Something Understood

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BBC Radio 4 FM

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

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Religion & Ethics

Ethical and religious discussion that examines some of the larger questions of life

Ethical and religious discussion that examines some of the larger questions of life, taking a spiritual theme and exploring it through music, prose and poetry

BBC Radio 4 LW

Something Understood: Neighbours

Neighbours

BBC Radio 4 - Something Understood, Neighbours

John McCarthy considers the relationships we have with those we live alongside.

John McCarthy reflects on the relationships we have with those we live alongside. He visits a terrace in Birmingham to explore the bonds formed by geography and shared experiences.

John McCarthy reflects on the significance of the relationships we have with those we live alongside.

Moving house recently got John thinking about the bond we have with our neighbours. It's a unique connection that embraces trust, friendliness, kindness and community - but also the need to be reserved and maintain boundaries to allow us privacy.

John visits the Victorian terrace of Birchwood Road in Birmingham to explore the bonds formed by geography and shared experiences. Here he meets neighbours who share gardens, discovers struggles over integration and crime, and hears memories of everything from a communal coach trip to Weston Super Mare to the day a tornado struck their street.

The programme includes readings from poetry by Galway Kinnell, Mary Oliver, Benjamin Zephaniah, Andrew Greig and Douglas Dunn, as well as music by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Remmy Ongala, William Byrd and John Coltrane.

Readers: Rachel Atkins and Fraser James

 
Produced by Rosie Boulton
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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