BBC Radio 4 LW

Shipping Forecast

The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping

Shipping Forecast: 15/12/2009

15/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Shipping Forecast, 15/12/2009Close 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: 15/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - News Briefing, 15/12/2009Close menu

Prayer for the Day

Prayer for the Day: 15/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Prayer for the Day, 15/12/2009

Daily prayer and reflection with Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra.

Farming Today

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside

Farming Today: 15/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 15/12/2009

Anna Hill meets a farmer working round the clock to gather in parsnips for Christmas.

Anna Hill meets a farmer working flat out to gather the parsnip crop for the Christmas table. Charlotte Smith visits an aerobic digester that turns food waste into rich fertiliser.

Anna Hill meets a farmer and his team working flat out to gather in the parsnip crop for the Christmas table, Charlotte Smith visits an aerobic digester that turns food waste into rich fertiliser, and do you know where your sausage has come from? Hopefully you soon will. A new code of conduct is being drawn up to deliver clear labelling for pork to state where the product has originated.

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: 15/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Today, 15/12/2009

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

With Evan Davis and Sarah Montague. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather, Thought for the Day.

Defining The Decade

Defining The Decade: Episode 1: A Googling We Go

Episode 1

Episode 1: A Googling We Go

A Googling We Go

BBC Radio 4 - Defining The Decade, A Googling We Go

The impact of the internet - dreamt up by visionaries and embraced by commerce.

Edward Stourton tries to make sense of the past decade. The impact of the internet - dreamt up by visionaries, embraced by commerce and full of (not always welcome) surprises.

Edward Stourton tries to make sense of a decade in which history has been put on fast forward. There has been a revolution in the way we communicate, widespread alarm about the planet's very survival and a challenge to the world order. What does it mean for the way we live as we head into 2010? 

The impact of the internet - dreamt up by visionaries, embraced by commerce and full of (not always welcome) surprises.

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

Edward Stourton tries to make sense of the past decade

Edward Stourton tries to make sense of the past decade, in which history has been put on fast forward. What does it all mean for the way we live as we head into 2010?

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: 15/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Daily Service, 15/12/2009

Christian worship and music led by Rev Clair Jaquiss.

Woman's Hour

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

Woman's Hour: Diplomat Alice Walpole; Human Trafficking Unit closure

Diplomat Alice Walpole; Human Trafficking Unit closure

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Diplomat Alice Walpole; Human Trafficking Unit closure

HM Consul-General in Basra and mother of six Alice Walpole on motherhood and her role.

HM Consul-General in Basra and mother of six Alice Walpole on motherhood and her role. Plus, the closure of the Human Trafficking Unit; and dealing with grief.

Sable Island - A Dune Adrift

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Sable Island - A Dune AdriftSearch BBC

Sable Island, a sand dune in the Atlantic, is crucial to the world and our imagination.

Sean Street reveals how Sable Island, a sand dune in the Atlantic Ocean, is crucial to the world and our imagination. From 2009.


100 miles east of Nova Scotia lies a 30 mile-long sand dune: Sable Island, population, two, who work in the weather and research station - and 300 wild horses.

Sean Street reveals how this remote place, this dune adrift in the Atlantic, is providing information vital to us all, and has gained a powerful presence in the imagination.

In the middle of the world's worst weather systems, held tentatively in place by ocean currents, it’s the perfect place to monitor climate change, and air and sea pollution.

More than 500 ships have been wrecked here. There have been several attempts at colonisation, by the Portuguese, the French (Sable is the French word for Sand) and even a group of prominent Bostonians, and all have failed.

Thomas Raddell, Nova Scotia's finest writer, was a radio operator on Sable for a year, and this inspired his novel The Nymph and the Lamp. Poet Elizabeth Bishop visited and wrote about the island.

Sean examines wreckage from some of over 500 ships that came to grief here. There is a poignant baby's crib made from wreck wood. He meets artist Roger Savage who battled to capture the landscape. And he meets a man who dedicated years to studying the rare Ipswich Sparrow, which nests only here. 

What emerges is that Sable Island is for the Canadians what the Galapagos are for the people of Ecuador, or Easter Island for Chileans. It is important scientifically and historically, but more than this it is important culturally, as part of their identity.

Producer:  Julian May.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2009.

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.

Harry Worth: The Man in the Window

BBC Radio 4 - Harry Worth: The Man in the Window

Glenn Mitchell celebrates the life and work of entertainer Harry Worth.

Glenn Mitchell pays tribute to the master of comic confusion, Harry Worth, one of the most popular - and subsequently most neglected - comedians of the 1960s.

Glenn Mitchell pays tribute to the master of comic confusion, Harry Worth, one of the most popular - and subsequently most neglected - comedians of the 1960s. Mitchell interviewed Worth in 1987 and his recording forms the backbone of this tribute, in the 20th anniversary year of the comedian's death. 

Harry Worth's television and radio shows drew comparisons with Tony Hancock, and the famous opening gag of his TV series, that of Harry posing beside a shop window so that his reflection suggests a man spreadeagled in mid-air, is still fondly remembered - and imitated - by public and professionals alike.

The programme tells his story through interviews with Harry and his friends and colleagues and, perhaps for the first time, explains why his career lost direction for over a decade before getting back on track shortly before his death. Including contributions from producers John Ammonds and William G Stewart and actor Jonathan Cecil.

News Headlines; Shipping Forecast

News, weather and Shipping Forecast updates. 

News Headlines; Shipping Forecast: 15/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - News Headlines; Shipping Forecast, 15/12/2009

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: 15/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - You and Yours, 15/12/2009

Consumer news and issues with Julian Worricker.

Weather

Weather: 15/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Weather, 15/12/2009Close menu

World at One

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

World at One: 15/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - World at One, 15/12/2009

National and international news with Martha Kearney.

Tales from the Stave

Series that tracks down the stories behind the scores of well-known pieces of music

Tales from the Stave: Series 5

Tales from the Stave: Series 5: Episode 3: Holst: The Planets

Episode 3

Episode 3: Holst: The Planets

Series 5

Holst: The Planets

BBC Radio 4 - Tales from the Stave, Series 5, Holst: The Planets

Frances Fyfield and guests pore over the pages of the manuscript of Holst's The Planets.

Frances Fyfield is joined by conductor Christopher Warren-Green, musicologist Stephen Johnson and graphologist Ruth Rostrum to pore over the manuscript of Holst's The Planets.

Frances Fyfield tracks down the stories behind the scores of well-known pieces of music.

Holst apparently hated the popularity of The Planets. He sat down to compose it in 1914 and it had its first performance in 1918. Given that English audiences were used to Elgar, this massive 'modern' orchestral work came as a huge surprise to concert goers, and they loved it. From the opening 5/4 tempo of the first movement of Mars, this could be considered one of the first great pieces of 20th-century English music. 

Holst had recently heard the revolutionary compositions of Schoenberg and Stravinsky and in The Planets, he mixes harmonies and rhythms in the most dramatic way. Not all of the score is in his own hand, as he suffered from neuritis, so he sometimes used copyists to help with his composition. 

Frances' guests select their favourite movements from the score, which is held at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, and they are joined by the curator Martin Holmes, who looks after the precious manuscripts there. 

The seven movements don't include Pluto; that was only discovered in 1930, four years before his death. The success of The Planets overshadowed Holst's other compositions, which are quite different in style from his astrological depictions. While the piece is still popular in concert halls around the UK, its also familiar to film fans as it is frequently used in movies. What would Holst have made of its enduring popularity, 75 years after his death, and what would he have made of its use in computer games?

Frances Fyfield tracks down the stories behind the scores of well-known pieces of music

The Archers

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

The Archers: 14/12/2009

14/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - The Archers, 14/12/2009

Nigel's impressed with Hayley's activity packs for the children, and asks her to show one to Elizabeth, who is still worrying about the Deck the Hall event. Nigel's delighted to hear that Brenda's arranged for the local TV news crew to come. 

Hayley encourages Caz to attend the event and Helen has promised Nic she'll go with her and the children but, after her babysitting experience, doubts that she'll have a good time. 

Caz confides to Clarrie that she's upset Lynda. She's exhausted and is missing Justin. Helen tells Clarrie she's not sure if she will see Leon at Christmas. 

As Will prepares for the shoot, Brian urges him to give the guns a good day to ensure repeat business next year from the new corporate clients. But when Will spots a grey partridge coming down, he curses the stupidity of the man firing. 

Later, Brian demands an explanation of Will's behaviour. The new client claimed that Will had been rude and offensive. Brian's appalled when Will admits he gave the man a good rollicking and reminds Will in no uncertain terms that he should keep a civil tongue in his head, always giving the client the benefit of the doubt.   

Episode written by Carole Simpson Solazzo.

Drama on 4

Drama from BBC Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra.

Afternoon Drama

Drama on 4: HighLites: Pilot

HighLites: Pilot

BBC Radio 4 - Drama on 4, HighLites: Pilot

Farce by Steve Chambers and Phil Nodding, set in and around Bev's hairdressing salon.

Farce by Steve Chambers and Phil Nodding, set in and around Bev's hairdressing salon, HighLites, where a little lie spreads through the village like wildfire.

by Steve Chambers and Phil Nodding

A small-town farce set in and around mean-minded Bev's hairdressing salon, High-Lites, where a little lie spreads through the village like wildfire.


Beverley ..... Lorraine Ashbourne
Shirley ..... Rosie Cavaliero
Matthew ..... Rhys Jennings
Alice ..... Emerald O'Hanrahan
Enid ..... Kate Layden
Nigel ..... John Biggins
Lois ..... Joannah Tincey
Butt ..... Ewan Hooper
Paramedic ..... Joseph Cohen-Cole

Director: Jessica Dromgoole

This afternoon play is the pilot for the comedy series that kicks off in the Woman's Hour next week.

Home Planet

Programme answering listeners' questions about planet Earth and our impact upon it

Home Planet: 15/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Home Planet, 15/12/2009

Richard Daniel and his team discuss insects and sea life.

Richard Daniel and the team discuss listeners' questions about the environment and the natural world.

It's a biology based programme as we tackle your questions on insects and sea life. What, for example, killed the large number of bumblebees whose corpses were found beneath a tree last summer? Why are moths placid and easy to handle while their fluttery cousins, butterflies, are skittish and difficult to trap? And why do butterflies flit rather than simply flying in a straight line to their destination?

Then there's the challenge of taxonomy. Identifying closely related species is difficult, but getting it wrong can have dire implications for their conservation. Also, a question about evolution in action. Is anything evolving to eat the mountain of plastic pollution sloshing around in the oceans?

On the panel are marine biologist Dr Helen Scales; entomologist Richard Jones and environmental scientist from the University of London, Professor Philip Stott.

Afternoon Reading

Short stories or abridged books, often from new writers

Afternoon Reading: Alice Munro - Too Much Happiness

Afternoon Reading: Alice Munro - Too Much Happiness: Episode 1: Free Radicals

Episode 1: Free Radicals

Alice Munro - Too Much Happiness

Free Radicals

BBC Radio 4 - Afternoon Reading, Alice Munro - Too Much Happiness, Free RadicalsSearch BBC

A newly widowed woman must look to the wife she replaced when a stranger threatens her.

4 Extra Debut. A newly widowed woman must look to the first wife she replaced when a stranger threatens at her own kitchen table. Read by Barbara Barnes.

Series of short stories from the new collection by Canadian author Alice Munro. 

A newly widowed woman, who is herself dying, is alone in the home she and her husband made their own after she had played the role of 'home wrecker' and replaced his first wife. But it is the first wife that she must look to when a stranger threatens at her own kitchen table. 

Read by Barbara Barnes.

Abridged by Sally Marmion.

Series of short stories from the new collection by Canadian author Alice Munro

My Mile of the River

My Mile of the River: Episode 2

Episode 2

BBC Radio 4 - My Mile of the River, Episode 2

Chris Tally Evans reports on the two-person wheelbarrow race through a ford.

It is summer on the Wye, and Chris Tally Evans reports on the two-person wheelbarrow championship as it races through a ford, and witnesses the coronation of the Carnival Queen.

Chris Tally Evans evokes the sights and sounds of the River Wye as it flows yards from his garden in Rhayader in Mid Wales. 

It is summer on the River Wye, and Chris reports on the two-person wheelbarrow championship as it races through a ford, listens to the Wye Valley Axemen and witnesses the coronation of the Carnival Queen.

Chris Tally Evans evokes the sights and sounds of the River Wye

Chris Tally Evans evokes the sights and sounds of the River Wye as it flows yards from his garden in Rhayader in Mid Wales

Word of Mouth

Series exploring the world of words and the ways in which we use them

Word of Mouth: 15/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Word of Mouth, 15/12/2009

Michael Rosen and critics test George Orwell's rules for writing about politics.

Michael Rosen and a panel of critics offer an Orwellian perspective on just one day in the discourse of the nation, using rules George Orwell laid out for writing about politics.

George Orwell left us a set of rules for writing about politics and public affairs - do they still apply? Michael Rosen and a panel of critics offer an Orwellian perspective on just one day in the discourse of the nation.

Great Lives

Biographical series in which guests choose someone who has inspired their lives.

Great Lives: Series 20

Great Lives: Episode 2: Tennessee Williams

Episode 2: Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams

BBC Radio 4 - Great Lives, Tennessee Williams

Stand-up comedian Rich Hall discusses the life of playwright Tennessee Williams.

American stand-up comedian Rich Hall discusses the life of playwright Tennessee Williams, with help from Williams' biographer Dotson Rader and Matthew Parris. From December 2009.

Matthew Parris presents the biographical series in which his guests choose someone who has inspired their lives. 

American stand-up comedian Rich Hall discusses the life of playwright Tennessee Williams, whose work he first remembers seeing at a Kentucky drive-in cinema, rather than the theatre. With their vivid portrayal of the American south, poetic language and dark themes, works such as Cat on A Hot Tin Roof and A Streetcar Named Desire were snapped up by Hollywood as well as changing the direction of American theatre. 

Rich Hall is joined by Williams' friend and biographer Dotson Rader to talk about the man himself: the early unhappiness that shaped his creative life, the prejudice he encountered due to his homosexuality, and his later unpopularity and decline into drink and prescription drugs. They discover a writer with a strong sense of humour, a devotion to his family and a desire to experiment with writing throughout his career. Was Williams' life a wasted one?

1989: Day by Day

1989: Day by Day: Episode 72: 15th December 1989

Episode 72

Episode 72: 15th December 1989

15th December 1989

BBC Radio 4 - 1989: Day by Day, 15th December 1989

Soviet human rights campaigner Andrei Sakharov dies.

Sir John Tusa looks back at the events making the news 20 years ago. Soviet human rights campaigner Andrei Sakharov dies.

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

Soviet human rights campaigner Andrei Sakharov dies.

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: 15/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - PM, 15/12/2009

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

Six O'Clock News

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4

Six O'Clock News: 15/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Six O'Clock News, 15/12/2009

National and international news from BBC Radio 4.

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

Sneakiepeeks

Sneakiepeeks: Storm Warning

Storm Warning

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Sneakiepeeks, Storm Warning

The bungling surveillance team are out of their depth shadowing a corrupt Russian.

The bungling surveillance team are out of their depth shadowing a corrupt Russian. Stars Richard Lumsden. From December 2009.

Beagle Team are tasked with the surveillance of a Russian billionaire. The nation's security and gas supply are at stake.

Comedy by Harry Venning and Neil Brand about a team of inept, backstabbing surveillance operatives.

Bill ...... Richard Lumsden
Sharla ...... Nina Conti
Mark ...... Daniel Kaluuya
Captain Le Clerc ...... Kevin Eldon
Bolkonski ...... Shaban Arifi
Boris ...... John Biggins
Russian Girls ...... Alex Tregear/Kate Layden
Russian Crew ...... Nigel Hastings/Ewan Hooper.

Producer: Katie Tyrrell

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2009

Comedy by Harry Venning and Neil Brand about a team of inept surveillance operatives

Comedy by Harry Venning and Neil Brand about a team of inept, backstabbing surveillance operatives

The Archers: 15/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - The Archers, 15/12/2009

David tells Ruth that Pip and Jonathan will babysit while he takes Ruth for an anniversary meal. Ruth wonders why Pip won't be out celebrating the end of term but David suspects she's had enough after looking after her drunken friend recently. 

Peggy's given the go-ahead for the community shop. Brian's frustrated that Peggy has shelved the plan to convert the shop to a flat. Brian tells David about the incident at the shoot. While admiring Will's conviction, Brian thinks that Will needs to learn to play the game. David appreciates Brian's opinion on the leaflets for the meat boxes, and they toast each other's future success.

The Lies have a gig at The Tramshed. Jazzer acts as the band's roadie and Fallon's bouncer, and is very attentive, showing excessive concern for Fallon's well-being. Fallon thanks him for everything he's done and is shocked to find that Jazzer had failed to notice a hot blonde at the bar. Jazzer confirms Fallon's suspicion that there's a special someone else Jazzer has his eye on. She advises him to buy flowers and be romantic to prove that he's serious; Fallon promises it'll make the girl melt. Flowers do it every time.

Episode written by Carole Simpson Solazzo.

Front Row

Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music

Front Row: 15/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, 15/12/2009

Terry Wogan on bowing out, and a review of new film Nine.

Arts news and reviews with Mark Lawson. Including a jukebox jury who give their verdict on the hits and misses among the 2009 sack of Christmas releases.

Daniel Day-Lewis heads an all-star cast in the new film Nine, directed by Rob Marshall, whose 2002 film Chicago won six Oscars. Adam Mars-Jones reviews the film, which focuses on an arrogant film director whose personal life begins to crumble as he turns to his wife, his lover and his mother for inspiration.

As Sir Terry Wogan prepares to step down from his Radio 2 morning show Wake Up To Wogan, he looks back over his long and successful career and his move to a new weekend primetime slot.

It's the time of year when the airwaves are flooded with Christmas songs, new and old. For Front Row's Christmas Juke Box Jury, David Hepworth and Natalie Haynes cast an ear over this Christmas's offerings and vote whether they should end up in the box marked 'Cracker' or 'Turkey'.

15 Minute Drama

Classic and contemporary original drama and book dramatisations

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Shipping Forecast

15/12/2009

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1989: Day by Day

Episode 72: 15th December 1989

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Shipping Forecast

15/12/2009

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Weather

15/12/2009

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Weather

15/12/2009

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Shipping Forecast

16/12/2009

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