON and hates, that are jolted out of our twin and joint MON memories by the places that the buses --- both intentionally MON and serendipitously --- take us past and to." MON MON It struck Christopher that this same aim, philosophy even, MON would lend itself beautifully to a special one-off jaunt MON with Terry Waite. Given the extra meaning that the word MON 'Freedom' would bring to a bus journey with, as Christopher MON puts it, "this splendid man at my side", the two met at MON London Bridge Station and made their way by bus to Trafalgar MON Square. Their travels and their musings took them past St MON Paul's Cathedral, university life, Fleet Street and MON assisting in amputations. MON MON Producer: Paul Kobrak. MON MON 11:30 The Magic Faraway Tree b01pftbl (Listen) MON Rick Comes to Stay MON MON Wisha, wisha, wisha. MON MON Playfulness, soundscape and oddity above the rustling leaves MON of Blyton's Magic Faraway Tree. MON MON In the centre of the Enchanted Wood is the Faraway Tree. MON Home to Moonface, Silky and Saucepan Man; its upper branches MON stretch into cloud-hosted dimensions of strange and magical MON lands. MON MON In this two-part abridged adaptation of Enid Blyton's MON classic children's tale, BBC Radio 4 swoops voices from the MON world of entertainment into the mystical lands above. MON MON Featuring Johnny Vegas as Moonface, Nigel Planer as Saucepan MON and Lucy Beaumont (Winner of the BBC's New Comedy Awards MON 2012) as Silky. MON MON Episode 1 of 2: Rick Comes to Stay MON MON Narrator..............................Ronni Ancona MON Rick...................................Billy Kennedy MON Joe.....................................Alex Clarke MON Frannie...............................Nell Tiger Free MON Beth...................................Tess Fontaine MON Moonface............................Johnny Vegas MON Silky...................................Lucy Beaumont MON Saucepan............................Nigel Planer MON Mother.................................Joanna Hall MON Angry Pixie..........................Wayne Forester MON MON Written by Enid Blyton MON Adapted for radio by Andrew Lynch MON MON Music composed and arranged by Phase Music MON MON Directed by Johnny Vegas MON Produced by Sally Harrison MON A Woolyback Production for BBC Radio 4. MON MON 12:00 You and Yours b01pftn9 (Listen) MON Christmas travel special - changing tourism and new MON destinations MON MON In this You and Yours travel special, we're uncovering MON overlooked or less accessible destinations from every part MON of the UK. They include a new ski resort in Scotland, a MON neglected gem in the north east of England, a yurt farm in MON the Cambrian mountains of Wales and next year's European MON City of Culture - Derry in Northern Ireland. MON MON We also hear about the upsurge in package holidays from the MON world's biggest tour operator, why Derby is wowing MON wheelchair users and the once and hopefully future spiritual MON delights of Damascus. MON MON And we'll also tell you where to look for bargains in the MON Boxing Day travel sales. MON MON 12:57 Weather b01pf2w1 (Listen) MON The latest weather forecast. MON MON 13:00 World at One b01pftnc (Listen) MON Shaun Ley presents national and international news. MON Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or MON on twitter: #wato. MON MON 13:45 Grimm Thoughts b01pftnf (Listen) MON Episode 6 MON MON When the Grimm brothers first published their Children's and MON Household Tales in 1812, in a scholarly effort to collate a MON national identity of the people, it was the beginning of an MON obsessive project of two intricately interwoven lifetimes. MON MON To mark the bicentenary of the first edition, writer and MON mythographer Marina Warner explores the many compelling and MON often controversial aspects of the tales in a 10-part MON series, revealing new insights into the stories we think we MON know so well, and introducing us to the charms and MON challenges of those that we don't. MON MON Alongside beautifully narrated extracts from the tales MON themselves, renowned academics and artists who work closely MON with the Grimm's rich heritage add to our understanding of MON these deceptively complex stories. MON MON In the sixth episode, we learn how these tales which had MON been lovingly collected to preserve a sense of national MON identity, were adopted and retold by the Nazis for the MON purposes of their brutal propaganda machine. MON MON The humour is stripped from The Boy Who Set Out to Learn MON Fear, Red Riding Hood's gallant rescuer is given a swastika MON armband, and the dark undercurrents to the morals we might MON once have innocently accepted become uncomfortably apparent. MON We also explore the tangled post-war effort to reclaim the MON Grimms' tales for a more positive purpose, featuring MON discussion of The Singing Ringing Tree, the East German film MON that thrilled the young and old of German and British MON audiences alike. MON MON Producer: Kevin Dawson MON A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4. MON MON 14:00 The Archers b01pf7kk (Listen) MON [Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday] MON MON 14:15 Afternoon Drama b01pftnh (Listen) MON The Barber of Shavingham MON MON by Rob Castell and Tom Sadler MON MON A joyous musical comedy from the multi-award-winning MON acapella group Barbershopera. A Spanish matador, inherits a MON barber shop in the sleepy Norfolk town of Shavingham. MON MON Producer: Ben Walker MON MON Esteve Johnson, a flamboyant Spanish matador, arrives in the MON sleepy seaside town of Shavingham, Norfolk to claim his MON inheritance after his estranged barber father's sudden MON death. At first viewed with suspicion, Esteve wins over the MON locals, falls for beautiful town crier Vicky and starts a MON turf war with rival hairdresser Trevor Sorbet. MON MON Recorded in front of an enthusiastic radio theatre audience MON and performed in pitch-perfect five-part harmony this is an MON upbeat, funny and fantastical play about family, loyalty, MON love and hairdressing. It is adapted from an award-winning MON live comedy musical (Best Lyrics Musical Theatre Matters MON Award) which sold out in Edinburgh, plus a 5 week London MON West End run and national tour. MON MON "All of the performances are terrific - each perfectly MON blending sharp comic timing with effortless singing. The MON story is surprisingly touching. You'll find yourself caring MON about the characters despite, or even because of, the fact MON that they're so silly. If you're sick of plays with dismal MON subject matter, then this is the one to really cheer you MON up." (The Scotsman reviewing the live version of 'The Barber MON Of Shavingham') MON MON The Barber of Shavingham was commissioned as part of Radio MON 4's 'New Directions' Innovation Strand. MON Cast and characters MON MON Credits MON Esteve Johnson: Rob Castell MON Rod Barnet: Pete Sorel-Cameron MON Vicky Barnet: Lara Stubbs MON Farmer Matty: Will Kenning MON Trevor Sorbet: Tom Sadler MON Producer: Ben Walker MON Writer: Rob Castell MON Writer: Tom Sadler MON MON 15:00 A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols b01pftnk (Listen) MON For many people around the world, A Festival of Nine Lessons MON and Carols, live from the candlelit chapel of King's MON College, Cambridge, marks the beginning of Christmas. It is MON based around nine Bible readings which tell the story of the MON loving purposes of God. They are interspersed with carols MON old and new, sung by the world famous chapel choir who also MON lead the congregation in traditional Christmas hymns. MON MON Once in Royal David's City (descant Ledger) MON Bidding Prayer read by the Dean MON Ding, dong, ding (arr. Woodward) MON First lesson: Genesis 3, vv 8-19 read by a Chorister MON Herefordshire Carol (arr Vaughan Williams) MON Adam lay ybounden (Christopher Brown) MON Second lesson: Genesis 22 vv 15-18 read by a Choral Scholar MON Good Christian men (arr Ledger) MON The holly and the ivy (arr Walford Davies) MON Third lesson: Isaiah 9 vv 2, 6-7 read by a Member of College MON Staff MON Nowell sing we now all and some (medieval) MON Unto us is born a Son (arr Willcocks) MON Fourth lesson: Isaiah 11 vv 1-3a, 4a, 6-9 read by a MON Representative of the City of Cambridge MON A spotless rose (Ledger) MON Ring out, wild bells (Carl Vine - first performance, MON commissioned by King's College) MON Fifth lesson: Luke 1 vv 26-35, 38 read by the Master Over MON the Choristers MON Gabriel's message (arr Pettman) MON The Cherry Tree Carol (arr Cleobury) MON Sixth lesson: Luke 2 vv 1, 3-7 read by the Chaplain MON Away in a manger (arr Willcocks) MON All bells in paradise (Rutter) MON Seventh lesson: Luke 2 vv 8-16 read by the Director of Music MON In the bleak midwinter (Darke) MON While shepherds watched (descant Cleobury) MON Eighth lesson: Matthew 2 vv 1-12 read by the Vice-Provost MON Three Kings from Persian Lands (Cornelius arr Atkins) MON Sir Christèmas (William Mathias) MON Ninth lesson: John 1 vv 1-14 read by the Provost MON O come, all ye faithful (arr Willcocks) MON Collect and Blessing MON Hark, the Herald Angels Sing (descant Ledger) MON Organ voluntaries: MON In dulci jubilo BWV 729 (Bach) MON Toccata Op 5 (Duruflé ) [broadcast on Radio 3 on Christmas MON Day only] MON MON Director of Music: Stephen Cleobury MON Organ Scholar: Parker Ramsay MON Producer: Simon Vivian. MON BBC Blog: A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols MON MON 16:30 The Infinite Monkey Cage b01pfv8r (Listen) MON Series 7, Christmas Special MON MON Brian Cox and Robin Ince get into the Christmas spirit as MON they look at the science of christmas behaviour with MON Actor/writer Mark Gatiss, geneticist Steve Jones, MON psychologist Richard Wiseman and emeritus Dean of Guildford MON Cathedral Victor Stock. MON MON 17:00 PM b01pfv8w (Listen) MON Paddy O'Connell with interviews, context and analysis. MON MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News b01pf2w3 (Listen) MON The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. MON MON 18:15 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue b01pfv8y (Listen) MON Christmas Special MON MON In celebration of its 40th Anniversary this year, Radio 4's MON perennial antidote to panel games presents a specially MON extended Christmas edition of the show. Programme regulars MON Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined MON on the panel by Stephen Fry, with Jack Dee as the MON programme's reluctant chairman. Regular listeners will know MON to expect inspired nonsense, pointless revelry and Colin MON Sell at the piano. Producer - Jon Naismith. MON Christmas Special: behind-the-scenes MON MON 19:00 The Archers b01pfv90 (Listen) MON Mike's in the mood for dancing, and Neil needs back-up. MON MON 19:15 Front Row b01pfv92 (Listen) MON People of the Year 2012, part 2 MON MON Mark Lawson unwraps interviews with arts headline makers of MON 2012, in the second of two programmes. MON MON Writer E L James reflects on a year in which she became a MON global publishing phenomenon, with her best-selling trilogy MON which began with Fifty Shades of Grey. MON MON Mark looks back at the Olympic Opening Ceremony, with MON director Danny Boyle and designer Thomas Heatherwick, who MON created the highly original cauldron for the Olympic flame. MON MON Singer Emeli Sandé remembers how nervous she felt moments MON before performing at the Opening Ceremony, and discusses a MON year in which she has become one of the UK's most MON high-profile musicians. MON MON Broadcaster and writer Clare Balding considers her role as a MON presenter at the Olympic and Paralympic games, and reveals MON how she allowed her mother three chances to veto content in MON her best-selling memoir, published this year. MON MON Writer Lolita Chakrabarti and actor Adrian Lester talk about MON their collaboration on the acclaimed play Red Velvet, based MON on the life of Ira Aldridge, an African-American actor whose MON arrival on the 19th century London stage provoked debate and MON dissent. MON MON Producer Ella-mai Robey. MON MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama b01pftbg (Listen) MON [Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today] MON MON 20:00 Earworms b01ng2qz (Listen) MON Earworms are those nagging songs you find yourself humming MON on the bus. MON MON In this programme, music presenter Shaun Keaveny meets MON fellow sufferers and scientists to find out why songs get MON stuck in our head. He asks songwriter Guy Garvey from Elbow MON how to write a catchy tune and discovers the Holy Grail of MON musicians everywhere - the 'earworm formula'. MON MON For the past three years on his 6 Music breakfast show, MON Shaun has been asking listeners to send in their earworms. MON When psychologist Dr Lauren Stewart found out, she was MON fascinated by this strange mental phenomenon. Together MON they've compiled the largest study on earworms to date, with MON over 10,000 reports from people around the world. MON MON Lauren and her team at Goldsmiths have found that some MON people are particularly susceptible to earworms. Plus they MON are starting to discover that certain songs are more MON 'earwormy' than others. MON MON So is there a secret formula behind the world's catchiest MON tunes? MON MON Producer: Michelle Martin. MON Shaun Keaveny on BBC 6 Music MON "I am particularly susceptible to earworms" MON MON 20:30 Crossing Continents b01pcs5q (Listen) MON Poland's New Immigrants MON MON For decades, Poland has been a country of emigrants MON travelling to build new lives abroad, not least in the UK. MON But could things be about to change? Paul Henley travels to MON the country at the eastern edge of the EU, where the MON financial crisis has, so far, been avoided. He meets the MON migrants already making a life in Europe's least MON multicultural society, and explores the conditions that MON suggest Poland could be on the cusp of becoming a MON destination; home to a new wave of migrants. MON Producer: Lila Allen. MON Europe Moves East MON China's Migrant Worker Mega-City MON A Dangerous Road into Europe MON MON 21:00 Material World b01pcs67 (Listen) MON This week Quentin Cooper looks at new research into the MON usefulness of I Q tests. The hundred year old measure of MON intelligence has often been derided for being culturally MON biased, sexist and unfairly divisive. Now the largest ever MON study of IQ tests examines asks what such tests really MON measure and how far they can provide a useful way to compare MON the abilities of different people. MON MON We also look to Antarctica, a project to drill through the MON frozen surface of Lake Ellsworth has been suspended due to MON problems with a hot water powered drill. Scientists hope to MON resume drilling by Christmas day and obtain samples for MON their search for life forms that may have existed for MON millennia below the lakes frozen surface. MON MON We talk to Alexander Kumar a doctor who has spent the past 9 MON months living in Antarctica as part of an European Space MON Agency project to look at the physiological and MON psychological impact of extreme cold and isolation - which MON ESA hopes will help inform future long distance space MON missions to other planets. MON MON And we hear from children's presenters Dick and Dom about MON their new science series 'How Dangerous' which is being MON broadcast on 4 Extra starting on Christmas Eve. MON MON 21:30 Start the Week b01pfv94 (Listen) MON The Human Voice: Rolando Villazon and Mark-Anthony Turnage MON MON In a special recording of Start the Week, Andrew Marr MON explores the power of the human voice. From the emotional MON intensity of the tenor Rolando Villazón, singing Rodolfo in MON La Boheme, to the art of writing for the voice with the MON composer Mark-Anthony Turnage. Mary King trains the voice, MON and the neuro-psychiatrist Michael Trimble examines our MON reactions to it. MON MON 21:58 Weather b01pf2w5 (Listen) MON The latest weather forecast. MON MON 22:00 The World Tonight b01pfv96 (Listen) MON Ritula Shah presents national and international news and MON analysis. MON MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime b01pfv98 (Listen) MON Frenchman's Creek, Episode 1 MON MON Part adventure, part romance, and set in Cornwall, Daphne Du MON Maurier's novel tells the powerful love story between Lady MON Dona and the French pirate Aubery. MON MON Episode 1 MON Lady Dona St Columb flees high society London for the family MON estate in Cornwall, only to discover that a stranger has MON been sleeping in her bed. MON MON Read by Adjoa Andoh MON Abridged by Eileen Horne MON Produced by Clive Brill MON A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4. MON MON 23:00 Word of Mouth b01p9l1x (Listen) MON Under the Influence MON MON Michael Rosen returns for a new series with an investigation MON into the effects of alcohol on speech and voice quality. MON Michael talks to psychologists at the University of MON Liverpool and listens to some of the controlled experiments MON they're carrying out with undergraduates both sober and MON intoxicated. He looks at research into the perfect pub song, MON and beer writer Pete Brown talks about the quintessential MON hum of pub chat. And we visit the Royal College of Music to MON discuss voice care and the kinds of food and drink MON professional singers have to avoid in order to prolong their MON careers. MON MON Producer: Chris Ledgard. MON MON 23:30 Midnight Mass b01pfv9b (Listen) MON Glory to the new born King MON Radio 4 visits the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King MON in Liverpool for the first Mass of Christmas in the company MON of a congregation of nearly two thousand people. The MON Principal Celebrant is the Rt Revd Thomas Williams, MON Auxiliary Bishop of Liverpool, assisted by the Dean and MON Clergy of the Cathedral. The cathedral choir, directed by MON Christopher McElroy sings Haydn's St Nicholas Mass, carols MON and Christmas music with organ (Richard Lea) and brass to MON celebrate the birth of Jesus, the light of the world. MON Producer: Clair Jaquiss. MON MON TUE TUESDAY 25 DECEMBER 2012 TUE TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast b01pf2x6 (Listen) TUE The latest shipping forecast. TUE TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes b01pf2x8 (Listen) TUE BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. TUE TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast b01pf2xb (Listen) TUE The latest shipping forecast. TUE TUE 05:30 News Briefing b01pf2xd (Listen) TUE The latest news from BBC Radio 4. TUE TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day b01pfwh8 (Listen) TUE A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day Archbishop TUE Vincent Nichols. TUE TUE 05:45 Farming Today b01pfwhb (Listen) TUE Highclere Castle is famous around the world as the location TUE for the TV programme Downton Abbey. But when the cameras TUE have left, it is business as usual for the 2,000 acre farm, TUE woodland and grounds. In the special Christmas Day edition TUE of Farming Today, Anna Hill meets the team who manage the TUE estate. TUE TUE This programme is presented by Anna Hill and produced in TUE Birmingham by Sarah Swadling. TUE TUE 06:00 Food and Farming Awards b01p0vfj (Listen) TUE BBC Food and Farming Awards 2012 TUE TUE Sheila Dillon and Valentine Warner present the 13th, annual, TUE BBC Food & Farming Awards, featuring Angela Hartnett, TUE Raymond Blanc, Paul Hollywood and Countryfile's Adam Henson. TUE TUE Recorded at the BBC Good Food Show, inside the NEC, TUE Birmingham, chefs, food writers and drinks experts announce TUE the winners in nine different categories, from Best Street TUE Food or Takeaway to Best Food Market. TUE TUE The event was the climax of a six month search for the best TUE of British food and drink and the event proved to be a rich TUE mix of food stories are on offer. A perfect start to TUE Christmas morning. TUE TUE Producer: Dan Saladino. TUE TUE 07:00 HV Morton: Travelling into the Light b01mqr4t (Listen) TUE As John McCarthy retraces one of the journeys of H V Morton TUE he presents a revealing portrait of this influential travel TUE writer. TUE TUE Witty, erudite and engaging, H V Morton was Britain's first TUE truly popular travel writer. TUE TUE His success was assured when he covered the opening of TUE Tutankhamun's tomb in 1923. His book In Search of England, TUE published four years later, launched a bestselling series TUE and set a benchmark for all travel writers. TUE TUE Using In Search of England as a reference, McCarthy TUE recreates Morton's journey around Devon and explores the TUE changes to the landscape over the past eighty years. TUE TUE On his travels he uncovers two Mortons. The book's narrator TUE is a welcoming, cheerful man who rolls along the roads of TUE England in a two-seater car to compose his skilfully-crafted TUE considerations; and then there's the writer Harry Morton, a TUE more complex individual whose literary achievements mask a TUE complicated private life. TUE TUE McCarthy's journey, echoing the pages of chapter six of In TUE Search of England, takes him around Dartmoor, Widecombe and TUE finally Clovelly. As he absorbs the areas he visited himself TUE as a child he reflects on the influence of Morton and brings TUE into the light the darker corners of the life of this TUE pioneering travel writer. TUE TUE Produced in Salford by Stephen Garner with readings by Joss TUE Ackland TUE TUE John McCarthy visited Dartmoor, The Warren Inn, Widecombe in TUE the Moor and the historic fishing village of Clovelly. Click TUE on the links to discover more about these places and the TUE life and work of H V Morton. TUE TUE In Search of England TUE TUE In Search of H V Morton TUE The first authorised biography of one of the best-selling TUE travel writers of all time TUE TUE 07:30 Eric Sykes - The Radio Years b0088z58 (Listen) TUE The late and much missed Eric Sykes, in conversation with TUE Paul Jackson, reflects back on his radio years writing TUE scripts for Frankie Howerd, Archie Andrews and the Goons. TUE TUE Producer: Paul Kobrak. TUE TUE 08:00 The Kitchen Cabinet b01pfwhd (Listen) TUE Series 3, Christmas Special TUE TUE For this special Christmas edition of The Kitchen Cabinet, TUE Jay Rayner and the team are with food-lovers in Hoxton, TUE London. TUE TUE On the panel and full of festive cheer is food historian TUE Annie Gray; renowned Michelin Star chef Angela Hartnett; TUE cook, writer, and co-founder of the Leon restaurant chain, TUE Henry Dimbleby; and Glaswegian cook and expert on Catalan TUE cooking, Rachel McCormack. TUE TUE The team tackle Christmas eating, including talking about TUE the best ways of cooking and carving a turkey, vegetarian TUE options for Christmas dinner if not an obvious nut roast, TUE and if it's possible to shoe-horn deep-frying into Christmas TUE cooking. TUE TUE They pit Henry's modern mince pies against Annie's Tudor TUE version that contains meat, and take questions on exciting TUE ways to use-up leftovers and the best ways to dress your TUE festive vegetables. TUE TUE Food Consultant: Anna Colquhoun. TUE TUE Produced by Robert Abel and Peggy Sutton. TUE A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4. TUE TUE 08:30 Ed Reardon's Week b01pfwhg (Listen) TUE Ed Reardon at Christmas TUE TUE It Started in August TUE TUE Celebrate Christmas with Radio 4's favourite curmudgeonly TUE author, Ed Reardon, and his faithful companion Elgar. TUE It's Christmas Day and where is Ed Reardon spending it? The TUE scepticism of his writing class back in August about where TUE Ed would be hanging his stocking, wasn't entirely misplaced, TUE and receiving a Christmas card from one's girlfriend signed TUE without a kiss and her surname added in brackets probably TUE doesn't bode well. However, all is not lost as Ed's jocular TUE round robin email to his family inviting himself to join TUE their Christmas celebrations wasn't all in vain - there was TUE at least one member of the family who didn't bounce it back. TUE So, following assurances that his requirements would be TUE minimal, his levels of merriment would be Dionysian and a TUE small caveat about what he regards as permissible Christmas TUE viewing Ed is encouraged to think that he won't be spending TUE Christmas alone. Or he could be looking at a day with only TUE Elgar, an Oxo cube and a cinnamon stick. TUE TUE Ed Reardon....Christopher Douglas TUE Fiona......Jenny Agutter TUE Olive........Stephanie Cole TUE Jaz Milvain......Philip Jackson TUE Pearl..........Rita May TUE Ping........Barunka O'Shaughnessy TUE Stan........Geoffrey Whitehead TUE TUE Written by Andrew Nickolds and Christopher Douglas TUE Produced by Dawn Ellis. TUE TUE 09:00 Christmas Service b01pfwhj (Listen) TUE 'A Right Royal Christmas' - Bishop Richard Chartres preaches TUE from the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, Tower of London at TUE the close of a remarkable Diamond Jubilee Year. Bishop TUE Stephen Oliver and Chaplain to the Queen and Chaplain to HM TUE Tower of London, The Revd Roger Hall MBE, are joined by TUE members of the community who today live within the walls of TUE the Tower in this joyful act of worship for Christmas TUE morning which will draw parallels and contrasts between the TUE Kingship of Jesus Christ and some of the Royal happenings TUE for which the Tower of London is famous. The Choir of the TUE Chapels Royal, HM Tower of London present a feast of lively TUE and popular carols including the Christmas morning favourite TUE 'I Saw Three Ships.' Music Director: Colm Carey with TUE organist Andrew Arthur. Producer: Mark O'Brien. TUE TUE 09:45 Book of the Week b01pfwhl (Listen) TUE Three Houses, Episode 2 TUE TUE The author Angela Thirkell recalls her home in Kensington TUE Square in the late 1890s, popping in to visit her neighbour, TUE Auntie Stella aka Mrs Patrick Campbell, and the tea-time TUE visits from her adoring grandfather, the artist Edward TUE Burne-Jones, who kept a pad of paper at her house to draw TUE her enchanting pictures. TUE TUE Read by Sian Thomas. TUE Abridged and produced by Jane Marshall TUE A Jane Marshall production for BBC Radio 4. TUE TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour b01pfwhn (Listen) TUE Miranda Hart, Allegra McEvedy TUE TUE Jenni Murray and Jane Garvey host an extended edition of TUE Woman's Hour. Comedian Miranda Hart discusses her new TUE series; Kirstie Allsopp, Anna Friel and Jessica Ennis share TUE their Xmas plans and we hear about some unusual ways of TUE spending the holiday, there are tips from the chefs Mary TUE Berry, Monica Galetti and Allegra McEvedy and Susy Atkins TUE mixes the perfect pre-lunch aperitif. Plus music from the TUE Ruby Dolls and some special presents. TUE Producer Louise Corley. TUE TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama b01pfwhq (Listen) TUE A Little Twist of Dahl, The Way up to Heaven TUE TUE A series of stories by Roald Dahl TUE Dramatised by Stephen Sheridan. TUE TUE Episode 2: The Way Up To Heaven TUE TUE In The Way Up To Heaven, despite living in a New York TUE mansion so vast that it requires its own elevator, the TUE Fosters are not a happy couple. Mrs Foster has a TUE pathological fear of being late and her husband deliberately TUE torments her by doing everything as slowly as he can. When TUE she accepts an invitation to visit France, he insists on TUE taking her to the airport only to leave her waiting outside TUE in the car. Nearly hysterical, she goes to see what's TUE keeping him but, when she reaches the front door, she hears TUE a particular sound and realises, if she's cunning, she need TUE never be late again.. TUE TUE Produced and Directed by David Blount TUE A Pier production for BBC Radio 4. TUE TUE Credits TUE Storyteller: Charles Dance TUE Mr Foster: Kerry Shale TUE Driver: Kerry Shale TUE Mrs Foster: Lorelei King TUE Walker: Richard Attlee TUE Director: David Blount TUE Producer: David Blount TUE Writer: Stephen Sheridan TUE TUE 11:00 Woman's Hour b01pfyfg (Listen) TUE Jenni Murray and Jane Garvey host an extended edition of TUE Woman's Hour. Comedian Miranda Hart discusses her new TUE series; Kirstie Allsopp, Anna Friel and Jessica Ennis share TUE their Xmas plans and we hear about some unusual ways of TUE spending the holiday, there are tips from the chefs Mary TUE Berry, Monica Galetti and Allegra McEvedy and Susy Atkins TUE mixes the perfect pre-lunch aperitif. Plus music from the TUE Ruby Dolls and some special presents. TUE Producer Louise Corley. TUE TUE 11:30 Saving Species b01pfwhs (Listen) TUE Series 3, British Overseas Territories TUE TUE Howard Stableford is in the chair for this Christmas Day TUE Saving Species. On this day our thoughts are about spending TUE time at home with our family, so for this week's episode TUE Howard is looking at the UK's extended family with a TUE programme on conservation in some of the British Overseas TUE Territories. TUE TUE We report on the news that a rare and highly endangered frog TUE from Monserrat and Dominica in the Caribbean has TUE successfully bred in London Zoo. Ed Drewitt discusses with TUE Dr Ian Stephen this last chance conservation effort to save TUE the Mountain chicken frog threatened with the Chytrid TUE fungus; a disease fatal to 2/3 of all amphibians. TUE TUE From tropical seas to the windswept island of S Georgia TUE where the largest rat eradication project in the world is TUE about to happen. Team Rat set off in January to save the TUE albatrosses and petrels that nest on the sub-Antarctic eden TUE from being eaten by rodents. TUE TUE Howard discusses the establishment of marine conservation TUE areas around the overseas territories with Alistair Gammell TUE of the PEW Foundation. Overseas Territories are not just the TUE land itself, it includes the seas that surround them for 200 TUE nautical miles and include some of the richest seas in the TUE world. Howard then questions the DEFRA Minister for TUE Biodiversity, Richard Benyon, what the UK plans to do to TUE help protect the precious places that make up British TUE Overseas Territories. TUE TUE Presenter Howard Stableford TUE Producer Mary Colwell TUE Editor Julian Hector. TUE TUE 12:00 With Great Pleasure b01pfwzw (Listen) TUE With Great Pleasure at Christmas TUE TUE A festive edition of the programme which invites a celebrity TUE to raid their memories in search of the pieces of writing TUE and music which best sum up their lives. Fi Glover, one of TUE the BBC's most cherished radio presenters, steps up with a TUE wonderfully varied selection of readings, from a nursery TUE rhyme to Aristotle by way of Alan Bennett and John Mortimer. TUE She even includes a fully-practical recipe for a very TUE special dessert. TUE TUE The readers are Rosie Cavaliero and Mark Meadows, who are TUE joined by poet Kate Fox, and the Exultate Singers provide TUE the finishing celebratory touch. TUE TUE Producer Christine Hall. TUE TUE 12:57 Weather b01pf2xg (Listen) TUE The latest weather forecast. TUE TUE 13:00 News Briefing b01pfwzy (Listen) TUE The latest news from BBC Radio 4. TUE TUE 13:15 Grease Was Our World b01pth5g (Listen) TUE Grease has entertained audiences for over 50 years, first on TUE stage from 1971 and then on film in 1978. Somewhere near you TUE Danny, Sandy and the Pink Ladies will be hand jiving their TUE way through a pastiche 1950's that is a happy fantasy almost TUE entirely detached from the Eisenhower years. But the true TUE roots of Grease lie far away from the palm trees and sunlit TUE corridors of Travolta's Rydell High. TUE TUE Alan Dein searches for its roots amongst the streets of TUE Norwood Park in North West Chicago and the city's suburbs TUE with creator Jim Jacobs. There he encounters a much earthier TUE world of 1950's teenage America. Enter a universe of drag TUE races, boy bikers, teen rumbles and the real Pink Ladies! A TUE world where the Slop Shop and the Parse's Red Hots played TUE host to the Imperials, Goombahs, Ventures and The Outlaws. TUE Tough kids who created a new kind of life for themselves far TUE removed from their immigrant parent desires. Now in their TUE 70's they reveal the real world of Grease and the true TUE models for Sandy, Danny, Rizzo and Kenickie whilst Dein and TUE Jacobs explore the very first and very different version of TUE Grease that opened in the spring of 1971 before its TUE transformation first on Broadway and then Hollywood. TUE TUE Producer: Mark Burman. TUE TUE 13:45 Grimm Thoughts b01pfx02 (Listen) TUE Episode 7 TUE TUE Oedipal struggle in Cinderella; oral fixation in Hansel and TUE Gretel; Little Red Riding Hood and attachment complex! TUE Writers, psychologists and therapists have read deeper TUE meanings into the Grimms' fairy tales. They have long been TUE the subject of Freudian and Jungian interpretations and TUE continue to be used by therapists and self-help authors TUE today. In today's seventh episode of the series, we put the TUE tales on the couch and discuss with psychoanalyst Susie TUE Orbach their primal capacity to take on the unreal form of a TUE dream. TUE TUE Producer: Kevin Dawson TUE A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4. TUE TUE 14:00 The Archers b01pfv90 (Listen) TUE [Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday] TUE TUE 14:15 Afternoon Drama b01pfx04 (Listen) TUE Rumpole, Rumpole and the Expert Witness TUE TUE Written by by John Mortimer. Adapted for radio by Richard TUE Stoneman. TUE TUE Benedict Cumberbatch and Timothy West star in this new TUE Rumpole story. TUE TUE It's 1964. Rumpole is asked to defend a GP, Dr Ned Dacre, TUE who is accused of murdering his wife, Sally. Dr Ned Dacre's TUE father is also a GP, Dr Henry Dacre, and it is he who asks TUE Rumpole to take on the case. TUE TUE Dr Henry met Rumpole during the Penge Bungalow Murder trial TUE and believes Rumpole's the man to get his son off this TUE trumped-up charge. The plot thickens when the local TUE pathologist, Pamela Gall, turns out to be an old flame of Dr TUE Ned's. It seems that Pamela never forgave Dr Ned for dumping TUE her and marrying Sally instead. TUE TUE Director: Marilyn Imrie TUE A Catherine Bailey production for BBC Radio 4. TUE TUE Credits TUE Older Rumpole: Timothy West TUE Younger Rumpole: Benedict Cumberbatch TUE Hilda Rumpole: Jasmine Hyde TUE Nicholas Rumpole: Louis Tafler-Hyde TUE Erskine-Brown: Nigel Anthony TUE Owen Munroe QC: Nigel Anthony TUE Henry: Adrian Scarborough TUE Dr Ned Dacre: Daniel Weyman TUE Dr Harry Dacre: Ewan Bailey TUE Judge Carstairs: Ewan Bailey TUE Dr Pamela Gall: Claire Skinner TUE Director: Marilyn Imrie TUE Producer: Catherine Bailey TUE Writer: Richard Stoneman TUE TUE 15:00 HM The Queen b01pfxhv (Listen) TUE The Queen's Christmas message to the Commonwealth and the TUE nation, followed by the national anthem. TUE TUE 15:05 News Briefing b01pfxhx (Listen) TUE The latest news from BBC Radio 4. TUE TUE 15:15 Pick of the Year b01pfxhz (Listen) TUE In the New Year, Senior Announcer Harriet Cass leaves Radio TUE 4 but before her departure she chooses her favourite moments TUE from BBC Radio in 2012. TUE TUE Included in her choices are children's voices talking about TUE trout and haircuts, disembodied voices in desperate morse TUE code messages signalling Titanic's end, Yorkshire voices TUE searching for the point where language and accent change, TUE great orator's voices - such as Martin Luther King - and TUE voices telling moving and heart-breaking stories. TUE TUE Good Morning Scotland - BBC Radio Scotland TUE The Arse That Jack Built - Radio 4 TUE Today: Leap For Change - Radio 4 TUE The Ice Mountain - Radio 4 TUE Titanic In Her Own Words - Radio 4 TUE Ship of Dreams - Radio 4 TUE Wireless Nights - Radio 4 TUE Soul Music: Brothers in Arms - Radio 4 TUE Today: Obama's Victory Speech - Radio 4 TUE Andrew Peach Show - Radio Berkshire TUE Charlie and Alfie's Breakfast Show: Martin Luther King TUE Archive - Radio Newcastle TUE PM: Leap For Change - Radio 4 TUE Twelfth Night - Radio 3 TUE Old Harry's Game - Radio 4 TUE Shortcuts - Radio 4 TUE In Tune: The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - Radio 3 TUE TUE If there's something you'd like to suggest for next week's TUE programme, please e-mail potw@bbc.co.uk. TUE TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth b01pfxj1 (Listen) TUE Michael Rosen meets linguists, historians, students and TUE sequence dancers to find out why the giving and receiving of TUE compliments can be a complex and dangerous business. He TUE meets language students in Cheltenham and sequence dancers TUE in North London, who each have very different responses to TUE people saying nice things to them. He talks to a personal TUE development tutor and an etiquette coach about the do's and TUE dont's of positive feedback. And he talks to the Swansea TUE linguist studying why people feel uncomfortable with TUE compliments. The difficulty is not the compliment, it's the TUE response. How do you reply positively and politely without TUE sounding arrogant? Michael discovers that our tendency TUE towards post-modern irony makes a sincere compliment a TUE difficult manoeuvre to complete - so even if you can say TUE something nice, it may still be best to say nothing at all. TUE TUE Producer: John Byrne. TUE TUE 16:30 Great Lives b01pfxj3 (Listen) TUE Series 29, Ralph Vaughn Williams TUE TUE Matthew Parris talks to writer, broadcaster and 6Music DJ TUE Stuart Maconie about the life of Ralph Vaughan Williams. The TUE expert witness is Em Marshall-Luck, Chair of the Ralph TUE Vaughan Williams Society and founder-director of the English TUE Music Festival. TUE TUE Producer Christine Hall. TUE TUE 17:00 News Briefing b01pfxj5 (Listen) TUE The latest news from BBC Radio 4. TUE TUE 17:10 Eddie Goes Country b01p2w7d (Listen) TUE PM presenter Eddie Mair has harboured a secret. But no more TUE - it's a lifelong love of Country music. He wants to know TUE why these three chord melodramas call him and many of his TUE fellow Celts. TUE TUE While, to the casual listener, Country is often regarded as TUE a twang of twee tunes and lachrymose lyrics for the TUE permanently melancholic, Eddie suggests that it is actually TUE a 'complex state of mind'. He considers the accessible TUE merits of the music and discovers the roots of Country. TUE TUE Returning to Scotland, Eddie attends the Celtic Connections TUE Music Festival in Glasgow. Here he compares notes, likes and TUE dislikes with fellow broadcaster and Country aficionado TUE Ricky Ross, along with singers Eleanor McEvoy and Dick TUE Gaughan. TUE TUE On hand to explain the 18th century Scots/Irish exodus to TUE America and Canada is emigration historian Professor James TUE Hunter. And providing a master class on the Celtic musical TUE lineage detected in contemporary Country Music is TUE musicologist Dr. Katherine Campbell from Edinburgh TUE University. TUE TUE And for the first time, Eddie will reveal where his musical TUE devotion took root. It began on the Sabbath in a yellow TUE Triumph PI. That almost sounds like the beginning of a TUE Country song... TUE TUE Producers: Jo Coombs and Stewart Henderson TUE A Loftus Audio production for BBC Radio 4. TUE TUE 17:40 Nabokov's Christmas b01pfy5p (Listen) TUE by Vladimir Nabokov. TUE TUE An intensely moving short story about a father mourning the TUE death of his son. On Christmas Eve, a grieving father moves TUE around the family home gathering together some of his son's TUE effects. This leads him to discover things that he did not TUE know about his beloved son and also to find something among TUE his belongings that will renew his will to live. TUE TUE Vladimir Nabokov was born in St. Petersburg in 1899, the TUE eldest son of an aristocratic family. Nabokov is arguably TUE most famous for his 1955 novel LOLITA. TUE TUE Read by Robert Glenister. TUE Produced by Gaynor Macfarlane. TUE TUE 17:54 Shipping Forecast b01pfy5r (Listen) TUE The latest shipping forecast. TUE TUE 17:57 Weather b01pjvps (Listen) TUE The latest weather forecast. TUE TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News b01pf2xj (Listen) TUE The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. TUE TUE 18:15 15 Minute Musical b01pfy5t (Listen) TUE Series 7, A Right Royal Cockney Christmas TUE TUE Let the music play on! TUE TUE Beautifully crafted with astronomically high production TUE values 15 Minute Musical does for your ears what chocolate TUE does for your taste buds. TUE TUE All in fifteen minutes! TUE TUE Episode One: A Right Royal Cockney Christmas TUE TUE Upstairs Downton with the Windsors and the Middletons. TUE TUE Starring: Richie Webb, Dave Lamb, Alex Tregear and Jess TUE Robinson TUE Written by: Richie Webb, Dave Cohen and David Quantick TUE Music by: Richie Webb TUE Music Production: Matt Katz TUE Producer: Katie Tyrrell TUE TUE After a year's break 15 Minute Musical is itching to get TUE it's musical teeth back into easily identifiable public TUE figures and give them a West End Musical make-over. This TUE fabricated, sugar-coated story is then told in an original, TUE never heard before, bite-size musical that will have your TUE toes tapping to the rhythm and shoulders shaking to the TUE laughs. TUE TUE In true West End style artistic licence is well and truly TUE taken and stretched ridiculously as easily identifiable TUE public figures are dressed up, gilded, fabricated and placed TUE against the backdrop of a random period of history for sugar TUE coated consumption. The stories are simple and engaging but TUE the writing is razor-sharp allowing the audience to enjoy TUE all the conventions of a musical (huge production numbers, TUE tender ballads and emotional reprises) whilst we completely TUE re-interpret events in major celebrities' lives. With over TUE thirty musicals selling out in the West End night after TUE night - the British public (and the Radio 4 audience) cannot TUE get enough of them, therefore . TUE TUE Winner of the Writers Guild of Great Britain Radio Comedy TUE Award this series is a seasonal treat at 1815 over the TUE Christmas week. TUE TUE 18:30 Bleak Expectations b01pfy5w (Listen) TUE Series 5, A Loved-Up Life Potentially Totally Annihilated TUE TUE Bleak Expectations TUE By Mark Evans TUE Volume 5, Chapter 6: "A Loved Up Life Potentially Totally TUE Annihilated " TUE Last in the series of the Victorian comedy adventure. The TUE inappropriately-named arbiter of all evil Mister Gently TUE Benevolent unveils an advent calendar of evil that will TUE culminate on Christmas day with the total destruction of the TUE universe. Only one man can prevent the end of everything for TUE all time. But at a terrible terrible cost. Is this the end TUE for our hero Pip? Or is it curtains for the whole of TUE creation? And does that mean Harry needn't get Pippa a TUE Christmas present? TUE TUE Richard Johnson................................Sir Philip TUE Tom Allen..................................Young Pip Bin TUE Anthony Head........................Gently Benevolent TUE James Bachman..............Harry Biscuit/Servewell TUE Geoffrey Whitehead........................Clampvulture TUE Sarah Hadland.................................Ripely/Lily TUE Susy Kane............................................Pippa TUE Mark Evans..................The Ghost Of Christmice TUE TUE Produced by Gareth Edwards. TUE TUE 19:00 The Archers b01pfy5y (Listen) TUE There's a warm welcome for Jazzer, and Rhys is playing TUE games. TUE TUE 19:15 Front Row b01pfy60 (Listen) TUE Working with the family TUE TUE With Mark Lawson. TUE TUE Jack Whitehall, Greg Davies, Niamh Cusack and Frances de la TUE Tour are among the performers and artists who share memories TUE and reflections on working with close members of their TUE families. TUE TUE Christmas is the time when people are most likely to spend TUE time with their closest relatives. But for some in TUE showbusiness the holidays are not a rare family reunion but TUE a continuation of a professional relationship or, for TUE writers and comedians, an encounter with the relatives who TUE have been the source of their best material. TUE TUE Comedians Greg Davies, Jack Whitehall and Sarah Millican TUE regularly exploit cringeworthy family moments in the service TUE of comedy. They describe how it feels to perform the TUE material with the family members in question in the TUE audience. TUE TUE Actress Niamh Cusack reflects on the experience of appearing TUE in Chekhov's Three Sisters with two of her sisters and her TUE father, and Andy and Frances de la Tour discuss working TUE together in Alan Bennett's People, and why they are banned TUE from laughing while watching each other perform. TUE TUE Singer Donny Osmond reveals why he and sister Marie's TUE chemistry on stage does not necessarily reflect the reality TUE off-stage and the conductor Alan Gilbert explains why having TUE his violinist mother in the orchestra prevents the other TUE musicians from indulging in a much-loved pleasure. TUE TUE Producer Ellie Bury. TUE TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama b01pfwhq (Listen) TUE [Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today] TUE TUE 20:00 The Bricklayer's Lament b01lsqk6 (Listen) TUE Back in December 1958, German musician and humourist Gerard TUE Hoffnung was asked to speak at the Oxford Union in a debate TUE entitled "This House Believes Life Begins At 38". Luckily, TUE the BBC was on hand to record the debate and they managed to TUE capture Gerard giving a hilarious comic speech, which TUE included the now legendary Bricklayer's Lament story. TUE TUE This half hour documentary, narrated by Jack Dee, tells the TUE story of the speech and how The Bricklayer's Lament really TUE came about. It includes contributions from Ian Hislop, who TUE was a fan from an early age, and Inspector Morse creator TUE Colin Dexter, who was taught by Gerard during the Second TUE World War. TUE TUE The programme will reveal how an early incarnation of the R4 TUE comedy panel show Just a Minute was to play a pivotal role TUE in the eventual success of The Bricklayer's Lament. TUE TUE The programme also features many classic clips of Gerard TUE Hoffnung speaking at the Oxford Union debate, as well as TUE other recordings he made in the fifties. These include TUE snippets of the hilarious interviews he gave to the Canadian TUE broadcaster Charles Richardson. TUE TUE Also included are revealing interviews with Gerard's widow, TUE Annetta, who shares her memories of this amazingly talented TUE man. TUE TUE The Bricklayer's Lament is a fascinating insight into how TUE this recording came about and a loving tribute to a unique TUE personality who entertained so many generations. TUE TUE Produced by Paul Russell TUE An Open Mike Production for BBC Radio 4. TUE TUE 20:30 In Touch b01pfyfj (Listen) TUE David Blunkett MP, Gary O'Donoghue BBC Political TUE Correspondent and opera singer Denise Leigh join Peter White TUE to talk about a favourite audio book. TUE David chooses Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies, Gary TUE selects Robert A Caro's LBJ, Denise Leigh picks Jason TUE Manfords' Brung Up Proper and Peter's choice is John Arlott, TUE A Memoir, by Timothy Arlott. TUE TUE 21:00 Archive on 4 b01mhnnm (Listen) TUE A Brief History of Blame TUE TUE Blame the abstract, blame the real, blame the stars, blame TUE the bankers, blame the mother-in-law, blame anyone but TUE yourself .... TUE The American satirist Joe Queenan presents A Brief History TUE of Blame, an archive opera in six acts featuring Margaret TUE Thatcher, Niall Ferguson, Tom Wrigglesworth, Richard Nixon, TUE Melvyn Bragg, the Archbishop of Canterbury, plus new TUE interviews with Germaine Greer, John Sergeant and Charlie TUE Campbell. Together they reveal that we are all now living in TUE a babel of blame. TUE TUE Queenan gives no nonsense answers to six headings, including TUE How Blaming Began. There are explanations for the word TUE scapegoat, discussion of the role of parents in messing TUE things up, and a rare outing from Margaret Thatcher in a TUE performance of Yes Minister which she wrote herself. "I want TUE you to abolish economists, " she demands. "Don't worry if it TUE goes wrong - I'll get the blame, I always do." TUE TUE "My qualifications for presenting this programme are TUE impeccable," says Queenan. "My father was an alcoholic, my TUE mother an emotionally distant manic depressive. Together we TUE grew up in a charm free housing project in Philadelphia. So TUE don't whine to me about how tough life is." TUE TUE The producer is Miles Warde, who previously collaborated TUE with Joe Queenan on A Brief History of Irony and An TUE American's Guide to Failure. TUE TUE 21:58 Weather b01pf2xl (Listen) TUE The latest weather forecast. TUE TUE 22:00 Afternoon Drama b01h6463 (Listen) TUE Dear Arthur, Love John TUE TUE By Roy Smiles TUE TUE A comedy drama by Roy Smiles, writer of previous Afternoon TUE Dramas Ying Tong, Good Evening and Pythonesque. TUE TUE It's often assumed that it was Dad's Army that made John Le TUE Mesurier and Arthur Lowe well known. This is not so. Arthur TUE Lowe had come to national attention, after a long TUE apprenticeship in theatre, as the uptight church warden Mr TUE Swindley in Coronation Street. John had made many films and TUE found success as the diffident Colonel in the popular sitcom TUE George And The Dragon. But it was Dad's Army, late in their TUE lives, that brought them fame, fortune and the oddest of TUE friendships. TUE TUE For these were strange bedfellows: Arthur was a grammar TUE school boy made good, John a public schoolboy who'd shamed TUE his family by going into showbusiness; Arthur was a high TUE Tory, John a life-long fluffy liberal; Arthur had a happy TUE and stable marriage, John notoriously difficult ones - his TUE first wife (Hattie Jacques) had left him for a shifty TUE car-dealer, his second wife (Joan) had left him for doomed TUE comedian Tony Hancock. TUE TUE In 1982 John writes to Arthur to say how much he misses him TUE and, as he does, we flashback to Dad's Army: the first read TUE through; the reaction to getting 21 million viewers; Lowe's TUE hatred of being recognised by the public; the rivalry TUE between John Laurie and Arnold Ridley; Lowe's hostility to TUE Clive Dunn and socialism; the affection Le Mesurier had for TUE them all, particularly Jimmy Beck; and how, after initial TUE snobbery about the show, the cast came to realise it was the TUE best time of their lives. TUE TUE Producer: Liz Anstee TUE A CPL Production for BBC Radio 4. TUE TUE Credits TUE John Le Mesurier: Anton Lesser TUE Arthur Lowe: Robert Daws TUE John Laurie: Kenny Ireland TUE James Beck: James Lance TUE Ian Lavender: Mark Addis TUE Producer: Liz Anstee TUE Writer: Roy Smiles TUE TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime b01pfzcv (Listen) TUE Frenchman's Creek, Episode 2 TUE TUE Part adventure, part romance, and set in Cornwall, Daphne Du TUE Maurier's novel tells the powerful love story between Lady TUE Dona and the French pirate Aubery. TUE TUE Episode 2 TUE Lady Dona revels in her new found freedom, encounters the TUE local gentry and finds a secret passage to the sea. TUE TUE Read by Adjoa Andoh TUE Abridged by Eileen Horne TUE Produced by Clive Brill TUE A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4. TUE TUE 23:00 The Infinite Monkey Cage b01pfv8r (Listen) TUE [Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Monday] TUE TUE 23:30 The Playlist Series b017ng3m (Listen) TUE Queen Victoria's iPod TUE TUE In Buckingham Palace, David Owen Norris and guests listen to TUE Queen Victoria's favourite songs. We have been given access TUE to Victoria's own gold piano, on which we'll hear music TUE written specially by Mendelssohn for her to play in a duet TUE with Albert. We also hear an amorous serenade written for TUE her by Prince Albert and a song which was sung in the TUE streets after their first child was born, Queen Victoria's TUE Baby. TUE TUE David Owen Norris has discovered a startling popular song of TUE the period about the Great Exhibition - the excitement of TUE setting off to see the Queen as a gold statue, and the TUE reality of fleas, dirt, crowds, and dubious dark alleys TUE where it was all too easy to lose one's virtue and return TUE pregnant! TUE TUE Listening to the music are Royal biographer Kate Williams, TUE cultural critic Matthew Sweet, and expert on Victorian music TUE Professor Jeremy Dibble. They'll be discussing what Queen TUE Victoria's favourite songs reveal about a very musical TUE monarch. TUE TUE Presenter David Owen Norris is a broadcaster, composer and TUE concert pianist. He has arranged the songs, which are TUE performed by Thomas Guthrie and jazz singer Gwyneth Herbert. TUE TUE Producer: Elizabeth Burke. TUE A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4. TUE TUE WED WEDNESDAY 26 DECEMBER 2012 WED WED 00:00 Midnight News b01pf2yf (Listen) WED The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. WED Followed by Weather. WED WED 00:15 Christmas Meditation b01pg3q7 (Listen) WED Just as everyone is doing the washing up and waving off the WED last guests Catherine Fox reflects on how the message of WED Christmas can feel both too big and very small at the same WED time. WED WED Having just moved to the city of Liverpool, she takes us WED into Liverpool's vast Anglican cathedral which is the WED largest in the country. And yet there inside the tallest, WED widest, longest nave, architect Giles Gilbert Scott put one WED of his smallest buildings - the red telephone box. You could WED step inside, pick up the receiver and phone anyone in the WED world.. But what would you say? WED WED Using memories from childhood Christmases, and experiences WED of being a mother herself, she spends time thinking about WED the big and small things in life which can help to define WED our faith and our questioning. And with the nativity story WED all around, where do such thoughts take us to on Christmas WED night?' WED WED In a profound, honest and down to earth reflection Catherine WED Fox mixes her own personal style - which will be well known WED to all those who regularly read her blogs or know her in the WED Twitter community as @FictionFox - with some beautiful WED Christmas carols to present an evocative and WED thought-provoking close to Christmas Day. WED WED 00:30 Book of the Week b01pfwhl (Listen) WED [Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Tuesday] WED WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast b01pf2yh (Listen) WED The latest shipping forecast. WED WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes b01pf2yk (Listen) WED BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. WED WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast b01pf2ym (Listen) WED The latest shipping forecast. WED WED 05:30 News Briefing b01pf2yp (Listen) WED The latest news from BBC Radio 4. WED WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day b01pg3q9 (Listen) WED A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day Archbishop WED Vincent Nichols. WED WED 05:45 Farming Today b01pg3qd (Listen) WED Early lambing has started in some parts of the UK and Anna WED Hill joins one Norfolk sheep farmer, as he anxiously awaits WED the arrival of around 100 pedigree lambs in just 24 hours. WED WED This programme is presented by Anna Hill and produced in WED Birmingham by Angela Frain. WED WED 06:00 Archive on 4 b01jppw6 (Listen) WED Meeting Myself Coming Back: Series 4, Sir Richard Branson WED WED The first programme in the new series of 'Meeting Myself WED Coming Back', the series in which leading public figures WED explore their lives through the BBC archives, features Sir WED Richard Branson in conversation with John Wilson. From his WED early days as the founder of "Student" magazine, to the WED creation of the Virgin record business and expansion into a WED global empire, Richard Branson has been an icon of WED entrepreneurship. In this interview, he meets his younger WED self from the sound archive and discusses his reactions with WED John Wilson. WED WED He begins by hearing his 21- year old self running the WED influential "Student Magazine" from a basement in London and WED relives the way he created Virgin Records as a cut price WED mail order enterprise. He also hears the sound archive from WED 1984 when he announced the setting up of Virgin Atlantic WED with only one plane. We hear his memories of his daring WED exploits in hot air balloons and at sea and his thoughts on WED escaping death by a whisker. WED WED Richard Branson also relives the episode when one of his WED planes flew into Baghdad airport in to bring out the British WED hostages held by Saddam Hussain after the invasion of Kuwait WED in 1990. He talks about the eerie stillness of the deserted WED airport, the tension of waiting and the relief when the WED hostages finally came on board. WED WED We also hear his thoughts on doing business, taking knocks, WED political affiliation, plans for space travel and paying WED tax. WED WED Producer: Emma Kingsley. WED WED 07:00 Today b01pg3qg (Listen) WED Morning news and current affairs with Justin Webb and Evan WED Davis. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day. WED WED 09:00 Midweek b01pg3qj (Listen) WED Peter Snow, Sir Trevor Nunn, Debra Searle, Mike Brace WED WED Libby Purves looks back over the last decade with guests, WED writer and broadcaster Peter Snow, theatre director Sir WED Trevor Nunn, adventurer Debra Searle and paralympian Mike WED Brace. WED WED Peter Snow CBE is a writer and broadcaster. He has presented WED a number of documentaries with his son Dan including WED 'Battleplan: The Battle for Alamein' and 'Battlefield WED Britain'. His book 'When Britain Burned the White House', WED about the British destruction of US public buildings during WED the Anglo-American war of 1812, is published next year. WED WED Sir Trevor Nunn CBE is a theatre director. He is a former WED artistic director of both the Royal Shakespeare Company and WED the National Theatre. He has directed some of the most WED critically acclaimed and popular productions in recent WED decades. He is currently directing two shows in London's WED West End, Cole Porter's 'Kiss Me Kate' and Alan Ayckbourn's WED 'A Chorus of Disapproval'. Kiss Me Kate is at the Old Vic WED and Chorus of Disapproval is at the Harold Pinter Theatre. WED WED Debra Searle MBE is an adventurer, television presenter and WED is a Trustee of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award. In 2001 she WED set off with her then husband on the Atlantic Rowing WED Challenge from Tenerife to Barbados. But after only 14 days WED he withdrew from the race, leaving Debra to finish alone. WED During the last decade she achieved a new world record in a WED dragon boat across the English Channel. She also competed in WED the longest canoe race in the world. WED WED Mike Brace CBE is former chairman of the British Paralympic WED Association and director of Vision 2020UK. He is currently a WED director of UKAD, the UK's Anti-doping agency for sport. He WED was in Singapore in 2005 when London won the 2012 Olympic WED bid. Blinded at 10 in a firework accident, he represented WED Great Britain at cross-country skiing at six Paralympic WED Games, three World Championships and two European WED Championships. WED WED Producer: Annette Wells. WED WED 09:45 Book of the Week b01pg3ql (Listen) WED Three Houses, Episode 3 WED WED A beautifully nostalgic childhood memoir of Britain in the WED late 1890s, written by the eminent author Angela Thirkell. WED She recalls in rich detail, and with a delightful sense of WED humour, the three houses which were seminal to her youth. WED WED The third of the three houses is the country home of the WED author's grandfather, the artist Edward Burne-Jones. It is WED furnished with Morris wallpaper, Morris chintzes and carpets WED and a selection of beastly uncomfortable pre-Raphaelite WED chairs. WED WED Read by Sian Thomas WED Abridged and produced by Jane Marshall. WED A Jane Marshall production for BBC Radio 4. WED WED 10:00 Woman's Hour b01pg3qp (Listen) WED Inspiring women over 80: Dr Alice Rivlin, Prof Mildred WED Dresselhaus, Vigdis Finnbogadottir, Prof Romila Thapar WED WED Jenni Murray introduces a special edition of Woman's Hour WED comprising fresh interviews with a series of octogenarian WED women, each a world leader in their field. The women discuss WED the changes they have seen in their 80-plus years and the WED lessons they have learned. WED The women are WED WED Dr Alice Rivlin, 81, One of the USA's top economists, she is WED advisor to President Obama on debt reduction. WED WED Professor Mildred Dresselhaus, 82, is known as the Queen of WED Carbon and has been awarded the one million dollar Kavli WED Prize in nanoscience - presented to her by the King of WED Norway. WED WED Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, 82, was the world's first WED democratically elected female President, when she became WED Iceland's head of state. WED WED Prof Romila Thapar, 81, One of India's greatest historians WED and the winner of Kluge Award - the equivalent of the Nobel WED prize for historians. WED WED 10:45 15 Minute Drama b01pg3qr (Listen) WED A Little Twist of Dahl, The Hitchhiker WED WED A series of stories by Roald Dahl WED Dramatised by Stephen Sheridan. WED WED Episode 3: The Hitchhiker WED WED In The Hitchhiker, Andrew Pym, a successful author, is WED driving to London in his brand new BMW. He stops to give a WED hitchhiker a lift. Unwisely, he allows the man to persuade WED him to see if the car can go as fast as its manufacturers WED claim. Stopped for speeding, his details are noted down by a WED policeman who warns him to expect a heavy fine and sends him WED on his way. Blithely unconcerned at causing so much trouble, WED the hitchhiker starts boasting that he is engaged in a line WED of work that requires exceptional skills. And it's these WED skills that can get Andrew out of his present difficulty. WED WED Produced and directed by David Blount WED A Pier production for BBC Radio 4. WED WED Credits WED Storyteller: Charles Dance WED Andrew Pym: Jonathan Keeble WED Hitchhiker: Ken Cranham WED Policeman: Ben Crowe WED Director: David Blount WED Producer: David Blount WED Writer: Stephen Sheridan WED WED 11:00 Bellydancing and the Blues b01pg3qt (Listen) WED Dancer and drummer Guy Schalom hunts out the spirit of the WED new Egypt in one of its biggest cultural exports. To our WED ears, Baladi is the music of the bellydancer - kitsch and WED mock-Arab. But in its true form it is the essence of Egypt, WED 'of the country', 'home' in the deepest sense. WED WED Our journey begins in Berlin, as bejewelled dancers from WED across Europe gather on a theatre stage ready to do battle WED for the title 'Miss Bellydance 2012'. They might not all WED know it, but the music which accompanies their gyrations is WED a knot of contradictions: an essence of the east inspired by WED western musical traditions, the spirit of rural Egypt made WED urban. WED WED But the deepest contradictions rest with the very people who WED perform Baladi. What seems to us a provocative, alluring, WED even licentious dance for women in fact has roots in a WED ceremonial dance for men. As we discover in Cairo, deep WED divisions remain between those who think it is a vital WED expression of the oriental spirit and those committed to WED regenerating sexual stereotypes. So what is the reality of WED bellydance and Baladi in the new Egypt? Can it find any WED place amongst the street rappers and pop artists or is this WED an artform about to be consigned to realms of the WED tourist-pleasing clubs and cafes? As with so much in this WED rapidly changing culture, answers prove difficult to find. WED WED 11:30 Charles Paris b01pg3qw (Listen) WED An Amateur Corpse, Episode 4 WED WED by Jeremy Front WED Based on the novel by Simon Brett. WED WED Charles closes in on the murderer of his old friend Hugo's WED wife with help from both his wife and his mother. WED WED Charles ..... Bill Nighy WED Frances ..... Suzanne Burden WED Joan ..... Geraldine McEwan WED Maurice ..... Jon Glover WED Geoff ..... Patrick Brennan WED Saskia ..... Christine Absalom WED Hugo ..... Paul Ritter WED Holly ..... Susie Ridell WED WED Director ...... Sally Avens WED WED The Charles Paris Mysteries are based on the series of WED novels by Simon Brett. WED WED 12:00 You and Yours b01pg3qz (Listen) WED Turkey leftovers, the boss of Waitrose, and government WED health advice WED WED We're told by the Government how much we should drink, eat WED and exercise - but what's the science behind the advice? WED Former Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson tells us he WED thinks some of the advice is too simplistic and that using WED units to try to measure alcohol is out of date. WED WED Money Saving Expert Matlin Lewis looks back on how 2012 has WED been for consumers. WED WED We've got some advice on what to do with that left-over WED turkey as we look at whether TV chefs are to blame for food WED waste. Winifred is joined by former MasterChef winner WED Thomasina Miers. WED WED We reveal why you need to watch out for the flaw in the new WED style MoT certificates. They're being used to con people WED buying used cars. WED WED And the row going on about our National Parks - just how WED accountable are they to the people that live within them. WED WED Plus Good afternoon, thank you for the question, it's great WED to have this opportunity. Not phrases you hear much in WED everyday life but ones we hear a lot on this programme. We WED blame the army of media trainers and hear from one of them. WED WED And, 'Daddy is Lego spelled like Merlot with a silent t?' WED hear more conversations overheard at Waitrose from their WED managing director Mark Price. WED WED Presenter: Winifred Robinson WED Producer: Joe Kent. WED WED 12:57 Weather b01pf2yr (Listen) WED The latest weather forecast. WED WED 13:00 World at One b01pg3r1 (Listen) WED Shaun Ley presents national and international news. WED Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or WED on twitter: #wato. WED WED 13:45 Grimm Thoughts b01pg3r3 (Listen) WED Episode 8 WED WED Marina Warner explores the Grimm brothers' tales. WED WED 14:00 The Archers b01pfy5y (Listen) WED [Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday] WED WED 14:15 Afternoon Drama b01pg3r6 (Listen) WED The Penny Dreadfuls Present: Hereward the Wake WED WED by David Reed and Humphrey Ker WED WED From the team who brought Radio 4 the story of Guy Fawkes WED and the French Revolution, The Penny Dreadfuls now turn WED their comic eye towards Hereward The Wake. Why has this WED Englishman responsible for leading the fight against the WED occupation of William The Conqueror, been so readily WED forgotten? The story didn't end when they ran out of WED embroidery cotton on the Bayeux Tapestry. Our mission is to WED make sure that from now on, you will know his name. WED WED Producer...Julia McKenzie. WED WED Credits WED Hereward: Thom Tuck WED William the Conqueror: Humphrey Ker WED Leofwine: Humphrey Ker WED Thorkell: Humphrey Ker WED Guard: Humphrey Ker WED Haakan: Humphrey Ker WED Frederick: David Reed WED Asketil: David Reed WED Thurstan: David Reed WED Odo: David Reed WED Martin: Marek Larwood WED Turfrida: Margaret Cabourn-Smith WED Witch: Margaret Cabourn-Smith WED Narrator: Justin Edwards WED Producer: Julia McKenzie WED Writer: David Reed WED Writer: Humphrey Ker WED WED 15:00 Archive on 4 b01p2wd0 (Listen) WED From Easy to Cryptic - 100 Years of the Crossword WED WED Famous for her own love of word play, Lynne Truss decodes a WED bountiful archive of clues, answers, interviews and puzzles WED to celebrate the centenary of this resilient mind teaser. WED The first crossword appeared in the New York Times in 1913, WED devised by a Liverpudlian called Arthur Wynne. He was the WED first of many setters whose cryptic clues and clever answers WED encapsulate the cultural and social agenda of their age. MI5 WED interrogated the Telegraph's first setter in 1944 when his WED crossword solutions suggested he knew too much about WED military operations. Lynne learns that code breakers WED selection for Bletchley Park was based on their prowess for WED cracking crosswords. WED WED In an internet age of gaming and quick access to WED information, Lynne Truss learns why scientists argue that WED the hardy crossword keeps the mind agile and listens to the WED sounds of the setter and crossword solver at work, pondering WED the trickiest clue. WED WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed b01pg54j (Listen) WED Intoxication WED WED Intoxication - In a special programme, Laurie Taylor WED explores the role and meaning of both alcohol and drugs in WED human life. Why do so many people chose to alter their WED consciousness with stimulants, whether legal or illicit? WED Professor James Mills, the author of 'Cannabis Nation..' is WED joined by Dr Fiona Meesham and Professor Chris Hackley. WED WED Producer: Jayne Egerton. WED WED 16:30 The Media Show b01pg54l (Listen) WED From the Two Ronnies and Morecambe and Wise to the Royle WED Family and the battle of the soaps, Steve Hewlett unpicks WED the dark arts of festive TV scheduling. From the executives WED who make up programme titles to fool their rivals to the WED search for the perfect sitcom to suit all the family on WED Christmas night, he asks industry experts to reveal the WED tricks of the trade. His guests include David Liddiment, WED independent producer, former director of ITV Programmes and WED now a BBC Trustee; former scheduler Stephen Price and Lisa WED Campbell, editor of Broadcast magazine. WED He is also joined by Sir David Jason the star of one of the WED most successful and long-running sitcoms, Only Fools and WED Horses. Sir David describes working on the Christmas WED editions and how his inspiration for Del Boy Trotter was a WED man from London's Eastend who he met while working as an WED electrician. WED WED 17:00 PM b01pg54n (Listen) WED Carolyn Quinn with interviews, context and analysis. WED WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News b01pf2yt (Listen) WED The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. WED WED 18:15 15 Minute Musical b01pg54q (Listen) WED Series 7, Brian Elliott WED WED A series of satirical, barbed, bittersweet fifteen-minute WED comedy musicals. WED WED Episode Two: Brian Elliott WED WED Brian Cox in Brian Elliott about a boy who D-reams of being WED a Scientist. WED WED Starring: Richie Webb, Dave Lamb and Pippa Evans WED Written by: Richie Webb, Dave Cohen and David Quantick WED Music by: Richie Webb WED Music Production: Matt Katz WED Producer: Katie Tyrrell WED WED Beautifully crafted with astronomically high production WED values 15 Minute Musical does for your ears what chocolate WED does for your taste buds. WED WED All in fifteen minutes! WED WED 18:30 Mark Steel's in Town b01phj47 (Listen) WED Series 4, Corby WED WED This week, Mark visits Corby to uncover an unlikely town WED rivalry, the extraordinary story behind a baffling accent, WED and the truth behind the trouser press rumours... WED WED Additional material by Pete Sinclair. WED Produced by Sam Bryant. WED WED 19:00 The Archers b01pg54s (Listen) WED It's the end of an era in Ambridge, but things may be WED looking up for Ed. WED WED 19:15 Front Row b01pg54v (Listen) WED Neil Young, Pete Townshend, Mick Jagger and more on their WED musical roots WED WED John Wilson talks to musicians including Keith Richards, WED Mick Jagger, Neil Young, Neil Diamond, Paul McCartney, Emeli WED Sandé, Jonny Greenwood and Pete Townshend about their first WED musical influences. WED WED Neil Young reveals why he recently recorded a version of God WED Save The Queen, the anthem he sang regularly during his WED Canadian childhood. WED WED Paul McCartney discusses how songs by the great American WED tunesmiths of the 1930s, which he heard in his childhood WED home, influenced his own approach to writing. WED WED Pete Townshend contrasts his love of abrasive rock and roll WED with the music performed by his father, who played the WED saxophone in a dance band. WED WED Soul singer Bobby Womack remembers how he also rebelled WED against his father, who wanted his sons to perform only WED gospel music, rather than anything more secular. WED WED Mick Jagger and Keith Richards reflect on their early shared WED love of raw American blues records. WED WED And Neil Diamond, Emeli Sandé and Jonny Greenwood, from the WED band Radiohead, recall the early musical encounters which WED shaped their subsequent careers. WED WED Producer John Goudie. WED WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama b01pg3qr (Listen) WED [Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today] WED WED 20:00 Unreliable Evidence b01pg54x (Listen) WED Courtroom Drama WED WED With its sets and costumes, soliloquies, suspense and WED dramatic revelations - the courtroom is pure theatre. WED WED Following the return of Rumpole to Radio 4, Clive Anderson WED and his guests discuss how accurately the legal world is WED depicted in stage and screen dramas. And they discuss the WED issues which arise when the distinctions between fiction and WED fact - between Rumpole and reality - become blurred in the WED public's mind. WED WED Guests Helena Kennedy QC, appeal court judge Sir Alan Moses, WED German judge Ruth Herz and former barrister and co-creator WED of Garrow's Law, Mark Pallis, reflect on 50 years of WED fictional courtroom dramas - from To Kill a Mockingbird to WED Silk, and ask if lawyers can learn things from the actors WED who portray them. WED WED Does the way courtroom dramas introduce dramatic last minute WED evidence, show defendants crumbling under cross-examination WED and defence barristers reducing juries to tears, even WED remotely reflect the real world? Are judges really as out of WED touch, and lawyers as pompous and greedy as their screen WED counterparts? And does it really matter if screenwriters WED fail to stick to the truth, the whole truth and nothing but WED the truth? WED WED Award-winning producers of comedy, drama, factual and WED entertainment programming. WED WED Producer: Brian King WED An Above The Title production for BBC Radio 4. WED WED 20:45 Four Thought b01pg54z (Listen) WED Series 3, Tom Armitage: The Coded World WED WED Designer and technologist Tom Armitage argues that learning WED to write computer code means learning to think in a modern WED way, and that it should spur creativity: the possibility of WED doing entirely new things. WED WED Four Thought is a series of talks which combine thought WED provoking ideas and engaging storytelling. Recorded live in WED front of an audience, speakers air their latest thinking on WED the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect our WED culture and society. WED WED Producer: Giles Edwards. WED WED 21:00 And No Birds Sing: Rachel Carson and Silent Spring WED b01ptgb4 (Listen) WED Franny Armstrong - the film maker behind the blockbuster The WED Age of Stupid - looks at the explosive impact of Rachel WED Carson's 1962 book Silent Spring and its role in the growth WED of the environmental movement. WED WED 'All Mankind is in her debt', said one Senator on Rachel WED Carson's death in 1964. At a time when 'attacks from the WED air' as Carson described them - the indiscriminate spraying WED of crops with pesticides - were a regular occurrence in the WED US, Carson's book 'Silent Spring' questioned the logic of WED releasing large amounts of chemicals into the environment WED without fully understanding their effects on ecology or WED human health. Carson presented evidence from state after WED state of entire bird populations being wiped out, the WED desecration of plant life, contamination of ground water and WED instances of the deaths of human beings. Beyond these WED specific concerns, she suggested that the spraying was a WED 'war on life' - and put this as a moral, as well as WED scientific, question. In an age where there was palpable WED excitement in the agricultural and chemical industries at WED the prospect of man controlling nature, Carson introduced WED the idea that man's war against nature is a war against WED himself. WED WED Fifty years after the book's publication, Franny Armstrong, WED director of the film 'Age of Stupid' and founder of the WED 10:10 Climate Change campaign, looks at the far-reaching WED influence of Carson's book. She talks to Caroline Lucas, who WED has written the introduction to the 50th anniversary edition WED of the book, about the impact Silent Spring had when it was WED first published, the challenges she faced, and how she made WED her case so effectively. Contributors include nature writer WED Mark Cocker, who talks about Carson's lucid and beautifully WED composed depiction of a world which has faced apocalypse, WED science writer Colin Tudge on the method and message of the WED book, and Linda Lear, Carson's biographer, who reveals the WED price Carson paid to bear witness to what she had WED discovered. While researching the connection between WED pesticides and onset of cancer, she was diagnosed with WED breast cancer, and had to minimize her own health problems WED in order to complete her life's work. WED WED 'I could never again listen to a thrush's song if I had not WED done all I could' wrote Carson towards the end of her life. WED Already a bestselling nature writer, Carson deliberately WED employed the rhetoric of the cold war and a tone of moral WED crisis to persuade readers of the urgency of her message. WED The book is an assault on the wilful ignorance of major WED commercial interests, but despite warnings that she would be WED subjected to personal attack and threats of legal action, WED Carson continued her crusade, and ultimately wrought WED political change, under the Kennedy administration and WED beyond. In his Preface to the 1994 edition, Al Gore WED described Silent Spring as the most influential book of the WED last fifty years, which brought us back to a fundamental WED idea: the interconnection of human beings and the natural WED environment. If this is a fairly widely accepted concept WED today, in the early 1960s, Carson was labelled by business WED interests as 'emotional and hysterical', a 'crackpot' and WED 'subversive'. This programme looks at the events surrounding WED the production of 'Silent Spring', and its hostile reception WED in some quarters, to its legacy today. WED WED 21:30 Midweek b01pg3qj (Listen) WED [Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today] WED WED 21:58 Weather b01pf2yw (Listen) WED The latest weather forecast. WED WED 22:00 The World Tonight b01pg551 (Listen) WED Robin Lustig presents national and international news and WED analysis. WED WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime b01pg553 (Listen) WED Frenchman's Creek, Episode 3 WED WED Part adventure, part romance, and set in Cornwall, Daphne Du WED Maurier's novel tells the powerful love story between Lady WED Dona and the French pirate Aubery. WED WED Episode 3 WED Dona is captured by pirates, which is not altogether WED unpleasant, and finds she is not the only one who has come WED to Navron for refuge. WED WED Read by Adjoa Andoh WED Abridged by Eileen Horne WED Produced by Clive Brill WED A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4. WED WED 23:00 Tim Key and Gogol's Overcoat b01nt3y0 (Listen) WED Tim Key spins his own surreal tale of one of Russian WED fiction's greatest short stories, whilst contending with his WED own filthy disgrace of a jacket. With contributions from WED Alexei Sayle and John Motson. WED WED Tim Key - poet, comedian, and crumpled polymath - is WED obsessed with Nikolai Gogol's short story "The Overcoat". WED Written in 1842, it's a fable of a simple clerk, Akakiy WED Akakievich, whose desire for a new coat to keep the St WED Petersburg winter at bay forever changes his life...and WED ultimately destroys him. WED WED Its author - the enigmatic Ukrainian-born writer Nikolai WED Gogol - is one of Tim's idols. In this deceptively simple WED yet utterly surreal tale, Gogol spins webs around the WED reader, foxing them with an unreliable narrator, blending WED stark realism with the eye-poppingly fantastical, and WED constantly deconstructing and undercutting the story of poor WED Akaky Akakievich with his own running commentary. WED WED More than 150 years on, no-one, it seems, quite knows what WED The Overcoat is really about. Is it a dark satire on the WED powerlessness of the individual and the tyranny of WED totalitarian governments? A fantastical, proto-Dadaist fable WED of devils, toenails and ghostly goings-on? Or a deeply WED realist moral message to be kind to the poorest in our WED society? WED WED Tim's off to find out what - if anything - Gogol's WED mysterious story can tell us...and why The Overcoat feels WED even more relevant in the 21st century. Is this fable the WED seed of alternative comedy? Should more of us pay heed to WED this bizarre morality tale? And above all, isn't it about WED time Tim replaced his own filthy disgrace of a coat? WED WED Fact blends with surreal fantasy, as Tim gets sidetracked, WED Gogol-style, into his own private coat Hades... WED WED Featuring contributions from Russian experts Donald WED Rayfield, Maria Rubins and Konstantin von Eggert - plus East WED End tailor and Master Cutter Clive Phythian, 'father of WED alternative comedy' Alexei Sayle, and football commentator WED and sheepskin coat-wearing icon John Motson. WED WED 23:30 The Playlist Series b01gd4lk (Listen) WED William Shakespeare's Playlist WED WED David Owen Norris and guests compile a playlist for the WED bard. Choosing Shakespeare's favourite songs are the WED renowned Shakespeare scholar Stanley Wells, RSC director WED Greg Doran and musician Lucie Skeaping. WED WED The music ranges from a lullaby Shakespeare's mother Mary WED Arden might have sung him, through bawdy ballads from the WED local tavern, to haunting songs written by Shakespeare WED himself. What do they tell us about our most enigmatic WED genius? WED WED The programme is recorded at the Swan Theatre in WED Stratford-upon-Avon, a wooden recreation of a Shakespearean WED playhouse. WED WED With singers Gwyneth Herbert and Thomas Guthrie, and a WED trumpeter from Shakespeare's old school to test the theatre WED acoustics with some rousing fanfares. WED WED Producer: Elizabeth Burke. WED A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4. WED WED THU THURSDAY 27 DECEMBER 2012 THU THU 00:00 Midnight News b01pf2zq (Listen) THU The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. THU Followed by Weather. THU THU 00:15 Stephen Fry on the Phone b017cb0m (Listen) THU Creating the Network THU THU Stephen Fry traces the evolution of the mobile phone, from THU hefty executive bricks that required a separate briefcase to THU carry the battery to the smart little devices complete with THU personal assistant we have today. THU THU There are more mobile phones in the world than there are THU people on the planet: Stephen Fry talks to the backroom boys THU who made it all possible and hears how the technology THU succeeded, in ways that the geeks had not necessarily THU intended. THU THU In the first episode, Stephen Fry meets the men who first THU dreamt of creating a cellular network. Back in the sixties, THU two Bell Labs engineers in the US thought perhaps a maximum THU of 50,000 people might use a cellular phone network. Now, THU there are billions of phones in the world, all of them THU dependent on the networks based on their design. It was an THU enormous technical challenge that took decades to complete; THU but the main problems were political. Motorola, for example, THU argued that phone calls were a frivolous waste of radio THU spectrum compared to more worthy causes like television. THU THU Producer: Anna Buckley. THU THU 00:30 Book of the Week b01pg3ql (Listen) THU [Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Wednesday] THU THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast b01pf2zs (Listen) THU The latest shipping forecast. THU THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes b01pf2zv (Listen) THU BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. THU THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast b01pf2zx (Listen) THU The latest shipping forecast. THU THU 05:30 News Briefing b01pf2zz (Listen) THU The latest news from BBC Radio 4. THU THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day b01pghmb (Listen) THU A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day Archbishop THU Vincent Nichols. THU THU 05:45 Farming Today b01pg57f (Listen) THU A harsh winter can mean the difference between life or death THU for some of the UK's wild birds, plants and animals. THU Charlotte Smith visits the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust THU farm to see how farmers can help wildlife thrive over the THU next few months. THU THU She lends a hand in building giant bird tables and THU 'suits-up' to feed a hive of bees struggling to find nectar THU on a cold winters day. THU THU This programme was presented by Charlotte Smith and produced THU in Birmingham by Angela Frain. THU THU 06:00 Today b01pg5nr (Listen) THU Morning news and current affairs with Justin Webb and Evan THU Davis. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day. THU THU 09:00 In Our Time b01pg5nt (Listen) THU The Cult of Mithras THU THU Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the cult of Mithras, a THU mystery religion that existed in the Roman Empire from the THU 1st to the 4th centuries AD. Also known as the Mysteries of THU Mithras, its origins are uncertain. Academics have suggested THU a link with the ancient Vedic god Mitra and the Iranian THU Zoroastrian deity Mithra, but the extent and nature of the THU connection is a matter of controversy. THU THU Followers of Mithras are thought to have taken part in THU various rituals, most notably communal meals and a complex THU seven-stage initiation system. Typical depictions of Mithras THU show him being born from a rock, enjoying food with the sun THU god Sol and stabbing a bull. Mithraic places of worship have THU been found throughout the Roman world, including an THU impressive example in London. However, Mithraism went into THU decline in the 4th century AD with the rise of Christianity THU and eventually completely disappeared. In recent decades, THU many aspects of the cult have provoked debate, especially as THU there are no written accounts by its members. As a result, THU archaeology has been of great importance in the study of THU Mithraism and has provided new insights into the religion THU and its adherents. THU THU With: THU THU Greg Woolf THU Professor of Ancient History at the University of St Andrews THU THU Almut Hintze THU Zartoshty Professor of Zoroastrianism at SOAS, University of THU London THU THU John North THU Acting Director of the Institute of Classical Studies, THU University of London. THU THU Producer: Victoria Brignell. THU THU 09:45 Book of the Week b01pg5nw (Listen) THU Three Houses, Episode 4 THU THU A beautifully nostalgic childhood memoir of Britain in the THU late 1890s, written by the eminent author Angela Thirkell. THU She recalls in rich detail, and with a delightful sense of THU humour, the three houses which were seminal to her youth. THU THU At her grandfather's house in Rottingdean, the author THU listens to her cousin's latest stories. The cousin is THU Rudyard Kipling and the tales are later published as The THU Just So Stories. THU THU Read by Sian Thomas THU Abridged and produced by Jane Marshall THU A Jane Marshall production for BBC Radio 4. THU THU 10:00 Woman's Hour b01pg5ny (Listen) THU Sporting Women THU THU Jane Garvey hears how sporting women including Katherine THU Grainger, Jess Ennis, Victoria Pendleton, Sarah Storey and THU Eleanor Oldroyd hope to build on the success of 2012 THU THU Producer Emma Wallace THU Editor Alice Feinstein. THU THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama b01pg5p0 (Listen) THU A Little Twist of Dahl, Edward the Conqueror THU THU A series of stories by Roald Dahl THU Dramatised by Stephen Sheridan. THU THU Episode 4: Edward the Conqueror THU THU In Edward the Conqueror, Louisa, a retired piano teacher, THU takes in a stray cat. She is astonished at how happy it THU seems when she plays it some Liszt. Noticing that, like THU Liszt, it has warts on its face, she decides that it must be THU the re-incarnation of the great composer. Edward, her THU monstrously selfish husband, resents the cat's presence and THU is ruthlessly dismissive of her theories on its true THU identity. Unabashed, Louisa announces, to Edward's acute THU embarrassment, that she intends to make her findings public. THU THU Produced and directed by David Blount THU A Pier production for BBC Radio 4. THU THU Credits THU Storyteller: Charles Dance THU Louisa: Celia Imrie THU Edward: Geoffrey Whitehead THU Pianist: Charles Ross THU Director: David Blount THU Producer: David Blount THU Writer: Stephen Sheridan THU THU 11:00 Crossing Continents b01pg5p2 (Listen) THU Burma THU THU Lucy Ash asks what the explosion in popular protest over a THU Chinese-backed copper mine says about changes in Burma and THU asks if this is a test case for the government's commitment THU to democratic reforms. THU THU Farmers' daughters Aye Net and Thwe Thwe Win have led THU thousands of villagers in protest against what they say is THU the unlawful seizure of thousands of acres of land to make THU way for a $1 billion expansion of a copper mine run by the THU military and a large Chinese arms manufacturer. They have THU been thrown in jail and they have been harassed by their own THU police and military, and yet they have refused to back down. THU THU Their bravery has been celebrated by the poet Ant Maung from THU the nearest big city Monywa, who wrote: "The struggle made THU them into iron ladies. . .This is life or death for them - THU they will defend it at the cost of everything." THU THU Burmese officials and the Chinese company say the Monywa THU copper mine will create jobs and bring prosperity to one of THU the poorest and least developed nations in Asia. But the THU villagers complain about pollution, damage to crops and the THU loss of fertile land. THU THU A violent crackdown on the protestors was a stark reminder THU that the country's transition to democracy remains fraught THU with difficulties. Some suspect the government acted to THU avoid scaring away foreign investors. Others say the brutal THU response shows Burma's military leaders are still in charge THU behind the scenes and that they are not prepared to tolerate THU any dissent which encroaches on their economic interests. THU THU Meanwhile there is a rising tide of Sinophobia in a country THU which feels overshadowed by its powerful northern neighbour. THU How the mine dispute is resolved may provide vital clues THU about the future of Burma. THU THU Producer: Katharine Hodgson. THU THU 11:30 Beatrix Potter's Favourite Tale b01pgg3x (Listen) THU Philip Glassborow recounts the tale of the original version THU of The Tailor of Gloucester - Beatrix Potter's personal THU favourite - and learns about her attachment to the many THU traditional songs and carols which were included when the THU book was first published in 1901 but excised from the more THU familiar later version. With Finty Williams as Beatrix THU Potter. THU THU It was after a visit to Gloucester that Beatrix Potter THU became fascinated by the true story behind the miraculous THU tale of grateful mice stitching the mayor's wonderful THU waistcoat after the tailor himself had fallen ill and there THU was no "no more twist". THU THU Potter transformed this into The Tailor of Gloucester and THU sent it as a gift to Freda, the little daughter of her old THU governess. She published this privately, including many THU local songs and carols associated with the old legend that THU on the stroke of midnight on Christmas eve, the animals are THU able to speak. THU THU As she had anticipated - and in spite of the astonishing THU success of her first book, Peter Rabbit - Frederick Warne THU declined to publish this and eventually brought out a THU version stripped of most of its music. THU THU Philip Glassborow tracks down the sources of this music and THU explores Potter's passion for it and the traditions at the THU heart of the story. THU THU Producer: Beaty Rubens. THU Beatrix Potter and the tailor THU THU 12:00 You and Yours b01pgg3z (Listen) THU Online romance fraud, rising rail fares, dog-friendly towns THU THU Deaf people searching for love on the internet are being THU targeted by criminals. It's prompted police to issue new THU warnings to people using online dating websites. Rail fares THU are set to rise again in the New Year, so how do prices here THU compare with the rest of Europe? Trading Standards are there THU to protect us from fraudsters and rogue traders, but their THU budgets have been cut by nearly a third in just three years. THU How will ordinary consumers be affected? Does Keswick, in THU Cumbria, live up to its claim to be the most dog-friendly THU town in Britain? THU Producer: Jonathan Hallewell THU Presenter: Winifred Robinson. THU THU 12:57 Weather b01pf301 (Listen) THU The latest weather forecast. THU THU 13:00 World at One b01pgg41 (Listen) THU Shaun Ley presents national and international news. THU Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or THU on twitter: #wato. THU THU 13:45 Grimm Thoughts b01pgh23 (Listen) THU Episode 9 THU THU In the ninth episode, we break the silence on the tales' THU history of censorship. Throughout their lifetime the THU collection's innocent veneer has had its blood, violence, THU and sexual overtones softened or removed altogether by THU successive editors, each reacting to the particular THU sensitivities of the day, and even to the Grimms themselves. THU THU Even so the stories have found as many champions as censors, THU most notably J.R.R. Tolkien in his defence of The Juniper THU Tree's brutal depiction of murder. Why is it that although THU the details that prove controversial have changed over time THU - each one a telling insight into the temperament of a THU society - the tales' fundamental power to shock remains THU unchanged? THU THU Producer: Kevin Dawson THU A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4. THU THU 14:00 The Archers b01pg54s (Listen) THU [Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday] THU THU 14:15 Afternoon Drama b01pgh25 (Listen) THU The Sensitive - Queen of the Dead THU THU By Alastair Jessiman. THU THU Glasgow's psychic detective returns for a new case. A THU grieving daughter finds hundreds of cassette recordings made THU by a woman obsessed with her late father, a Professor of THU English. Thomas Soutar is hired to trace the identity of the THU woman behind the tapes - who styles herself the "Queen Of THU the Dead". THU THU Producer/director: Bruce Young. THU THU Credits THU Thomas: Robin Laing THU Kat: Julie Duncanson THU Sheila: Tamara Kennedy THU Miriam: Irene MacDougall THU Richie: Steven McNicoll THU Nurse: Amiera Darwish THU Director: Bruce Young THU Producer: Bruce Young THU Writer: Alastair Jessiman THU THU 15:00 Open Country b01pgh27 (Listen) THU Finding Neverland THU THU Helen Mark takes us on a journey to the real Never Never THU Land. THU THU Peter Pan first came to life on the glittering stage of THU London's Duke of York Theatre on 27th December 1904, but he THU began life far away from the hustle, bustle and glamour of THU the West End in the market town of Kirriemuir near Dundee. THU Helen Mark visits the birth place of J.M. Barrie who THU immortalised this "wee red toonie" as "Thrums" in his THU popular (pre-Pan) novels Auld Licht Idylls, A Window in THU Thrums, and The Little Minister. Helen also takes us out THU into the landscape that is believed to have inspired Never THU Never Land and the adventures of Peter Pan himself. THU THU Producer: Nicola Humphries. THU THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal b01pf6dn (Listen) THU [Repeat of broadcast at 07:55 on Sunday] THU THU 15:30 Open Book b01pf7kc (Listen) THU [Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday] THU THU 16:00 The Film Programme b01pgh5v (Listen) THU The unfilmable books that have made it to the big screen THU THU In a special edition, Francine Stock and guests discuss THU difficult books adapted for the big screen. Deepa Mehta THU talks Midnight's Children, Ang Lee reveals the challenges of THU making Life of Pi, and Walter Salles discusses On the Road. THU Meanwhile, Sir Christopher Frayling, critic Tim Robey, and THU screenwriter Tony Grisoni look back over the years at THU cinema's attempts at realising 'unfilmable' books. THU THU Producer: Craig Smith. THU THU Midnight’s Children, directed by Deepa Mehta, is in cinemas THU in key cities from this weekend, certificate 12A. THU THU Life of Pi, directed by Ang Lee, is in cinemas nationwide, THU certificate PG. THU THU Cloud Atlas, directed by Tom Tykwer, Lana Wachowski and Andy THU Wachowski, is scheduled for UK release in February 2013, THU certificate 15. THU THU On the Road, directed by Walter Salles, will be released on THU DVD in February 2013, certificate TBC. THU THU 16:30 Material World b01pgh5x (Listen) THU Unsung heroes of Science THU THU Recorded in front of an audience Quentin Cooper and guests, THU Kevin Fong, Adam Rutherford, Mark Miodownik, Vivienne Parry THU and Dallas Campbell, discuss the unsung heroes of science THU THU 17:00 PM b01pgh5z (Listen) THU Carolyn Quinn with interviews, context and analysis. THU THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News b01pf303 (Listen) THU The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. THU THU 18:15 15 Minute Musical b01pgh61 (Listen) THU Series 7, The Ozfather THU THU After a year's break 15 Minute Musical is itching to get THU it's musical teeth back into easily identifiable public THU figures and give them a West End Musical make-over. This THU fabricated, sugar-coated story is then told in an original, THU never heard before, bite-size musical. THU THU Episode 3: The Ozfather THU THU The story of Rupert Murdoch and how he come to Britain to THU build a media empire. THU THU Starring: Richie Webb, Dave Lamb and Jess Robinson THU Written by: Richie Webb, Dave Cohen and David Quantick THU Music by: Richie Webb THU Music Production: Matt Katz THU Producer: Katie Tyrrell THU THU 18:30 Births, Deaths and Marriages b01jrqr1 (Listen) THU Episode 4 THU THU 'Births, Deaths and Marriages' is a brand new sitcom set in THU a Local Authority Register Office where the staff deal with THU the three greatest events in anybody's life. THU THU Written by David Schneider ('The Day Today', 'I'm Alan THU Partridge'), he stars as chief registrar Malcolm Fox who is THU a stickler for rules and would be willing to interrupt any THU wedding service if the width of the bride infringes health THU and safety. He's unmarried but why does he need to be? He's THU married thousands of women. THU THU Alongside him are rival and divorcee Lorna who has been THU parachuted in from Car Parks to drag the office (and THU Malcolm) into the 21st century. To her marriage isn't just THU about love and romance, it's got to be about making a profit THU in our new age of austerity. THU THU There's also the ever spiky Mary, geeky Luke who's worried THU he'll end up like Malcolm one day while ditzy Anita may get THU her words and names mixed up occasionally but as the only THU parent in the office, she's a mother to them all. THU THU In this episode, Lorna's latest brainwave to let school THU children into the office brings back unhappy memories of THU bullying for Malcolm & Luke and a missing register causes THU chaos. THU THU Malcolm ...... David Schneider THU Lorna ...... Sarah Hadland THU Anita ...... Sandy McDade THU Luke ...... Russell Tovey THU Mary ...... Sally Bretton THU Lord Jefferson, Patrick, Groom ...... Simon Greenall THU Reader, Woman registering birth ...... Jane Whittenshaw THU Mum, Bride ...... Gina Peach THU THU Producer: Simon Jacobs THU A Unique production for BBC Radio 4. THU THU 19:00 The Archers b01pgh63 (Listen) THU Matt is maudlin, and Lynda handles a prima donna. THU THU 19:15 Front Row b01pgh65 (Listen) THU The creative backstage stars of Strictly, Downton and the THU Olympics THU THU Kirsty Lang turns the spotlight on the backstage stars, some THU of the key individuals behind-the-scenes who play a key role THU in big events and major TV shows. THU THU The band from Strictly Come Dancing lurk at the back of the THU stage in the shadows as the brightly-lit action takes place THU on the dance floor in front of them. Band leader Dave Arch, THU bass player Trevor Barry and singers Haley Sanderson and THU Lance Ellington give us an insight into the view from the THU back, and what they can do when things don't quite go THU according to plan. THU THU Costume designer Caroline McCall is in charge of creating, THU sourcing, designing and hiring the wide selection of period THU dress for Julian Fellowes' ITV1 hit drama series Downton THU Abbey. She takes Kirsty round her main costume suppliers who THU provided the extensive high-end wardrobe for Shirley THU MacLaine in Series 3, and describes what it's like to see THU the script for the first time and find there's a big THU wedding, a jazz party and a trip to London, and filming THU starts in two weeks. THU THU And Patrick Woodroffe, lighting designer of choice for the THU Rolling Stones since 1982, has had a busy year lighting the THU Queen's Diamond Jubilee concert outside Buckingham Palace, THU the Stones' 50th anniversary tour, and not least the opening THU and closing ceremonies for the Olympics and Paralympics. He THU discusses the pleasures of creating a new show from scratch THU and the challenges that faced him when Danny Boyle described THU his vision for his opening ceremony - and why the big orange THU Olympic rings so nearly didn't light up. THU THU Producer Jerome Weatherald. THU THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama b01pg5p0 (Listen) THU [Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today] THU THU 20:00 The Report b01pgh6r (Listen) THU HP and Autonomy THU THU Current affairs series. Phil Kemp investigates the sale of THU the British software company Autonomy to IT giant Hewlett THU Packard, which claims it was misled about the firm's value. THU THU 20:30 In Business b01pgh6t (Listen) THU The Business of Kindness THU THU Random acts of kindness can help businesses grow in THU surprising ways. Peter Day talks with one woman who explains THU how the generosity of others has made all the difference to THU her company. Henrietta Lovell, the Rare Tea Lady, started THU her firm just before becoming seriously ill. Through the THU kindness of strangers she has managed to return to health THU and run a prosperous company. She is now a great advocate THU for spreading the idea that kind gestures are an important THU force in the way we conduct our personal and professional THU lives. THU THU 21:00 Saving Species b01pfwhs (Listen) THU [Repeat of broadcast at 11:30 on Tuesday] THU THU 21:30 In Our Time b01pg5nt (Listen) THU [Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today] THU THU 21:58 Weather b01pf305 (Listen) THU The latest weather forecast. THU THU 22:00 The World Tonight b01pgh81 (Listen) THU Ritula Shah presents national and international news and THU analysis. THU THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime b01pghc1 (Listen) THU Frenchman's Creek, Episode 4 THU THU Part adventure, part romance, and set in Cornwall, Daphne Du THU Maurier's novel tells the powerful love story between Lady THU Dona and the French pirate Aubery. THU THU Episode 4 THU Lady Dona socializes with French pirates and English gentry, THU juggling her two different lives. THU THU Read by Adjoa Andoh THU Abridged by Eileen Horne THU Produced by Clive Brill THU A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4. THU THU 23:00 The Simon Day Show b010y312 (Listen) THU Series 1, Billy Bleach THU THU Simon Day welcomes listeners to small provincial theatre the THU Mallard. The headlining stand-up has not shown up, so THU newcomer Billy Bleach must perform an extended set. THU THU 23:30 The Playlist Series b017l5y3 (Listen) THU Robert Burns's iPod THU THU David Owen Norris and guests listen to Robert Burns' THU favourite songs in his drinking club in Tarbolton, near THU Glasgow. With National Poet of Scotland Liz Lochhead (writer THU of a play about Burns), Dr Kirsteen McCue and Professor THU Nigel Leask - and featuring Burns' own fiddle. THU THU We hear the songs with the tunes he wanted - not always the THU ones which have become famous. For instance, 'My Love is THU like a Red Red Rose' was changed by his publisher against THU Burns' wishes. Kirsteen McCue is the world expert on Burns' THU songs and she reveals the original versions. We also hear a THU naughty song called 'Nine Inch will Please a Lady'. THU THU Robert Burns' playlist reflects his political vision and THU also his complex love life. Burns was writing for the THU high-class Edinburgh ladies who took him up in his 30s, but THU he was also composing songs in broader Scots about their THU maids. Songs were a crucial part of his seduction technique THU - and they seem to have worked for him. He left 15 THU illegitimate children. Even on his death-bed, Burns was THU writing songs - for the pretty blonde teenager who was THU nursing him. That song, 'Oh Wert Thou in the Cold Blast', is THU one of his most beautiful and almost unbearably moving. THU Burns was destitute, he was dying at the age of only 37, and THU yet he sang to his nurse: "Oh wert thou in the cold blast, THU I'd shelter thee, I'd shelter thee". THU THU Presenter David Owen Norris is a broadcaster, composer and THU concert pianist. He has arranged the songs, which are THU performed by Thomas Guthrie and jazz singer Gwyneth Herbert. THU THU Producer: Elizabeth Burke. THU A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4. THU THU FRI FRIDAY 28 DECEMBER 2012 FRI FRI 00:00 Midnight News b01pf311 (Listen) FRI The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. FRI Followed by Weather. FRI FRI 00:15 Stephen Fry on the Phone b017cfkj (Listen) FRI From Car Phone to Executive Brick FRI FRI In episode two, Stephen Fry meets the men who brought mobile FRI phones to Britain. Thanks to Margaret Thatcher opening up FRI the airwaves, Britain became a world leader in mobile phone FRI technology in the eighties. Vodafone (short for FRI voice-data-phone) competed fiercely with the BT's mobile FRI baby, Cellnet (short for cellular network), to create the FRI first mobile phone network in the UK which was launched to FRI great fanfare on Christmas Day 1985. Coverage was truly FRI patchy, handsets were seriously hefty and calls cost a FRI fortune, but mobile phones quickly replaced car phones as FRI the ultimate yuppie accessory. Voicemail, incidentally, was FRI a good excuse to charge customers yet more for a service FRI that was, in reality, rather poor.. FRI FRI Producer: Anna Buckley. FRI FRI 00:30 Book of the Week b01pg5nw (Listen) FRI [Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Thursday] FRI FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast b01pf313 (Listen) FRI The latest shipping forecast. FRI FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes b01pf315 (Listen) FRI BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. FRI FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast b01pf317 (Listen) FRI The latest shipping forecast. FRI FRI 05:30 News Briefing b01pf319 (Listen) FRI The latest news from BBC Radio 4. FRI FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day b01pghpc (Listen) FRI A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day Archbishop FRI Vincent Nichols. FRI FRI 05:45 Farming Today b01pgjy3 (Listen) FRI Young farmers struggling to find their way onto the farming FRI ladder are working with the Forestry Commission in Scotland. FRI A pilot project has offered ten-year leases to two young FRI farmers in Fife, on 'starter farms' where some of the land FRI is best suited to tree planting. The project addresses two FRI of Scotland's government targets: the need to plant more FRI trees and the need to get more young people into farming. FRI FRI Is this, though, an erosion of a precious resource at a time FRI when food production should be paramount? Moira Hickey FRI visits Pitcairn Farm near Lochgelly to find out. FRI FRI Presented and produced by Moira Hickey. FRI FRI 06:00 Today b01pgjy5 (Listen) FRI Morning news and current affairs with James Naughtie and FRI Sarah Montague. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for FRI the Day. FRI FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs b01pf6dx (Listen) FRI [Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Sunday] FRI FRI 09:45 Book of the Week b01pgjy7 (Listen) FRI Three Houses, Episode 5 FRI FRI A beautifully nostalgic childhood memoir of Britain in the FRI late 1890s, written by the eminent author Angela Thirkell. FRI She recalls in rich detail, and with a delightful sense of FRI humour, the three houses which were seminal to her youth. FRI FRI It's Christmas at North End House in Rottingdean and the FRI waits and the mummers are busy touring the village. But for FRI one little girl, opening her stocking on her grandmother's FRI bed, it's a tiny dormouse that steals the day. FRI FRI Read by Sian Thomas FRI Abridged and produced by Jane Marshall. FRI A Jane Marshall production for BBC Radio 4. FRI FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour b01pgjy9 (Listen) FRI Celebrating, informing and entertaining women. Presented by FRI Jenni Murray. FRI FRI Home can be a place we long for, or a place we want to FRI escape from and forget? For some going back to the place FRI where they grew up rekindles happy memories, for others the FRI notion of home is tinged with pain or regret. How do we FRI define what is ‘home’ and belonging, and how does it shape FRI us for good or bad? FRI FRI The television presenter Kate Garraway commented recently FRI that ‘a sad and sorry collection of fashion howlers lies at FRI the back of every woman’s wardrobe’ - including her own - FRI the result of last-minute panic buys and blindly following FRI fashion. We’ve all made mistakes in the name of fashion: FRI jump suits, hot pants, lycra leggings & boob tubes, harem FRI pants, jeggings and ripped jeans to name just a few. And FRI recently the Shell suit was voted the worst fashion item of FRI the past 50 years by a Home Shopping Catalogue. So to FRI discuss some of fashion’s biggest faux pas, and how to avoid FRI them, Jenni is joined by fashion journalist, Helen Tither, FRI fashion and columnist Judith Woods. FRI FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama b01pgjyc (Listen) FRI A Little Twist of Dahl, Neck FRI FRI A series of stories by Roald Dahl FRI FRI Episode 5: Neck FRI FRI In Neck, Sir Basil Turton, a wealthy newspaper magnate, has FRI recently taken a young wife. Bossy and openly adulterous, FRI the new Lady Turton is despised by Jelks, Sir Basil's FRI butler, for her cruel treatment of his master. One morning FRI she is openly frolicking with her latest lover in the FRI grounds of the estate, when, for a joke, she sticks her head FRI through a hole in one of Sir Basil's priceless Henry Moore FRI sculptures. When she finds she is stuck, Sir Basil with FRI Jelks' assistance, must decide on a course of action. FRI FRI Produced and directed by David Blount FRI A Pier production for BBC Radio 4. FRI FRI Credits FRI Storyteller: Charles Dance FRI Lionel Sturridge: Jamie Glover FRI Sir Basil Turton: Chris Emmett FRI Lady Turton: Katie Scarfe FRI Jelks: David Ryall FRI Major Haddock: Mark Heap FRI Director: David Blount FRI Producer: David Blount FRI Writer: Stephen Sheridan FRI FRI 11:00 UK Confidential b01pgksh (Listen) FRI 1982 FRI FRI With unique access to secret government papers, Martha FRI Kearney presents a look at the political events of 1982 as FRI told through the Cabinet minutes, Prime Ministerial papers FRI and Foreign and Commonwealth Office documents and briefings FRI that are being released to the public at the end of the FRI year. FRI FRI Close to 30,000 Government papers containing top secret FRI memos, notes and briefings are included in the release, and FRI the Radio 4 team have been given special access over the FRI last few weeks. FRI FRI In a dramatic year, 1982 saw Britain at war with Argentina FRI over the Falklands, which is expected to dominate much of FRI the papers released under the thirty year rule. FRI FRI We anticipate discovering details of the talks to avert FRI conflict, of events such as the loss of HMS Sheffield and FRI the Battle of Goose Green, and of the controversial sinking FRI of the Argentine Navy cruiser General Belgrano. FRI FRI In addition we may well find out details of how the Franks FRI Inquiry into the Falklands War put politicians and civil FRI servants under the spotlight and how those around Margaret FRI Thatcher sought to capitalise on her renewed popularity in FRI the wake of the victory in the South Atlantic. FRI FRI Producer: Deborah Dudgeon FRI A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4, in association FRI with Takeaway Media. FRI FRI 12:00 You and Yours b01pglkx (Listen) FRI Norovirus latest, Odeon Cinema boss and the Olympic legacy FRI FRI Consumer news with Winifred Robinson. FRI FRI 12:52 The Listening Project b01pglkz (Listen) FRI John and Colin: Atomic Test Witness FRI FRI Fi Glover presents a conversation between a father and son FRI about the father's National Service experience on Christmas FRI Island, as a witness to atomic testing, proving it's FRI surprising what you hear when you listen. FRI FRI The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a FRI snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the FRI UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to FRI them about a subject they've never discussed intimately FRI before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK FRI by teams of producers from local and national radio stations FRI who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're FRI not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - FRI lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key FRI moment of connection between the participants. Many of the FRI long conversations are being archived by the British Library FRI and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a FRI unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the FRI millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just FRI learn more about The Listening Project by visiting FRI bbc.co.uk/listeningproject FRI FRI Producer: Marya Burgess. FRI FRI 12:57 Weather b01pf31c (Listen) FRI The latest weather forecast. FRI FRI 13:00 World at One b01pgg81 (Listen) FRI James Robbins presents national and international news. FRI Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or FRI on twitter: #wato. FRI FRI 13:45 Grimm Thoughts b01pgll1 (Listen) FRI Episode 10 FRI FRI In the final episode, with fairy tales enjoying a FRI renaissance across film and literature, we look to the FRI future of these tales that have haunted our past and the FRI fundamental appeal of storytelling. FRI FRI Considering Hansel and Gretel, a universal story of the joys FRI and dangers of youth and innocence, we speak to playwright FRI Lucy Kirkwood about her brand new National Theatre FRI adaptation of the tale, and explore what the many FRI contemporary takes on the Grimms' legacy might tell us about FRI the modern world. FRI FRI Producer: Kevin Dawson FRI A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4. FRI FRI 14:00 The Archers b01pgh63 (Listen) FRI [Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday] FRI FRI 14:15 Afternoon Drama b01pgll3 (Listen) FRI Storm FRI FRI By Sarah Weatherall. Sound is Andrei's passion and has FRI become his life. Working on a film soundtrack on a remote FRI Scottish island he discovers his recordings filled with FRI human cries floating on the wind. Braving the storms, Andrei FRI sets out to solve the mystery. FRI FRI Directed by Anne Bunting. FRI FRI Credits FRI Andrei: Thomas Padden FRI Cathy: Amanda Lawrence FRI Alison: Tracy Wiles FRI Roger: Patrick Brennan FRI Tara: Stephanie Racine FRI Jason: Paul Stonehouse FRI Young Andrei: Adam Thomas Wright FRI Director: Anne Bunting FRI Writer: Sarah Weatherall FRI FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time b01pgll5 (Listen) FRI Newcastleton, Scotland FRI FRI Eric Robson and the team are in Newcastleton in Scotland for FRI the final GQT of 2012. Bob Flowerdew, Matt Biggs and Anne FRI Swithinbank join Eric as this week's GQT panel. FRI FRI Produced by Howard Shannon FRI A Somethin' Else Production for BBC Radio 4. FRI FRI 15:45 Murals b01pgll7 (Listen) FRI A Bowl of Cherries FRI FRI These three stories by Morven Crumlish - commissioned FRI specially for Radio 4 - are inspired by the work of the FRI artist Phoebe Anna Traquair. Traquair (1852-1936) was born FRI in County Dublin and in the 1870s moved to Edinburgh, where FRI she would later become a prominent figure in the Scottish FRI Arts and Crafts movement. FRI FRI Probably her best-known works are the vibrantly-coloured FRI murals in what was formerly the Catholic Apostolic Church in FRI Broughton Street, Edinburgh, which Traquair took eight years FRI to complete (1893-1901). When the church fell out of FRI ecclesiastical use, the murals suffered badly through FRI neglect, but following the formation of the Mansfield FRI Traquair Trust, a major restoration was undertaken, FRI completed in 2005. FRI FRI While art is at the core of all three fictions, Murals also FRI mirrors the evolution of a similar building: from church, to FRI brickyard, to present-day use for visitors and as a venue FRI for events." FRI FRI 3/3. A Bowl Of Cherries FRI FRI An events manager, organising a christening party at the FRI former church, is beset by crises. One is professional - FRI there's a dead dog in the basement. But the other is more FRI existential. FRI FRI Morven Crumlish's stories have been broadcast widely, and FRI she also contributes to the Guardian. Her work has featured FRI in four previous Sweet Talk productions for BBC Radio 4, FRI including Dilemmas of Modern Martyrs - five of her stories - FRI in 2008; and most recently 'Harold Lloyd Is Not The Man Of FRI My Dreams' (Three For My Baby, 2011). FRI Morven lives in Edinburgh. FRI FRI Reader: Ashley Jensen FRI Producer: Jeremy Osborne FRI A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4. FRI FRI 16:00 Bute: Dreams of the World's Richest Man b01pgll9 (Listen) FRI Jonathan Glancey discovers the astonishing contribution to FRI British art and architecture of the 3rd Marquis of Bute. FRI FRI In the second half of the 19th Century, the 3rd Marquis of FRI Bute would have had claim to the world's richest man. His FRI wealth was based not just on the family estates in Scotland, FRI but on his ownership of the docks of Cardiff, then the FRI world's richest port whose coal powered the greatest navy FRI and the greatest empire in the world. The wealth was simply FRI extraordinary. FRI FRI What he did with that wealth matches it in scale: he FRI embarked on artistic patronage on an almost incomprehensible FRI scale. When he met the Gothic designer William Burgess it FRI marked the start of a lifetime of collaboration with the FRI finest architects and artists of his day, producing the High FRI Victorian Gothic exuberance of Cardiff Castle and Castell FRI Coch, the ostentation of Mount Stuart on the Isle of Bute FRI and the sumptuous restoration of the Renaissance Falkland FRI Palace. They are the most extraordinary buildings. FRI FRI The grand halls of the castles and houses are furnished with FRI the most expensive materials in the world, worked into FRI elaborate decoration by the finest Victorian artists: FRI Nathaniel Westlake, William Frame, Rowland Anderson and FRI Lonsdale. Etched into them all (there are 5 grand houses FRI altogether) are Bute's great loves - the signs of the zodiac FRI and exotic animals, appearing camouflaged in every part of FRI every home. These buildings are masterpieces which modern FRI tastes are only just rediscovering. FRI FRI In this programme Jonathan Glancey revisits and rediscovers FRI these amazing buildings, the artistic and social currents FRI that fuelled the rise in Victorian Gothic as well as the FRI life and legacy of the remarkable man who remains one of our FRI most remarkable artistic patrons. FRI FRI 16:30 More or Less b01pglrw (Listen) FRI A guide to 2012 in numbers - the most informative, FRI interesting and idiosyncratic statistics of the year FRI discussed by More or Less interviewees. FRI FRI Contributors: Robert Peston, BBC's Business Editor; Dr Pippa FRI Wells, physicist at CERN; Bill Edgar, author of Back of the FRI Net One Hundred Golden Goals; Gabriella Lebrecht, sports FRI analyst at Decision Technology; Helen Joyce, Brazil FRI correspondent for The Economist; Jack Straw, Member of FRI Parliament for Blackburn; Jil Matheson, the UK's National FRI Statistician; Dr James Grime, from the Millennium FRI Mathematics Project at the University of Cambridge; Gillian FRI Tett, columnist and assistant editor of the Financial Times; FRI David Spiegelhalter, Professor for the Public Understanding FRI of Risk at Cambridge University FRI FRI Presenter: Tim Harford. FRI Producer: Charlotte Pritchard. FRI FRI 16:55 The Listening Project b01pglry (Listen) FRI Diane and Michael: Man's Best Friend FRI FRI Fi Glover presents a conversation between a father and FRI daughter Radio 4's series that proves it's surprising what FRI you hear when you listen. Michael is devoted to his Border FRI Collie and Diane wonders whether perhaps he prefers his dog FRI to his daughter. FRI FRI The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a FRI snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the FRI UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to FRI them about a subject they've never discussed intimately FRI before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK FRI by teams of producers from local and national radio stations FRI who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're FRI not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - FRI lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key FRI moment of connection between the participants. Many of the FRI long conversations are being archived by the British Library FRI and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a FRI unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the FRI millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just FRI learn more about The Listening Project by visiting FRI bbc.co.uk/listeningproject. FRI FRI 17:00 PM b01pgls0 (Listen) FRI Carolyn Quinn with interviews, context and analysis. FRI FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News b01pf31f (Listen) FRI The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. FRI FRI 18:15 15 Minute Musical b01pgls2 (Listen) FRI Series 7, The Reducers FRI FRI A series of satirical, barbed, bittersweet fifteen-minute FRI comedy musicals. FRI FRI Episode Four: The Reducers FRI FRI Can the coalition cash in by crashing out at the next FRI election? Cameron can only hope in this musical. FRI FRI Starring: Richie Webb, Dave Lamb and Jess Robinson FRI Written by: Richie Webb, Dave Cohen and David Quantick FRI Music by: Richie Webb FRI Music Production: Matt Katz FRI Producer: Katie Tyrrell FRI FRI 18:30 The News Quiz b01pgls4 (Listen) FRI Series 79, Episode 2 FRI FRI A compilation of the best bits of The News Quiz from 2012, FRI presented by Sandi Toksvig. FRI FRI Produced by Martha Owen and Lyndsay Fenner. FRI FRI 19:00 The Archers b01pgls6 (Listen) FRI Writer ..... Joanna Toye FRI Director ..... Rosemary Watts FRI Editor ..... Vanessa Whitburn FRI FRI Jill Archer ..... Patricia Greene FRI Kenton Archer ..... Richard Attlee FRI David Archer ..... Timothy Bentinck FRI Ruth Archer ..... Felicity Finch FRI Elizabeth Pargetter ..... Alison Dowling FRI Matt Crawford ..... Kim Durham FRI Lilian Bellamy ..... Sunny Ormonde FRI Peggy Woolley ..... June Spencer FRI Fallon Rogers ..... Joanna Van Kampen FRI Emma Grundy ..... Emerald O'Hanrahan FRI Edward Grundy ..... Barry Farrimond FRI Neil Carter ..... Brian Hewlett FRI Susan Carter ..... Charlotte Martin FRI Alice Carter ..... Hollie Chapman FRI Mike Tucker ..... Terry Molloy FRI Vicky Tucker ..... Rachel Atkins FRI Robert Snell ..... Graham Blockey FRI Lynda Snell ..... Carole Boyd FRI Kirsty Miller ..... Annabelle Dowler FRI Jazzer Mccreary ..... Ryan Kelly FRI Jim Lloyd ..... John Rowe FRI Paul Morgan ..... Michael Fenton Stevens FRI Rhys Williams ..... Scott Arthur. FRI FRI 19:15 Front Row b01pgls8 (Listen) FRI British actors in America FRI FRI With Mark Lawson. FRI FRI Damian Lewis, Hugh Laurie, Thandie Newton, Adrian Lester, FRI Clive Owen and Ashley Jensen are among the actors who FRI discuss the highs and lows of working as British actors in FRI America. FRI FRI Many high profile American TV shows and films are casting FRI British actors in key roles. The success of programmes like FRI Homeland and House are testament to the strong parts FRI tempting British actors across the pond. FRI FRI Director Stephen Frears explains his theory that there is a FRI crisis in American acting, prompting producers and directors FRI to seek talent on this side of the Atlantic. FRI FRI Hugh Laurie and Damian Lewis reflect on the pros and cons of FRI the long contracts and extended seasons on prime time US TV FRI shows and Adrian Lester and Thandie Newton explore the FRI reasons behind the success of many Black British actors in FRI America. FRI FRI Producer Ellie Bury. FRI FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama b01pgjyc (Listen) FRI [Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today] FRI FRI 20:00 Correspondents Look Ahead b01pgg83 (Listen) FRI Owen Bennett-Jones chairs a lively discussion between the FRI BBC's top news correspondents about likely events over the FRI coming year. And he holds them to account for the FRI predictions they made last year. FRI Producer: Linda Pressly. FRI FRI 20:50 A Point of View b01pglsb (Listen) FRI The British Vomitorium FRI FRI "Are you full yet? Stuffed? Fit to burst?" asks Will Self as FRI he appeals to the post-Christmas glutton to consider a major FRI lifestyle change in the year ahead. FRI FRI "What I think we should all do", he says, "is throw up our FRI very obsession with food itself, and enter the New Year FRI purged". FRI FRI He takes us on a tour of foodie history, and explores how FRI we've gone from being a culinary backwater to "the most FRI food-obsessed nation in Europe - if not the world". FRI FRI Producer: Adele Armstrong. FRI FRI 21:00 With Great Pleasure b01pfwzw (Listen) FRI [Repeat of broadcast at 12:00 on Tuesday] FRI FRI 21:58 Weather b01pf31h (Listen) FRI The latest weather forecast. FRI FRI 22:00 The World Tonight b01pglw4 (Listen) FRI Ritula Shah presents national and international news and FRI analysis. FRI FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime b01pglw6 (Listen) FRI Frenchman's Creek, Episode 5 FRI FRI Part adventure, part romance, and set in Cornwall, Daphne Du FRI Maurier's novel tells the powerful love story between Lady FRI Dona and the French pirate Aubery. FRI FRI Episode 5 FRI Dona enjoys her newfound secret friendship and is invited to FRI accompany the pirates on their next adventure. FRI FRI Read by Adjoa Andoh FRI Abridged by Eileen Horne FRI Produced by Clive Brill FRI A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4. FRI FRI 23:00 Great Lives b01pfxj3 (Listen) FRI [Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday] FRI FRI 23:27 The Playlist Series b01jpptd (Listen) FRI James Joyce's Playlist FRI FRI James Joyce had a fine singing voice and earned money FRI singing professionally as a young man. All his life he sang FRI for friends; he sang to his desperately sick young brother, FRI dying of typhoid; he sang to his mother on her deathbed. He FRI sang to Nora, and she sang to him - their songs becoming a FRI part of their courtship and marriage. He wrote songs, and FRI set them to music; and certain special songs are repeated FRI again and again through his fiction. FRI FRI In this programme, recorded in James Joyce's Martello Tower FRI near Dublin, we discover and recreate James Joyce's FRI favourite songs. We also find, and hear, Joyce's own guitar. FRI At one point in his life he had a plan to make a living FRI travelling round Ireland playing it, as a wandering FRI minstrel. FRI FRI The songs include sentimental classics like 'Love's Old FRI Sweet Song', which appears seven times in 'Ulysses'; the FRI bawdy music hall ballad 'Those Seaside Girls', one of FRI Joyce's favourites (his most erotic scenes are set by the FRI sea); and a hauntingly sad farewell he wrote to his wife FRI Nora, 'Bid Adieu'. We end with the rollicking 'Finnegan's FRI Wake', an Irish song about a drunken wake which gave its FRI name to the novel. FRI FRI The contributors are Declan Kiberd, eminent Irish scholar FRI and author of 'Ulysses and Us: the Art of Everyday Living'; FRI actor Barry McGovern; and Katherine O'Callaghan, who has FRI spent several years researching Joyce's music. FRI FRI The presenter is David Owen Norris, pianist and music FRI Professor, who has also arranged the songs which are sung by FRI Thomas Guthrie and Gwyneth Herbert. FRI FRI The setting is the Martello Tower near Dublin where Joyce FRI lived as a young man, and which becomes the setting for the FRI opening scenes of 'Ulysses'. FRI FRI Producer: Elizabeth Burke FRI A Loftus Production for BBC Radio 4. FRI FRI 23:55 The Listening Project b01pglw8 (Listen) FRI Karl and Camila: Gang Culture FRI FRI Fi Glover presents a conversation between the founder of FRI Kids Company, Camila Batmanghelidjh, and Karl, who now helps FRI others move away from violence and gang culture as he did, FRI in Radio 4's series that proves it's surprising what you FRI hear when you listen. FRI FRI The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a FRI snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the FRI UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to FRI them about a subject they've never discussed intimately FRI before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK FRI by teams of producers from local and national radio stations FRI who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're FRI not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - FRI lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key FRI moment of connection between the participants. Many of the FRI long conversations are being archived by the British Library FRI and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a FRI unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the FRI millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just FRI learn more about The Listening Project by visiting FRI bbc.co.uk/listeningproject FRI FRI Producer: Marya Burgess. FRI