A live entertainment for Saturday
Introduced by Joe Melia with a little help from Eleanor Bron and John Bird
Among the main events:

'McKinley and Sarah'
A play by Bill Morrison
with James Ellis and Sarah Lawson
'The latest party topic in Belfast is how I narrowly escaped the latest bomb because I was in that street yesterday and I would have been today only I had to go to the doctor's for more pills...'

Music from Ireland
Three instrumentalists who have lived in England since the 50s and who play in the Irish pubs and clubs in London: Roger Sherlock (flute) is a carpenter; Bobby Casey (violin) is a schoolkeeper; Jon McCarthy (pipes) is a driver for a construction firm.

John Ormond
Born in 1923 in a village where his father was the shoemaker...
He was no preacher but his working text
Was See all dry this winter and next.
Stand still. Remember his two hands, his laugh,
His craftsmanship. They are his epitaph.

10.50 Stockhausen's 'Ylem'
(Broadcast simultaneously in stereo on Radio 3)
Every 80 billion years, according to a current theory, the universe is reborn. A mighty explosion in the primeval matter, or Ylem, leads to elements being created, and a massive expansion and contraction. As the universe shrinks, the elements are broken down to their original state. Then, with another big bang, the process begins again.
Karlheinz Stockhausen, the German composer, has taken this idea as the basis for his latest work, with musical parallels of explosion, expansion and contraction. Ylem was written for the London Sinfonietta, who gave the world premiere last night in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, and who perform it tonight in the studio. The piece involves 19 musicians, who are instructed by the composer to 'think of the diversity of planets in the universe.'
After the performance the composer will discuss his work with the audience: viewers at home can phone in questions after 9.50 pm on [number removed].