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Shipping Forecast

The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping

Shipping Forecast: 19/11/2009

19/11/2009

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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: 19/11/2009

BBC Radio 4 - News Briefing, 19/11/2009Close menu

Prayer for the Day

Prayer for the Day: 19/11/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Prayer for the Day, 19/11/2009

Daily prayer and reflection with Philip Robinson.

Farming Today

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside

Farming Today: 19/11/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 19/11/2009

Charlotte Smith hears why a UK agricultural research centre is facing major cuts.

Warwick University is closing a major centre for agricultural research. Charlotte Smith asks what this will mean for the research and the industry.

Food security - how we'll produce enough food to meet the needs of our growing population - is a high level of concern among world leaders. Now one of the UK centres carrying out major research in this area faces major cuts. 

The University of Warwick is to scale down research at Wellesbourne horticultural centre, Warwick HCI, and make a third of its staff redundant. Charlotte Smith asks what this will mean for the research and the industry.

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: 19/11/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Today, 19/11/2009

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

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

Presented by John Humphrys and Justin Webb.

North-west England and south-west Scotland are at a high risk of flooding, and river levels are being monitored, the Environment Agency has warned. The agency's Elliot Robertson discusses the warnings. 

The Office of National Statistics is to release figures for public sector finances in October. Figures last month revealed that public sector net borrowing reached Â£14.8bn in September, the highest ever figure for September since records began. Economics editor Stephanie Flanders examines the levels of borrowing. 

Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai is set to deliver his second inauguration speech. The ceremony in Kabul will be attended by Foreign Secretary David Miliband and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Kabul correspondent Ian Pannell comments on the speech. 

Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska and Republican vice-presidential candidate, has written her memoirs. The book is flying off the shelves and many of her supporters hope she will run in the next presidential election. Washington correspondent Kevin Connolly met Ms Palin at her first book-signing session, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 

The author of the report into MPs expenses has said he is disappointed that there was no parliamentary allowances legislation in the Queen's speech. Sir Christopher Kelly, the chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said there was no reason why new laws could not be introduced before the next election. Political editor Nick Robinson comments on Sir Christopher's reaction. 

At least 16 people have been killed in a suicide bomb attack in Peshawar, Pakistan. Correspondent Aleem Maqbool reports on the latest attack. 

Environmentalists have warned that the Amazon rainforest is being destroyed at a terrifying rate. Amazon tribes are in London as part of a major push to highlight the risk to the rainforest and the threat to tribes' way of life. Chief Tashka of the Yawanawa tribe and environmentalist Stanley Johnson discuss the dangers of deforestation and climate change. 

Thought for the day with Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner. 

A drug that could prolong the lives of patients with advanced liver cancer has been rejected for NHS use in England and Wales. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) has said providing the drug Nexavar would not be 'a cost effective use of NHS resources'. Campaigners, patients and doctors say the decision is devastating news for thousands of cancer sufferers who will be left without a treatment option. Kate Spall, who fought for her mother to receive the drug, recounts her battle. Peter Johnson, chief clinician at Cancer UK, and Professor Peter Littlejohns, Nice's clinical and public health director, debate provision of the drug. 

The Conservative party has criticised the Queen's speech, accusing the government of using it as a 'Labour press release on Palace parchment'. The party condemned the government for failing to include legislation to tackle MPs' expenses and NHS reform, and Tory peer Lord Strathclyde has threatened to block the proposed bills. David Cameron, leader of the Conservative party, discusses his response to the Queen's speech. 

The classic BBC comedy, Yes Minister, is to be reworked for audiences in the Ukraine. The satirical sitcom, which will celebrate its 30th anniversary next year, has become an international phenomenon and is enjoyed in Turkey, India and Holland. Sir Antony Jay, co-writer of Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister, and Andrey Kurkov, a Ukrainian writer and satirist, reflect on the programme's popularity. 

The cannibalistic practices of a community in Papua New Guinea are helping researchers understand more about the disease CJD. Scientists have discovered a mutation in a gene which has helped villagers resist Kuru, a disease very similar to CJD. Scientists say this is the strongest example yet of recent natural selection in humans. Professor John Collinge, director of the Medical Research Council which carried out the study, discusses the findings. 

The 27 leaders of the EU are to vote on who should be the first EU President and EU Foreign Secretary. Tory peer Lord Patten discusses what the new jobs will entail. 

The Conservative party has accused the government of failing to legislate on MPs' expenses. Leader of the Commons Harriet Harman told the programme that the proposals from Sir Christopher Kelly's report would be taken forward by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. 

How can schoolchildren be introduced to thinking in a philosophical way? Peter Worley, founder of the Philosophy Shop which introduces young children to philosophy, and Anthony Grayling, professor of philosophy at Birkbeck College London, discuss how philosophy can be made to appeal to children.

In Our Time

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

In Our Time: Sparta

Sparta

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Sparta

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Ancient Greek city-state of Sparta.

Melvyn Bragg and guests Paul Cartledge, Edith Hall and Angie Hobbs discuss Sparta, the militaristic Ancient Greek city-state, and the political ideas it spawned.

Melvyn Bragg and guests Paul Cartledge, Edith Hall and Angie Hobbs discuss Sparta, the militaristic Ancient Greek city-state, and the political ideas it spawned.The isolated Ancient Greek city-state of Sparta was a ferocious opposite to the cosmopolitan port of Athens. Spartans were hostile to outsiders and rhetoric, to philosophy and change. Two and a half thousand years on, Sparta remains famous for its brutally rigorous culture of military discipline, as inculcated in its young men through communal living, and terrifying, licensed violence towards the Helots, the city-state's subjugated majority. Sparta and its cruelty was used as an argument against slavery by British Abolitionists in the early 1800s, before inspiring the Nazis in the 1930s and 1940s.Yet Sparta also produced poets of great skill: Tyrteaus wrote marching songs for the young men; Alcman wrote choral lyrics for the young women. Moreover, the city-state's rulers pioneered a radically egalitarian political system, and its ideals were invoked by Plato. Its inhabitants also prided themselves on their wit: we don't only derive the word 'spartan' from their culture, but the word 'laconic'.  Paul Cartledge is AG Leventis Professor of Greek Culture and a Fellow of Clare College, University of Cambridge; Edith Hall is Professor of Classics and Drama at Royal Holloway, University of London; Angie Hobbs is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Senior Fellow in the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Warwick.

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: 19/11/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Daily Service, 19/11/2009

Christian worship and music led by Rev Peter Whittaker.

Woman's Hour

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

Woman's Hour: Justine Roberts on the mums' vote; Tumble dryers v pegs

Justine Roberts on the mums' vote; Tumble dryers v pegs

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Justine Roberts on the mums' vote; Tumble dryers v pegs

Mumsnet co-founder Justine Roberts on why politicians are targeting mothers.

Mumsnet co-founder Justine Roberts on why politicians are targeting mothers. Plus, the ethics of drying washing; and former Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga.

Crossing Continents

Series focusing on foreign affairs issues

Crossing Continents: The Congo Connection

The Congo Connection

BBC Radio 4 - Crossing Continents, The Congo Connection

Are Rwandans in France and Germany controlling a deadly African militia?

Peter Greste investigates whether Rwandans in France and Germany are controlling a deadly African militia.

Peter Greste investigates whether Rwandans in France and Germany are controlling a deadly African militia. For the last 15 years, the rebels of the FDLR have enforced their control through a series of brutal atrocities. Now Crossing Continents has secret intelligence suggesting that they were taking orders from political leaders living openly in Europe.

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

Oulipo

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Oulipo

Ben Schott investigates Oulipo, the French experimental literary group.

4 Extra Debut. Ben Schott investigates the influence of the French literary group that uses bizarre rules to foster creativity. From November 2009.

Writer and typographer Ben Schott investigates Oulipo, the French experimental literary group. Founded in 1960 and still in existence, Oulipo create work by imposing playful restrictions the way a text will be produced. Oulipo stands for Ouvroir de Litterature Potentielle, meaning Workshop for Potential Literature. In this humourous history of the French literary group, Ben discovers that recently, Oulipo have even made a bridgehead into English-speaking territory. 

In November 2008, for instance, the Canadian experimental poet Christian Bok published a novel called Eunoia (meaning 'beautiful thinking'), consisting of five chapters, each highlighting one vowel. Bok, who has previously created artificial languages for Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, says his new novel pays direct homage to Oulipo. 

Oulipo's President, Paul Fournel, describes how Oulipo was founded by Raymond Queneau and Francois Le Lionnais as a reaction to the Surrealist movement to which Queneau in particular had previously attached himself. Instead of freely following the whims of the subconscious, Oulipians deliberately introduced conscious constraints, and discovered the results could be not only plentiful but also intriguing. Oulipians, according to Queneau, are 'rats, who build the labyrinth from which they will escape'. Queneau's works included Cent Mille Milliards de Poemes, or 100,000,000,000,000 Poems, in which each page contains a 14-line sonnet, split into 14 strips, which can be separated and re-combined in any order. Queneau thought it would take 190,258,751 years for someone to read every combination. 

One of Oulipo's most famous members, George Perec, wrote an entire novel, La Disparition, as a lipogram, avoiding the use of the letter E. Translated into English under the title A Void, the novel is now required reading on some academic courses for computer programmers. Later, Perec devised a 'story-writing machine' based on the knight's tour of the chessboard, in the writing of his 1970 novel, Life: A User's Manual, which links every occupant in every room of a Paris apartment block.

Some other techniques used by Oulipians to generate work include the N+7 method (where every noun is replaced by the noun found seven entries further on in a dictionary), Cento (a poem patched together out of lines written by other poets),  palindromes and multiple choice narratives.

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.

News Headlines; Shipping Forecast

News, weather and Shipping Forecast updates. 

News Headlines; Shipping Forecast: 19/11/2009

BBC Radio 4 - News Headlines; Shipping Forecast, 19/11/2009

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: 19/11/2009

BBC Radio 4 - You and Yours, 19/11/2009

Consumer news and issues with Winifred Robinson.

Weather

Weather: 19/11/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Weather, 19/11/2009Close menu

World at One

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

World at One: 19/11/2009

BBC Radio 4 - World at One, 19/11/2009

National and international news with Shaun Ley.

Off the Page

Series featuring new writing and stimulating discussion.

Off The Page  

Off the Page: Porky Pies

Porky Pies

BBC Radio 4 - Off the Page, Porky Pies

Richard Wiseman, Ian Leslie and Michele Hanson seek out the truth about lies.

Dominic Arkwright, Professor Richard Wiseman, Ian Leslie and Michele Hanson seek out the truth on telling lies. From 2009.

According to a recent survey we live in a world full of lies - concluding that most people tell at least two important lies a day, a third of conversations involve some sort of deception and 60 per cent of the population have cheated on their partners at least once. 

To debate this and seek out the truth about lies are Professor Richard Wiseman, who has spent a lifetime trying to discover the clues that give away deception, writer Ian Leslie, who described the search for the perfect lie detector, and columnist Michele Hanson, whose mother was only ever able to tell the truth.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2009.

The Archers

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

The Archers: 18/11/2009

18/11/2009

BBC Radio 4 - The Archers, 18/11/2009

Mike doesn't share Vicky's enthusiasm about their shopping expedition, especially when she encourages Mike to try on young, slim-fitting styles. Later, over lunch, they talk about Mike's birthday. Mike doesn't want a fuss.

Nigel and Elizabeth brief the Lower Loxley staff about their Christmas 'Deck the Hall' event. There's a lot to do, with finding a choir, organising the trails and the demos... Nigel and Lizzie really have their work cut out for them.

Jennifer learns that a spare room at the Laurels has been given to someone other than Jack, because Peggy specifically requested a garden view. Jennifer confides in Ruth about how difficult Jack has become, and that she's worried he's getting violent - perhaps even being responsible for breaking Peggy's glasses. 

Ruth offers to take Ruairi to see the Christmas lights switch-on in Borchester - but Jennifer insists she'll cope; she's already promised to take Ruairi and his friend. 

Later, Mike, Vicky, Ruth, Jennifer, Hayley and their respective kids, meet at the Borchester Christmas lights switch-on. Vicky mentions Mike's 60th birthday. When Jennifer tells her it's the same day that the Ambridge Christmas lights get switched on, Vicky sees it as a sign - Mike's got to have a party. 

Episode written by Joanna Toye.

Drama on 4

Drama from BBC Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra.

Afternoon Drama

Drama on 4: Ian Kershaw - Alan and Jean's Incredible Journey

19/08/2008

Ian Kershaw - Alan and Jean's Incredible Journey

BBC Radio 4 - Drama on 4, Ian Kershaw - Alan and Jean's Incredible Journey

Alan and Jean Warburton decide to spend their holiday in their bedroom.

Alan and Jean Warburton decide to spend their holiday in their bedroom. Poignant comedy drama starring Julie Hesmondhalgh.

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: A Journey Through the New Forest

14/11/2009

A Journey Through the New Forest

BBC Radio 4 - Open Country, A Journey Through the New Forest

Matt Baker discovers some alternative methods of transport in the New Forest.

Matt Baker is in the New Forest to learn more about a light railway being used in a unique restoration project and gets up close and personal with some heavy horses.

Matt Baker joins the team involved in a unique restoration project which is using a light railway to help restore areas of New Forest wetland that have been missing since Victorian times. He takes a wander along part of the 800-metre long rail line, learning more about the project which it is hoped will see the return of habitat and wildlife lost to the forest for years. 

Matt also joins the team involved in the hugely successful British-built Steam Car ahead of its triumphant return home to the New Forest after smashing the 100-year-old world land speed record for a steam-powered car. Finally, Matt reduces his hoof-print even further and rounds off the day at nature's pace by meeting the Suffolk Punch horses of the New Forest Horse-Drawn Omnibus.

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: Ataxia-Telangiectasia Society

15/11/2009

Ataxia-Telangiectasia Society

BBC Radio 4 - Radio 4 Appeal, Ataxia-Telangiectasia SocietySearch BBC

Lian Yarlett appeals on behalf of Ataxia-Telangiectasia Society.

Lian Yarlett appeals on behalf of Ataxia-Telangiectasia Society.

Donations to Ataxia-Telangiectasia Society should be sent to FREEPOST BBC Radio 4 Appeal, please mark the back of your envelope A-T Society. Credit cards: Freephone 0800 404 8144. If you are a UK tax payer, please provide A-T Society with your full name and address so they can claim the Gift Aid on your donation. The online and phone donation facilities are not currently available to listeners without a UK postcode. 

Registered Charity No: 1105528.

Shorts

Radio 4 short stories. A showcase for new and original writing.

Scottish Shorts: Series 10

Shorts: Series 10: Episode 3: Miss Bell and Miss Heaton

Episode 3

Episode 3: Miss Bell and Miss Heaton

Series 10

Miss Bell and Miss Heaton

BBC Radio 4 - Shorts, Series 10, Miss Bell and Miss Heaton

By Janette Walkinshaw. Jane Bell has some difficult news for her best friend.

By Janette Walkinshaw. Jane Bell has some difficult news for her best friend, in this elegiac tale of love in its many forms. Showcasing Scottish writing. Read by Ann Louise Ross.

Stories showcasing new Scottish writing.

By Janette Walkinshaw, read by Ann Louise Ross.

Jane Bell has some difficult news for her best friend in this elegiac tale of love in its many forms.

Shorts: Series 10

The Garden

The Garden: Episode 4

Episode 4

BBC Radio 4 - The Garden, Episode 4

Autumn arrives, and with it flocks of redwings and fieldfares. Narrated by Peter France.

When autumn arrives, the bright colours of summer fade. The garden is now a quieter place, although not silent, as a robin sings to mark its territory.

An evocative series telling the story of an Oxfordshire garden through time and the seasons, from its earliest creation to the challenges it faces in the 21st century. This is a fictional tale based on fact, set against a backdrop of specially recorded sounds.

When autumn arrives, the bright colours of summer fade. The garden is now a quieter place, although not silent, as a robin sings to mark its territory. Swallows, swifts and house martins leave the garden and migrate south, while the frogs and toads search for a suitable place to hibernate for the winter.

Narrated by Peter France

Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson.

Evocative series telling the story of an Oxfordshire garden through time and the seasons

An evocative series telling the story of an Oxfordshire garden through time and the seasons, from its earliest creation to the challenges it faces in the 21st century. Narrated by Peter France

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: Frances Fyfield; John Cheever; San Francisco Reading Matter

Frances Fyfield; John Cheever; San Francisco Reading Matter

BBC Radio 4 - Open Book, Frances Fyfield; John Cheever; San Francisco Reading Matter

Mariella Frostrup talks to crime writer Frances Fyfield about her latest novel.

Mariella Frostrup talks to crime writer Frances Fyfield about her latest novel, Cold to the Touch. Plus an appreciation of short story author John Cheever.

Mariella talks to Frances Fyfield, whose bestselling crime novels are influenced by her previous career as a lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service. She explains how a recently discovered fascination with her local butcher's shop influenced her latest book, Cold to the Touch.

The short story writer John Cheever was sometimes described as the Chekhov of the suburbs. As a new biography of this chronicler of the American middle class is published, Mariella talks to its author, Blake Bailey, and the novelist Paul Bailey, who interviewed him for the BBC 30 years ago, to find out more about Cheever's life and work.

And there's advice for another book lover with a problem from The Reading Clinic. The editor of Granta, John Freeman, has some suggestions for an Open Book listener who is in search of reading matter for a trip to San Francisco.

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: 19/11/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Material World, 19/11/2009

Quentin Cooper reports on new climate change research ahead of the Copenhagen summit.

Quentin Cooper reports on the latest climate change science research ahead of the Copenhagen summit, and finds out about 'algaetecture'.

With little more than two weeks to go before negotiators gather in Copenhagen to debate cuts in greenhouse gases, the scientific pressure is rapidly growing for them to succeed. Quentin Cooper hears the latest from the scientific frontline: news of the continuing rapid growth in greenhouse gas emissions, and the threat to Antarctica from global warming.

It would have 'algae tubes', be made largely of glass and have an 'algae photovoltaic bioreactor' at its heart: the Algae House is the award-winning design of a house of the future. 

A team of postgraduate students at Cambridge University have set out one possible future for the concept 'algaetecture'. They plan to exploit the properties of algae to generate hydrogen to be used in hydrogen fuel cells and to harvest the algae to create biofuels, all in the domestic setting of the home. Quentin Cooper meets the students who think the future's bright - the future's algae green.

1989: Day by Day

1989: Day by Day: Episode 46: 19th November 1989

Episode 46

Episode 46: 19th November 1989

19th November 1989

BBC Radio 4 - 1989: Day by Day, 19th November 1989

London ambulance workers continue their strike; New Kids on the Block reach number one.

London ambulance workers continue their strike, New Kids on the Block reach number one and the Czech demonstrations gather pace.

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

London ambulance workers continue their strike, New Kids on the Block reach number one and the Czech demonstrations gather pace.

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: 19/11/2009

BBC Radio 4 - PM, 19/11/2009

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: 19/11/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Six O'Clock News, 19/11/2009

National and international news from BBC Radio 4.

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

Bleak Expectations

Comedy Victorian adventures by Mark Evans

Bleak Expectations: Series 3: A Horrible Life Un-Ruined and Then Re-Ruined a Lot

A Horrible Life Un-Ruined and Then Re-Ruined a Lot

Series 3

BBC Radio 4 - Bleak Expectations, Series 3, A Horrible Life Un-Ruined and Then Re-Ruined a Lot

In the depths of poverty, Pip finds his true calling and Harry makes a machine from moles.

In the depths of poverty, Pip finds his true calling and Harry makes a machine from moles. Stars Tom Allen. From November 2009.

Pip, Harry, Pippa and Ripely are reduced to abject poverty on the banks of the Thames. 

Will Pip and Harry be able to find work, or will they have to end their days eating mud and listening to the gloating of Mr Benevolent?

Mark Evans's epic Victorian comedy in the style of Charles Dickens.

Sir Philip ...... Richard Johnson
Young Pip Bin ...... Tom Allen
Gently Benevolent ...... Anthony Head
Harry Biscuit ...... James Bachman
Barker Wackwallop ...... Geoffrey Whitehead
Ripely ...... Sarah Hadland
Pippa ...... Susy Kane
Vegetarian Lion ...... Mark Evans

Producer: Gareth Edwards

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2009

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1989: Day by Day

Episode 46: 19th November 1989

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19/11/2009

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