BBC Radio 4 LW

Shipping Forecast

The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping

Shipping Forecast: 13/10/2009

13/10/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Shipping Forecast, 13/10/2009Close menu

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.

News Briefing

News Briefing: 13/10/2009

BBC Radio 4 - News Briefing, 13/10/2009Close menu

Prayer for the Day

Prayer for the Day: 13/10/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Prayer for the Day, 13/10/2009

Daily prayer and reflection with the Right Rev Chris Edmondson, Bishop of Bolton.

Farming Today

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside

Farming Today: 13/10/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 13/10/2009

As sales of organic food fall, two major supermarkets cut their organic ranges by a third.

As sales of organic food fall, two major supermarkets cut their organic ranges by a third. Anna Hill hears this has left organic growers with difficult business decisions.

As sales of organic food fall, two major supermarkets cut their organic ranges by a third, leaving organic growers with difficult business decisions. Anna Hill also talks to the farmer who is about to take a six-foot wellie to the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square to tell the public why farming matters.

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: 13/10/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Today, 13/10/2009

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

With John Humphrys and Evan Davis. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day; Yesterday in Parliament.

Presented by John Humphrys and Evan Davis.

There have been four violent attacks in Pakistan during the last week. The most brazen assault was over the weekend on the army's headquarters near Islamabad, where 10 militants shot their way past the front gate, seized 40 hostages and held them overnight. Lt Gen Asad Durani, the retired former head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, discusses the wave of attacks. 

A new report for the government's Digital Inclusion initiative has found that four million people in the UK are not online, and that ten million have used the internet only a few times. The government's Digital Inclusion champion, Martha Lane Fox, and technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones discuss the government's aims to get everyone online. 

The Alzheimer's Society is campaigning to encourage more people to donate their brains for medical research. Dr Susanne Sorensen, head of research at The Alzheimer's Society, and vice president of the organisation, David Blunkett, discuss the importance of brain donation for medical advancement. 

A leading children's charity has found that, despite extensive reforms of child protection procedures, cases of neglect are increasing. In England in 2008 there were nearly 17,000 children registered on protection plans because their parents were unable to look after them properly. Nicola Stanbridge reports on one neglect case and met the family involved. Headteacher Margaret Lenton and chief executive of Action for Children, Clare Tickell, examine how schools and local authorities are dealing with the increasing number of neglected children. 

A new exhibition run by the London Transport Museum explores how public transport helped to create the myths and identity of suburbia and how it has featured in the cultural fabric of London and Britain over the last 100 years. Evan Davis and journalist Miranda Sawyer took a look at the new exhibition, Suburbia. 

Thought for the Day with the Right Rev James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool. 

The United Nations in Gaza is concerned that thousands of schoolchildren are living in homes and studying in schools in varying states of disrepair as the winter season approaches. Buildings across the Gaza Strip were damaged or destroyed during Israel's three-week long offensive at the beginning of 2009. Middle East correspondent Katya Adler reports from northern Gaza. 

Today has been struggling to find MPs willing to discuss the letters they have received about their expenses. Reporter Jack Izzard went to the Huntingdon constituency of the Conservative MP Jonathan Djanogly, who did not break the rules but has volunteered to pay back 25,000 pounds, to see if his constituents have any sympathy for MPs. Labour MP Sir Stuart Bell, a member of the committee that deals with MPs' pay and allowances, examines whether the repayments will go some way to appeasing voters. 

The Public Accounts Committee of MPs has been looking at how well the Ministry of Defence has been equipping British forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. It has recommended a change in the workings of the system by which the MoD can quickly get equipment to troops on the front line, the 'urgent operational requirements' system. Professor Michael Clarke, director of the Royal United Services Institute, comments on the committee's findings. 

Musician and author Nick Cave has composed a soundtrack tailor-made to complement his new novel, The Death of Bunny Munro. Evan met Mr Cave and his musical collaborator Warren Ellis to examine whether audiobooks are an unexploited medium. 

Kane And Abel was Jeffrey Archer's breakthrough novel, selling 30 million copies and being translated into 37 languages. Published 30 years ago, Lord Archer has now 're-crafted' the book. Many literary figures, including Henry James and Samuel Richardson, have gone back and tinkered with their works. Lord Archer and John Sutherland, Professor of Modern English Literature at University College, London, discuss why authors like to reconstruct their works. 

US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton is meeting leaders in Russia to gain support for a tougher stand against Iran's nuclear programme. Correspondent Richard Galpin examines whether Russia will make a stand against Iran. 

Nick Cave has combined his two arts and put a soundtrack to the audiobook version of his latest novel. We aske other well-known voices to compile their own audiobooks.

The Choice

Series featuring people who have made life-altering decisions

Series featuring people who have made life-altering decisions and exploring the whole process, from the original dilemma to living with the consequences

The Choice: Stuart Howarth

Stuart Howarth

BBC Radio 4 - The Choice, Stuart Howarth

Michael Buerk talks to Stuart Howarth about his decision to kill his abusive father.

Michael Buerk interviews people who have made life-altering decisions. He talks to Stuart Howarth about his decision to kill his abusive father.

Michael Buerk interviews people who have made life-altering decisions and talks them through the whole process, from the original dilemma to living with the consequences. 

Michael talks to Stuart Howarth about his decision to kill his abusive father.

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

The Good Samaritan

The Good Samaritan: Episode 5: Jamie's Story

Episode 5

Episode 5: Jamie's Story

Jamie's Story

BBC Radio 4 Extra - The Good Samaritan, Jamie's Story

Dominic Arkwright talks to the Sheffield man who came to the rescue of a distraught teen.

Dominic Arkwright meets the Sheffield man who came to the rescue of a distraught teenager. From October 2009.

Dominic Arkwright talks to the Sheffield man who came to the rescue of a distraught teenager.
Producer John Byrne.

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.

Dominic Arkwright meets people who have lent a helping hand, with varying consequences

Daily Service

Spiritual reflection with a Bible reading, prayer and a range of Christian music.

A space for spiritual reflection with a Bible reading, prayer and a range of Christian music.

Daily Service: 13/10/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Daily Service, 13/10/2009

Christian worship and music led by Rev Ernie Rea.

Woman's Hour

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

Woman's Hour: Sheryl Gascoigne; Jeans; Breast cancer in black and Asian women

Sheryl Gascoigne; Jeans; Breast cancer in black and Asian women

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Sheryl Gascoigne; Jeans; Breast cancer in black and Asian women

Sheryl Gascoigne on her life with Gazza. Plus, why we love wearing jeans.

Sheryl Gascoigne on her life with Gazza. Plus, raising awareness of breast cancer symptoms among women from ethnic communities; and why we love wearing jeans.

Nature

Natural history programme offering a unique insight into the natural world

Natural history programme offering a unique insight into the natural world and the rich variety of creatures inhabiting it

Nature: Series 3

Nature: Series 3: Episode 9: Migrating Stones

Episode 9

Episode 9: Migrating Stones

Series 3

Migrating Stones

BBC Radio 4 - Nature, Series 3, Migrating Stones

A poet and a stone are companions on a most unusual journey to Australia.

Accompanied by a piece of limestone inscribed with the words from one of her poems, Alyson Hallett travels to Australia, in a project that explores the migration habits of stones.

Poet and writer Alyson Hallett travels to Australia with a large piece of limestone as a companion,  inscribed with a line from one of her poems. This is the third journey Alyson has made with a stone; each destination has been different, each stone has been different, but each has been similarly inscribed by the sculptor and lettering artist Alec Peever. 

It is a project which began seven years ago, inspired by a dream and an encounter with an erratic - a huge boulder that had broken away from its motherbed centuries ago, lodged in ice and then set off on long, slow journey, until eventually it was deposited on a Welsh mountainside. It was here that Alyson encountered the boulder.

Fascinated by the idea that stones are fellow companions and movement is an essential part of their nature, Alyson started to explore the cultural importance of stones, and embarked on her project, The Migration Habits of Stones.

Alyson takes a journey with her third stone to Koonawara in Australia. We also hear from stone letterer Alec Peever and Bill Morris, warden of Leigh Woods in Bristol, the site of the first migrating stone.

Mitch Benn's Wondrous Stories

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Mitch Benn's Wondrous Stories

Mitch Benn celebrates the symphonic narrative concept album.

4 Extra Debut. Musical comic Mitch Benn explores those epic musical extravaganzas of the 1970s - concept albums. With Rick Wakeman. From October 2009.

Armed with little more than a harpsichord and a copy of The Hobbit, musician and comedian Mitch Benn fearlessly uncovers the myths and legends of the symphonic concept album. 

Meeting some of the leading artists and fans of the genre, including Rick Wakeman, Jeff Wayne, David Bedford, Brian Blessed and Stuart Maconie, he battles capes and keyboard solos to rediscover the wondrous stories behind these epic musical extravaganzas. 

From Rick Wakeman's 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' to Jeff Wayne's 'The War of the Worlds', musicians in the seventies somehow decided that it was a good idea to retell classic tales in the form of symphonic concept albums. 

Classical music met rock to spawn towering monuments to pretension and excess: gigantic gatefold covers, sleeve notes longer than a 19th century novel, and - surely its defining feature- portentous narration delivered by some of our finest thesps. 

For a generation of acned youth weaned on Tolkien and Moorcock, these epic compositions were masterpieces, a symphonic escape from dreary mid-70's discontent and economic gloom. They sold millions, but until recently, languished forgotten in the vinyl collections of middle-aged men, gathering dust in the post-punk apocalypse. But with The War of the Worlds now filling stadiums world wide thirty years on, and Rick Wakeman's two tudor-tastic Six Wives of Henry VIII concerts selling out at Hampton Court last year, can Mitch be discovering a symphonic rock renaissance? 


Produced by Jackie Curthoys and Dave Dodd
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

News Headlines; Shipping Forecast

News, weather and Shipping Forecast updates. 

News Headlines; Shipping Forecast: 13/10/2009

BBC Radio 4 - News Headlines; Shipping Forecast, 13/10/2009

National and international news and the shipping forecast.

The latest national and international news headlines, followed by the shipping forecast.

You and Yours

You and Yours: 13/10/2009

BBC Radio 4 - You and Yours, 13/10/2009

Consumer news and issues with Julian Worricker.

Weather

Weather: 13/10/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Weather, 13/10/2009Close menu

World at One

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

World at One: 13/10/2009

BBC Radio 4 - World at One, 13/10/2009

National and international news with Martha Kearney.

The Number 1 Ladies' Opera House

BBC Radio 4 Extra - The Number 1 Ladies' Opera House

No1 Ladies' Detective Agency creator Alexander McCall Smith's opera project in Botswana.

Pauline McLynn follows No1 Ladies' Detective Agency creator Alexander McCall Smith's opera project in Botswana. From 2009.

The author of The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, Alexander McCall Smith, has converted a disused garage in Botswana into an opera house. Pauline McLynn charts his progress as he trains local people to sing.

Produced by Bill Lloyd.  

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009.

The Archers

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

The Archers: 12/10/2009

12/10/2009

BBC Radio 4 - The Archers, 12/10/2009

Brian stamps on Lynda's plans for the footpaths.

Caroline continues to worry about the photographs that Borchester Life took of the altercation at Grey Gables. Her worries spread to Lynda who privately feels she might have an 'in' with Borsetshire Life. 

Lynda goes to see Glen to try to persuade him not to use the pictures. Glen asks Lynda to collect County set gossip from Grey Gables in return for not using the photos, and Lynda is outraged. She refuses and resigns as occasional writer for the magazine. Meanwhile, Caroline also calls Glen, not knowing about Lynda's intervention. He cleverly corners her into taking a double page advertising spread to defray his costs. 

Brian talks to Lynda about her opposition to the footpaths, suggesting that he would be prepared to donate a strip of land for the parish council to use as they wished, if she were to drop her objections. Lynda is presented with a moral dilemma, but before she can make a decision, she gets a text from Robert. Coriander has had her baby!

Episode written by Tim Stimpson.

Drama on 4

Drama from BBC Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra.

Afternoon Drama: Dickens Confidential

Drama on 4: Dickens Confidential: Episode 3: Dickens and Dizzy

Episode 3

Episode 3: Dickens and Dizzy

Dickens Confidential

Dickens and Dizzy

BBC Radio 4 - Drama on 4, Dickens Confidential, Dickens and Dizzy

Dickens meets Benjamin Disraeli, a journalist and ambitious young politician.

In the weeks leading up to Queen Victoria's coronation, Dickens meets Benjamin Disraeli, an ambitious young politician. There is an instant rivalry and unease.

Series of plays looking at how Charles Dickens, as the head of a daily paper, would have tackled bringing the news to the masses.

In the weeks leading up to Queen Victoria's coronation, Dickens meets Benjamin Disraeli, a journalist and ambitious young politician. There is an instant rivalry and unease between the two men, which only increases when the team believe they have uncovered a secret that Disraeli wants to keep hidden.

Charles Dickens ...... Dan Stevens
Agnes Paxton ...... Eleanor Howell
Daniel Parker ...... Andrew Buchan
Benjamin Disraeli ...... Julian Rhind-Tutt
William Percy ...... Bertie Carvel
Mary Anne Wyndham Lewis ...... Liz Sutherland
Lady Londonderry ...... Joan Walker 
Rachel ...... Lydia Leonard 
Official ...... Ben Crowe 
Footman ...... Nyasha Hatendi 
Archbishop ...... Dan Starkey 
Speaker ...... Stephen Critchlow
Rabbi ...... Alan Lee

Directed by Tracey Neale.

Drama on 4: Dickens Confidential

Series of plays in which Charles Dickens is the head of a daily paper

Series of plays looking at how Charles Dickens, as the head of a daily paper, would have tackled bringing the news to the masses

Making History

Popular history series where the past connects with the present.

Making History: 13/10/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Making History, 13/10/2009

Is the skin that binds a book in Bristol the gruesome remains of a listener's ancestor?

Vanessa Collingridge presents the series exploring ordinary people's links with the past. Is the skin that binds a book in Bristol the gruesome remains of a listener's ancestor?

Afternoon Reading

Short stories or abridged books, often from new writers

Afternoon Reading: Lyrical Ballads

Afternoon Reading: Lyrical Ballads: Episode 1: Lewti and The Thorn

Episode 1

Episode 1: Lewti and The Thorn

Lyrical Ballads

Lewti and The Thorn

BBC Radio 4 - Afternoon Reading, Lyrical Ballads, Lewti and The ThornSearch BBC

Coleridge's Lewti and Wordsworth's The Thorn.

The poems Lewti, Coleridge's 'love chant' to an enigmatic and stony-hearted woman, and The Thorn, Wordsworth's ballad about a mysterious outcast.

In today's episode we hear the poems 'Lewti' - Coleridge's 'love-chant' to an enigmatic and stony-hearted woman and 'The Thorn', Wordsworth's ballad about a mysterious outcast and the superstitions that the locals have attached to her. Recorded on location in Coleridge's Cottage in Nether Stowey, Somerset and in the Quantock Hills. 

Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Julius D'Silva
William Wordsworth - Mark Meadows
The Captain - Peter Gruffydd

Adapted and produced by Emma Harding.

A selection of poems from Wordsworth and Coleridge's 1798

A selection of poems from Wordsworth and Coleridge's 1798 collaboration which marked the beginning of the English Romantic poetry movement

Amanda Vickery - A History of Private Life

Amanda Vickery - A History of Private Life: Episode 12: Domestic Harmony

Episode 12

Episode 12: Domestic Harmony

Domestic Harmony

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Amanda Vickery - A History of Private Life, Domestic Harmony

The importance of music-making at home, and the chances it created for finding a partner.

Historian Amanda Vickery reveals the importance of family music-making at home, and the chances it created for finding a partner.

Historian Amanda Vickery reveals the hidden history of home over 400 years

Historian Amanda Vickery presents a series which reveals the hidden history of home over 400 years, drawing on first-hand accounts from letters and diaries

Advertising: The Most Fun You Can Have With Your Clothes On!

Advertising: The Most Fun You Can Have With Your Clothes On!: Episode 2

Episode 2

BBC Radio 4 - Advertising: The Most Fun You Can Have With Your Clothes On!, Episode 2

How clients watched advertising bosses grow rich in the 1990s and so turned to new media.

Advertising executive Robin Wight presents a history of the advertising industry. How clients watched advertising bosses grow rich in the 1990s and so turned to new media.

Advertising executive Robin Wight presents a history of the advertising industry. 

How clients watched advertising bosses grow rich in the 1990s and so turned to new media, prompting the rise of internet advertising. Robin also examines how the industry creates memorable advertising campaigns that work away from TV screens. Including contributions from Richard Dawkins, John Hegarty and Gemma Calvert, professor of neuro-imaging at Warwick University.

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.

Advertising executive Robin Wright presents a history of the advertising industry

Advertising executive Robin Wright presents a history of the advertising industry. He gives his thoughts on the industry and talks to other leading figures, including Charles Saatchi and Alan Parker

A Good Read

A Good Read: Vanessa Feltz and Johann Hari

Vanessa Feltz and Johann Hari

BBC Radio 4 - A Good Read, Vanessa Feltz and Johann HariClose menu

Vanessa Feltz and Johann Hari join Sue MacGregor to discuss their favourite books.

4 Extra Debut. Sue MacGregor, Vanessa Feltz and Johann Hari discuss books by Noel Streatfeild, Christopher Hitchens and Paul Aster. From 2009.

Sue MacGregor talks to broadcaster Vanessa Feltz and journalist Johann Hari about their favourite books by Noel Streatfeild, Christopher Hitchens and Paul Aster.  

The Saplings by Noel Streatfeild
Publisher:  Persephone Classics

The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice by Christopher Hitchens
Publisher: Verso Books  

The New York Trilogy by Paul Aster.
Publisher: Faber 

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2009.

1989: Day by Day

1989: Day by Day: Episode 9: 13th October 1989

Episode 9: 13th October 1989

13th October 1989

BBC Radio 4 - 1989: Day by Day, 13th October 1989

Douglas Hurd declares war on the 'scourge of acid house parties'.

Margaret Thatcher address the Tory conference on her 64th birthday to chants of '10 more years', and Douglas Hurd declares war on the 'scourge of acid house parties'.

Sir John Tusa looks back at the events making the news 20 years ago. 

Margaret Thatcher address the Tory conference on her 64th birthday to chants of '10 more years', Douglas Hurd declares war on the 'scourge of acid house parties', and shares plunge in the last hour of trading on Wall Street, sparking fears of another Black Monday.

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.

Sir John Tusa looks back at the events making the news 20 years ago

Afternoon news and current affairs programme

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

PM: 13/10/2009

BBC Radio 4 - PM, 13/10/2009

Coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair.

Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.

Six O'Clock News

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4

Six O'Clock News: 13/10/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Six O'Clock News, 13/10/2009

National and international news from BBC Radio 4.

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

Too Much Information

Too Much Information: Episode 2

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Too Much Information, Episode 2

A comedy about the idiosyncratic world of tourist information offices.

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Programme Index

Shipping Forecast

13/10/2009

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Brand

Weather

13/10/2009

Genres

Brand

1989: Day by Day

Episode 9: 13th October 1989

Genres

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Shipping Forecast

13/10/2009

Genres

Brand

Weather

13/10/2009

Genres

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Weather

13/10/2009

Genres

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Shipping Forecast

13/10/2009

Genres

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