BBC Radio 4 FM

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

BBC Radio 4

Shipping Forecast

The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping

Shipping Forecast: 19/06/2008

19/06/2008

BBC Radio 4 - Shipping Forecast, 19/06/2008Close menu

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

News Briefing

News Briefing: 19/06/2008

BBC Radio 4 - News Briefing, 19/06/2008Close menu

Prayer for the Day

Prayer for the Day: 19/06/2008

BBC Radio 4 - Prayer for the Day, 19/06/2008

Daily prayer and reflection with Clair Jaquiss.

Farming Today

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside

Farming Today: 19/06/2008

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 19/06/2008

News and issues in rural Britain with Anna Hill.

Today

Radio 4's flagship news and current affairs programme; including Thought for the Day

Radio 4's flagship news and current affairs programme; including religious reflections from Thought for the Day at 0748

Today: 19/06/2008

BBC Radio 4 - Today, 19/06/2008

Including Yesterday in Parliament; Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.

With James Naughtie and John Humphrys. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather, Thought for the Day.

Presented by  James Naughtie and John Humphrys

Including:

A ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, has begun. Aleem Maqbool reports from Gaza and Wyre Davies is in the Israeli town of Sderot. Yaakov Amidror, a retired Major General in the Israeli army, discusses whether it is a long term solution.

Transport correspondent Tom Symonds compares cycle schemes in Paris and Bristol.

There are concerns over the presidential election re-run in Zimbabwe. Rupert Colville speaks for the UN and discusses the issue with Foreign Office minister Mark Malloch Brown. 

London's mayor Boris Johnson has maintained that Londoners would not have to pay more for the Olympic Games in 2012. 

Scientists in American treated a man suffering from advanced melanoma by cloning some of his own blood cells. Dr Cassian Yee explains what they did. 

Harley Davidson - that quintessentially American brand - is launching a bike specifically designed for the European market. Michael Van Der Sande, the managing director of Harley Davidson Europe, and Mike Carter, author of Uneasy Rider, discuss the open road and freedom.

With John Humphrys and James Naughtie. 
6.25,7.25,8.25 Sports News 
6.45 Yesterday in Parliament 
With Robert Orchard and David Wilby. 
7.48 Thought for the Day With the Rev Angela Tilby. 
8.31  Yesterday In Parliament

In Our Time

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.

In Our Time: The Music of the Spheres

The Music of the Spheres

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, The Music of the Spheres

Melvyn Bragg explores the ancient astrological idea of the music of the spheres.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the music of the spheres, the idea that the revolution of the planets generates a celestial harmony of profound beauty

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the music of the spheres, the elegant and poetic idea that the revolution of the planets generates a celestial harmony of profound and transcendent beauty. In Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice the young Lorenzo woos his sweetheart with talk of the stars: “There’s not the smallest orb which thou behold’stBut in his motion like an angel sings,Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins;Such harmony is in immortal souls;But whilst this muddy vesture of decayDoth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.”The idea of music of the spheres ran through late antiquity and the medieval period into the Renaissance and its echoes could be heard in astrology and astronomy, in theology, and, of course, in music itself. Influenced by Pythagoras and Plato, it was discussed by Cicero, Boethius, Marcello Ficino and Johannes Kepler It affords us a glimpse into minds for which the universe was full of meaning, of strange correspondences and grand harmonies.With Peter Forshaw, Postdoctoral Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London; Jim Bennett, Director of the Museum of the History of Science at the University of Oxford and Angela Voss, Director of the Cultural Study of Cosmology and Divination at the University of Kent, Canterbury.

The Music of the Spheres. Melvyn Bragg and guests Peter Forshaw and Angela Voss discuss the idea, popular from late antiquity to the Renaissance, that the revolution of the planets generates a celestial harmony of profound and transcendent beauty. The music of the spheres still echoes in astrology, astronomy and theology, as well as in terrestrial music. Shortened repeat at 9.30pm

Book of the Week

Serialised book readings, featuring works from various genres

Serialised book readings, featuring works of non-fiction, biography, autobiography, travel, diaries, essays, humour and history

Book of the Week: The Pain and the Privilege

Book of the Week: The Pain and the Privilege: Episode 4

Episode 4

The Pain and the Privilege

BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week, The Pain and the Privilege, Episode 4

Lloyd George's relationship with Frances intensifies.

Ffion Hague reads from her book about the women in David Lloyd George's life. Lloyd George's relationship with Frances intensifies.

Ffion Hague reads from her book exploring the role of women in David Lloyd George's life

Ffion Hague reads from her new book, abridged by Penny Leicester, which explores the role of women in David Lloyd George's life

Daily Service

Led by Canon Chris Chivers. Now Is Eternal 
Life (Christchurch). Titus 2, vv11-15. Thou Art the Way (Steel). Lord, for the Years (Lord of the Years). Director of music Stephen Jackson. Organist James Davy.

Book of the Week:The Pain and the Privilege:the Women in Lloyd George's Life

4/5. Lloyd George's relationship with Frances Stevenson intensifies. Ffion Hague reads from her new book. For details see Monday Repeated at 12.30am

Woman's Hour

Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.

Woman's Hour: Neo natal care shortages; The study

Neo natal care shortages; The study

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Neo natal care shortages; The study

Is a serious shortage of nurses putting babies at risk? With Jenni Murray.

How has the concept of the live/work space evolved? Plus Sylvia Lancaster on promoting tolerance between young people, and is a serious shortage of nurses putting babies at risk?

With Jenni Murray. 
10.45 The Way We Live Right Now 4/15 The Woman's Hour drama. 
For details see drama repeat at 7.45pm

From Our Own Correspondent

Kate Adie introduces insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents and writers.

Kate Adie introduces insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers telling stories from around the world.

From Our Own Correspondent: 19/06/2008

BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent, 19/06/2008

Kate Adie introduces BBC foreign correspondents with the stories behind the headlines.

BBC foreign correspondents with the stories behind the world's headlines. Introduced by Kate Adie.

7/9. A lively collection of dispatches from the BBC's foreign correspondents, who report on stories in their regions. With Kate Adie. Producer Tony Grant 
RT DIRECT: From Our Own Correspondent is available for E15.99 (RRP £16.99) inc p&p. Call [number removed] (calls from landlines cost no more than 8p per minute)

Round Britain Quiz Is 60

BBC Radio 4 - Round Britain Quiz Is 60Search BBC

Tom Sutcliffe finds out the secret of Round Britain Quiz's enduring popularity.

Tom Sutcliffe finds out the secret of Round Britain Quiz's enduring popularity as the world's longest-running radio quiz celebrates its sixtieth anniversary.

Tom Sutcliffe finds out the secret of Round Britain Quiz's enduring popularity as the world's longest-running radio quiz celebrates its sixtieth anniversary. Participants have struggled to find connections between some of the most arcane bits of knowledge to ever grace the airwaves, with the likes of Irene Thomas and Eric Korn becoming broadcasting institutions in the process. Tom offers a glimpse behind the scenes at the show, combining classic archive with fresh interviews.

Tom Sutcliffe investigates why a quiz in which panellists struggle to find connections between the most arcane bits of knowledge has proved so enduringly popular for 60 years, Producer Geoff Bird

You and Yours

You and Yours: 19/06/2008

BBC Radio 4 - You and Yours, 19/06/2008

Consumer news and issues with Liz Barclay and Carolyn Atkinson.

Presented by Liz Barclay and Carolyn Atkinson.

We meet the new head of the Serious Fraud Office, Richard Alderman who says he wants to concentrate more on frauds that affect the consumer - particularly boiler room fraud.

Why does your council tax rating stay the same even if you have extended your property? We speak to Tim Bradford, Director of Council Tax at the Valuation Office Agency.

The Government has launched its consultation period on the National Dementia Strategy. We ask a dementia expert, Professor David Wilkinson, whether the proposals are ambitious enough. 

The value of used cars has dropped more than would normally be expected. What is causing this and how much more could they fall? We speak to Mark Norman, Operational Development Manager at CAP Motor Research.

We look the prospects for BA's new venture Open Skies. With rapidly rising fuel prices, what does the future hold for the airline and its passengers? Simon Calder, Travel Editor at the Independent, and Laurie Price, Aviation Consultant at Mott MacDonald, debate the issue.

Weather

Weather: 19/06/2008

BBC Radio 4 - Weather, 19/06/2008Close menu

World at One

Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.

World at One: 19/06/2008

BBC Radio 4 - World at One, 19/06/2008

National and international news with Martha Kearney.

The World at One

Open Country

Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of Britain

Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of the British Isles

Open Country: 14/06/2008

14/06/2008

BBC Radio 4 - Open Country, 14/06/2008

Helen Mark rides the Poacher line in Lincolnshire and asks why rural railways are vital.

Helen Mark rides the Poacher line in Lincolnshire and asks why rural railways are vital to the countryside.

Helen Mark travels along the Poacher Line in Lincolnshire, a 55-mile railway route linking Grantham and Skegness. Repeated from Saturday at 6.07am

The Archers

An intense and gripping week of events unfolds in Ambridge. Listen to all the drama here.

The Archers: 18/06/2008

18/06/2008

BBC Radio 4 - The Archers, 18/06/2008

Fallon finds a lukewarm reception at the Bull.

With the tour finished, Fallon's pleased to be home but Ed doesn't share her excitement that the band has had an offer of management. She senses his distance and blames it on how she acted last time she came home. She promises things are different this time, and even suggests they move in together. Ed's in no rush to do that.
 
Lilian tries to get Matt to open up about his past but he's adamant he doesn't want to know about it. Matt thinks his contact might have found a way to facilitate a bigger anaerobic digester, and assures Lilian that this should shut up the protestors. Lilian can't wait to tell Pat but is taken aback when Pat points out that a bigger digester is hardly the solution - it just creates even more problems and further damages Ambridge's carbon footprint.

Will brings George to the Bull but he's hardly on his best behaviour and finally Will sees it for himself. Clarrie tries to stop George getting his own way again but it ends up with George grabbing her drink and throwing it in her face. Will's shocked to see it and sternly tells George to say sorry to granny, right now.

Episode written by Mary Cutler.

Drama on 4

Drama from BBC Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra.

Afternoon Play

Drama on 4: Beijing's Slowest Elevator

Beijing's Slowest Elevator

BBC Radio 4 - Drama on 4, Beijing's Slowest Elevator

By Xiaolu Guo. Zhang Yan has left her village and is determined to make it in Beijing.

Penny Leicester's adaptation of a specially commissioned short story by Xiaolu Guo. Zhang Yan has turned her back on her rural upbringing and is determined to make it in Beijing.

Penny Leicester's adaptation of a specially commissioned short story by Xiaolu Guo.

Zhang Yan has turned her back on her rural upbringing and is determined to make it in Beijing. By night, she works in an upmarket karaoke bar, entertaining and sleeping with its successful businessmen clients. When she meets an attractive young man, she hopes for escape.

Zhang Yan (Ai Lian) ...... Liz Sutherland 
Li Xin ...... David Lee 
Ma Yue San ...... Chike Chan
Father/Taxi Driver/Entrepeneur/Client 1 ...... Richard Woo
Mother/Karaoke Girl 2 ...... Su-Lin Looi

Directed by Emma Harding.

Afternoon Play: Beijing's Slowest Elevator

Penny Leicester's adaptation of Xiaolu Guo's short story about Zhang Yan, a rural girl determined to make something of herself in Beijing. By night she works in an upmarket karaoke bar, entertaining and sleeping with its clients, but a chance encounter with an attractive young man offers her a glimmer of hope in the isolation of the city.

Check Up

Medical discussion phone-in programme with weekly guest experts

Medical discussion programme in which listeners phone-in and ask a weekly guest about their particular area of knowledge

Check Up: Cosmetic Dentistry

Cosmetic Dentistry

BBC Radio 4 - Check Up, Cosmetic Dentistry

Barbara Myers takes listeners' calls on the fast-growing area of cosmetic dentistry.

Barbara Myers and her guest, dentist Martin Fallowfield, offer advice on the latest cosmetic dentistry treatments and the truth behind the headlines about that perfect Hollywood smile.

How important is the perfect smile to you? 

With everything from whitening treatments to top-of-the-range porcelain veneers, this episode of Check Up focuses on the fast-growing area of cosmetic dentistry. 

Barbara Myers and her guest, dentist Martin Fallowfield, offer advice on the latest treatments and the truth behind the headlines about that perfect Hollywood smile.

2/6. Barbara Myers and her guests offer advice on cosmetic dentistry. Producer Paula McGrath 
PHONE: [number removed] (calls from landlines cost no more than 8p per minute) Lines open from 1.30pm or email via www.bbc.co.uk/radio4

Radio 4 Appeal

Highlighting a charity and appealing for donations. The presenters donate their time.

A weekly programme highlighting the work of a charity and appealing for donations. The presenters give their time without payment.

Radio 4 Appeal: 15/06/2008

15/06/2008

BBC Radio 4 - Radio 4 Appeal, 15/06/2008Search BBC

Sim Scavazza appeals on behalf of Mentor UK.

Sim Scavazza appeals on behalf of Mentor UK. Donations: Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal. Credit cards: Freephone 0800 404 8144.

Afternoon Reading

Short stories or abridged books, often from new writers

Afternoon Reading: Unaccustomed Earth

Afternoon Reading: Unaccustomed Earth: Episode 4: Once in a Lifetime

Episode 4: Once in a Lifetime

Unaccustomed Earth

Once in a Lifetime

BBC Radio 4 - Afternoon Reading, Unaccustomed Earth, Once in a LifetimeSearch BBC

Two Indian families, reunited in Massachusetts, recall when they were last together.

Stories from a collection by Jhumpa Lahiri. Two Indian immigrant families, reunited in suburban Massachusetts, recall the time they were last together.

Stories from a brilliant new collection by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri exploring the dark secrets of family life, all linked by the Bengali immigrant experience.

One memorable winter, two Indian immigrant families are reunited under one roof in a small house in suburban Massachusetts. As the snow falls they look back to the time they were last together, a winter's evening seven years earlier when things were very different.

Read by Nina Wadia.

Stories from a brilliant new collection by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri

Stories from a brilliant new collection by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri exploring the dark secrets of family life, all linked by the Bengali immigrant experience

4/5. Once in a Lifetime. Two Indian families are reunited in a small house in Massachusetts. Jhumpa Lahiri's story is read by Nina Wadia. Abridged by Richard Hamilton. For details see Monday

Cosmic Quest

Cosmic Quest: Episode 19: Einstein's Biggest Blunder

Episode 19

Episode 19: Einstein's Biggest Blunder

Einstein's Biggest Blunder

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Cosmic Quest, Einstein's Biggest Blunder

How did the discovery that the universe is expanding impact upon Einstein's theories?

Astronomer Heather Couper looks at the discovery that the universe is expanding. How did it impact upon Einstein's theories? From June 2008.

Heather Couper presents a narrative history of astronomy.

In 1915, Albert Einstein found that he had to introduce a new factor into his equations of gravity to prevent the stars from falling in on one another. He called it the cosmological constant. But then, astronomers discovered that the light from galaxies was stretched in a way that could only be explained if the galaxies were flying apart from each other and the universe was expanding.

A recent twist to this tale came in the year 2000, when estimates of the rate of the expansion revealed that the most distant galaxies are accelerating. The only way to explain this was by a force called dark energy - in effect, a cosmological constant.

Readers are Timothy West, Robin Sebastian, Julian Rhind-Tutt and John Palmer.

BBC Radio 4 Extra

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama. With recent favourites from BBC Radio 4.

Heather Couper presents a narrative history of astronomy

Astronomer Heather Couper charts the history of our growing understanding of the universe and progress of astronomy.

Cosmic Quest: Einstein's Biggest Blunder

19/30 Einstein's Biggest Blunder. Heather Couper looks at the discovery that the universe is expanding and how it overturned Albert Einstein 's theories of the early 20th century. For details see Monday

Open Book

Programme looking at new fiction and non-fiction books

Programme looking at new fiction and non-fiction books, talking to authors and publishers and unearthing lost classics

Open Book: Damon Galgut, Rewriting for the American market, and The Bloomsday Dead

Damon Galgut, Rewriting for the American market, and The Bloomsday Dead

BBC Radio 4 - Open Book, Damon Galgut, Rewriting for the American market, and The Bloomsday Dead

The Booker short-listed author Damon Galgut talks about the state of South Africa.

Mariella Frostrup presents the books programme.

Damon Galgut
The Booker short-listed author Damon Galgut joins Mariella to discuss the state of his home nation, South Africa, and his new novel. The Impostor concerns two childhood friends reunited later in life, and deals with the wider themes of the social and racial tensions in modern South Africa.


Rewriting for the American market
Elizabeth Garner, who won the Betty Trask Award for her first novel Nightdancing, has been asked by her publisher to re-write her recent book, The Ingenious Edgar Jones, for the American market. To discuss the differing requirements of readers in the U.S. and Britain, Elizabeth Garner and Erica Wagner, literary editor of The Times, come into the studio.


The Bloomsday Dead
Discerning readers may recognise the opening lines and structure of Adrian McKinty's new book. That's because his gangster thriller, set in Ireland and Peru, is inspired by the day-long action of James Joyce’s masterpiece Ulysses. Adrian McKinty and Irish writer Fintan O'Toole discuss Joyce, Bloomsday, and revisiting old classics.

Mariella Frostrup 's guests include the South African novelist Damon Galgut , who talks about his latest novel The Impostor. And Paul Bailey discusses the Russian emigre writer Andrei Makine. Repeated from Sunday at 4pm

Material World

Science programme reporting on developments across the disciplines

Science programme reporting on developments across the disciplines. Each week, scientists describe their work, conveying the excitement they feel for their research projects

Material World: The Baby - Wonderland

The Baby - Wonderland

BBC Radio 4 - Material World, The Baby - Wonderland

Quentin Cooper celebrates the 60th anniversary of the modern computer.

Sixty years ago, Manchester University's Baby became the world's first stored-program electronic digital computer. Quentin Cooper celebrates its anniversary and explores its legacy.

The Baby
Sixty years ago the chair of IBM thought there would one day be a world market for about 5 computers. In this week’s Material World, Quentin Cooper celebrates the 60th anniversary of the first ever task performed by a computer. On the 21st June 1948 Manchester University’s Small-Scale Experimental Machine, or Baby, the world’s first stored programme electronic digital computer ran its first ever program. With a mere 128 bytes of memory and only seven possible instructions, Baby’s capabilities may sound primitive by today’s standards, but the principles behind it survive to this day in all computers. Sixty years on Quentin explores the incredible legacy of Baby and its progeny in the decades since with Steve Furber from Manchester University and Simon Moore from Cambridge University.

Wonderland
Also in the programme why a collaboration between artist Helen Storey and chemist Tony Ryan from Sheffield University are making bottles that could recycle themselves and why their work could revolutionize packaging.

Material World: The Baby

The Material World

On 21 June 1948 Manchester University's "Baby" became the first freely programmable electronic digital computer. Quentin Cooper celebrates its 60th anniversary and discusses the revolutionary random access memory (RAM) technology that enabled the breakthrough and is still in use today.

1968: Day-by-Day

The future of the House of Lords hangs in the balance. For details see Saturday

1968 Day by Day

A look back at the events making the news 40 years ago

1968: Day by Day

1968 Day by Day: 19th June 1968

19th June 1968

BBC Radio 4 - 1968 Day by Day, 19th June 1968

Nelson Rockefeller joins the Republican race for the US Presidency.

John Tusa looks back at the events making the news 40 years ago. Nelson Rockefeller joins the Republican race for the US Presidency. Enoch Powell faces more student protests.

John Tusa looks back at the events making the news 40 years ago.

Nelson Rockefeller throws his hat into the ring in the Republican race for the US Presidency. Enoch Powell faces more student protests. The future of the House of Lords hangs in the balance.

Afternoon news and current affairs programme

Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Shipping Forecast

19/06/2008

Genres

Brand

Weather

19/06/2008

Genres

Brand

1968: Day-by-Day

1968 Day by Day

19th June 1968

Genres

Brand

Weather

19/06/2008

Genres

Brand

Shipping Forecast

19/06/2008

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 FM

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