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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Front Row: Cressida Cowell, the new children's laureate; Cherie Blair goes into film

Cressida Cowell, the new children's laureate; Cherie Blair goes into film

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Cressida Cowell, the new children's laureate; Cherie Blair goes into film

Children's laureate Cressida Cowell, Cherie Blair, and Life of Pi on the stage

Cressida Cowell has been appointed the new children's laureate. Cherie Blair on her role as executive producer of a new film about the Middle East, plus Life of Pi as a stage play.

Cressida Cowell is announced as the new Waterstones Children’s Laureate.  We speak to the How to Train Your Dragon writer about her plans for the role which is mainly focused on encouraging primary school age children to read. 

With recent attempts by the USA to rekindle the Israeli-Palestinian peace process having foundered on the rocks, we talk to Cherie Blair about her role as Executive Producer of a new film about the crisis. The drama is in development and will be directed by John Deery who also joins John in the studio. The film, The Rock Pile, explores the lives of three little boys – a Muslim, an Arab-Christian and a Jew – who meet and play football together on the streets of Jerusalem.

Yann Martel's novel Life of Pi won the Man Booker, selling over 3 million copies and was a critically acclaimed Hollywood movie. It’s the story of Pi, a 16 year old boy stranded on a lifeboat in the Pacific with a Bengal Tiger named Richard Parker. Paul Allen reviews a new adaptation at the Crucible Theatre Sheffield and discusses the challenges of bringing the story to the stage.   


Presenter :  John Wilson
Producer :  Dymphna Flynn

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