A service of music and meditation led by David Winter Shepherds came their praises singing (HFTC 74); A child is born in Bethlehem (Carols for
Choirs 2); A baby was born in Bethlehem (trad); When Christ was bom of Mary free; Child in a manger; Angels from the realms of glory (HFTC 77)
Reading (Rsv): Luke 2, w 15-21 Director of music
NOEL TREDINNICK. Stereo

Presented by Chris Lowe and Jon Silverman
6.30,7.30,8.30 News Summary
6.45* Business News With BOB FINIGAN
7.0,8.0 Today's News Read by BRIAN PERKINS
7.25*, 8.25* Sport
With GARRY RICHARDSON
7.45* Thought for the Day

Five programmes for children under 12. Each day there is a story, a cartoon and a quiz.
Presented by Bernard Cribbins Storyline by NICK SYMONS and SANDI TOKSVIG
8.31* The Lobster Mobster by BRIAN TRUEMAN
8.41* Fungus the Bogeyman by RAYMOND BRIGGS featuring Brian Blessed
8.46* The Ghost of Thomas Kempe by PENELOPE LIVELY dramatised by ALFRED BRADLEY
Those taking part: JUDITH BARKER NEIL CAPLE , ANNA JANE CASEY
EDWARD DE SOUZA. PHILIP
GLANCY CLIFF HOWELLS , JENNY LUCKRAFT
DAPHNE OXENFORD , STEVEN RENDALL DAVID ROSS and PETER WHEELER SARAH HARRISON (flute) Producer CAROLINE SMITH BBC Manchester. Stereo
0 HEAR THIS! page 23 and BACK PAGES: page 158

'I've noticed that people like doing best the things they do second-best. Comedians, they say, like to play Hamlet, piano players like to read aloud.
Personally I mourn the lost art of reading aloud.'
Steve Race , in company with Timothy West and Prunella Scales , presents before an audience in Broadcasting
House, London, a selection of his favourite poetry and prose. Producer JOHN POWELL BBC Bristol. Stereo

Five areas of life to which most of us never give much thought. But if you don't fall within the norm in these areas, life can be fraught with difficulties.
1: Margaret Horsfield shares the thoughts of the accident-prone. Producer SUSAN SNAILUM (R)

Faith Spencer-Chapman has always had a deep love of sailing. Well into her 60s, in June 1984 she joined the crew of the American tall ship
The Gazella of Philadelphia as general dog's body for a ceremonial sail from Halifax to Quebec and on up the St Lawrence Seaway through
Lake Ontario to Toronto. She ' took with her a small tape recorder to help keep alive her memories of a varied collection of people of all ages and nationalities brought together by their love of the sea. Producer JOHN THEOCHARIS Stereo (R) revised

Episode 29: 'Waiter, another portion of chips for my friend and another six lunches for me.' Stereo

Another variation on the theme of musical matrimony, in which Fritz Spiegl portrays partnerships both harmonious and discordant.
Today: Mrs Robert Schumann

Part 5 Stereo

The last of five programmes The Pyramids of the Sun The climb through the Cevennes and the city set in sand. Stereo

Your last chance this Christmas to hear a brand-new comedy programme, originally recorded in 1958 The Silent Bugler

Presented by Brian Widlake

The Snow Queen by HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN adapted by GUY HUTCHINS Storyteller HANNAH GORDON 1: Kai sees the Snow Queen Stereo

Halley's Comet, thought by manytobea harbinger of ill fortune, made one of its rare appearances in 1986; it was a year in which an American space shuttle exploded on take-off; and the Soviet town of Chernobyl became the scene of the world's worst nuclear accident. But there was also the joy of a royal wedding and a football World Cup enriched by the skills of the world's greatest player, Diego Maradona.
Tim Llewellyn recalls these and the many other contrasting sounds of the past 12 months. Written and produced by JONATHAN BAKER

The Admirable Crichton by J.M BARRIE with and The natural order of an aristocrat's household, the lord superior to his butler, the butler disdainful of the odds and ends in the scullery and kitchen, is humorously disrupted when master and servant are shipwrecked on a desert island.
Adapted and directed by CAROLINE RAPHAEL Stereo
0 HEAR THIS! page 22

The Wild Humbug Hunt
Leave, for just half an hour, the bright lights of the Christmas tree, the warming roast, the robins on the mantelpiece, and step into the awful chill without Join Lionel Kelleway on a stealthy Christmas tree patrol; follow Fergus Keeling keeping a flock of rare waterfowl from the table; and consider, in these bright times, the plight of the imprisoned Maltese robin Producer GEORGE MONBIOT BBCBristol

Presented by Gordon Clough

Episode 30: '1 realised that when you kissed the bottle of champagne and threw the lady mayoress against the wall.' Stereo

Another opportunity to hear the clues for Radio 4's Christmas Competition.
(Details of entry page 77at8.50am)

With SIMON VANCE including Financial Report

Johnny Morris recalls his childhood in Wales.

5: A Dry Martini

(Re-broadcast tomorrow at 1.40pm)

Last year, the novelist Alun Richards travelled to Tokyo and took up residence in a block of spotless Japanese flats.
Tonight, crammed into his miniscule room, with the ten-volume Tokyo telephone directory for a desk, he begins a series of five letters home.
BBC Wales

The Smiler With the Knife by NICHOLAS BLAKE dramatised by BARRY CAMPBELL with and A thieving magpie and a rather fussy Surveyor of Highways cause Nigel Strangeways and his wife to stumble upon an organisation which has close links with Fascist Germany and some very odd ideas about the future of this country.
With ANDREW BRANCH. JOHN CHURCH
ELAINE CLAXTON , STEVEN HARROLD
SHAUN PRENDERGAST
NATASHA PYNE. GORDON REID
ERIC STOVELL and JONATHAN TAFLER Directed by JANE MORGAN. Stereo
(Simon Cadell is a National Theatre Player)

A portrait of Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) written by ARTHUR JACOBS and based on the composer's letters and diaries, and also on the memoirs of the London music critic Hermann Klein.
Gambler, charmer of women, racehorse owner, friend of royalty, aristocracy and the establishment, and of course composer, Sullivan regarded his 'serious' music and his attempt at grand opera as much more important than his collaborations with W. S. Gilbert , whom he never much liked and with whom he frequently quarrelled. With and Hermann Klein
Producer STEPHEN SHIPLEY. Stereo (R)

In another of his occasional series of talks, John Morgan reflects on how different people see the value of money in different ways.

Midnight Express by ALFRED NOYES
Joss Ackland reads the first of five tales to chill the blood. Abridged and produced by RICHARD DUNN

Presented by Richard Kershaw National and international news, background, analysis and comment

followed by an interlude