BBC Four

World News Today

The latest news and business developments.

World News Today: 06/01/2009

06/01/2009

BBC News Channel - World News Today, 06/01/2009

The latest news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.

The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.

BBC News Channel

An impartial and independent news service offering breaking news, analysis and insight.

A 24-hour impartial and independent news service offering breaking news, analysis and insight. It provides fast and comprehensive coverage of local, UK and international events.

Science and Islam

Science and Islam: Episode 1: The Language of Science

Episode 1

Episode 1: The Language of Science

The Language of Science

BBC Four - Science and Islam, The Language of Science

How the Islamic world increased scientific knowledge between the 8th and 14th centuries.

Jim Al-Khalili tells the story of the great leap in scientific knowledge that took place in the Islamic world between the 8th and 14th centuries.

Physicist Jim Al-Khalili travels through Syria, Iran, Tunisia and Spain to tell the story of the great leap in scientific knowledge that took place in the Islamic world between the 8th and 14th centuries. 

Its legacy is tangible, with terms like algebra, algorithm and alkali all being Arabic in origin and at the very heart of modern science - there would be no modern mathematics or physics without algebra, no computers without algorithms and no chemistry without alkalis.  

For Baghdad-born Al-Khalili, this is also a personal journey, and on his travels he uncovers a diverse and outward-looking culture, fascinated by learning and obsessed with science. From the great mathematician Al-Khwarizmi, who did much to establish the mathematical tradition we now know as algebra, to Ibn Sina, a pioneer of early medicine whose Canon of Medicine was still in use as recently as the 19th century, Al-Khalili pieces together a remarkable story of the often-overlooked achievements of the early medieval Islamic scientists.

Knowledge, arts, music and culture from the UK and the world.

BBC Four reflects arts, music and culture with an ambitious range of intellectually and culturally enriching programmes, taking an expert and in-depth approach to its subjects.

The story of the great leap in scientific knowledge in the Islamic world from AD700-1300

Jim Al-Khalili travels through Syria, Iran, Tunisia and Spain to tell the story of the great leap in scientific knowledge that took place in the Islamic world between the 8th and 14th centuries

1/3. The Language of Science. Professor Jim Al-Khalili travels to Iran, Syria, 
Egypt, Tunisia, Spain and Italy to chart scientific achievements in the Islamic world between the eighth and 14th centuries. See choice, p80.

Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells

BBC Four - Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells

A live studio performance from 1974 of Mike Oldfield's composition Tubular Bells.

A live studio performance from 1974 of Mike Oldfield's composition Tubular Bells, which had been acclaimed in the press as a unique achievement in popular music.

Tubular Bells: Mike Oldfield

The instrumentalist takes part in a studio performance of his seminal rock music album. Part of Prog Rock at the BBC season.

Sounds of the Seventies

Vintage pop, rock and soul performances from the BBC archives.

Sounds of the Seventies: Solos

Sounds of the Seventies: Solos: Episode 1: Solos

Episode 1: Solos

Solos

BBC Four - Sounds of the Seventies, Solos, Solos

Queen perform Killer Queen in 1974, introduced by Melvyn Bragg.

Vintage rock, pop and soul performances from the BBC archives. Queen perform Killer Queen in 1974, introduced by Melvyn Bragg.

Vintage rock, pop and soul performances from the BBC archives.

Individual performances culled from the BBC archive

Prog Rock Britannia: An Observation in Three Movements

02/01/2009

BBC Four - Prog Rock Britannia: An Observation in Three Movements

Documentary about progressive music and the generation of bands that were involved.

Documentary about progressive music and the bands involved, from successes such as Yes, Genesis and ELP to the trials and tribulations of lesser-known bands such as Caravan.

Documentary about progressive music and the generation of bands that were involved, from the international success stories of Yes, Genesis, ELP, King Crimson and Jethro Tull to the trials and tribulations of lesser-known bands such as Caravan and Egg. 

The film is structured in three parts, charting the birth, rise and decline of a movement famed for complex musical structures, weird time signatures, technical virtuosity and strange, and quintessentially English, literary influences.

It looks at the psychedelic pop scene that gave birth to progressive rock in the late 1960s, the golden age of progressive music in the early 1970s, complete with drum solos and gatefold record sleeves, and the over-ambition, commercialisation and eventual fall from grace of this rarefied musical experiment at the hands of punk in 1977.

Contributors include Robert Wyatt, Mike Oldfield, Pete Sinfield, Rick Wakeman, Phil Collins, Arthur Brown, Carl Palmer and Ian Anderson.

Prog Rock Britannia

Documentary charting the rise of the progressive rock genre practised by Yes, Genesis and Jethro Tull , as well as lesser known groups such as Caravan and Egg. See panel.

Mad Men

Drama series set in the world of advertising in 1960s New York.

Drama series which takes an unflinching look at the world of advertising in 1960s New York.

Mad Men: Series 1

Mad Men: Series 1: Episode 9: Shoot

Episode 9

Episode 9: Shoot

Series 1

Shoot

BBC Four - Mad Men, Series 1, Shoot

The agency tries to spruce up their Nixon presidential campaign.

Drama series set in the world of advertising in 1960s New York. The agency tries to spruce up their Nixon presidential campaign to counteract a successful Kennedy ad.

Drama series set in the world of advertising in 1960s New York. Betty is used by a rival ad agency to try to hire Don. Peggy is putting on weight. The agency tries to spruce up their Nixon presidential campaign to counteract a successful Kennedy ad by Jackie Kennedy.

9/13; series one. Don finds himself being courted by a rival agency, and Peggy sets pulses racing when she is forced to sport a revealing outfit after an accident. Starring Jon Hamm and Elisabeth Moss. See panel.

Prog at the BBC

BBC Four - Prog at the BBC

With Yes, Genesis, ELP, Caravan, Family, Atomic Rooster and more.

BBC studio performances by progressive rock bands of the 1970s, including Yes, Genesis, ELP, Caravan, Family, Atomic Rooster and more.

Compilation of some of the greatest names and British bands in what they still dare to call prog rock, filmed live in the BBC studios in the early 1970s. Expect to see stadium names like Yes, Genesis and Emerson, Lake and Palmer alongside much-loved bands of the era including Caravan, Family, Atomic Rooster and more.

Footage of performances by Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Yes, Genesis, Caravan, Barclay James Harvest and other progressive rock bands.

Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe

Charlie Brooker's acerbic take on recent TV

Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe: Series 4

Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe: Series 4: Episode 2

Episode 2

Series 4

BBC Four - Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe, Series 4, Episode 2

A mysterious insider dishes the dirt on all that is bad in the advertising industry.

Charlie Brooker takes an irreverent look at life on the small screen. In an advertising special, a report from an insider who dishes the dirt on all that is bad in the industry.

Charlie Brooker takes an irreverent look at all aspects of life on the small screen, including capsule reviews of the week's highs and lows. 

In an advertising special, there are reports from a mysterious insider dishing the dirt on all that is bad in the industry, plus a potted history of advertising. Brooker reveals the changing psychology used to keep people buying, and how the portrayal of men and women in advertising has changed. Plus, poet Tim Key gives us an advert-related verse.

An irreverent sideswipe at the world of television by the misanthropic TV critic

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Sounds of the Seventies

Solos

Episode 1: Solos

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