Radio 4 Listings for 19/12/2009 - 25/12/2009

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SAT       SATURDAY 19 DECEMBER 2009
SAT       
SAT       00:00 Midnight News b00pb8fq (Listen)
SAT       The latest national and international news from BBC Radio
SAT       4. Followed by Weather.
SAT       
SAT       00:30 Book of the Week b00pgm7r (Listen)
SAT       Dear Granny Smith, Episode 5
SAT       A letter from your postman written by Roy Mayall and
SAT       delivered by Philip Jackson; a heartfelt musing on the
SAT       past, present and future role of one of the oldest British
SAT       institutions, the Postie.
SAT       The tale of Tom and Jerry and the big grey boxes.
SAT       A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT       
SAT       00:48 Shipping Forecast b00pb8k8 (Listen)
SAT       The latest shipping forecast.
SAT       
SAT       01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes b00pb8kb (Listen)
SAT       BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4
SAT       resumes at 5.20am.
SAT       
SAT       05:20 Shipping Forecast b00pb8kd (Listen)
SAT       The latest shipping forecast.
SAT       
SAT       05:30 News Briefing b00pb8kg (Listen)
SAT       The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT       
SAT       05:43 Prayer for the Day b00pb8kj (Listen)
SAT       Daily prayer and reflection with Bishop Alan Abernethy.
SAT       
SAT       05:45 Running Away b00f678q (Listen)
SAT       Hugh Dennis
SAT       Tim Samuels joins five famous guests as they put the
SAT       demands of their hectic daily lives on hold and escape for
SAT       a few hours.
SAT       Hugh Dennis escapes his punishing schedule on the comedy
SAT       circuit and takes one of his favourite walks - through
SAT       glorious countryside near his home on the Sussex Downs -
SAT       to the oldest woods in the land.
SAT       
SAT       06:00 News and Papers b00pb8kl (Listen)
SAT       The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SAT       
SAT       06:04 Weather b00pb8kn (Listen)
SAT       The latest weather forecast.
SAT       
SAT       06:07 Open Country b00pb8kq (Listen)
SAT       Growing Tents Not Crops on Gower
SAT       What does it mean for the future of agriculture when
SAT       farmers find that tents are more profitable than crops?
SAT       Helen Mark visits the Gower Peninsula in south-west Wales,
SAT       one of the UK's most popular holiday locations, to explore
SAT       the long-term impact of tourism on farming.
SAT       
SAT       06:30 Farming Today b00pb8ks (Listen)
SAT       Farming Today This Week
SAT       Charlotte Smith visits Melton Mowbray's farmers market to
SAT       find out if the recession is making a dent in sales this
SAT       year.
SAT       According to the Centre for Retail Research, people
SAT       believe they will spend an average of 168 pounds on food
SAT       and drink for Christmas. This is 14 pounds more than last
SAT       year. The regions most likely to increase their spending
SAT       are London and the south east. Farming Today This Week
SAT       investigates if this prediction is a reality by asking
SAT       turkey, sprout, parsnip and dairy farmers across the
SAT       country if they are seeing an increase in sales this
SAT       Christmas.
SAT       
SAT       06:57 Weather b00pb8kv (Listen)
SAT       The latest weather forecast.
SAT       
SAT       07:00 Today b00pb8kx (Listen)
SAT       With Evan Davis and John Humphrys. Including Sports Desk;
SAT       Weather; Thought for the Day.
SAT       
SAT       09:00 Saturday Live b00pb8kz (Listen)
SAT       Real life stories in which listeners talk about the issues
SAT       that matter to them. Fi Glover is joined top jock and
SAT       sports supremo Garry Richardson. With poetry from Susan
SAT       Richardson.
SAT       STUDIO GUEST: GARRY RICHARDSON
SAT       Garry Richardson has been Radio 4’s voice of sport for 28
SAT       years and also hosts Sportsweek on Radio 5 Live.
SAT       Garry Richardson
SAT       SATURDAY LIFE: DAVE SPIKEY
SAT       Comedian Dave Spikey takes us to London’s Bloomsbury
SAT       Theatre to find out how he usually spends his Saturdays
SAT       Dave Spikey
SAT       THE GOOD LIFE: REBECCA WILLIAMS
SAT       In the 1970s Rebecca Williams’ father moved his family
SAT       from the city to the countryside to live out an idyllic
SAT       existence tending his own land and providing for his
SAT       family. That was the dream but the reality was a little
SAT       different.
SAT       TV TALENT SHOW WINNER: JIMMY TAMLEY
SAT       Comedy Ventriloquist Jimmy Tamley won New Faces back in
SAT       the 1980s.
SAT       Jimmy Tamley
SAT       INHERITANCE TRACKS: JULIETTE LEWIS
SAT       Actress and singer Juliette Lewis chose 'Peg' by Steely
SAT       Dan and 'Voodoo Child/Slight Return' by Jimi Hendrix.
SAT       POET: SUSAN RICHARDSON
SAT       Susan Richardson is a poet, performer and educator based
SAT       in Cardiff. She regularly performs at literary festivals
SAT       and environmental events up & down the country
SAT       Susan Richardson
SAT       THE 12 INHERITANCE TRACKS OF CHRISTMAS
SAT       This is our Christmas gift to you, 12 of our favourite
SAT       Inheritance Tracks.
SAT       The 12 Inheritance Tracks of Christmas
SAT       
SAT       10:00 Excess Baggage b00pb8l1 (Listen)
SAT       Sandi Toksvig meets David Winpenny, who has toured the
SAT       British Isles looking at the surprising number of pyramids
SAT       there are scattered around - from gravestones and
SAT       memorials to follies, works of art and functional
SAT       buildings. The pyramid is not only one of the most ancient
SAT       of structural designs but one of the most modern, and all
SAT       over the country people are proud of their local pyramids
SAT       and welcome those who have travelled to see them.
SAT       Ruth Breckman's tour in search of buildings took her to
SAT       five continents to see opera houses. Again these vary from
SAT       the old, like the famous 18th-century La Scala in Milan,
SAT       to the modern Marion Oliver McCaw Hall in Seattle. She
SAT       explains why the opera house can tell the visitor so much
SAT       about the history and culture of a city.
SAT       An object that travels all over the globe, often unnoticed
SAT       but vital to the way the world works, is the shipping
SAT       container. Jeremy Hiller explains how BBC News bought and
SAT       tracked an individual container for a year, logging its
SAT       travels, cargo and the crews who navigated its voyage. The
SAT       journey tells us a lot about globalisation and gives a
SAT       telling insight into the current state of the world's
SAT       economy.
SAT       
SAT       10:30 Here We Come b00pb8l3 (Listen)
SAT       Radio 4 presenter John Waite's personal take on the story
SAT       of The Monkees, the wildly successful 1960s pop group and
SAT       TV stars.
SAT       In 1970, as a 19-year-old student, John was hitch-hiking
SAT       his way up the coast of California when he was spotted by
SAT       Davy Jones, the British member of The Monkees, who invited
SAT       him to stay at his Hollywood home. In this programme, John
SAT       tells the fascinating story of the world's first
SAT       manufactured pop group and catches up with Jones, 40 years
SAT       on.
SAT       
SAT       11:00 Week in Westminster b00pb8l5 (Listen)
SAT       Peter Riddell, Steve Richards, Ben Brogan, Jackie Ashley
SAT       and Peter Oborne reflect on an extraordinary year in
SAT       politics.
SAT       
SAT       11:30 From Our Own Correspondent b00pb8l7 (Listen)
SAT       Kate Adie introduces BBC foreign correspondents with the
SAT       stories behind the headlines.
SAT       There are fears that north and south Sudan could be
SAT       sliding back towards conflict. A civil war between the
SAT       country's two halves only ended five years ago. But now
SAT       reports from the region are increasingly disturbing. More
SAT       than two thousand people have died there this year in
SAT       battles between various ethnic factions. And there are
SAT       claims that the tensions in the largely Christian south
SAT       are being stoked by the sending of arms shipments from the
SAT       mainly-Muslim north. This comes against a backdrop of a
SAT       referendum in the south, in a year's time, in which people
SAT       will vote on whether to break away and declare
SAT       independence. Will Ross has been to a town at the centre
SAT       of this divided region.
SAT       For months, all across Eastern Europe people have been
SAT       marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism. And
SAT       now, last in line, it's Romania's turn. Days of violent
SAT       revolution in 1989 ended with the execution of the
SAT       dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena. Gradually
SAT       the country began to emerge from their shadow, and today
SAT       it's a member of the European Union. But in some of
SAT       Romania's darker corners little has changed, and Chris
SAT       Rogers has been finding out that the nation continues to
SAT       fail some of its most vulnerable citizens:
SAT       The South Pacific island nation of Tonga is the last
SAT       Polynesian monarchy. At a coronation ceremony last year a
SAT       crown was placed on the head of King Gorge Tupou the
SAT       Fifth. And in his silk knee breeches and maroon cape, he
SAT       rose from his golden throne as the country's absolute
SAT       ruler. But there have been years of pressure for political
SAT       reform, and some serious resentment of royal rule. The
SAT       King now knows that his power may quite soon ebb away.
SAT       With his blessing Tonga is on course to become a
SAT       democracy, although the monarch will stay on as head of
SAT       state. John Pickford first visited the country more than
SAT       30 years ago, and he's just been back to see how it is
SAT       coping with the tensions between tradition and modernity.
SAT       Christmas is a big season for the port wine industry. The
SAT       fortified wine is used to wash down mince pies and Stilton
SAT       cheese. Visiting heads of state are offered it at royal
SAT       banquets and cobwebbed bottles lie in the cellars of
SAT       gentlemen's clubs in London. But how is this ancient drink
SAT       standing up to these times of recession? Humphrey Hawksley
SAT       has travelled to the banks of the Douro River in Portugal
SAT       where port wine has been made for hundreds of years. He
SAT       asks whether the traditions surrounding the tipple are
SAT       still relevant today and visits a wine bar to see what
SAT       today's young drinkers make of it.
SAT       And from Ireland there's a tale of mad sporting
SAT       determination in the teeth of an Atlantic storm. As all of
SAT       the world surely knows, Tiger Woods has been engulfed by
SAT       scandal. He has decided to take a break from golf, and
SAT       suddenly the sport has lost its guiding star. Woods was by
SAT       far its most inspiring figure; at his best a study in
SAT       concentration, power, precision and grace under pressure.
SAT       At the other end of the world of golf, our correspondent
SAT       Kieran Cooke also likes to swing a club. But he and his
SAT       friends play a form of the game in the wilds of Ireland
SAT       that Tiger Woods would barely recognise.
SAT       
SAT       12:00 Money Box b00pb8l9 (Listen)
SAT       Paul Lewis with the latest news from the world of personal
SAT       finance.
SAT       
SAT       12:30 The Now Show b00p99n5 (Listen)
SAT       Series 29, Episode 4
SAT       Tonight Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis explore pointless
SAT       protests and Great British sentimentality; Mitch Benn
SAT       sings an ode to Simon Cowell; Marcus Brigstocke sees
SAT       Copenhagen through the eyes of Dr Seuss and Jon Holmes
SAT       tries to wriggle past bank security.
SAT       
SAT       12:57 Weather b00pb8lc (Listen)
SAT       The latest weather forecast.
SAT       
SAT       13:00 News b00pb8vy (Listen)
SAT       The latest national and international news from BBC Radio
SAT       4.
SAT       
SAT       13:10 Any Questions? b00p99n7 (Listen)
SAT       Martha Kearney chairs the topical debate from Masham,
SAT       North Yorkshire. The panellists are Labour peer Roy
SAT       Hattersley, science writer and broadcaster Dr Gabrielle
SAT       Walker, Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate
SAT       and former diplomat Rory Stewart, and Nick Clegg's chief
SAT       of staff, Danny Alexander.
SAT       THIS WEEK'S PANEL
SAT       LORD HATTERSLEY was Deputy Leader of the Labour Party for
SAT       nine years until 1992. Writing about the expenses scandal
SAT       earlier this year he said the “crisis of confidence in
SAT       politics and politicians” is not the result of politicians
SAT       claiming parliamentary expenses for cleaning out a moat.
SAT       “It is the product of politicians failing to debate the
SAT       merits of a society in which one family lives in a moated
SAT       grange while another survives in a bed and breakfast
SAT       hostel.” A critic of Tony Blair’s New Labour, he has since
SAT       declared himself a supporter of Gordon Brown. His own
SAT       political career in the House of Commons spanned thirty
SAT       three years before he stood down as MP for Birmingham
SAT       Sparkbrook in 1997. The same year he was created a life
SAT       peer. He served in the governments of two Labour Prime
SAT       Ministers: as a minister under Harold Wilson and in the
SAT       Cabinet of James Callaghan. After the party’s defeat in
SAT       1979, he became its chief opposition spokesman. In 1983 he
SAT       became deputy to party leader Neil Kinnock. His prolific
SAT       writing includes newspaper columns, novels, political
SAT       memoirs and biography.
SAT       RORY STEWART is the prospective Conservative parliamentary
SAT       candidate for Penrith and the Border in Cumbria. Born in
SAT       Hong Kong, he grew up in Malaysia and served briefly as an
SAT       officer in the British Army, studied history and politics
SAT       at Oxford University and then joined the British
SAT       Diplomatic Service. He worked in the British Embassy in
SAT       Indonesia and then, in the wake of the Kosovo campaign, as
SAT       the British Representative in Montenegro. In 2000 he took
SAT       two years off and began walking from Turkey to Bangladesh.
SAT       He covered 6000 miles on foot alone across Afghanistan,
SAT       Pakistan, India and Nepal - a journey described in his
SAT       book The Places in Between. In 2003, he became the
SAT       coalition Deputy Governor of Maysan and Dhi Qar, two
SAT       provinces in the Marsh Arab region of Southern Iraq, and
SAT       later wrote a book about the experience called The Prince
SAT       of the Marshes and Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in
SAT       Iraq. In 2004, he was awarded the Order of the British
SAT       Empire. He lived in Kabul from 2006-2008 and founded the
SAT       Turquoise Mountain Foundation, which is investing in the
SAT       regeneration of the historic commercial centre of Kabul.
SAT       He was appointed to a professorial chair at Harvard
SAT       University as the Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights at
SAT       the beginning of 2009 and became Director of the Carr
SAT       Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy
SAT       School. He was elected as the Conservative Parliamentary
SAT       candidate by an open-primary meeting (open to all
SAT       registered voters, regardless of party) in October 2009.
SAT       DANNY ALEXANDER MP is chief of staff to Liberal Democrat
SAT       leader Nick Clegg. In 2007, he was also appointed as
SAT       co-ordinator of the party’s election manifesto. Seen as
SAT       one the Lib Dems' fastest-rising stars, he has made swift
SAT       progress since his election to the Westminster parliament
SAT       in 2005 when he won the newly-created seat of Inverness,
SAT       Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey. Labour - which had held
SAT       the old seat of Inverness East – was beaten into second
SAT       place. In response to the prospect of a minority
SAT       government after the next election, he has said the Lib
SAT       Dems were now having to look very closely and seriously
SAT       at what would happen if they became the ‘kingmakers’ in a
SAT       hung parliament. He is former party spokesman on Work and
SAT       Pensions. One time press officer with the Scottish Liberal
SAT       Democrats, he was also PR chief for the Cairngorms
SAT       National Park. He spent six years as head of
SAT       communications for the European Movement and the
SAT       campaigning group, Britain in Europe.
SAT       DR GABRIELLE WALKER is a freelance writer, broadcaster and
SAT       speaker specialising in energy and climate change. She has
SAT       a PhD in Chemistry from Cambridge University and has been
SAT       Climate Change editor at Nature and Features Editor of New
SAT       Scientist, for whom she now acts as consultant. She is a
SAT       consultant to the UK Government's Chief Scientific Adviser
SAT       and to the Government Office of Science, as well as being
SAT       a visiting Professor at Princeton University. She
SAT       presented the BBC Radio 4 series on climate change, Planet
SAT       Earth Under Threat, another series called Oceans: What
SAT       Lies Beneath and appears regularly on TV and radio. Her
SAT       books include Snowball Earth (2003); An Ocean of Air
SAT       (2008); and with Sir David King, The Hot Topic: How to
SAT       Tackle Global Warming and Still Keep the Lights On (2008),
SAT       which Al Gore described as “a beacon of clarity in a world
SAT       of misinformation”.
SAT       
SAT       14:00 Any Answers? b00pb8wz (Listen)
SAT       Martha Kearney takes listeners' calls and emails in
SAT       response to this week's edition of Any Questions?
SAT       
SAT       14:30 Saturday Play b00pb8x1 (Listen)
SAT       The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
SAT       Dramatisation by Linda Marshall of L Frank Baum's
SAT       children's classic.
SAT       When a tornado strikes her farmhouse in Kansas, young
SAT       Dorothy is lifted to the magical world of Oz, where she
SAT       embarks upon a perilous journey to find her way back home.
SAT       Dorothy ...... Amelia Clarkson
SAT       Wizard of Oz/Kalidah/Uncle Henry ...... Jonathan Keeble
SAT       Scarecrow ...... Kevin Eldon
SAT       Tinman ...... Burn Gorman
SAT       Lion ...... Zubin Varla
SAT       Witch of the North/South/West/Aunt Em .......Emma Fielding
SAT       King Monkey/Miner ...... Andrew Westfield
SAT       Munchkin/Gatekeeper ...... Graeme Hawley
SAT       With Original Music by Olly Fox.
SAT       Directed by Nadia Molinari.
SAT       Part of the BBC Christmas 2009 season.
SAT       
SAT       15:30 Tales from the Stave b00p8c19 (Listen)
SAT       Series 5, Holst: The Planets
SAT       Frances Fyfield tracks down the stories behind the scores
SAT       of well-known pieces of music.
SAT       Holst apparently hated the popularity of The Planets. He
SAT       sat down to compose it in 1914 and it had its first
SAT       performance in 1918. Given that English audiences were
SAT       used to Elgar, this massive 'modern' orchestral work came
SAT       as a huge surprise to concert goers, and they loved it.
SAT       From the opening 5/4 tempo of the first movement of Mars,
SAT       this could be considered one of the first great pieces of
SAT       20th-century English music.
SAT       Holst had recently heard the revolutionary compositions of
SAT       Schoenberg and Stravinsky and in The Planets, he mixes
SAT       harmonies and rhythms in the most dramatic way. Not all of
SAT       the score is in his own hand, as he suffered from
SAT       neuritis, so he sometimes used copyists to help with his
SAT       composition.
SAT       Frances' guests select their favourite movements from the
SAT       score, which is held at the Bodleian Library in Oxford,
SAT       and they are joined by the curator Martin Holmes, who
SAT       looks after the precious manuscripts there.
SAT       The seven movements don't include Pluto; that was only
SAT       discovered in 1930, four years before his death. The
SAT       success of The Planets overshadowed Holst's other
SAT       compositions, which are quite different in style from his
SAT       astrological depictions. While the piece is still popular
SAT       in concert halls around the UK, its also familiar to film
SAT       fans as it is frequently used in movies. What would Holst
SAT       have made of its enduring popularity, 75 years after his
SAT       death, and what would he have made of its use in computer
SAT       games?
SAT       
SAT       16:00 Woman's Hour b00pb8x3 (Listen)
SAT       Weekend Woman's Hour
SAT       Highlights of this week's Woman's Hour programmes with
SAT       Jane Garvey.
SAT       Sigourney Weaver talks about Avatar and life beyond the
SAT       screen; what the noughties have done for women; James May
SAT       on why it's okay for men to not have a feminine side; the
SAT       working life of Britain's Consul-General in Iraq; theatre
SAT       teenagers when they're too old for panto; what is the
SAT       right level of compensation for women who donate their
SAT       eggs?
SAT       
SAT       16:56 1989: Day by Day b00pb8x5 (Listen)
SAT       19th December 1989
SAT       Sir John Tusa looks back at the events making the news 20
SAT       years ago.
SAT       Serious unrest is reported in Romania, with hundreds
SAT       massacred.
SAT       A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT       
SAT       17:00 PM b00pb8x7 (Listen)
SAT       Saturday PM
SAT       Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Carolyn
SAT       Quinn, plus the sports headlines.
SAT       
SAT       17:30 iPM b00pb8x9 (Listen)
SAT       The weekly interactive current affairs magazine featuring
SAT       online conversation and debate.
SAT       
SAT       17:54 Shipping Forecast b00pb8xc (Listen)
SAT       The latest shipping forecast.
SAT       
SAT       17:57 Weather b00pb8xf (Listen)
SAT       The latest weather forecast.
SAT       
SAT       18:00 Six O'Clock News b00pb8xh (Listen)
SAT       The latest national and international news from BBC Radio
SAT       4.
SAT       
SAT       18:15 Loose Ends b00pb8xk (Listen)
SAT       Peter Curran and guests with an eclectic mix of
SAT       conversation, music and comedy.
SAT       He is joined by eighties pop sensation Boy George, the
SAT       actor Michael Fassbender and the playwright Mark Ravenhill.
SAT       Allegra McEvedy talks to almanac compiler Ben Schott.
SAT       With comedy from performance poet John Hegley, and music
SAT       fit for the festive season from Thea Gilmore.
SAT       Boy George
SAT       Peter Curran is joined by former Culture Club frontman Boy
SAT       George, who along with his single, ‘White Xmas’ plays a
SAT       ten night residency. ‘Boy George in Concert Up Close and
SAT       Personal’ is at the Leicester Square Theatre, London from
SAT       Sunday 20 December.
SAT       Michael Fassbender
SAT       Having starred to great acclaim in ‘Fishtank’ and in Steve
SAT       McQueens ‘Hunger’, Michael Fassbender talks about his role
SAT       as the suave bilingual Brit in Quentin Tarantino’s World
SAT       War 2 epic 'Inglourious Basterds' out now on DVD. 'Fish
SAT       Tank' is released on DVD on Monday 25 January.
SAT       Mark Ravenhill
SAT       Mark Ravenhill talks about his latest collaboration with
SAT       Terry Pratchett as he's adapted the Discworld authors
SAT       novel 'Nation' for the National Theatre, London.
SAT       Nation – National Theatre
SAT       Ben Schott
SAT       And it wouldn’t be Christmas without a compilation of the
SAT       year’s trivia in tables and informative titbits… Ben
SAT       Schott is happy to oblige as he talks to Allegra McEvedy
SAT       about 'Schott's Almanac 2010' published by Bloomsbury
SAT       John Hegley
SAT       More festive cheer comes from the ever-popular performance
SAT       poet John Hegley. He's at the London’s Battersea Arts
SAT       Centres ‘Christmas at the Batterseaside’ from Monday 21 to
SAT       Wednesday 23 December. And his Bloomsbury Theatre show‘
SAT       'Moniseur Robinet at the Bloomsbury’, is on Saturday 9
SAT       January 2010.
SAT       Thea Gilmore
SAT       And fresh from her UK tour there’s music from
SAT       singer-songwriter Thea Gilmore, playing her current single
SAT       'That'll Be Christmas' and 'The St Stephens Day Murders'
SAT       from her album ‘Strange Communion’. She finishes her tour
SAT       at Fareham on Saturday 19 and Chester on Monday 21
SAT       December.
SAT       
SAT       19:00 From Fact to Fiction b00pb8xm (Listen)
SAT       Series 7, The Guilt Season
SAT       With matters of climate change under international
SAT       scrutiny, novelist Liz Jensen brings together three
SAT       characters with wildly differing views in her comic
SAT       monologue, The Guilt Season.
SAT       
SAT       19:15 Saturday Review b00pb8xy (Listen)
SAT       Tom Sutcliffe is joined by Richard Coles, Jude Kelly and
SAT       Amanda Vickery to discuss the cultural highlights of the
SAT       week, including Keira Knightley's debut stage appearance
SAT       in The Misanthrope. Starring alongside Damien Lewis in
SAT       Martin Crimp's translation of Moliere's classic 17th
SAT       century French comedy, directed by Thea Sharrock, the play
SAT       explores the very contemporary issue of celebrity.
SAT       Sam Taylor Wood's feature film debut tells the story of
SAT       John Lennon's troubled adolescence in Liverpool, torn
SAT       between his strict, domineering Aunt Mimi, played by
SAT       Kristin Scott Thomas, and his inconstant but loving mother
SAT       Julia, played by Anne Marie Duff. Yearning for a normal
SAT       family, Lennon (Aaron Johnson) escapes into the new and
SAT       exciting world of rock n' roll, where his fledgling genius
SAT       finds a kindred spirit in the teenage Paul McCartney
SAT       (Thomas Brodie Sangster).
SAT       Colum McCann's novel Let The Whole World Spin won the
SAT       prestigious National Book Award in America. It is set in
SAT       1974 against the backdrop of Philippe Petit's celebrated
SAT       high wire walk between the Twin Towers, a pivotal moment
SAT       loosely drawing together a rich cast of New York
SAT       residents. From two immigrant Irish brothers to an uptown
SAT       mother grieving for her son lost in Vietnam, from the
SAT       realities of life in the Bronx for a streetwalker to the
SAT       cocaine adventures of two trendy young painters. McCann's
SAT       is a vividly-drawn portrait of 1970s Manhattan.
SAT       Plus a review of the highlights on television over
SAT       Christmas, featuring the Cranford Christmas Special,
SAT       starring Judi Dench and Imelda Staunton, a new adaptation
SAT       of Henry James's The Turn of The Screw, John Hurt
SAT       reprising his role of Quentin Crisp in An Englisman in New
SAT       York, and Andrew Davis's adaptation of Joanna Briscoe's
SAT       erotic thriller Sleep With Me.
SAT       Christmas TV
SAT       The Turn of the Screw is on December 30th at 9pm.
SAT       Sleep With Me is on ITV1 on New Year’s Eve at 9pm.
SAT       An Englishman in New York is on ITV1 on December 28th.
SAT       Cranford begins on Sunday December 20th on BBC1 at 9pm,
SAT       with the second episode the following Sunday.
SAT       
SAT       20:00 Archive on 4 b00pb8y0 (Listen)
SAT       A Dog's Life
SAT       To mark the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the
SAT       Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, BBC Disability
SAT       Affairs Correspondent Peter White examines the changing
SAT       role of the working dog, from the early 1900s to their
SAT       role in today's society, using extensive and sometimes
SAT       previously unbroadcast archive.
SAT       Perennially 'man's best friend', dogs are also now man's
SAT       best colleague. From guide dogs to guard dogs, hearing
SAT       dogs to healing dogs, Peter examines the ways in which we
SAT       have become so dependent on canines. Over the years we
SAT       have progressed from guide dogs to dual purpose dogs, to
SAT       dogs that can detect imminent epileptic fits, smuggled
SAT       drugs and explosive devices - even dogs that can do your
SAT       washing.
SAT       The programme features a mix of historical material, new
SAT       interviews and previously untransmitted archive of the
SAT       trainers, the owners and those that place their lives in
SAT       the paws of their dogs.
SAT       
SAT       21:00 Classic Serial b00p7kyd (Listen)
SAT       The Complete Smiley - The Karla Trilogy, Tinker, Tailor,
SAT       Soldier, Spy, Part 3
SAT       Dramatisation by Shaun McKenna of John le Carre's classic
SAT       novel.
SAT       George Smiley, called back from retirement, is reaching
SAT       the end of his hunt to find the mole he believes is
SAT       tearing the British Secret Intelligence Service apart.
SAT       George Smiley ...... Simon Russell Beale
SAT       Ann Smiley ...... Anna Chancellor
SAT       Control ...... John Rowe
SAT       Peter Guillam ...... Ewan Bailey
SAT       Jim Prideaux ...... Anthony Calf
SAT       Mendel ...... Kenneth Cranham
SAT       Magyar ...... Peter Majer
SAT       Ricki Tarr ...... Jamie Foreman
SAT       Toby Esterhase ...... Sam Dale
SAT       Bill Haydon ...... Michael Feast
SAT       Karla ...... Philip Fox
SAT       Polyakov ...... Stephen Greif
SAT       Steve Mackelvore ...... Piers Wehner
SAT       Mrs McCraig ...... Kate Layden
SAT       Bill Roach ...... Ryan Watson
SAT       This episode is available until 3.00pm on 20th December as
SAT       part of the Series Catch-up Trial.
SAT       
SAT       22:00 News and Weather b00pb8y2 (Listen)
SAT       The latest national and international news from BBC Radio
SAT       4, followed by weather.
SAT       
SAT       22:15 Unreliable Evidence b00p91qf (Listen)
SAT       European Law: After Lisbon
SAT       Clive Anderson presents the series analysing the legal
SAT       issues of the day.
SAT       European law has been described as an incoming tide which
SAT       cannot be held back. Will the coming into force of the
SAT       Lisbon Treaty generate a legal tsunami which will
SAT       overwhelm British sovereignty? Are we governed by our own
SAT       laws or the law of Europe?
SAT       
SAT       23:00 Brain of Britain b00p87r2 (Listen)
SAT       Russell Davies chairs the tenth, heat of the perennial
SAT       general knowledge contest, with four contestants from
SAT       Wales.
SAT       Contestants
SAT       Jason Bray from Pontypool
SAT       David Clark from Port Talbot
SAT       Stuart Davies from Swansea
SAT       Dave Roberts from Cardiff
SAT       
SAT       23:30 Adventures in Poetry b00p7m9j (Listen)
SAT       Series 10, On First Looking into Chapman's Homer
SAT       Peggy Reynolds explores the background, effect and lasting
SAT       appeal of some well-loved poems.
SAT       'Much have I travelled in the realms of gold...' Keats'
SAT       sonnet - his first great poem - begins. Keats couldn't
SAT       read Greek and the poem records him touching the ancient
SAT       world through translation and his already fecund
SAT       imagination. Peggy explores the stories behind its
SAT       creation and its enduring appeal.
SAT       
SAT       
SUN       SUNDAY 20 DECEMBER 2009
SUN       
SUN       00:00 Midnight News b00pb8z9 (Listen)
SUN       The latest national and international news from BBC Radio
SUN       4. Followed by Weather.
SUN       
SUN       00:30 Afternoon Reading b009fpl7 (Listen)
SUN       Pier Shorts, Love Lessons from Cephalopods
SUN       Stories by new writers, inspired by Brighton's Palace Pier.
SUN       By Kay Sexton, read by Susannah Harker.
SUN       A marine scientist challenges a Russian gangmaster to a
SUN       swimming contest.
SUN       A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN       
SUN       00:48 Shipping Forecast b00pb8zc (Listen)
SUN       The latest shipping forecast.
SUN       
SUN       01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes b00pb8zf (Listen)
SUN       BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN       
SUN       05:20 Shipping Forecast b00pb8zh (Listen)
SUN       The latest shipping forecast.
SUN       
SUN       05:30 News Briefing b00pb8zk (Listen)
SUN       The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN       
SUN       05:43 Bells on Sunday b00pb8zm (Listen)
SUN       The sound of bells from St John the Baptist, Loughton.
SUN       
SUN       05:45 The Watchdog and the Feral Beast b00p2z8p (Listen)
SUN       Episode 1
SUN       Sir Christopher Meyer, press watchdog until this year as
SUN       chairman of the Press Complaints Commission and former
SUN       press secretary at Number 10, discusses the role of the
SUN       press today. Is the press today freedom's guardian or is
SUN       it a 'feral beast', as Tony Blair described the media at
SUN       the end of his premiership?
SUN       Sir Christopher draws on his personal experience as press
SUN       watchdog and government spokesman. In his six years
SUN       chairing the PCC, where he dealt with complaints against
SUN       newspapers and magazines, he championed a free press and
SUN       self-regulation, but had to contend with controversies
SUN       that sometimes strained people's trust in the press.
SUN       His health check on the press comes at a time when opinion
SUN       is polarised. Is the press out of control, or is it more
SUN       constrained than ever before by the law? Is the press
SUN       destroying trust in our democracy, or are politicians
SUN       giving the press undue importance by courting editors and
SUN       journalists? Is the press too powerful, or is it
SUN       vulnerable because of competition from the internet, much
SUN       of it free and unregulated?
SUN       And now that the printed word and audio-visual content
SUN       appear together on the same website, what is the future
SUN       for self-regulation by the press?
SUN       
SUN       06:00 News Headlines b00pb8zp (Listen)
SUN       The latest national and international news.
SUN       
SUN       06:05 Something Understood b00pb8zr (Listen)
SUN       The Festive Spirit
SUN       Since time immemorial special occasions have been marked
SUN       with a festival in which communities joined together in
SUN       celebration. Journalist Madeleine Bunting explores this
SUN       desire to create festivals.
SUN       The readers are Liza Sadovy, James Goode and Frank
SUN       Stirling.
SUN       A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN       Music
SUN       Music 1: ‘Wassail Carol’ set by William Mathias. Performed
SUN       by the New College Choir. Available on the album Carols
SUN       from New College. Released by CRD Records.
SUN       Music 2: ‘Dinuy-ya’ performed by Fiesta Filipina.
SUN       Available on the album Music from the Philipines: Fiesta
SUN       Filipina, released by Arc records.
SUN       Music 3: ‘Caracunde’ performed by Susana Baca. Available
SUN       on the album Espiritu Vivo, released by Luaka Bop.
SUN       Music 4: ‘Variations on Carnival of Venice’, composed by
SUN       Francisco Tarrega, performed by Rafael Aguirre Minarro.
SUN       Available on the album Guitar Recital, released by Naxos.
SUN       Music 5: ‘Woodstock’ written and performed by Joni
SUN       Mitchell, available on Joni Mitchell: Hits, published by
SUN       Siquomb Publishing Group.
SUN       Music 6: ‘L’Hiver’ composed by Alexander Glazunov,
SUN       performed by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, the
SUN       conductor was Evgeni Mravinsky. Available on the album
SUN       Mravinsky Live, released on Russian Disc.
SUN       Music 7: ‘Wolcum Yule’ composed by Benjamin Britten,
SUN       performed by the Choir of King’s College Cambridge.
SUN       Available on the album A Ceremony of Carols, published by
SUN       Argo.
SUN       Music 8: ‘Ebetlehema Yiyo Lenkosi’ composed by J
SUN       Shabalala, performed by Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Available
SUN       on the album Ultimate, published by Universal Music.
SUN       Readings
SUN       Reading 1: ‘Make We Marry’ (anonymous) from Middle English
SUN       Lyrics, selected and edited by Maxwell S Luria and Richard
SUN       L Hoffman. Published by WW Norton & Co.
SUN       Reading 2: ‘Things Fall Apart’ by Chinua Achebe. Published
SUN       by Heinemann.
SUN       Reading 3: ‘April Carnival, St Thomas’ written by Tram
SUN       Combs, available in the book Pilgrim’s Terrace, published
SUN       by Editorial La Nueva Salamanca San Germai, Puerto Rico.
SUN       Reading 4: ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ written by
SUN       Alexander Dumas. Published by Project Gutenberg.
SUN       Reading 5: ‘Bonfire Night in Lewes’ from Gunpowder Plots,
SUN       written by Mike Jay, published by Allen Lane.
SUN       Reading 6: ‘On the Feast of Stephen’ by Barry Butson from
SUN       the Poetry Review Vol 87, No.3.
SUN       Reading 7: ‘My Father as I Recall Him’ by Mamie Dickens,
SUN       from The Ladies Home Journal 1892, included in The
SUN       Victorian Christmas by Anna Selby, published by Pen and
SUN       Sword Books.
SUN       Reading 8: ‘In the House of the Father’ edited by Jeni
SUN       Couzyn from Christmas in Africa, from The Bloodaxe Book of
SUN       Contemporary Women Poets. Published by Bloodaxe.
SUN       
SUN       06:35 On Your Farm b00pb8zt (Listen)
SUN       Adam Henson visits Hunmanby Grange Farm on the Yorkshire
SUN       Wolds, a 600-acre arable farm with 2,000 hens producing
SUN       freedom foods accredited eggs.
SUN       In 2002, owners Tom and Gill Mellor decided that, with the
SUN       drop in cereal prices, the farm wouldn't survive as a
SUN       family business without diversification. Using water from
SUN       their own bore-hole and barley from the farm, they started
SUN       a brewery which now produces up to 13,000 award-winning
SUN       pints of ale a year sold throughout the region.
SUN       It is a story about seeing the writing on the wall and
SUN       then doing something unique to their location to survive
SUN       and prosper. Both the hen farming and brewery employ local
SUN       people, as does the farm. The programme highlights the
SUN       choices many farmers face today to ensure the survival and
SUN       future prosperity of a family farm.
SUN       
SUN       06:57 Weather b00pb8zw (Listen)
SUN       The latest weather forecast.
SUN       
SUN       07:00 News and Papers b00pb8zy (Listen)
SUN       The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN       
SUN       07:10 Sunday b00pb900 (Listen)
SUN       Roger Bolton discusses the religious and ethical news of
SUN       the week. Moral arguments and perspectives on stories,
SUN       both familiar and unfamiliar.
SUN       
SUN       07:55 Radio 4 Appeal b00pb902 (Listen)
SUN       Build Africa
SUN       Dame Diana Rigg appeals on behalf of Build Africa.
SUN       Donations to Build Africa should be sent to FREEPOST BBC
SUN       Radio 4 Appeal, please mark the back of your envelope
SUN       Build Africa. Credit cards: Freephone 0800 404 8144. If
SUN       you are a UK tax payer, please provide Build Africa with
SUN       your full name and address so they can claim the Gift Aid
SUN       on your donation. The online and phone donation facilities
SUN       are not currently available to listeners without a UK
SUN       postcode.
SUN       Registered Charity Number 298316.
SUN       Related Links
SUN       * Build Africa (www.build-africa.org.uk)
SUN       
SUN       07:58 Weather b00pb904 (Listen)
SUN       The latest weather forecast.
SUN       
SUN       08:00 News and Papers b00pb906 (Listen)
SUN       The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN       
SUN       08:10 Sunday Worship b00pb908 (Listen)
SUN       A Spotless Rose
SUN       On the fourth Sunday of Advent, the story of the angel
SUN       Gabriel's visit to Mary is explored in a service from St
SUN       John's College, Durham.
SUN       The preacher is Rev Dr David Wilkinson.
SUN       Music director: George Richford.
SUN       
SUN       08:50 A Point of View b00p99nb (Listen)
SUN       Clive James vents his frustration at automated customer
SUN       systems and finds them a poor substitute for dealing with
SUN       real people.
SUN       
SUN       09:00 Broadcasting House b00pb90b (Listen)
SUN       News and conversation about the big stories of the week
SUN       with Paddy O'Connell.
SUN       
SUN       10:00 The Archers Omnibus b00pbltx (Listen)
SUN       The week's events in Ambridge.
SUN       
SUN       11:15 Desert Island Discs b00pbltz (Listen)
SUN       Sir Michael Caine
SUN       Kirsty Young's castaway this Christmas is Sir Michael
SUN       Caine.
SUN       In a film career that has spanned more than four decades
SUN       he has won two Oscars; his credits include Alfie, The
SUN       Italian Job, Hannah and Her Sisters and Educating Rita.
SUN       As well as discussing his remarkable life in films, he
SUN       describes how the Queen used to cut through his back
SUN       garden on her way to the horse races, discusses the
SUN       secrets of a happy marriage and reveals the tricks for
SUN       cooking perfect roast potatoes this Christmas.
SUN       
SUN       12:00 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue b00p885p (Listen)
SUN       Series 52, Episode 5
SUN       The perennial antidote to panel games pays a visit to the
SUN       Futurist Theatre in Scarborough, with Jack Dee taking the
SUN       chairman's role.
SUN       Regulars Barry Cryer and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined by
SUN       Jo Brand and Jeremy Hardy.
SUN       With Colin Sell at the piano.
SUN       
SUN       12:32 Food Programme b00pblv1 (Listen)
SUN       Spirits
SUN       Sheila Dillon tastes her way through the long tradition of
SUN       turning fruit into alcohol. She hears from eau de vie
SUN       producers in the Alsace region of France and from cider
SUN       brandy distillers in Somerset.
SUN       The technique of distillation was first devised by Arabs
SUN       and then embraced by Europeans more 700 years ago. It has
SUN       given us whiskies, cognacs, Armagnac, and countless other
SUN       drinks but behind them all lies eau de vie, 'the water of
SUN       life', the clear spirit that emerges from the tool of the
SUN       distillers' trade, the still.
SUN       The most prized eau de vies are those produced from
SUN       nothing but fermented fruits such as pears, raspberries,
SUN       quinces or bilberries. Few drinks are so dependent on
SUN       landscape, tradition and craft. Often, local wild fruits
SUN       are gathered, fermented and then heated in a family owned
SUN       still.
SUN       Sheila Dillon looks at this centuries-old practice of
SUN       producing eau de vies. It is a tradition now in sharp
SUN       decline across Europe, but Sheila discovers a brave, lone
SUN       effort is underway in Somerset to revive a British form of
SUN       this drink.
SUN       To help tell the story Sheila is joined by food historian
SUN       Ivan Day and drinks buyer Sarah Knowles. Sheila also hears
SUN       from C Anne Wilson, author of Water of Life: A History of
SUN       Wine Distilling and Spirits.
SUN       Related Links
SUN       * Eaux-de-Vie Museum, 68650 Lapoutroie. Open daily all
SUN       year 0033 3 8947 50 26 (translate.google.co.uk)
SUN       * Massenez Distillery – 67220 Villé
SUN       (www.eaux-de-vie.com)
SUN       * Julian Temperley (www.ciderbrandy.co.uk)
SUN       Water of Life,Book - A History of Wine Distilling And
SUN       Spirits 500BC to AD 2000
SUN       Water of Life, A History of Wine Distilling And Spirits
SUN       500BC to AD 2000 by C. Anne Wilson, published by Prospect
SUN       Books ISBN-10: 1903018463, ISBN-13: 978-1903018460
SUN       
SUN       12:57 Weather b00pblv3 (Listen)
SUN       The latest weather forecast.
SUN       
SUN       13:00 The World This Weekend b00pblv5 (Listen)
SUN       A look at events around the world with Shaun Ley.
SUN       
SUN       13:30 Over The Rainbow With Yip Harburg b00n0xfq (Listen)
SUN       
SUN       14:00 Gardeners' Question Time b00p959x (Listen)
SUN       Peter Gibbs chairs the popular horticultural forum.
SUN       Anne Swithinbank, Chris Beardshaw and John Cushnie answer
SUN       questions from gardeners in Cuffley, Hertfordshire.
SUN       Authors Beth Chatto and Christine Walkden join Matthew
SUN       Wilson to discuss contemporary garden literature.
SUN       Including gardening weather forecast.
SUN       
SUN       14:45 Joan Armatrading's Favourite Choirs b00bbxp7 (Listen)
SUN       London Bulgarian Choir
SUN       Joan Armatrading visits choral assemblies across the
SUN       country.
SUN       Joan tunes into the musical traditions of Bulgaria with
SUN       Dessislava Stefanova and the London Bulgarian Choir. She
SUN       learns about the group's distinctive singing techniques
SUN       and the difficulty the British have with learning to sing
SUN       less politely.
SUN       
SUN       15:00 Classic Serial b00pbm1x (Listen)
SUN       Matilda, Episode 1
SUN       Dramatisation by Charlotte Jones of Roald Dahl's modern
SUN       children's classic about a cool, calm, pint-size
SUN       five-year-old genius.
SUN       Narrator ...... Lenny Henry
SUN       Matilda ...... Lauren Mote
SUN       Miss Trunchbull ......Nichola McAuliffe
SUN       Mrs Wormwood ...... Claire Rushbrook
SUN       Mr Wormwood ...... John Biggins
SUN       Miss Honey ...... Emerald O'Hanrahan
SUN       Mrs Phelps ...... Kate Layden
SUN       Michael ...... Ryan Watson
SUN       Bruce Bogtrotter ...... Joshua Swinney
SUN       Nobby ...... Rhys Jennings
SUN       Lavender ...... Sinead Michael
SUN       Hortensia ...... Lizzy Watts
SUN       Directed by Claire Grove.
SUN       Part of the BBC Christmas 2009 season.
SUN       
SUN       16:00 Open Book b00pbm1z (Listen)
SUN       Mariella Frostrup talks to the crime writer Mark
SUN       Billingham about one of his inspirations. As a new
SUN       big-screen adaptation of Sherlock Holmes reaches our
SUN       cinemas, he and the crime writing expert Barry Forshaw
SUN       discuss Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's enduring creation and his
SUN       impact on every crime writer since.
SUN       There's advice for a listener eager to read fiction set in
SUN       the Middle Ages from the novelist Kevin Crossley-Holland.
SUN       And Melissa Katsoulis and Suzi Feary look back at an
SUN       eventful decade in the world of books and pick out some
SUN       publishing highlights in the year to come.
SUN       BOOK LIST
SUN       Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The Complete Sherlock Holmes
SUN       (various publishers)
SUN       Edward Hogan: Blackmoor
SUN       Publisher: Simon and Schuster
SUN       Darryl Samaraweera: Vicky Had One Eye Open
SUN       Publisher: Burning House
SUN       KEVIN CROSSLEY-HOLLAND'S
SUN       READING CLINIC RECOMMENDATIONS
SUN       Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose
SUN       Publisher: Vintage
SUN       Umberto Eco: Baudolino
SUN       Publisher: Vintage
SUN       Jane Smiley: The Greenlanders
SUN       Publisher: Fawcett Books
SUN       George Mackay Brown: Magnus
SUN       Publisher: Polygon
SUN       Helen Waddell: Peter Abelard
SUN       Publisher: Constable
SUN       Lilli Thal (trans. John Brownjon)
SUN       Publisher: Allen & Unwin
SUN       Kevin Crossley-Holland: The Seeing Stone
SUN       Publisher: Orion Children’s
SUN       
SUN       16:30 Thomas Lynch's Season of Innocence b00pbm21 (Listen)
SUN       Irish-American poet and essayist Thomas Lynch introduces a
SUN       poignant and insightful programme on poetry that has been
SUN       inspired by children, with contributions from Carol Ann
SUN       Duffy, Matthew Sweeney, Frieda Hughes and Robin Robertson.
SUN       A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN       
SUN       16:56 1989: Day by Day b00pbm7m (Listen)
SUN       20th December 1989
SUN       Sir John Tusa looks back at the events making the news 20
SUN       years ago.
SUN       US forces looking for General Noriega invade Panama.
SUN       A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN       
SUN       17:00 The New Art of Diplomacy b00p8dz6 (Listen)
SUN       Episode 1
SUN       James Naughtie asks if British diplomacy is still fit for
SUN       purpose.
SUN       A century ago, much of the map of the world was coloured
SUN       with the pink of the British Empire. Britain's diplomats
SUN       reigned supreme, with the reassurance of a gunboat to
SUN       support them. Much has changed since that time, and
SUN       continues to change. As Britain faces new threats and new
SUN       priorities across the globe, how are the foreign office
SUN       and its diplomats changing?
SUN       
SUN       17:40 From Fact to Fiction b00pb8xm (Listen)
SUN       [Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday.]
SUN       
SUN       17:54 Shipping Forecast b00pbmdv (Listen)
SUN       The latest shipping forecast.
SUN       
SUN       17:57 Weather b00pbmj1 (Listen)
SUN       The latest weather forecast.
SUN       
SUN       18:00 Six O'Clock News b00pbmj3 (Listen)
SUN       The latest national and international news from BBC Radio
SUN       4.
SUN       
SUN       18:15 Pick of the Week b00pbmj5 (Listen)
SUN       Val McDermid introduces her selection of highlights from
SUN       the past week on BBC radio.
SUN       
SUN       19:00 The Archers b00pbmlw (Listen)
SUN       Lower Loxley gets into the festive spirit.
SUN       
SUN       19:15 Americana b00pbmly (Listen)
SUN       Matt Frei presents an insider guide to the people and the
SUN       stories shaping America today. Combining location reports
SUN       with lively discussion and exclusive interviews, the show
SUN       provides new and surprising insights into contemporary
SUN       America.
SUN       Matt is joined by Joe Scarborough, the host of Morning Joe
SUN       on MSNBC, for a round-up of the week's news in the week
SUN       before Christmas. We will likely talk about former VP
SUN       candidate Joe Lieberman, now wielding power in shaping the
SUN       US healthcare reform debate, Time magazine's Man of the
SUN       Year Ben Bernanke and lobbyists in American politics -
SUN       from the days when President Ulysses Grant used to hang
SUN       out in the lobby of the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC.
SUN       Then we go to Houston - power base of Conservative
SUN       standard-bearers such as Tom DeLay, Dick Cheney and the
SUN       Bush family - for an interview with Annise Parker, elected
SUN       to be the city's first gay mayor.
SUN       Garrison Keillor explains the fate of a toxic holiday food
SUN       that is often given, rarely eaten: the fruitcake.
SUN       Not many alligator handbags under the Christmas tree in
SUN       America this year - bad news for Louisanna's alligator
SUN       farmers. We head to the swamp to meet one of them.
SUN       
SUN       19:45 Afternoon Reading b0080dyx (Listen)
SUN       Sputnik, The First King of Mars
SUN       A selection of stories specially commissioned to celebrate
SUN       the Russian satellite which started the space race.
SUN       By Nick Walker, read by Peter Capaldi.
SUN       There is plenty of time to think during the long journey
SUN       to Mars. And the new colony will need governance.
SUN       A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN       
SUN       20:00 More or Less b00p94fp (Listen)
SUN       Tim Harford and the More or Less team find out who really
SUN       pays most tax and why Christmas shopping is, to one
SUN       economist, an orgy of 'value destruction'.
SUN       An Open University co production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN       More or Less Christmas quiz 2009
SUN       Have you been a loyal listener to the programme or a
SUN       fickle follower? Have a go at our quiz.
SUN       Test your knowledge
SUN       
SUN       20:30 Last Word b00p99n1 (Listen)
SUN       Matthew Bannister presents the obituary series, analysing
SUN       and celebrating the life stories of people who have
SUN       recently died. The programme reflects on people of
SUN       distinction and interest from many walks of life, some
SUN       famous and some less well known.
SUN       Marking the lives of Paul Samuelson, Yegor Gaidar, Bobby
SUN       Jaye, Sir John Quicke and Ken Wlaschin.
SUN       PAUL SAMUELSON
SUN       US Economist who has died aged 94
SUN       Paul Samuelson is described by many as the most
SUN       influential American economist of the twentieth century.
SUN       He was the author of the most celebrated economics
SUN       textbook of modern times, Economics: An Introductory
SUN       Analysis which has sold millions of copies and brought the
SUN       ideas of JM Keynes to generations of students, and policy
SUN       makers, around the world. He is credited with turning
SUN       economics from a scattered selection of ideas into a
SUN       social science and raising the economics department at the
SUN       Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) into a world
SUN       class research centre. He advised successive American
SUN       governments on economic policy, including President JF
SUN       Kennedy and was awarded the 1970 Nobel Prize in economics.
SUN       Matthew speaks to Professor James Poterba, friend and
SUN       former head of the MIT Economics department and to
SUN       Stephanie Flanders, the BBC’s Economics Editor.
SUN       Paul Samuelson was born on May 15, 1915 and died December
SUN       13, 2009
SUN       YEGOR GAIDAR
SUN       Russian politician and economic reformer who has died aged
SUN       53
SUN       Yegor Gaidar was the controversial architect of Russia’s
SUN       painful transition to a market economy after the collapse
SUN       of the Soviet Union in 1991. He was appointed acting Prime
SUN       Minister by Boris Yeltsin in 1992 when he was still only
SUN       in his mid thirties, but was confronted with a mountain of
SUN       foreign debt, severe food shortages and the looming threat
SUN       of riots. Gaidar’s solution, described by some as “shock
SUN       therapy”, was to abolish state control of prices and
SUN       unleash market forces. Whilst his supporters credit him
SUN       with saving Russia from hunger and civil war, millions of
SUN       ordinary Russians blamed him for soaring prices.
SUN       Matthew speaks to the British economist Professor Lord
SUN       Layard of the London School of Economics, and to the
SUN       former Editor of the BBC’s Russian Service, Andrei Ostalski
SUN       Yegor Timurovich Gaidar was born 19 March 1956 and died 16
SUN       December 2009
SUN       BOBBY JAYE
SUN       BBC executive who has died aged 84
SUN       Bobby Jaye was responsible for some of the most successful
SUN       comedy programmes on BBC Radio 4 and Radio 2. As Head of
SUN       BBC Radio Light Entertainment in the 1980s, he nurtured
SUN       sitcoms like “After Henry” and Radio Active. He also
SUN       transferred many of television’s most successful comedies
SUN       to the radio, including “Steptoe and Son”, “Yes Minister”
SUN       and even Morecambe and Wise. One of his first jobs at the
SUN       BBC was as a studio manager on the Goon Show. Promoted to
SUN       producer, he presided over some of BBC Radio’s best loved
SUN       panel games, including “Twenty Questions”, “My Word” and
SUN       “My Music”.
SUN       Matthew talks to Bobby’s daughter Amanda Breach, the
SUN       writer and former BBC light entertainment producer Simon
SUN       Brett and his friends Sandy Chalmers and Barry Cryer.
SUN       SIR JOHN QUICKE
SUN       Farmer and cheese maker who has died aged 87
SUN       John Quicke was a West Country farmer and cheese maker who
SUN       created the award-winning Quicke's Traditional Cheddar. He
SUN       was a keen surfer with an interest in spirituality, rare
SUN       drive and business acumen. Sir John Quicke began his life
SUN       at Eton and Oxford before fighting in Burma during the
SUN       Second World War. He then studied agriculture before
SUN       returning to the struggling family farm in Devon,
SUN       determined to make it a success.
SUN       Last Word hears from his daughter Mary and his friend and
SUN       fellow farmer, Lord Cameron
SUN       Sir John Quicke, CBE, was born on April 20, 1922 and died
SUN       on November 16, 2009
SUN       KEN WLASCHIN
SUN       Film festival director, author and cinema historian who
SUN       has died aged 75
SUN       From the late sixties until the early eighties, Ken
SUN       Wlaschin brought the best of world cinema to London. As
SUN       programme director at the National Film Theatre and the
SUN       London Film Festival, he moved away from programmes
SUN       dominated by the US and the UK to include pioneering
SUN       cinema from all over the world. He was a film buff all his
SUN       life and wrote many books on the subject, including “The
SUN       Illustrated Encyclopaedia of the World’s Great Movie Stars
SUN       and Their Films” and “Bluff Your Way in the Cinema.” He
SUN       was awarded an MBE by the Prince of Wales in 1981.
SUN       Matthew speaks to the former controller of the British
SUN       Film Institute, Leslie Hardcastle and to Professor Ian
SUN       Christie of Birkbeck College, University of London.
SUN       Kenneth Wlaschin was born 12 July 1934 and died 10
SUN       November 2009.
SUN       
SUN       21:00 Money Box b00pb8l9 (Listen)
SUN       [Repeat of broadcast at 12:00 on Saturday.]
SUN       
SUN       21:26 Radio 4 Appeal b00pb902 (Listen)
SUN       [Repeat of broadcast at 07:55 today.]
SUN       
SUN       21:30 In Business b00p944k (Listen)
SUN       Let Me Entertain You
SUN       What can business leaders learn from rock musicians and
SUN       improvisational comedians? Peter Day finds out.
SUN       Related Links
SUN       * Improv Your Biz (improvyourbiz.com)
SUN       * Academy of Rock (www.academy-of-rock.co.uk)
SUN       Contributors to this programme:
SUN       Neil Mullarkey
SUN       Comedy Store Players
SUN       Peter Cook
SUN       Academy of Rock, in partnership with Imperial College
SUN       London
SUN       How can improvised comedy help people in business?
SUN       Comedian Neil Mullarkey and guests at the Comedy Store
SUN       play improvisation games. Neil argues that the skills
SUN       needed for these games would also benefit businesses.
SUN       
SUN       21:58 Weather b00pbmm0 (Listen)
SUN       The latest weather forecast.
SUN       
SUN       22:00 Westminster Hour b00pbmm2 (Listen)
SUN       Reports from behind the scenes at Westminster. Including
SUN       The Watchdog and the Feral Beast.
SUN       
SUN       23:00 1989: Day by Day Omnibus b00pbmn5 (Listen)
SUN       Week ending 19th December November 1989
SUN       A look back at the events making the news 20 years ago,
SUN       with Sir John Tusa.
SUN       President FW de Klerk meets with Nelson Mandela, Chile
SUN       elects a civilian president to replace Augusto Pinochet,
SUN       and East Germany discusses what do to after dismantling
SUN       the Stasi.
SUN       A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN       
SUN       23:30 Something Understood b00pb8zr (Listen)
SUN       [Repeat of broadcast at 06:05 today.]
SUN       
SUN       
MON       MONDAY 21 DECEMBER 2009
MON       
MON       00:00 Midnight News b00pbncv (Listen)
MON       The latest national and international news from BBC Radio
MON       4. Followed by Weather.
MON       
MON       00:15 Thinking Allowed b00p912j (Listen)
MON       Laurie Taylor explores the history of clothing behind bars.
MON       From broad arrows on prisoners suits in the 19th century
MON       to the orange jumpsuits worn by inmates of the Guantanamo
MON       Bay detention camp, the uniform prisoners wear reflects
MON       the regime they are being punished by. Laurie is joined by
MON       Juliet Ash from the Royal Collge of Art and Elizabeth
MON       Wilson from the London College of Fashion to undress the
MON       history of prison clothing and discuss what it reveals
MON       about the social cultural and political context of the
MON       time.
MON       Also in the programme, Paul Sparks from Sussex University
MON       discusses the importance of the local pub and the power of
MON       the boycott.
MON       
MON       00:45 Bells on Sunday b00pb8zm (Listen)
MON       [Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday.]
MON       
MON       00:48 Shipping Forecast b00pbng1 (Listen)
MON       The latest shipping forecast.
MON       
MON       01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes b00pbnhg (Listen)
MON       BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON       
MON       05:20 Shipping Forecast b00pbnh0 (Listen)
MON       The latest shipping forecast.
MON       
MON       05:30 News Briefing b00pbntr (Listen)
MON       The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON       
MON       05:43 Prayer for the Day b00pbnwm (Listen)
MON       Daily prayer and reflection with Bishop Alan Abernethy.
MON       Good Morning.
MON       Journeys are something many people will be making over the
MON       next week as many families and friends travel to spend
MON       time together over the Christmas period. Indeed our two
MON       children, who are now adults, will be travelling home from
MON       university and it will be great to spend time together.
MON       When our children were younger the excitement especially
MON       of summer holidays was always special. We would go camping
MON       in France and travel by car and ferry. The journey began
MON       from the moment we left the driveway of our home. The
MON       first stage of this adventure was a 260 mile car journey.
MON       There was an inevitable moment usually after 5 or 6 miles
MON       when from the back seat one of our two children would
MON       utter the words, “are we nearly there yet?” Hence the
MON       answer was generally not yet but we have to stop for our
MON       picnic on the way.
MON       Long journeys are difficult as travelling is exhausting.
MON       It also needs to be planned so that there is enough food
MON       and fluids to keep you going. Being able to pack the car
MON       with all kinds of extras was a great help. The sweets and
MON       juices, the pillows and blankets, the music and story
MON       tapes to help while away some of the hours of tedious
MON       driving were a wonderful help to keep the sprits up and
MON       parents patience in tact.
MON       I don’t miss those long car journeys and rough ferry
MON       crossings while trying to keep children entertained
MON       although I would willingly go through it all again. But I
MON       still find travelling exhausting no matter what mode of
MON       transport I use.
MON       The Christmas event started with a difficult journey and
MON       according to the story it was a journey that had to be
MON       made. The fact that Mary was heavily pregnant didn’t make
MON       it any easier and the dust and the heat would have taken
MON       its toll on the energy and spirit.
MON       Lord as we celebrate the Christmas journey of Mary and
MON       Joseph keep safe, we pray, all who travel this Christmas
MON       and may we all find the joy and peace of the Christ child,
MON       wherever we journey to. Amen.
MON       
MON       05:45 Farming Today b00pbnzg (Listen)
MON       The government launches a campaign warning people about
MON       buying Micro-pigs as Christmas presents. Charlotte Smith
MON       hears from a micro-pig breeder, and from a pig expert who
MON       says people who buy these animals usually end up with more
MON       pig than they expected.
MON       
MON       05:57 Weather b00pbw1l (Listen)
MON       The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON       
MON       06:00 Today b00pbnzs (Listen)
MON       With James Naughtie and Justin Webb. Including Sports
MON       Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
MON       
MON       09:00 Start the Week b00pbw1n (Listen)
MON       Andrew Marr sets the week's cultural agenda with a rich
MON       and electic mix of guests.
MON       He discusses what it means to be Welsh in the 21st century
MON       with Rhodri Morgan, on his retirement as the first First
MON       Minister for Wales. Times columnist Ann Treneman reflects
MON       on the nature of political satire in the post-expenses
MON       scandal world in her new book Annus Horribilis: The Worst
MON       Year in British Politics. Are there any jokes left to be
MON       made and what role can satire play in the run up to the
MON       next election? Mark Mazower examines the origins of the UN
MON       and what they tell us about international cooperation now.
MON       Is it a role model for global understanding or a rushed
MON       compromise that creaks increasingly under the weight of
MON       internal contradictions? And at the start of the week of
MON       traditional feasting, Roger Scruton talks about the
MON       philosophy of wine and his thesis I Drink, Therefore I Am.
MON       
MON       09:45 Book of the Week b00pbpcc (Listen)
MON       Paw Tracks in the Moonlight, Episode 1
MON       Kevin Whately reads from Denis O'Connor's memoir.
MON       One snowy night in the wilds of Northumberland, O'Connor
MON       is settling in for a night in front of the fire when he
MON       hears a cry of pain from the woods outside.
MON       Abridged by Jane Marshall.
MON       A Jane Marshall production for BBC Radio 4.
MON       
MON       10:00 Woman's Hour b00pbprm (Listen)
MON       Penelope Cruz talks to Jane Garvey about her latest film,
MON       Nine, a musical extravaganza with a star studded cast in
MON       which Penelope sings and shows off her ballet skills - she
MON       trained in classical ballet from the age of four. Penelope
MON       describes how much she enjoyed the experience of
MON       rehearsing intensively with the other stars on the film.
MON       She also discusses her successful working relationship
MON       with acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, with whom
MON       she has made four internationally-acclaimed films. And she
MON       reveals how she keeps to her Spanish timetable - eating
MON       late at night - whether in LA, London or Madrid.
MON       Last week many schools up and down the country marked the
MON       seasonal festivities with a celebration of one sort or
MON       another. But are they celebrating the Christmas story, the
MON       winter festivals or just a national holiday? The Nativity
MON       is no longer part of every school's winter activities, and
MON       with the commercial pressures of this time of year, how do
MON       we go about teaching children the meaning of Christmas?
MON       Jane is joined by author and former editor of the Catholic
MON       Herald Cristina Odone and writer Ariane Sherine, editor of
MON       The Atheist's Guide to Christmas.
MON       We've always been interested in reading stories about
MON       other people's lives. But when these tales are based on
MON       someone's real life experience they can hold particular
MON       intrigue for the reader. A new competition being held by
MON       the BBC is hoping to tap into the appetite for
MON       reality-based literature by inviting the public to send in
MON       their own extraordinary stories. The best five will be
MON       turned into books and published in the New Year. Jane and
MON       her guests discuss fact and fiction.
MON       And Christmas can put an extra strain on the finances of
MON       most families, and it's usually women who take on the
MON       responsibility of buying presents and managing the
MON       household budget. Many are tempted to overspend on credit
MON       and store cards, forgetting about the true cost until the
MON       bills arrive in January. So what can be done to help women
MON       in debt? We hear from some women who have formed a
MON       self-help group called United Maidens to tackle personal
MON       debt problems and discuss what can be done to help.
MON       
MON       11:00 Policing Britain b00pbw1q (Listen)
MON       The Justice We Deserve
MON       Andy Hayman, former assistant commissioner of the
MON       Metropolitan Police, examines the challenges facing
MON       policing in Britain today.
MON       When Andy Hayman left the Metropolitan Police in 2008 he
MON       was assistant commissioner, Special Operations, in overall
MON       charge of counter-terrorism. He had to deal with the
MON       suicide bomb attacks on London and the tragedy of the de
MON       Menezes shooting. Andy's 30-year career started straight
MON       out of school with the police in Essex and took him to the
MON       position of chief constable of Norfolk. In this series he
MON       takes a critical look at the challenges facing the police
MON       service in Britain today. He goes back on the beat and
MON       talks to former colleagues and those who work with the
MON       police at every level to ask the question, 'Do we have the
MON       policing we need in Britain today?'
MON       A Perfectly Normal production for BBC Radio 4.
MON       
MON       11:30 Giles Wemmbley-Hogg Goes Off b00pbx22 (Listen)
MON       Series 4, Episode 2
MON       Comedy series by Marcus Brigstocke and Jeremy Salsby.
MON       Giles Wemmbley Hogg returns, having set up his own travel
MON       company.
MON       Giles visits Iceland and buys some frozen food for his
MON       trip to Lapland. He also learns that, when hunting with
MON       shotguns, it's good to know the difference between an elk
MON       and an elf.
MON       Giles ...... Marcus Brigstocke
MON       Bella ...... Catherine Tate
MON       Mrs Wells ...... Celia Imrie
MON       Mr Timmis ...... Adrian Scarborough
MON       Charlotte Wemmbley-Hogg ...... Catherine Shepherd
MON       Santa ...... Ewan Bailey.
MON       
MON       12:00 You and Yours b00pbq2q (Listen)
MON       Consumer news and issues with Julian Worricker.
MON       
MON       12:57 Weather b00pbq3y (Listen)
MON       The latest weather forecast.
MON       
MON       13:00 World at One b00pbqbv (Listen)
MON       National and international news with Martha Kearney.
MON       
MON       13:30 Brain of Britain b00pbx24 (Listen)
MON       Russell Davies chairs the eleventh heat of the perennial
MON       general knowledge contest, featuring contestants from the
MON       south of England.
MON       Contestants
MON       Martin Boult from Basingstoke
MON       Rosanna Day from Newbury
MON       Nancy Dickmann from Oxford
MON       Andrew McNab from London
MON       
MON       14:00 The Archers b00pbmlw (Listen)
MON       [Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday.]
MON       
MON       14:15 Afternoon Play b00pbx26 (Listen)
MON       McLevy - Series 6, A Bolt from the Blue
MON       Series of stories about David Ashton's Victorian detective
MON       based on real-life Edinburgh policeman Inspector James
MON       McLevy.
MON       The young gentlemen of the university's student clubs are
MON       competing to play the most audacious pranks on
MON       unsuspecting citizens. Just harmless youthful high spirits
MON       - until a body is found floating in Leith docks.
MON       McLevy ...... Brian Cox
MON       Jean Brash ...... Siobhan Redmond
MON       Mulholland ...... Michael Perceval-Maxwell
MON       Roach ...... David Ashton
MON       Hannah ...... Colette O'Neil
MON       Carnegie ...... Ewen Bremner
MON       Benjamin ...... Sandy Grierson
MON       Alexander ...... Jim Webster-Stewart
MON       Jessica ...... Jenny Hulse
MON       Boag ...... James Bryce
MON       Agnes ...... Carol Ann Crawford
MON       Directed by Patrick Rayner.
MON       
MON       15:00 Archive on 4 b00pb8y0 (Listen)
MON       [Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Saturday.]
MON       
MON       15:45 The Santa Tapes b00pbrs8 (Listen)
MON       Santa of the Lighthouses
MON       Alan Dein unwraps the oral history of Santa Claus, hearing
MON       the true stories of those who have donned the red and
MON       white costume, from war-torn Hungary to the icy wastes of
MON       Alaska.
MON       Of course Santa flies, but this one arrives by helicopter.
MON       For 80 years, the lighthouse and coastguard families of
MON       New England have been waiting for him to touch down.
MON       
MON       16:00 Food Programme b00pblv1 (Listen)
MON       [Repeat of broadcast at 12:32 on Sunday.]
MON       
MON       16:30 The Infinite Monkey Cage b00pbx28 (Listen)
MON       Episode 4
MON       Physicist Brian Cox and comedian Robin Ince take a witty,
MON       irreverent and unashamedly rational look at the world
MON       accoring to science.
MON       Robin and Brian are joined by Victor Stock, Dean of
MON       Guildford Cathedral, and science journalist Adam
MON       Rutherford for a special Christmas edition of the
MON       programme. Adam explains why religion really could be good
MON       for your health, and can Victor convert Robin and Brian in
MON       time for the festive season?
MON       
MON       16:56 1989: Day by Day b00pbs0b (Listen)
MON       21st December 1989
MON       Sir John Tusa looks back at the events making the news 20
MON       years ago.
MON       Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu is booed in public.
MON       A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
MON       
MON       17:00 PM b00pbs6b (Listen)
MON       Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie
MON       Mair. Plus Weather.
MON       
MON       18:00 Six O'Clock News b00pbsgv (Listen)
MON       The latest national and international news from BBC Radio
MON       4.
MON       
MON       18:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue b00pcb3d (Listen)
MON       Series 52, Episode 6
MON       The perennial antidote to panel games comes from the
MON       Futurist Theatre in Scarborough, with Jack Dee taking the
MON       chairman's role.
MON       Regulars Barry Cryer and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined by
MON       Jo Brand and Jeremy Hardy.
MON       With Colin Sell at the piano.
MON       
MON       19:00 The Archers b00pbqyz (Listen)
MON       Vicky shows Joe her assertive side.
MON       
MON       19:15 Front Row b00pbsh3 (Listen)
MON       Arts news and reviews with John Wilson. Including an
MON       interview with Kenneth Branagh, as he returns to the role
MON       of Swedish detective Kurt Wallander.
MON       
MON       19:45 Woman's Hour Drama b00pbtjj (Listen)
MON       Someone Like You, Man from the South
MON       Dramatisation by Stephen Sheridan of five darkly comic
MON       tales by Roald Dahl.
MON       A young marine agrees to a bizarre wager with an elderly
MON       South American.
MON       Storyteller ...... Charles Dance
MON       Old Man ...... Andrew Sachs
MON       Marine ...... Danny Mahoney
MON       Girl ...... Donnla Hughes
MON       Spanish Woman ...... Rachel Atkins
MON       Directed by David Blount
MON       A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
MON       Part of the BBC Christmas 2009 season.
MON       
MON       20:00 Things We Forgot to Remember b00pcb58 (Listen)
MON       Series 5, The Hanseatic League
MON       Michael Portillo presents a series revisiting the great
MON       moments of history to discover that they often conceal
MON       other events of equal but forgotten importance.
MON       One of Michael Portillo's earliest political memories is
MON       the 1975 vote on whether or not Britain should stay in the
MON       Common Market, the early name for what is now the European
MON       Union. It felt like a uniquely 20th-century subject. But
MON       in this programme, Michael travels to King's Lynn to find
MON       out why this town near the Norfolk coast was such an
MON       important part of a forgotten Northern European
MON       free-trading area that stretched down as far as Cologne in
MON       Germany and included most of the Baltic coastline.
MON       The Hanseatic League was centred in the German town of
MON       Lubbeck but English wool made it an important part of a
MON       system that allowed Hansas, or groups of tradesmen, to
MON       establish a network of trading centres running alongside
MON       the nation states of the time. The League had money enough
MON       to raise an army, had a substantial fleet and was
MON       important for a number of sovereigns, not least Edward IV
MON       of England, when they were in need of a loan. So what were
MON       the ambitions of the hugely wealthy tradesmen running the
MON       league? And have we forgotten to remember that as well as
MON       a story of nation states, European history has long been a
MON       story of free trade, ultimately crushed by Queen Elizabeth
MON       I in England's case. She wanted to control the wool export
MON       monopoly and the considerable wealth that came from it and
MON       so had the English Hanseatic centre, by then in London and
MON       known as the Steelyards, closed down.
MON       
MON       20:30 Crossing Continents b00p91x8 (Listen)
MON       Rio Law
MON       Brazil is booming economically and growing in confidence
MON       on the world stage, but in the city of Rio de Janeiro law
MON       and order have been turned upside down. Gangs run the
MON       prisons and ruthless militias - often made up of former
MON       police officers - control many shanty towns, killing with
MON       impunity. Lucy Ash asks if the authorities can end the
MON       rule of gangs, guns and greed.
MON       
MON       21:00 Frontiers b00pcb5b (Listen)
MON       Five years after the great Indian Ocean tsunami, a further
MON       two powerful earthquakes in September 2009 reminded us
MON       that the region remains at risk. Roland Pease reports on
MON       scientists' attempts to evaluate the danger and prepare
MON       for future emergencies in southeast Asia.
MON       
MON       21:30 Start the Week b00pbw1n (Listen)
MON       [Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today.]
MON       
MON       21:58 Weather b00pbtm7 (Listen)
MON       The latest weather forecast.
MON       
MON       22:00 The World Tonight b00pbtmp (Listen)
MON       National and international news and analysis.
MON       
MON       22:45 Book at Bedtime b00pbvpj (Listen)
MON       The Ingoldsby Legends, The Spectre of Tapton, Part 1
MON       Nicholas Murchie and Lucy Robinson read from a collection
MON       of myths, legends, ghost stories and poetry supposedly
MON       written by Thomas Ingoldsby of Tappington Manor, but
MON       actually penned by the Rev Richard Barham, first published
MON       in book form in 1840.
MON       The strange tale of a trouser-stealing ghost. Why the
MON       unsatiable appetite for pantaloons, and where are they
MON       being taken?
MON       Abriged by Robin Brooks.
MON       A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
MON       
MON       23:00 Word of Mouth b00p8dk8 (Listen)
MON       George Orwell left us a set of rules for writing about
MON       politics and public affairs - do they still apply? Michael
MON       Rosen and a panel of critics offer an Orwellian
MON       perspective on just one day in the discourse of the nation.
MON       
MON       23:30 Take Two b00gd1t2 (Listen)
MON       Series 2, Billie Holiday and Lester Young
MON       Richard Coles presents a discussion series looking at
MON       collaborations between two musicians.
MON       The recordings that Billie Holiday made with saxophonist
MON       Lester Young were lauded for the way in which both artists
MON       complemented one another's sound. He called her Lady Day
MON       and she nicknamed him Prez because of his presidential
MON       mastery of his instrument.
MON       But away from the studio they also shared addictions to
MON       alcohol and drugs, which led to their early deaths.
MON       Richard is joined by jazz singer Clare Teal and saxophone
MON       player and jazz writer Dave Gelly to explore the
MON       personalities of Young and Holiday and to investigate
MON       their musical legacy.
MON       
MON       
TUE       TUESDAY 22 DECEMBER 2009
TUE       
TUE       00:00 Midnight News b00pbnbt (Listen)
TUE       The latest national and international news from BBC Radio
TUE       4. Followed by Weather.
TUE       
TUE       00:30 Book of the Week b00pbpcc (Listen)
TUE       [Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday.]
TUE       
TUE       00:48 Shipping Forecast b00pbncx (Listen)
TUE       The latest shipping forecast.
TUE       
TUE       01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes b00pbnh2 (Listen)
TUE       BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE       
TUE       05:20 Shipping Forecast b00pbng3 (Listen)
TUE       The latest shipping forecast.
TUE       
TUE       05:30 News Briefing b00pbnrf (Listen)
TUE       The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE       
TUE       05:43 Prayer for the Day b00pbntt (Listen)
TUE       Daily prayer and reflection with Bishop Alan Abernethy.
TUE       Good Morning.
TUE       I remember my first primary school nativity play and the
TUE       woollen dressing gown with the cord belt tied around my
TUE       waist and the tea towel both essential for me to play the
TUE       part of a shepherd. I would really like to have been one
TUE       of the wise men or kings but I was grateful I wasn’t an
TUE       angel as they had to sing and wear wings.
TUE       The Christmas story is fantastic for the annual nativity
TUE       play; there is a part for everyone and simple costumes for
TUE       all. I attended a nativity play last year in Belfast in an
TUE       estate on the outskirts of the city that endured much over
TUE       the many years of violence. The children were hyper and
TUE       the teachers had that anxious look wondering what might
TUE       possibly go wrong. There was not one but two innkeepers
TUE       who were to not let the travellers in. The first one duly
TUE       said no but as Joseph knocked on the imaginary door of the
TUE       second inn the young boy with an earring in each ear and a
TUE       very short haircut shouted at the shocked couple to “get
TUE       lost”. This was not in the script but he was getting into
TUE       the story and giving it a local interpretation. The
TUE       audience duly laughed and the teacher looked embarrassed.
TUE       The boy was very pleased with himself and the story moved
TUE       on to the innkeeper with a stable to spare. The shepherds
TUE       and the wise men made their entrance and the performance
TUE       ended with the song from the entire cast wishing us all a
TUE       very merry Christmas.
TUE       It was a morning that everyone enjoyed, parents and
TUE       grandparents were all delighted that their child had been
TUE       on stage. The teachers were thrilled that things had gone
TUE       so well and the children had had fun.
TUE       Lord we pray for all children this week and especially
TUE       those who will have little to celebrate that they may know
TUE       the message of that first Christmas of peace on earth and
TUE       goodwill to all. Amen
TUE       
TUE       05:45 Farming Today b00pbnwp (Listen)
TUE       News and issues in rural Britain with Anna Hill.
TUE       
TUE       06:00 Today b00pbnzj (Listen)
TUE       With John Humphrys and James Naughtie. Including Sports
TUE       Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
TUE       
TUE       09:00 Defining The Decade b00pcd3z (Listen)
TUE       The Heat is On
TUE       Edward Stourton tries to make sense of a decade in which
TUE       history has been put on fast forward. There has been a
TUE       revolution in the way we communicate, widespread alarm
TUE       about the planet's very survival and a challenge to the
TUE       world order. What does it mean for the way we live as we
TUE       head into 2010?
TUE       Back in the year 2000, the world's leaders didn't seem to
TUE       be troubled by the notion of global warming, so what has
TUE       changed?
TUE       
TUE       09:45 Book of the Week b00pbpcf (Listen)
TUE       Paw Tracks in the Moonlight, Episode 2
TUE       Kevin Whately reads from Denis O'Connor's memoir.
TUE       Having rescued a tiny kitten from a derelict barn,
TUE       O'Connor has to fight to keep it alive.
TUE       Abridged by Jane Marshall.
TUE       A Jane Marshall production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE       
TUE       10:00 Woman's Hour b00pchxv (Listen)
TUE       With Jane Garvey. Including drama: Someone Like You.
TUE       
TUE       11:00 Towering Ambition b00pcd41 (Listen)
TUE       Adil Ray follows the inaugural Architecture for Everyone
TUE       campaign, launched in Stephen Lawrence's memory to correct
TUE       UK architecture's glaring ethnic imbalance.
TUE       Stephen Lawrence wanted to be an architect, so when his
TUE       mum Doreen discovered that only two per cent of the UK's
TUE       practising architects come from black and ethnic
TUE       backgrounds she set up the inaugural Architecture for
TUE       Everyone scheme, with RMJM Architects, to readdress the
TUE       balance.
TUE       Through a series of workshops in Birmingham, Liverpool,
TUE       Glasgow and London, six young people were selected for a
TUE       scholarship to Harvard's School of Design. They are Paula
TUE       McDonald, 25, from Glasgow; Callum Gilbert, 21, from
TUE       Liverpool; Oni Hinton, 20 and Luke Henry-Powell, 18, from
TUE       London; and Yohanna Iyasu and Nick Ackers, both 19, from
TUE       Birmingham.
TUE       They all come from radically diverse backgrounds. Nick was
TUE       adopted as a baby from a Romanian orphanage, Yohanna came
TUE       to Britain by way of Eritrea and Holland, Luke rebelled at
TUE       school and wanted to prove himself, Oni was escaping from
TUE       a chaotic home life, Callum had been a young knife crime
TUE       victim, and Paula, the eldest of the six, had been made
TUE       redundant and needed to boost her self-esteem. The common
TUE       theme among them was that this break had the potential to
TUE       change everything.
TUE       
TUE       11:30 Li Yuan-Chia b00pcf5j (Listen)
TUE       When Taiwan's first abstract artist settled in a Cumbrian
TUE       farmhouse, his life changed. Deriving inspiration from
TUE       landscape and local people, he encouraged new British
TUE       artists and anticipated the success of contemporary
TUE       Chinese visual art.
TUE       Li Yuan Chia was one of the first significant Chinese
TUE       abstract artists of the 20th century. This programme,
TUE       presented by Sally Lai, the director of Manchester's
TUE       Chinese Arts Centre, examines his career from the place he
TUE       spent the last 28 years of his life: a stone farmhouse,
TUE       built next to Hadrian's Wall in Cumbria.
TUE       Born in China in 1929, Li was educated in Taiwan. He
TUE       worked and exhibited in Italy before moving to London in
TUE       1963. Here, Li's reputation was established with
TUE       monochrome paintings and scrolls marked with a tiny,
TUE       isolated dot.
TUE       But Li came to dislike the fashionable metropolitan art
TUE       world of the mid-1960s. In 1968 he met Cumbrian painter
TUE       Winifred Nicholson, who pursuaded Li to move away from the
TUE       busy capital to a far more remote location, near her own
TUE       home. With his own hands Li then set about converting a
TUE       farm building, the Banks, at Brampton, where he built a
TUE       gallery, library, theatre, printing press, children's art
TUE       room and photographic darkroom, and opened it to the
TUE       public. It became a popular attraction for local people,
TUE       art afficianados and tourists walking Hadrian's Wall.
TUE       Over the next ten years over 300 artists exhibited at the
TUE       Banks, which was also the base from which Li's
TUE       organisation, the LYC Foundation, was able to commission
TUE       work by young British artists, some of whom became very
TUE       successful later, including sculptors and land artists
TUE       Andy Goldsworthy, David Nash and Bill Woodrow.
TUE       Li's own work moved into abstract sculpture, using
TUE       magnets, gold leaf, plastic discs suspended on plastic
TUE       thread and additional text. The landscape also affected
TUE       him, and he began to explore photography and environmental
TUE       art. Always, he wrote poetry.
TUE       But after Arts Council funding became increasingly
TUE       limited, the LYC Foundation had to struggle to survive. Li
TUE       continued to produce art, which became increasingly
TUE       contemplative. He fell ill with cancer and died in 1994.
TUE       Art historians now acknowledge Li Yuan Chia as having
TUE       paved the way for the current expansion of Chinese
TUE       contemporary art. But his former home in Cumbria is
TUE       derelict.
TUE       
TUE       12:00 You and Yours b00pbq17 (Listen)
TUE       Consumer news and issues with Julian Worricker.
TUE       
TUE       12:57 Weather b00pbq2s (Listen)
TUE       The latest weather forecast.
TUE       
TUE       13:00 World at One b00pbqbh (Listen)
TUE       National and international news with Martha Kearney.
TUE       
TUE       13:30 Tales from the Stave b00pcjh2 (Listen)
TUE       Chopin: Barcarolle
TUE       Frances Fyfield tracks down the stories behind the scores
TUE       of well-known pieces of music.
TUE       Frances is joined by Chopin expert Adam Zamoyski and
TUE       pianist Stephen Hough at the British Library to look at
TUE       the autographed score of Chopin's Barcarolle. The library
TUE       is holding a major exhibition in 2010 to mark the 200th
TUE       anniversary of his birth.
TUE       The greater part of Chopin's professional career was spent
TUE       outside his native Poland - most of it in Paris, where he
TUE       established himself as a fashionable teacher and performer
TUE       in the houses of the wealthy. With a background of
TUE       Venetian gondoliers' songs combined with Polish
TUE       references, the Barcarolle for solo piano was completed in
TUE       1846 and meant so much to Chopin that he included it in
TUE       the programme of a concert he gave in Paris in February
TUE       1848. It was to be his last public appearance in his
TUE       beloved adopted city. His body succumbed to lifelong ill
TUE       health a year later at the age of 39.
TUE       
TUE       14:00 The Archers b00pbqyz (Listen)
TUE       [Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday.]
TUE       
TUE       14:15 Afternoon Play b00pcjh4 (Listen)
TUE       The Three Knots
TUE       Drama about faith and the supernatural by Linda Cracknell,
TUE       set in 19th-century Scotland. Two men stranded on a
TUE       mountain on a stormy December night meet a mysterious old
TUE       woman who believes she can control the elements.
TUE       Angus ...... Finn den Hertog
TUE       Thomas ...... Robert Jack
TUE       Old Woman ...... Gerda Stevenson
TUE       Elizabeth ...... Hannah Donaldson
TUE       Minister ...... Jimmy Chisholm
TUE       Directed by Kirsty Williams.
TUE       
TUE       15:00 Home Planet b00pcjh6 (Listen)
TUE       About 4.5 billion years ago the newly formed planet Earth
TUE       was in collision with a planet the size of Mars, a
TUE       cataclysmic event that gave birth to the Moon. But the
TUE       impact was so huge that it left one listener puzzled as to
TUE       why the Earth remained in place instead of spinning off
TUE       into interstellar space. Listeners also want to know what
TUE       the Earth was like, much later, when it was a few degrees
TUE       warmer than today and if that offers us any hints for the
TUE       future.
TUE       What, too, is the future of UK forestry; how do plants'
TUE       need for oxygen balance out with their production of this
TUE       crucial gas and how is it possible for astronomers to
TUE       detect the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation?
TUE       We also want your help in finding out how the New Year
TUE       festivities affect roosting birds. Do you have a nestbox
TUE       camera which shows black-and-white pictures using infrared
TUE       lighting? If you do, Graham Appleton from the BTO, one of
TUE       our regular panelists, would like to know if you have
TUE       birds roosting in your nest box. We'd like you to turn on
TUE       your camera on New Year's Eve to see how much disturbance
TUE       fireworks cause. Graham will be with us on 4 January to
TUE       discuss your responses. Remember, this needs to be an
TUE       infrared camera. You don't want to wake up birds by
TUE       turning on a normal light.
TUE       On the panel are astronomer Dr Carolin Crawford of
TUE       Cambridge University, plant geneticist Professor Denis
TUE       Murphy of the University of Glamorgan, and forestry expert
TUE       Dr Nick Brown of Oxford University.
TUE       If you have any comments on the topics discussed or any
TUE       questions you might want to put to future programmes,
TUE       please do let us know.
TUE       
TUE       15:30 Afternoon Reading b008vv5m (Listen)
TUE       Scene of the Crime, From the River's Mouth
TUE       Stories by leading crime writers.
TUE       By Stella Duffy.
TUE       The malign and sultry River Thames exacts a watery revenge.
TUE       Read on location by Samantha Bond in the Greenwich Foot
TUE       Tunnel.
TUE       
TUE       15:45 The Santa Tapes b00pfm8n (Listen)
TUE       White Beard
TUE       Alan Dein unwraps the oral history of Santa Claus, hearing
TUE       the true stories of those who have donned the red and
TUE       white costume, from war-torn Hungary to the icy wastes of
TUE       Alaska.
TUE       Playing Santa is often the last job in a lifetime of work.
TUE       Donning the red and white costume is often a way to
TUE       reconnect with a new generation in the age of want, as
TUE       Alan Dein discovers.
TUE       
TUE       16:00 Word of Mouth b00pck26 (Listen)
TUE       Michael Rosen takes apart some jokes to try to find out
TUE       why they're funny. After he puts them back together, they
TUE       don't seem to work very well.
TUE       
TUE       16:30 Great Lives b00pcklz (Listen)
TUE       Series 20, Vivian Stanshall
TUE       Matthew Parris presents the biographical series in which
TUE       his guests choose someone who has inspired their lives.
TUE       Musician and performer Neil Innes discusses the life of
TUE       his Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band colleague and friend Vivian
TUE       Stanshall. Neil recalls the moment he met Vivian Stanshall
TUE       in London: he was wearing Billy Bunter trousers, a
TUE       Victorian frock coat and horrible purple pince-nez glasses
TUE       and carrying a euphonium. So began a friendship and a
TUE       musical partnership that exploded into life with The Bonzo
TUE       Dog Doo Dah Band, culminating in tours and TV series.
TUE       Vivian's second wife, Ki Longfellow, joins the discussion
TUE       to help explore the man behind the colourful public
TUE       persona.
TUE       
TUE       16:56 1989: Day by Day b00pbrxw (Listen)
TUE       22nd December 1989
TUE       Sir John Tusa looks back at the events making the news 20
TUE       years ago.
TUE       Romanian President Ceausescu is caught as he tries to
TUE       escape.
TUE       A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE       
TUE       17:00 PM b00pbs0d (Listen)
TUE       Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie
TUE       Mair. Plus Weather.
TUE       
TUE       18:00 Six O'Clock News b00pbs6d (Listen)
TUE       The latest national and international news from BBC Radio
TUE       4.
TUE       
TUE       18:30 Sneakiepeeks b00pckm1 (Listen)
TUE       Trust
TUE       Comedy by Harry Venning and Neil Brand about a team of
TUE       inept, backstabbing surveillance operatives.
TUE       Beagle Team undertake a top secret Category G surveillance
TUE       operation.
TUE       Bill ...... Richard Lumsden
TUE       Sharla ...... Nina Conti
TUE       Mark ...... Daniel Kaluuya
TUE       Mrs A ......Kate Layden
TUE       Mr A ...... Ewan Hooper
TUE       Justine ...... Tessa Nicholson
TUE       David ...... Ewan Bailey
TUE       Delphine ...... Kate Layden.
TUE       
TUE       19:00 The Archers b00pbqxh (Listen)
TUE       Robert and Lynda have an early Christmas.
TUE       
TUE       19:15 Front Row b00pbsgx (Listen)
TUE       Arts news and reviews with John Wilson, including a
TUE       selection of radio programmes to listen out for over
TUE       Christmas.
TUE       
TUE       19:45 Woman's Hour Drama b00pbt9d (Listen)
TUE       Someone Like You, Skin
TUE       Dramatisation by Stephen Sheridan of five darkly comic
TUE       tales by Roald Dahl.
TUE       An astonishing work of art is created on a drunken night
TUE       in Paris.
TUE       Storyteller ...... Charles Dance
TUE       Old Drioli ...... John Evitts
TUE       Young Drioli ...... Tom Bevan
TUE       Soutine ...... Rob Heaps
TUE       Josie ...... Donnla Hughes
TUE       Art Collector ...... David Collings
TUE       Gallery Owner ...... Ian Masters
TUE       Directed by David Blount
TUE       A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE       
TUE       20:00 The New Art of Diplomacy b00pckm3 (Listen)
TUE       Episode 2
TUE       James Naughtie asks if British diplomacy is still fit for
TUE       purpose.
TUE       A century ago, much of the map of the world was coloured
TUE       with the pink of the British Empire. Britain's diplomats
TUE       reigned supreme, with the reassurance of a gunboat to
TUE       support them. Much has changed since that time, and
TUE       continues to change. As Britain faces new threats and new
TUE       priorities across the globe, how are the foreign office
TUE       and its diplomats changing?
TUE       
TUE       20:40 In Touch b00pckm5 (Listen)
TUE       Peter White with news and information for the blind and
TUE       partially sighted.
TUE       
TUE       21:00 All in the Mind b00pckm7 (Listen)
TUE       Alois Alzheimer, Hans Asperger, Sergei Korsakoff all lent
TUE       their names to the disease, syndrome or autistic disorder
TUE       that they first identified. Claudia Hammond talks to
TUE       Professor Douwe Draaisma about the personal background of
TUE       these brain researchers as well as the individual patients
TUE       on which such scientific breakthroughs were made.
TUE       
TUE       21:30 Defining The Decade b00pcd3z (Listen)
TUE       [Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today.]
TUE       
TUE       21:58 Weather b00pbtjl (Listen)
TUE       The latest weather forecast.
TUE       
TUE       22:00 The World Tonight b00pbtm9 (Listen)
TUE       National and international news and analysis with Roger
TUE       Hearing.
TUE       
TUE       22:45 Book at Bedtime b00pbvnt (Listen)
TUE       The Ingoldsby Legends, The Spectre of Tapton, Part 2
TUE       Nicholas Murchie and Lucy Robinson read from a collection
TUE       of myths, legends, ghost stories and poetry supposedly
TUE       written by Thomas Ingoldsby of Tappington Manor, but
TUE       actually penned by the Rev Richard Barham, first published
TUE       in book form in 1840.
TUE       The strange tale of a trouser-stealing ghost continued.
TUE       Why the unsatiable appetite for pantaloons, and where are
TUE       they being taken?
TUE       Abriged by Robin Brooks.
TUE       A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE       
TUE       23:00 Vent b00pckm9 (Listen)
TUE       Series 3, When Was The Last Time You Saw Your Godfather?
TUE       Comedy series by Nigel Smith about a man in a coma,
TUE       travelling through the distinctly odd landscape of his own
TUE       unconscious mind.
TUE       Ben is invited to be godfather to an ex-girlfriend's baby.
TUE       Mary isn't impressed and there's a showdown on the
TUE       stairlift. Meanwhile St Paul gives Ben tips on
TUE       responsibility and where to get the best olives.
TUE       Ben ...... Neil Pearson
TUE       Mary ...... Fiona Allen
TUE       Mum ...... Josie Lawrence
TUE       Blitz ...... Leslie Ash
TUE       Nurse ...... Jo Martin
TUE       Derek ...... Stephen Frost
TUE       Marley ...... Spencer Brown
TUE       Bea ...... Scarlett Milburn-Smith
TUE       Karl ...... Matthew Kelly
TUE       Sophie ...... Abigail Burdess
TUE       Priest/St Paul ...... Richard Johnson
TUE       Directed by Nigel Smith.
TUE       
TUE       23:30 Take Two b00grgkd (Listen)
TUE       Series 2, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Walter Legge
TUE       Richard Coles presents a discussion series looking at
TUE       collaborations between two musicians.
TUE       Richard examines the musical and domestic partnership of
TUE       singer Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and record producer Walter
TUE       Legge. In conversation with the pianist Graham Johnson and
TUE       
TUE       
WED       WEDNESDAY 23 DECEMBER 2009
WED       
WED       00:00 Midnight News b00pbnbw (Listen)
WED       The latest national and international news from BBC Radio
WED       4. Followed by Weather.
WED       
WED       00:30 Book of the Week b00pbpcf (Listen)
WED       [Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Tuesday.]
WED       
WED       00:48 Shipping Forecast b00pbncz (Listen)
WED       The latest shipping forecast.
WED       
WED       01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes b00pbnh4 (Listen)
WED       BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED       
WED       05:20 Shipping Forecast b00pbng5 (Listen)
WED       The latest shipping forecast.
WED       
WED       05:30 News Briefing b00pbnrh (Listen)
WED       The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED       
WED       05:43 Prayer for the Day b00pbntw (Listen)
WED       Daily prayer and reflection with Bishop Alan Abernethy.
WED       Good Morning.
WED       It is still an uncomfortable memory; the emotions are
WED       still clear in my mind. It was a sibling rivalry moment.
WED       My older brother and I were having a disagreement well it
WED       was actually an argument which led to a physical fight. I
WED       certainly got my strike in first and it hurt, it was
WED       obvious from his reaction that I had caused serious pain.
WED       He then moved to retaliation and I was truly sorry. He
WED       grabbed me and pushed me into the cloakroom. This small
WED       place was a cupboard in our living room that was under the
WED       stairs and it sloped in such a way that even at the age of
WED       10 I couldn’t stand up. I kicked and screamed as I was now
WED       in a small and confined space and it was very dark. It
WED       seemed as if I was in there for a long time but apparently
WED       he was concerned by my reaction that he opened the door
WED       fairly quickly. My memory is one of terror; I was rigid
WED       with fear and was exhausted and relieved when the door
WED       opened.
WED       I have experienced fear since; and it still numbs and
WED       causes panic. It is difficult to deal with fear as it can
WED       often be irrational. However there are times it is
WED       appropriate, when my car is about to collide with another
WED       and my whole life flashes in front of me or as a parent
WED       when I for a split second cannot find my child in the
WED       crowd.
WED       The fear of the shepherds is one of the things that strike
WED       me as I read the Christmas story. In fact we are told they
WED       were terrified. They couldn’t make sense of what they
WED       witnessed or the message they were given and yet they
WED       moved beyond their fear and found the babe lying in the
WED       manger.
WED       Lord we pray for those who are fearful of the future or
WED       fearful for a loved one that at this Christmas time, they
WED       may find peace. Amen.
WED       
WED       05:45 Farming Today b00pbnwr (Listen)
WED       News and issues in rural Britain with Kate Williams.
WED       
WED       06:00 Today b00pbnzl (Listen)
WED       With John Humphrys and James Naughtie. Including Sports
WED       Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
WED       
WED       09:00 Midweek b00pcl7d (Listen)
WED       Lively and diverse conversation with Libby Purves and
WED       guests including composer Howard Goodhall.
WED       
WED       09:45 Book of the Week b00pbpch (Listen)
WED       Paw Tracks in the Moonlight, Episode 3
WED       Kevin Whately reads from Denis O'Connor's memoir.
WED       Having hand-reared the tiny kitten he rescued from the
WED       snow, O'Connor and Toby Jug settle in to life together.
WED       All is going swimmingly until they have problems with
WED       tomatoes and a swarm of bees.
WED       Abridged by Jane Marshall.
WED       A Jane Marshall production for BBC Radio 4.
WED       
WED       10:00 Woman's Hour b00pchxn (Listen)
WED       With Jane Garvey. Including drama: Someone Like You.
WED       
WED       11:00 In Living Memory b00pcl7g (Listen)
WED       Series 11, Sunday Trading
WED       Contemporary history series.
WED       On the 28th August 1994, shops legally opened their doors
WED       on the Sabbath for the first time in over 40 years. Chris
WED       Ledgard asks if the greater freedom to shop came at too
WED       high a price: the loss of the Great British Sunday.
WED       
WED       11:30 Ballylenon b00pcl7j (Listen)
WED       Series 7, Episode 5
WED       Comedy drama series by Christopher Fitz-Simon, set in the
WED       1950s in a Donegal town.
WED       Bernard Gallagher has resigned from the police force to
WED       take up a singing career and, while lodging with the
WED       Maconchy sisters at the post office, makes a devastating
WED       discovery.
WED       Muriel Maconchy ...... Margaret D'Arcy
WED       Vera Maconchy ...... Stella McCusker
WED       Phonsie Doherty ...... Gerard Murphy
WED       Vivienne Hawthorne ...... Annie McCartney
WED       Stumpy Bonner ...... Gerard McSorley
WED       Guard Gallagher ...... Frankie McCafferty
WED       Pianist: Michael Harrison
WED       Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan
WED       This episode is available until 11.30am on 6th January
WED       2010 as part of the Series Catch-up Trial.
WED       
WED       12:00 You and Yours b00pbq19 (Listen)
WED       Consumer news and issues with Peter White.
WED       
WED       12:57 Weather b00pbq2v (Listen)
WED       The latest weather forecast.
WED       
WED       13:00 World at One b00pbqbk (Listen)
WED       National and international news with Martha Kearney.
WED       
WED       13:30 The Media Show b00pcl7l (Listen)
WED       Steve Hewlett presents a topical programme about the
WED       fast-changing media world.
WED       
WED       14:00 The Archers b00pbqxh (Listen)
WED       [Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday.]
WED       
WED       14:15 Afternoon Play b00pcl7n (Listen)
WED       Black Hearts in Battersea, Episode 1
WED       Dramatisation by Lin Coghlan of Joan Aiken's classic
WED       children's adventure. Young Simon comes to 18th-century
WED       London to study painting and finds himself caught up in
WED       wicked Hanoverian plots to overthrow the King.
WED       Duke ...... John Rowe
WED       Duchess ...... Sheila Reid
WED       Dido ...... Nicola Miles-Wildin
WED       Simon ...... Joe Dempsie
WED       Cobbe/Nobby/Soldier ...... Ben Crowe
WED       Mrs C ...... Annabelle Dowler
WED       Justin ...... Sam Pamphilon
WED       Buckle/Bloke ...... Nigel Hastings
WED       Dr F/Man ...... Bruce Alexander
WED       Gus/Nose ...... Joseph Cohen Cole
WED       Jabwing/Fothers ...... Piers Wehner
WED       Mr T/Hawker ...... Rhys Jennings
WED       Mrs T/Woman 2 ...... Tessa Nicholson
WED       Sophie ...... Emerald O'Hanrahan
WED       Woman ...... Kate Layden
WED       Part of the BBC Christmas 2009 season.
WED       
WED       15:00 Money Box Live b00pclfg (Listen)
WED       Paul Lewis and a panel of guests answer calls on
WED       charitable giving.
WED       Guests:
WED       John Low, chief executive, Charities Aid Foundation
WED       Clive Cutbill, consultant, Withersworld
WED       Les Hems, director, Guidestar.
WED       
WED       15:27 Radio 4 Appeal b00pb902 (Listen)
WED       [Repeat of broadcast at 07:55 on Sunday.]
WED       
WED       15:30 Afternoon Reading b008vv5r (Listen)
WED       Scene of the Crime, Blackfriars Bridge
WED       Stories by leading crime writers.
WED       By Anthony Horowitz.
WED       This humorous retelling of the detailed planning of the
WED       perfect crime is set against the sounds of one of London's
WED       best-known bridges.
WED       Read by Robert Bathurst.
WED       
WED       15:45 The Santa Tapes b00pfm8d (Listen)
WED       Shop Store Santa
WED       Alan Dein unwraps the oral history of Santa Claus, hearing
WED       the true stories of those who have donned the red and
WED       white costume, from war-torn Hungary to the icy wastes of
WED       Alaska.
WED       In Liverpool, in one of Britain's oldest grottos, Santa
WED       finds Christmas present very different to his Christmas
WED       past.
WED       
WED       16:00 Thinking Allowed b00pclfj (Listen)
WED       The new bourgeoisie played an enormously important role in
WED       the history of industrial and imperial Britain. The extent
WED       to which cousin marriage proliferated in the 19th century
WED       relates to the central question as to which people were
WED       going to lead Industrial England.
WED       Close-knit families in Victorian England delivered
WED       enormous advantages. They shaped vocations, generated
WED       patronage, yielded vital commercial information and gave
WED       access to capital; no wonder that marriage within the
WED       family, between cousins or between in-laws, was a
WED       characteristic strategy of this new bourgeoisie.
WED       Laurie Taylor discusses private life in 19th-century
WED       England with Adam Kuper, the author of Incest and
WED       Influence: The Private Life of Bourgeois England, and
WED       Catherine Hall, professor of modern British social and
WED       cultural history at University College, London.
WED       
WED       16:30 All in the Mind b00pckm7 (Listen)
WED       [Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday.]
WED       
WED       16:56 1989: Day by Day b00pbrxy (Listen)
WED       23rd December 1989
WED       Sir John Tusa looks back at the events making the news 20
WED       years ago.
WED       Intense fighting continues in Romania.
WED       A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
WED       
WED       17:00 PM b00pbs0g (Listen)
WED       Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie
WED       Mair. Plus Weather.
WED       
WED       18:00 Six O'Clock News b00pbs6g (Listen)
WED       The latest national and international news from BBC Radio
WED       4.
WED       
WED       18:30 Laura Solon: Talking and Not Talking b00pcllf (Listen)
WED       Series 3, Episode 6
WED       Perrier Award-winning comedian Laura Solon presents a
WED       series of sketches, monologues and one-liners.
WED       Domestic goddess Sue Morgan offers her own take on the
WED       perfect Christmas, call centre demon Gwyneth finally faces
WED       judgement, and we gain access to the Institute for Useless
WED       Scientific Research.
WED       With Ben Moor, Rosie Cavaliero and Ben Willbond.
WED       
WED       19:00 The Archers b00pbqxk (Listen)
WED       Cupid's arrow misses the mark at The Bull.
WED       
WED       19:15 Front Row b00pbsgz (Listen)
WED       Arts news and reviews. Mark Lawson talks to the names
WED       behind the arts headlines of the year, including Joanna
WED       Lumley, Dizzee Rascal and Carol Ann Duffy, who became Poet
WED       Laureate.
WED       
WED       19:45 Woman's Hour Drama b00pbt9g (Listen)
WED       Someone Like You, Lamb to the Slaughter
WED       Dramatisation by Stephen Sheridan of five darkly comic
WED       tales by Roald Dahl.
WED       An unfaithful husband is killed with an unusual weapon.
WED       Storyteller ...... Charles Dance
WED       Mary Maloney ...... Lorelei King
WED       Patrick/Sam/Noonan ...... Kerry Shale
WED       O'Malley ...... Tom Bevan
WED       Directed by David Blount
WED       A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
WED       
WED       20:00 Unreliable Evidence b00pcm4l (Listen)
WED       Too Much Information
WED       Clive Anderson presents the series analysing the legal
WED       issues of the day.
WED       A major study has claimed that a quarter of government
WED       databases are illegal and lead to vulnerable people being
WED       victimised. Just how much information about us is in
WED       circulation and what are our rights to access, control and
WED       erase it?
WED       
WED       20:45 The Watchdog and the Feral Beast b00p6820 (Listen)
WED       Episode 2
WED       Sir Christopher Meyer, press watchdog until this year as
WED       chairman of the Press Complaints Commission and former
WED       press secretary at Number 10, discusses the role of the
WED       press today. Is the press today freedom's guardian or is
WED       it a 'feral beast', as Tony Blair described the media at
WED       the end of his premiership?
WED       Sir Christopher draws on his personal experience as press
WED       watchdog and government spokesman. In his six years
WED       chairing the PCC, where he dealt with complaints against
WED       newspapers and magazines, he championed a free press and
WED       self-regulation, but had to contend with controversies
WED       that sometimes strained people's trust in the press.
WED       His health check on the press comes at a time when opinion
WED       is polarised. Is the press out of control, or is it more
WED       constrained than ever before by the law? Is the press
WED       destroying trust in our democracy, or are politicians
WED       giving the press undue importance by courting editors and
WED       journalists? Is the press too powerful, or is it
WED       vulnerable because of competition from the internet, much
WED       of it free and unregulated?
WED       And now that the printed word and audio-visual content
WED       appear together on the same website, what is the future
WED       for self-regulation by the press?
WED       
WED       21:00 The Infinite Monkey Cage b00pbx28 (Listen)
WED       [Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Monday.]
WED       
WED       21:30 Midweek b00pcl7d (Listen)
WED       [Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today.]
WED       
WED       21:58 Weather b00pbtjn (Listen)
WED       The latest weather forecast.
WED       
WED       22:00 The World Tonight b00pbtmc (Listen)
WED       National and international news and analysis with Robin
WED       Lustig.
WED       
WED       22:45 Book at Bedtime b00pbvnw (Listen)
WED       The Ingoldsby Legends, Nell Cook
WED       Nicholas Murchie and Lucy Robinson read from a collection
WED       of myths, legends, ghost stories and poetry supposedly
WED       written by Thomas Ingoldsby of Tappington Manor, but
WED       actually penned by the Rev Richard Barham, first published
WED       in book form in 1840.
WED       A part-comic, part-terrifying poetic portrayal of baked
WED       meat and bloody murder, as a housekeeper takes a certain
WED       dislike of her master's houseguest.
WED       Abriged by Robin Brooks.
WED       A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
WED       
WED       23:00 Bespoken Word b00lbsh0 (Listen)
WED       Performance poetry series. Featuring a reading by Adrian
WED       Mitchell, who died in 2008, of an updated version of his
WED       poem To Whom It May Concern, recorded in the last year of
WED       his life. Plus an appearance by performance poet Mister
WED       Gee.
WED       
WED       23:15 All Bar Luke b00dp2nh (Listen)
WED       Series 3, The Wedding
WED       Poignant comedy drama series by Tim Key.
WED       The love of Luke's life, Hayley, finally marries his
WED       brother. In an explosive climax, Luke is forced to stand
WED       in for Lee at the wedding reception.
WED       An Angel Eye Media production for BBC Radio 4.
WED       
WED       23:30 Take Two b00h30yr (Listen)
WED       Series 2, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen
WED       Richard Coles presents a discussion series looking at
WED       collaborations between two musicians.
WED       Richard analyses the partnership between Walter Becker and
WED       Donald Fagen, who formed the band Steely Dan in 1971. He
WED       is joined by author Brian Sweet and music journalist David
WED       Hepworth to analyse how the collaboration between Becker
WED       and Fagen developed and what effect it had on the popular
WED       music of the time. The programme also features extracts of
WED       some of the band's music and archives of interviews given
WED       by the band members over the years.
WED       
WED       
THU       THURSDAY 24 DECEMBER 2009
THU       
THU       00:00 Midnight News b00pbnby (Listen)
THU       The latest national and international news from BBC Radio
THU       4. Followed by Weather.
THU       
THU       00:30 Book of the Week b00pbpch (Listen)
THU       [Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Wednesday.]
THU       
THU       00:48 Shipping Forecast b00pbnd1 (Listen)
THU       The latest shipping forecast.
THU       
THU       01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes b00pbnh6 (Listen)
THU       BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU       
THU       05:20 Shipping Forecast b00pbng7 (Listen)
THU       The latest shipping forecast.
THU       
THU       05:30 News Briefing b00pbnrk (Listen)
THU       The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU       
THU       05:43 Prayer for the Day b00pbnty (Listen)
THU       Daily prayer and reflection with Bishop Alan Abernethy.
THU       Good Morning.
THU       I live in Belfast and the River Lagan runs through the
THU       heart of the city. There is a cycle and pedestrian towpath
THU       that runs along the river and stretches for miles. I often
THU       cycle along this path and the sounds are amazing; the
THU       lapping of the river and the endless bird song. It is
THU       wonderful that in the heart of the city there is this
THU       oasis of peace and quiet. Although I do find it strange
THU       that so many people who walk, jog or cycle along this path
THU       are attached to their earphones and music. There are so
THU       many public places that are filled with background noise
THU       and music.
THU       Silence is increasingly difficult to find with the
THU       constant whirring of machines and the need to be available
THU       at the end of a mobile phone. The technological world
THU       means instant communication and nowhere to just be still
THU       and quiet. One of the joys of deep friendship is that gift
THU       of being able to be with somebody and not having to say
THU       anything. Silence is something that refreshes and gives
THU       time and space for reflection. On this Christmas Eve I am
THU       conscious of the silence of the Bethlehem moment. If the
THU       Nativity were to take place today the world’s media would
THU       be present, there would be various public relations
THU       companies giving advice and the noise would drown out the
THU       mystery. But then there were only a few shepherds, a few
THU       strangers from the East in a town that was far from being
THU       the hub of the universe.
THU       “How silently, how silently,
THU       The wondrous gift is given,
THU       When God imparts to human hearts
THU       The blessings of His heaven.”
THU       Lord in the noise that surrounds Christmas, help us this
THU       Christmas Eve to hear you in the silence of Bethlehem.
THU       Amen.
THU       
THU       05:45 Farming Today b00pbnwt (Listen)
THU       News and issues in rural Britain with Kate Williams.
THU       
THU       06:00 Today b00pbnzn (Listen)
THU       With John Humphrys and James Naughtie. Including Sports
THU       Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
THU       
THU       09:00 In Our Time b00pcm9f (Listen)
THU       The Samurai
THU       Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the rise, fall and legacy
THU       of the Samurai.
THU       
THU       09:45 Book of the Week b00pbpck (Listen)
THU       Paw Tracks in the Moonlight, Episode 4
THU       Kevin Whately reads from Denis O'Connor's memoir.
THU       O'Connor has been asked to look after a colleague's horse
THU       over the summer holidays and decides to go trekking in the
THU       Cheviot Hills, accompanied by his Maine Coon kitten, Toby
THU       Jug.
THU       Abridged by Jane Marshall.
THU       A Jane Marshall production for BBC Radio 4.
THU       
THU       10:00 Woman's Hour b00pchxq (Listen)
THU       With Jane Garvey. Including drama: Someone Like You.
THU       
THU       11:00 Crossing Continents b00pcn0y (Listen)
THU       Sweden
THU       Writer Andrew Brown tries to find out if the rural heart
THU       of Sweden still lives on in the modern age. In an
THU       entertaining and unpredictable journey he goes in search
THU       of wolves, egg-tossing merrymakers and the ideal of the
THU       Swedish summer.
THU       
THU       11:30 The Frost Collection b00pcn10 (Listen)
THU       Series 2, Episode 1
THU       Sir David Frost and guests look back at some of the most
THU       memorable interviews of his long career. With Sir Tim
THU       Rice, Imogen Stubbs and Anne Atkins.
THU       
THU       12:00 You and Yours b00pbq1c (Listen)
THU       Consumer news and issues with Julian Worricker.
THU       
THU       12:57 Weather b00pbq2x (Listen)
THU       The latest weather forecast.
THU       
THU       13:00 World at One b00pbqbm (Listen)
THU       National and international news with Shaun Ley.
THU       
THU       13:30 Questions, Questions b00pd150 (Listen)
THU       Stewart Henderson answers those intriguing questions from
THU       everyday life.
THU       A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
THU       
THU       14:00 The Archers b00pbqxk (Listen)
THU       [Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday.]
THU       
THU       14:15 Afternoon Play b00pd18h (Listen)
THU       Black Hearts in Battersea, Episode 2
THU       Dramatisation by Lin Coghlan of Joan Aiken's classic
THU       children's adventure.
THU       To save the King from Hanoverian plotters, Simon and
THU       Sophie must first suffer shipwreck, attacks by wolves and
THU       a narrow escape from an exploding hot air balloon.
THU       Duke ...... John Rowe
THU       Duchess ...... Sheila Reid
THU       Dido ...... Nicola Miles-Wildin
THU       Simon ...... Joe Dempsie
THU       Cobbe/Captain M ...... Ben Crowe
THU       Mrs C ...... Annabelle Dowler
THU       Justin ...... Sam Pamphilon
THU       Buckle ...... Nigel Hastings
THU       Dr F/King J ...... Bruce Alexander
THU       Gus/Stall Holder ...... Joseph Cohen Cole
THU       Jabwing ...... Piers Wehner
THU       Mr T/Bird ...... Rhys Jennings
THU       Mrs T ...... Tessa Nicholson
THU       Sophie ...... Emerald O'Hanrahan
THU       Coachman/Mogg ...... John Biggins
THU       Field ...... Ewan Hooper
THU       Mrs B ...... Kate Layden.
THU       
THU       15:00 Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols b00pd1bb (Listen)
THU       Stephen Cleobury directs the choir for the annual Festival
THU       of Nine Lessons and Carols live from the Chapel of King's
THU       College, Cambridge.
THU       The pattern of the Festival, based around nine Bible
THU       readings interspersed with carols, has remained the same
THU       for over 90 years. It unfolds the great mystery of how God
THU       came into the world in human form, and for millions across
THU       the globe it heralds the beginning of Christmas.
THU       
THU       16:30 Material World b00pd293 (Listen)
THU       Quentin Cooper and guests take part in a question and
THU       answer edition of the programme.
THU       
THU       16:56 1989: Day by Day b00pbry0 (Listen)
THU       24th December 1989
THU       Sir John Tusa looks back at the events making the news 20
THU       years ago.
THU       General Noriega is surrounded as he seeks refuge in Panama.
THU       A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
THU       
THU       17:00 PM b00pbs0j (Listen)
THU       Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Ritula
THU       Shah. Plus Weather.
THU       
THU       18:00 Six O'Clock News b00pbs6j (Listen)
THU       The latest national and international news from BBC Radio
THU       4.
THU       
THU       18:15 The News At Bedtime b00nvyj4 (Listen)
THU       Episode 1
THU       Twin presenters John Tweedledum and Jim Tweedledee present
THU       in-depth news analysis covering the latest stories
THU       happening this 'once upon a time'.
THU       The scandal of Jack and his genetically-modified beanstalk.
THU       With Jack Dee, Peter Capaldi, Chris Addison, Lewis
THU       MacLeod, Lucy Montgomery, Vicki Pepperdine, Dan Tetsell.
THU       Written by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman.
THU       
THU       18:30 Andy Zaltzman's History of the Third Millennium,
THU       Series 1 of b00pd295 (Listen)
THU       Britain
THU       Political comedian Andy Zaltzman presents a
THU       decade-by-decade comic analysis of the third millennium,
THU       covering the 2000-2009 period of what is already shaping
THU       up to be a troubled thousand years.
THU       Andy looks at the things that make Britain truly British,
THU       by means of in-depth analysis, extensive research and time
THU       travel.
THU       With Rory Bremner, Bridget Christie, Lucy Montgomery and
THU       Kim Wall.
THU       
THU       19:00 The Archers b00pbqxm (Listen)
THU       Bridge Farm relives an old tradition.
THU       
THU       19:15 Front Row b00pbsh1 (Listen)
THU       Arts news and reviews. Mark Lawson talks to more of the
THU       names behind the year's arts headlines, including Booker
THU       Prize winner Hilary Mantel.
THU       
THU       19:45 Woman's Hour Drama b00pbt9k (Listen)
THU       Someone Like You, Dip in the Pool
THU       Dramatisation by Stephen Sheridan of five darkly comic
THU       tales by Roald Dahl.
THU       A passenger on an ocean liner takes a desperate gamble.
THU       Storyteller ...... Charles Dance
THU       Mr Botibol ...... John Baddeley
THU       Mrs Renshaw/Maggie ...... Rachel Atkins
THU       Purser ...... Nicholas Boulton
THU       Auctioneer ...... Chris Stanton
THU       Old Woman ...... Jean Trend
THU       Directed by David Blount
THU       A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
THU       
THU       20:00 That Reminds Me b00769ss (Listen)
THU       The late Ludovic Kennedy reminisces about his life. He
THU       remembers a very Eton schoolboy prank involving hiring a
THU       plane, and shares memories of his favourite interviewees
THU       from his 25 years as a TV broadcaster.
THU       
THU       20:30 In Business b00pd297 (Listen)
THU       Organising Salvation
THU       Management guru Peter Drucker called the Salvation Army
THU       the most 'effective organisation in America'. Peter Day
THU       asks if that is true in Britain and finds out how the Army
THU       is bringing innovation to salvation.
THU       
THU       21:00 What Scientists Believe b00pd299 (Listen)
THU       Episode 3
THU       Philosopher Stephen Webster investigates the links between
THU       scientists' personal beliefs and their scientific work. He
THU       wants to know how an individual scientist's personal,
THU       psychological and intellectual qualities map onto their
THU       chosen area of science. How much of a scientist's
THU       personality is reflected in their work? Should subjective
THU       private beliefs be a part of objective scientific
THU       outcomes? What happens if tensions develop between a
THU       scientist's beliefs and the formal demands of science? If
THU       tensions arise, how can they be resolved?
THU       In this programme, Stephen meets zoologist Andrew Gosler.
THU       For more than 25 years, Andrew has been studying the Great
THU       Tit population in Wytham Wood near Oxford. Andrew greatly
THU       respects the animals he studies and the environment they
THU       inhabit. He finds inspiration working so closely with
THU       nature, and that inspiration motivates his scientific
THU       enquiries. But Andrew accepts that scientific description
THU       can only ever provide a partial description of reality.
THU       Science will never encapsulate Andrew's own, private and
THU       unique relationship with the world he studies.
THU       
THU       21:30 In Our Time b00pcm9f (Listen)
THU       [Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today.]
THU       
THU       21:58 Weather b00pbtjq (Listen)
THU       The latest weather forecast.
THU       
THU       22:00 The World Tonight b00pbtmf (Listen)
THU       National and international news and analysis with Robin
THU       Lustig.
THU       
THU       22:45 Book at Bedtime b00pbvny (Listen)
THU       The Ingoldsby Legends, A Singular Passage, Part 1
THU       Nicholas Murchie and Lucy Robinson read from a collection
THU       of myths, legends, ghost stories and poetry supposedly
THU       written by Thomas Ingoldsby of Tappington Manor, but
THU       actually penned by the Rev Richard Barham, first published
THU       in book form in 1840.
THU       A tale of black magic set in the depths of Romney Marsh,
THU       as a young woman is tormented by two men bent on exploring
THU       the dark arts.
THU       Abriged by Robin Brooks.
THU       A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
THU       
THU       23:00 Chain Reaction b0093z9z (Listen)
THU       Series 4, Arabella Weir interviews Paul Whitehouse
THU       Chat show in which one week's interviewee becomes the next
THU       week's interviewer. Arabella Weir talks to Paul Whitehouse
THU       about The Fast Show, Down the Line and his career in
THU       comedy.
THU       
THU       23:30 Midnight Mass b00pd29c (Listen)
THU       The first Mass of Christmas is celebrated from St Anne's
THU       Cathedral in Leeds.
THU       The celebrant and preacher is the Right Rev Arthur Roche,
THU       Bishop of Leeds.
THU       The choir of Leeds Cathedral, directed by Benjamin
THU       Saunders, sings a wealth of carols old and new; the
THU       setting is Mozart's joyful Missa Brevis in C (KV 259).
THU       Organist: Christopher McElroy.
THU       
THU       
FRI       FRIDAY 25 DECEMBER 2009
FRI       
FRI       00:48 Shipping Forecast b00pbnd3 (Listen)
FRI       The latest shipping forecast.
FRI       
FRI       01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes b00pbnh8 (Listen)
FRI       BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI       
FRI       05:20 Shipping Forecast b00pbng9 (Listen)
FRI       The latest shipping forecast.
FRI       
FRI       05:30 News Briefing b00pbnrm (Listen)
FRI       The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI       
FRI       05:43 Prayer for the Day b00pbnv0 (Listen)
FRI       Daily prayer and reflection with Bishop Alan Abernethy.
FRI       Good Morning.
FRI       The sight, sounds and smells of Christmas bombard my
FRI       memory. This is a time of year that has such a rich store
FRI       of things that make me smile. I can see my granny in her
FRI       small kitchen making the stuffing for the turkey. I can
FRI       remember helping my mum fill bottle after bottle with her
FRI       home made ginger wine. It certainly helped warm the inners
FRI       on a cold winter evening and this was a non alcoholic
FRI       wine. On Christmas morning early, at 5:30 our youth group
FRI       would meet and walk around the neighbourhood singing
FRI       carols outside the homes of the elderly and infirm. This
FRI       was followed by a real breakfast, an Ulster fry. There was
FRI       the fun of Christmas morning and the excitement of
FRI       presents, the one I remember best is the Northern Ireland
FRI       football shirt and unfortunately it is the closest I ever
FRI       came to wearing one.
FRI       Our family gathered in my auntie’s house on Christmas Day
FRI       and my granny insisted we were not allowed to open our
FRI       presents until after the Queen’s speech on television. I
FRI       remember feeling very envious of my grandfather who had
FRI       the patience to watch the joy of others as they opened
FRI       their presents and when all were opened he would slowly
FRI       and deliberately open his and say thank you to each donor
FRI       in person. Inevitably dinner would follow when we all ate
FRI       too much and the adults would fall asleep and my uncle
FRI       Ivor would be heard to say only 365 days to Christmas, and
FRI       then he would disappear and do the dishes.
FRI       This Christmas Day these memories still make me smile for
FRI       they are about, family, friendship, giving and thinking of
FRI       others. The babe lying in a manger was announced by a
FRI       heavenly host declaring good news of peace on earth and
FRI       goodwill among all people. And there is something about
FRI       this time of year and particularly this day of parties and
FRI       gifts that helps me capture the spirit of that goodwill.
FRI       Lord may we share the goodwill of Christmas with others
FRI       all year round and help those whose memories bring lonely
FRI       pain to find comfort. AMEN.
FRI       
FRI       05:45 Farming Today b00pbnww (Listen)
FRI       Turkey is still the traditionalists' favourite for the
FRI       Christmas table, so Charlotte Smith discovers how to make
FRI       the best of your bird.
FRI       
FRI       06:00 Archive on 4 b00kc071 (Listen)
FRI       A Laureate's Legacy - The Poetry Archive
FRI       Andrew Motion explores and tells the story of the proudest
FRI       legacy of his time as Poet Laureate, The Poetry Archive -
FRI       hundreds of poems, read by their authors and all available
FRI       online, free to everyone.
FRI       Motion's stint as Poet Laureate ended with predictable
FRI       discussions about his successor and what he did or didn't
FRI       do. But the lasting legacy of his laureateship and the
FRI       great achievement of his tenure is his creation, with
FRI       sound producer Richard Carrington, of the remarkable
FRI       online Poetry Archive, begun in 1999 and growing. It
FRI       includes contemporary poets reading their work, including
FRI       Seamus Heaney, UA Fanthorpe and Jackie Kay and historic
FRI       recordings by poets including Hilaire Belloc, Siegfried
FRI       Sassoon, WB Yeats and even Tennyson and Browning. As well
FRI       as the poems there are sections for children and teachers,
FRI       interviews with poets, poets in residence and useful
FRI       information about genres, forms and metres. If you want to
FRI       know what an anapaest is, or a pantoum, the Poetry Archive
FRI       can help.
FRI       Motion and Carrington talk about why they created the
FRI       archive, and state that there is more to it than simply
FRI       preserving poets reading their work. Motion develops his
FRI       theme that poetry is primarily an aural art, and what this
FRI       reveals. The poet's voice is fundamental: the windswept
FRI       moor is in the voice of Ted Hughes; Charles Causley's
FRI       Cornish accent and dialect are important. The sound of a
FRI       poem is an aspect of its meaning. At the recording session
FRI       when Carol Ann Duffy reads her book Rapture for the
FRI       archive, Richard Carrington speaks about his role: not to
FRI       coax a performance so much as to help the poets to be
FRI       themselves.
FRI       Andrew Motion and Richard Carrington lead us around the
FRI       archive, playing gems that we might otherwise have missed.
FRI       They talk, too, about what is missing, and appeal to
FRI       people who might have recordings. For example, they do not
FRI       know how Thomas Hardy, AE Housman and DH Lawrence sounded
FRI       because as far as we know they never made recordings. But
FRI       they might have, and one day they might turn up.
FRI       Related Links
FRI       * The Poetry Archive (www.poetryarchive.org)
FRI       
FRI       07:00 Bryn Terfel Masters Wine b00m83p0 (Listen)
FRI       Opera singer Bryn Terfel explores his love of wine and
FRI       attempts to become a master sommelier. Taking a break from
FRI       the stage, Bryn meets some of the world's finest wine
FRI       experts and finds out what the role of sommelier involves,
FRI       from tasting to service to food matching.
FRI       Featuring contributions from wine writer Sarah Ahmed,
FRI       chief examiner for The Court of Master Sommeliers Brian
FRI       Julyan, managing director of Cullen Wines Vanya Cullen,
FRI       sommelier at Gidleigh Park Restaurant Edouard Oger,
FRI       restaurant manager at High Timber Restaurant Neleen
FRI       Strauss and Master of Wine at Berry Bros Alun Griffiths.
FRI       
FRI       07:30 The Museum of Curiosity b00ksvt5 (Listen)
FRI       Series 2, Episode 6
FRI       John Lloyd and Sean Lock host a panel show in which three
FRI       guests donate fascinating exhibits to a vast imaginary
FRI       museum. With Clive James, Tim Minchin and Philip Pullman.
FRI       
FRI       08:00 Desert Island Discs b00pbltz (Listen)
FRI       [Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Sunday.]
FRI       
FRI       08:45 The Santa Tapes b00pfm97 (Listen)
FRI       Santa's Everywhere
FRI       Alan Dein unwraps the oral history of Santa Claus, hearing
FRI       the true stories of those who have donned the red and
FRI       white costume, from war-torn Hungary to the icy wastes of
FRI       Alaska.
FRI       
FRI       09:00 Christmas Service b00pd3fd (Listen)
FRI       A service with carols old and new from All Souls Church,
FRI       Langham Place in London's West End. Preacher: Rev Hugh
FRI       Palmer. With the All Souls Choir, directed by Noel
FRI       Tredinnick.
FRI       
FRI       09:45 Book of the Week b00pbpcm (Listen)
FRI       Paw Tracks in the Moonlight, Episode 5
FRI       Kevin Whately reads from Denis O'Connor's memoir.
FRI       It's Christmas Day and Denis O'Connor reflects on how much
FRI       better his life has become since he rescued the kitten,
FRI       Toby Jug.
FRI       Abridged by Jane Marshall.
FRI       A Jane Marshall production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI       
FRI       10:00 Woman's Hour b00pkxzp (Listen)
FRI       With Jane Garvey. Including drama: Someone Like You.
FRI       
FRI       11:00 A Funny Sort of Sound b00l92sr (Listen)
FRI       Julian Clary pays tribute to the wit and ingenuity of
FRI       comedy musical acts. He considers the appeal of acts like
FRI       TV's Mr Muscle, Tony Holland, who won Opportunity Knocks
FRI       six times in a row by flexing his biceps to the tune of
FRI       Wheels Cha Cha, and Bob - AKA Tray - Blackman, whose act
FRI       consisted of bashing a tea tray on his head while singing
FRI       Mule Train.
FRI       Julian also considers how the genre has evolved from the
FRI       heyday of music hall theatre, and talks to Ken Dodd and
FRI       Jim Tavare.
FRI       A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI       
FRI       11:30 Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! b00pd5n7 (Listen)
FRI       Series 5, Murder Most Fouled Up
FRI       Spoof reminiscences of a former variety star. Count Arthur
FRI       Strong is an expert in everything from the world of
FRI       entertainment to the origins of the species, all false
FRI       starts and nervous fumbling, poorly concealed by a
FRI       delicate sheen of bravado and self-assurance.
FRI       Arthur steps in at short notice to play a prominent role
FRI       in a Murder Mystery evening for Lord and Lady Preston, his
FRI       new 'best friends'. Who committed the heinous murder? Can
FRI       Count Arthur solve the case? Did he do it? Was it the
FRI       butler?
FRI       With Steve Delaney, Mel Giedroyc, David Mounfield and
FRI       Alastair Kerr.
FRI       A Komedia Entertainment/Smooth Operations production for
FRI       BBC Radio 4.
FRI       
FRI       12:00 News b00pd5nr (Listen)
FRI       The latest national and international news from BBC Radio
FRI       4.
FRI       
FRI       12:04 Loose Ends b00pd5r6 (Listen)
FRI       Clive Anderson reflects on the gloriously eclectic musical
FRI       heritage that Loose Ends endowed to a grateful nation in
FRI       2009.
FRI       Featuring Andy Williams, Elvis Costello, Mary Wilson, Ray
FRI       Davies, Stewart Copeland, Jarvis Cocker, Jamie Cullum,
FRI       Charles Hazlewood, Brett Anderson, Sharon Shannon, The
FRI       Kenyan Boys Choir and Mercury Prize winner Speech Debelle.
FRI       
FRI       13:00 With Great Pleasure b00pd5r8 (Listen)
FRI       With Great Pleasure at Christmas
FRI       Political journalist and Today programme presenter James
FRI       Naughtie shares some of the pieces of prose and verse
FRI       which have entertained and inspired him over the years.
FRI       The readers include Alison Steadman and Bill Paterson.
FRI       
FRI       14:00 The Archers b00pbqxm (Listen)
FRI       [Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday.]
FRI       
FRI       14:15 Afternoon Play b00p93sy (Listen)
FRI       No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Tea Time for the
FRI       Traditionally Built
FRI       Written and dramatised by Alexander McCall Smith, from his
FRI       hugely popular series of books set in Botswana.
FRI       Precious Ramotswe, owner of The No 1 Ladies' Detective
FRI       Agency, is about to get in over her head. She's got an
FRI       important new client from the incomprehensible world of
FRI       football, but she's on her own as her loyal assistant Mma
FRI       Makutsi is distracted by the return of a troublesome
FRI       figure from her past.
FRI       Mma Ramotswe ...... Claire Benedict
FRI       Mma Makutsi ...... Nadine Marshall
FRI       Mr JLB Matekoni ...... Ben Onwukwe
FRI       Mma Potokwani ...... Janice Acquah
FRI       Mr Molofololo ...... Mo Sesay
FRI       Phuti Raduphuti ...... Nyasha Hatendi
FRI       Puso/Boy ...... Kedar Williams-Stirling
FRI       Rops Thobega ...... Emmanuel Ighodaro
FRI       Violet Sepotho ...... Anna Bengo
FRI       Directed by Eilidh McCreadie.
FRI       
FRI       15:00 HM The Queen b00pd5xr (Listen)
FRI       The Queen's Christmas message to the Commonwealth and the
FRI       nation, followed by the national anthem.
FRI       
FRI       15:07 News b00pjkn9 (Listen)
FRI       The latest national and international news from BBC Radio
FRI       4.
FRI       
FRI       15:15 Afternoon Play b00p94r2 (Listen)
FRI       No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, The Seller of Beds
FRI       Written and dramatised by Alexander McCall Smith, from his
FRI       hugely popular series of books set in Botswana.
FRI       The detectives are embroiled in the murky world of the
FRI       football cheat as they investigate the recent bad form of
FRI       the Kalahari Swoopers. But Mma Ramotswe's problems don't
FRI       end there - she must confront an issue which has been
FRI       avoided for too long. Could it be the end of the road for
FRI       the tiny white van?
FRI       Mma Ramotswe ...... Claire Benedict
FRI       Mma Makutsi ...... Nadine Marshall
FRI       Mr JLB Matekoni ...... Ben Onwukwe
FRI       Mr Molofololo ...... Mo Sesay
FRI       Mma Tafa ...... Gbemisola Ikumelo
FRI       Fanwell ...... Beru Tessema
FRI       Grandmother ...... Albie Parsons
FRI       Puso Boy ...... Kedar Williams-Stirling
FRI       Oteng Boleleng ...... Emmanuel Ighodaro
FRI       Charlie ...... Tyrone Lewis
FRI       Violet Sepotho ...... Anna Bengo
FRI       Phuti Raduphuti ...... Nyasha Hatendi
FRI       Directed by Eilidh McCreadie.
FRI       
FRI       16:00 Frequently Asked Questions b00lszh8 (Listen)
FRI       Ian Samson traces the relationship between authors and
FRI       their readers through the changing nature of the
FRI       correspondence between them. He asks his fellow writers
FRI       whether festivals, promotional tours and the advent of the
FRI       internet have altered their role.
FRI       
FRI       16:30 The Film Programme b00pd5xt (Listen)
FRI       In a special Christmas Day edition, Francine Stock talks
FRI       to veteran British actress Googie Withers about working
FRI       with Alfred Hitchcock and Michael Powell.
FRI       
FRI       16:56 1989: Day by Day b00pbry2 (Listen)
FRI       25th December 1989
FRI       Sir John Tusa looks back at the events making the news 20
FRI       years ago.
FRI       Ceausescu and his wife are executed in Romania.
FRI       A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI       
FRI       17:00 Pick of the Year b00pd69k (Listen)
FRI       Rob Brydon unwraps the best of the year's offerings from
FRI       across BBC radio.
FRI       Part of the BBC Christmas 2009 season.
FRI       
FRI       17:54 Shipping Forecast b00pd69m (Listen)
FRI       The latest shipping forecast.
FRI       
FRI       17:57 Weather b00pd6bb (Listen)
FRI       The latest weather forecast.
FRI       
FRI       18:00 Six O'Clock News b00pbs6l (Listen)
FRI       The latest national and international news from BBC Radio
FRI       4.
FRI       
FRI       18:15 The News At Bedtime b00pft4y (Listen)
FRI       Episode 2
FRI       Twin presenters John Tweedledum and Jim Tweedledee present
FRI       in-depth news analysis covering the latest stories
FRI       happening this 'once upon a time'.
FRI       A festive hamper of treats including the Queen of Hearts'
FRI       traditional Christmas message.
FRI       With Jack Dee, Peter Capaldi, Lewis MacLeod, Alex
FRI       MacQueen, Lucy Montgomery, Vicki Pepperdine.
FRI       Written by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman.
FRI       
FRI       18:30 The Now Show b00pd6hr (Listen)
FRI       Series 29, Episode 5
FRI       Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis present a satirical review of
FRI       the week's news, with help from Mitch Benn, Laura Shavin,
FRI       Jon Holmes and Marcus Brigstocke.
FRI       
FRI       19:00 The Archers b00pbqxp (Listen)
FRI       There's a Christmas crisis at Grange Farm.
FRI       
FRI       19:15 Front Row b00pd6ht (Listen)
FRI       Arts news and reviews. Alan Bennett discusses his stage
FRI       plays, his wide-ranging work for television and the idea
FRI       of Englishness, in conversation with Mark Lawson.
FRI       
FRI       19:45 Woman's Hour Drama b00pbt9m (Listen)
FRI       Someone Like You, Nunc Dimittis
FRI       Dramatisation by Stephen Sheridan of five darkly comic
FRI       tales by Roald Dahl.
FRI       A slighted lover plots an elaborate revenge.
FRI       Storyteller ...... Charles Dance
FRI       Gladys Ponsonby ...... Sarah Badel
FRI       John Roydon ...... Jonathan Keeble
FRI       Janet de Pelagia ...... Katie Scarfe
FRI       Directed by David Blount
FRI       A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI       
FRI       20:00 Archive on 4 b00n6wgf (Listen)
FRI       The Anniversary Anniversary
FRI       Dominic Sandbrook explores the compelling appeal of the
FRI       anniversary. How often on the radio, on television or in
FRI       print is our attention enticed by the simple fact that an
FRI       event, a birth or a death happened a year, or five or ten,
FRI       fifty, even several hundred years ago?
FRI       There is a huge category of archive material dedicated to
FRI       particular happenings or personalities which would never
FRI       have been produced without the prompt of an anniversary.
FRI       Remembering war predates broadcasting, but in the past the
FRI       remembering was cast in stone, unchanging even as the
FRI       memories of those involved frayed and faded. In
FRI       
FRI       20:50 A Point of View b00pd6n4 (Listen)
FRI       Clive James reflects on the human condition and the need
FRI       for liberal democracy to spread to allow future
FRI       generations to enjoy the fruits of progress.
FRI       
FRI       21:00 Friday Play b00ph66p (Listen)
FRI       The Late Mr Shakespeare
FRI       By Robert Nye, dramatised by Jonathan Broadbent.
FRI       As a boy actor, Pickleherring played Viola, Juliet and
FRI       Cleopatra; he was Shakespeare's favourite. Now, in his
FRI       eighties, he finally discovers what it means to fall in
FRI       love.
FRI       Pickleherring ...... Jim Broadbent
FRI       Boy ...... George Longworth
FRI       Polly ...... Jill Cardo
FRI       Pompey Bum ...... Dan Starkey
FRI       Directed by Jeremy Mortimer.
FRI       
FRI       21:58 Weather b00pbtjs (Listen)
FRI       The latest weather forecast.
FRI       
FRI       22:00 News b00pd6n6 (Listen)
FRI       The latest national and international news from BBC Radio
FRI       4.
FRI       
FRI       22:15 We Three Kings b00g1rmq (Listen)
FRI       Ian Hislop examines the myths and realities surrounding
FRI       the Three Kings of the Christmas story.
FRI       They merit only a small mention in the Bible but they have
FRI       had a huge impact on our understanding of Christ's birth
FRI       story, so much so that they even have their own feast day.
FRI       Ian examines 2,000 years of the telling of their story to
FRI       see how history has shaped the legend of the Kings. Along
FRI       the way he meets theologians, historians, the Archbishop
FRI       of Canterbury and, curiously, a lot of people from
FRI       Colchester.
FRI       
FRI       22:45 Book at Bedtime b00pbvp0 (Listen)
FRI       The Ingoldsby Legends, A Singular Passage, Part 2
FRI       Nicholas Murchie and Lucy Robinson read from a collection
FRI       of myths, legends, ghost stories and poetry supposedly
FRI       written by Thomas Ingoldsby of Tappington Manor, but
FRI       actually penned by the Rev Richard Barham, first published
FRI       in book form in 1840.
FRI       Continuing a tale of black magic set in the depths of
FRI       Romney Marsh, as a young woman is tormented by two men
FRI       bent on exploring the dark arts.
FRI       Abriged by Robin Brooks.
FRI       A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI       
FRI       23:00 Great Lives b00pcklz (Listen)
FRI       [Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday.]
FRI       
FRI       23:30 The Music Group b00js8d3 (Listen)
FRI       Series 3, Episode 2
FRI       Comedian, broadcaster and GP Dr Phil Hammond asks each of
FRI       three guests to play the track of their choice for the
FRI       delight or disdain of the others.
FRI       His guests include actor Don Warrington, music writer
FRI       Laura Barton and Professor Martyn Poliakoff, a pioneer in
FRI       the field of green chemistry, who reveals a liking for Tom
FRI       Lehrer.
FRI       A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI       Related Links
FRI       * Watch Martyn in action (www.periodicvideos.com)
FRI       * More about Martyn (www.test-tube.org.uk)
FRI       * The additional verses about the new elements
FRI       (www.wellesley.edu)
FRI       This week’s guests: Don Warrington, Laura Barton and
FRI       Professor Martyn Poliakoff.
FRI       Real chemistry in this week’s show as pioneering green
FRI       chemist and YouTube star, Professor Martyn Poliakoff
FRI       challenges actor Don Warrington and music journalist Laura
FRI       Barton about the modernity of their chosen songs. There’s
FRI       talk of the modern world, modern love and an out-of-date
FRI       list of the chemical elements. His choice pre-dates both
FRI       of theirs but can he substantiate his theory?
FRI       The Music Group’s choices this week
FRI       Roadrunner (Thrice) – Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers
FRI       from Laura
FRI       The Elements – Tom Lehrer chosen by Martyn
FRI       Dry Your Eyes – The Streets chosen by Don
FRI       Agua de Beber – Frances Butt chosen by Phil
FRI       
FRI       
FRI