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Shipping Forecast

The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping

Shipping Forecast: 22/12/2009

22/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Shipping Forecast, 22/12/2009Close 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: 22/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - News Briefing, 22/12/2009Close menu

Prayer for the Day

Prayer for the Day: 22/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Prayer for the Day, 22/12/2009

Daily prayer and reflection with Bishop Alan Abernethy.

Farming Today

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside

Farming Today: 22/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 22/12/2009

News and issues in rural Britain with Anna Hill.

Anna Hills hears from one of the farmers seeking compensation from the Rural Payments Agency, and why he's bitterly disappointed to be receiving only 500 pounds.

Anna Hills hears from one of the farmers seeking compensation from the Rural Payments Agency as a result of its failings in 2005, and why he's bitterly disappointed to be offered only 500 pounds rather than the recommended 5,000. 

Plus why keeping reindeer in Britain isn't always supported. A government vet says there's been an increase in imports of the animals but they don't always survive. 

And the Wiltshire farmer who may be forced to kill a prize beef calf because he doesn't know its exact date of birth.

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: 22/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Today, 22/12/2009

Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.

With John Humphrys and James Naughtie. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.

Defining The Decade

Defining The Decade: Episode 2: The Heat is On

Episode 2

Episode 2: The Heat is On

The Heat is On

BBC Radio 4 - Defining The Decade, The Heat is On

How have world leaders' attitude to global warming changed since the year 2000?

Edward Stourton tries to make sense of the past decade. Back in the year 2000, the world's leaders didn't seem to be troubled by the notion of global warming, so what has changed?

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? 

Back in the year 2000, the world's leaders didn't seem to be troubled by the notion of global warming, so what has changed?

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: 22/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Daily Service, 22/12/2009

Christian worship and music led by Monsignor Tony Rogers.

Woman's Hour

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

Woman's Hour: Natasha Hunt's Olympic Challenge

Natasha Hunt's Olympic Challenge

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Natasha Hunt's Olympic Challenge

Natasha Hunt, the unfit maths teacher now training for the Olympics.

The unfit maths teacher now training for the Olympics. Plus, Iranian men in headscarves, and Champagne or sparkling wine: what's best for Christmas?

Towering Ambition

BBC Radio Scotland - Towering Ambition

Adil Ray follows the inaugural campaign to correct UK architecture's ethnic imbalance.

Adil Ray follows the inaugural Architecture for Everyone campaign, launched in Stephen Lawrence's memory to correct UK architecture's glaring ethnic imbalance.

Adil Ray follows the inaugural Architecture for Everyone campaign, launched in Stephen Lawrence's memory to correct UK architecture's glaring ethnic imbalance.

Stephen Lawrence wanted to be an architect, so when his mum Doreen discovered that only two per cent of the UK's practising architects come from black and ethnic backgrounds she set up the inaugural Architecture for Everyone scheme, with RMJM Architects, to readdress the balance.

Through a series of workshops in Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow and London, six young people were selected for a scholarship to Harvard's School of Design. They are Paula McDonald, 25, from Glasgow; Callum Gilbert, 21, from Liverpool; Oni Hinton, 20 and Luke Henry-Powell, 18, from London; and Yohanna Iyasu and Nick Ackers, both 19, from Birmingham.

They all come from radically diverse backgrounds. Nick was adopted as a baby from a Romanian orphanage, Yohanna came to Britain by way of Eritrea and Holland, Luke rebelled at school and wanted to prove himself, Oni was escaping from a chaotic home life, Callum had been a young knife crime victim, and Paula, the eldest of the six, had been made redundant and needed to boost her self-esteem. The common theme among them was that this break had the potential to change everything.

BBC Radio Scotland

Li Yuan Chia

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Li Yuan Chia

Sally Lai explores why Chinese artist Li Yuan Chia made a home for artists in Cumbria.

Sally Lai investigates the life of Li Yuan Chia, a leading Chinese artist who created a home for artists in Cumbria. From 2009.

Li Yuan Chia was one of the first significant Chinese abstract artists of the 20th century. 

Sally Lai - former director of Manchester's Chinese Arts Centre - examines his career from the place he spent the last 28 years of his life: a stone farmhouse, built next to Hadrian's Wall in Cumbria.

Born in China in 1929, Li was educated in Taiwan. He worked and exhibited in Italy before moving to London in 1963. Here, Li's reputation was established with monochrome paintings and scrolls marked with a tiny, isolated dot.

But Li came to dislike the fashionable metropolitan art world of the mid-1960s. In 1968 he met Cumbrian painter Winifred Nicholson, who persuaded Li to move.

When Taiwan's first abstract artist settled in a Cumbrian farmhouse, his life changed. Deriving inspiration from landscape and local people, he encouraged new British artists and anticipated the success of contemporary Chinese visual art.

Producer:  Bob Dickinson 

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.

News Headlines; Shipping Forecast

News, weather and Shipping Forecast updates. 

News Headlines; Shipping Forecast: 22/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - News Headlines; Shipping Forecast, 22/12/2009

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: 22/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - You and Yours, 22/12/2009

Consumer news and issues with Julian Worricker.

Weather

Weather: 22/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Weather, 22/12/2009Close menu

World at One

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

World at One: 22/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - World at One, 22/12/2009

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 4: Chopin: Barcarolle

Episode 4

Episode 4: Chopin: Barcarolle

Series 5

Chopin: Barcarolle

BBC Radio 4 - Tales from the Stave, Series 5, Chopin: Barcarolle

Frances Fyfield visits the British Library to look at the Chopin's piano score, Barcarolle

Frances Fyfield is joined by Chopin expert Adam Zamoyski and pianist Stephen Hough at the British Library to look at the Chopin's piano score, Barcarolle.

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

Frances is joined by Chopin expert Adam Zamoyski and pianist Stephen Hough at the British Library to look at the autographed score of Chopin's Barcarolle. The library is holding a major exhibition in 2010 to mark the 200th anniversary of his birth. 

The greater part of Chopin's professional career was spent outside his native Poland - most of it in Paris, where he established himself as a fashionable teacher and performer in the houses of the wealthy. With a background of Venetian gondoliers' songs combined with Polish references, the Barcarolle for solo piano was completed in 1846 and meant so much to Chopin that he included it in the programme of a concert he gave in Paris in February 1848. It was to be his last public appearance in his beloved adopted city. His body succumbed to lifelong ill health a year later at the age of 39.

Tales from the Stave: Series 5

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: 21/12/2009

21/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - The Archers, 21/12/2009

An exhausted Vicky and Joe make more kissing boughs to sell. Elizabeth appears, confronting Joe with Brenda's photos of the event showing price tags on the kissing boughs in the background, and plastic cups of cider. She tersely makes him take off the price tags and dispose of the cider. 

Vicky apologises to Elizabeth. She thought Joe had asked permission. Elizabeth says she has a thing or two to learn about the Grundys. Vicky then makes a suggestion to Elizabeth which she takes up; that Lower Loxley takes a cut of the sales and that Vicky takes a further cut. She later tells Joe that her cut is to make up for him lying to her.

Pat's surprised when Helen's enthusiastic about both Jake and Mia and baby Oscar, commenting that it's out of character. When Helen tells Pat that Leon's spending Christmas day at the pub with Aussie pals, Pat suggests inviting him to Bridge Farm instead. But Leon's not keen politely pointing out that he's made other arrangements, even after Helen encourages him by saying that Annette will be there. Pat thinks it's a shame when Helen explains, but is very happy to have Annette along as part of the family.

Episode written by Caroline Harrington.

The Three Knots

Linda Cracknell - The Three Knots

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Linda Cracknell - The Three Knots

Two stranded friends meet an old woman who claims to control the elements.

Two stranded friends meet an old woman who claims to control the elements in 19th century Scotland. Stars Finn Den Hertog.

Two men are stranded on a Scottish mountain on a stormy December night.

Then they meet a mysterious old woman who believes she can control the elements.

Linda Cracknell’s drama about faith and the supernatural, set in 19th-century Scotland.

Angus …. Finn den Hertog
Thomas …. Robert Jack
Old Woman …. Gerda Stevenson
Elizabeth …. Hannah Donaldson
Minister …. Jimmy Chisholm

Director: Kirsty Williams

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2009.

Home Planet

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

Home Planet: 22/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Home Planet, 22/12/2009

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

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

About 4.5 billion years ago the newly formed planet Earth was in collision with a planet the size of Mars, a cataclysmic event that gave birth to the Moon. But the impact was so huge that it left one listener puzzled as to why the Earth remained in place instead of spinning off into interstellar space. Listeners also want to know what the Earth was like, much later, when it was a few degrees warmer than today and if that offers us any hints for the future. 

What, too, is the future of UK forestry; how do plants' need for oxygen balance out with their production of this crucial gas and how is it possible for astronomers to detect the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation?

We also want your help in finding out how the New Year festivities affect roosting birds. Do you have a nestbox camera which shows black-and-white pictures using infrared lighting? If you do, Graham Appleton from the BTO, one of our regular panelists, would like to know if you have birds roosting in your nest box. We'd like you to turn on your camera on New Year's Eve to see how much disturbance fireworks cause. Graham will be with us on 4 January to discuss your responses. Remember, this needs to be an infrared camera. You don't want to wake up birds by turning on a normal light.

On the panel are astronomer Dr Carolin Crawford of Cambridge University, plant geneticist Professor Denis Murphy of the University of Glamorgan, and forestry expert Dr Nick Brown of Oxford University. 

If you have any comments on the topics discussed or any questions you might want to put to future programmes, please do let us know.

Afternoon Reading

Short stories or abridged books, often from new writers

Afternoon Reading: Scene of the Crime

Afternoon Reading: Scene of the Crime: Episode 1: From the River's Mouth

Episode 1

Episode 1: From the River's Mouth

Scene of the Crime

From the River's Mouth

BBC Radio 4 - Afternoon Reading, Scene of the Crime, From the River's MouthSearch BBC

By Stella Duffy. The malign and sultry River Thames exacts a watery revenge.

By Stella Duffy. The malign and sultry River Thames exacts a watery revenge. Read on location by Samantha Bond in the Greenwich Foot Tunnel.

Stories by leading crime writers.

By Stella Duffy.

The malign and sultry River Thames exacts a watery revenge.

Read on location by Samantha Bond in the Greenwich Foot Tunnel.

The Santa Tapes

The Santa Tapes: Episode 2: White Beard

Episode 2: White Beard

White Beard

BBC Radio 4 - The Santa Tapes, White Beard

Playing Santa is often the last job in a lifetime of work, as Alan Dein discovers.

Playing Santa is often the last job in a lifetime of work. Donning the costume is also a way to reconnect with a new generation in the age of want, as Alan Dein discovers.

Alan Dein unwraps the oral history of Santa Claus, hearing the true stories of those who have donned the red and white costume, from war-torn Hungary to the icy wastes of Alaska.

Playing Santa is often the last job in a lifetime of work. Donning the red and white costume is often a way to reconnect with a new generation in the age of want, as Alan Dein discovers.

Alan Dein unwraps the oral history of Santa Claus

Alan Dein unwraps the oral history of Santa Claus, hearing the true stories of those who have donned the red and white costume, from war-torn Hungary to the icy wastes of Alaska

Word of Mouth

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

Word of Mouth: 22/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Word of Mouth, 22/12/2009

Michael Rosen takes apart some jokes to try to find out why they're funny.

Michael Rosen takes apart some jokes to try to find out why they're funny. After he puts them back together, they don't seem to work very well.

Great Lives

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

Great Lives: Vivian Stanshall

Vivian Stanshall

BBC Radio 4 - Great Lives, Vivian Stanshall

Neil Innes discusses the life of his colleague and friend Vivian Stanshall.

Neil Innes champions his comic friend and fellow 1960s 'Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band' member. With Matthew Parris. From 2009.

Musician and performer Neil Innes chooses the life of his Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band colleague, and friend, Vivian Stanshall. 

Neil tells Matthew Parris about the moment he met Vivian in London: he was wearing Billy Bunter trousers, a Victorian frock coat and horrible purple pince-nez glasses and carrying a euphonium. 

So began a friendship and a musical partnership that exploded into life with The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, culminating in tours and TV series. 

Vivian's second wife, Ki Longfellow, joins the discussion to help explore the man behind the colourful public persona.

Producer: Toby Field

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2009.

1989: Day by Day

1989: Day by Day: Episode 79: 22nd December 1989

Episode 79

Episode 79: 22nd December 1989

22nd December 1989

BBC Radio 4 - 1989: Day by Day, 22nd December 1989

Romanian President Ceausescu is caught as he tries to escape.

Sir John Tusa looks back at the events making the news 20 years ago. Romanian President Ceausescu is caught as he tries to escape.

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

Romanian President Ceausescu is caught as he tries to escape.

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: 22/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - PM, 22/12/2009

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: 22/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Six O'Clock News, 22/12/2009

National and international news from BBC Radio 4.

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

Sneakiepeeks

Sneakiepeeks: Trust

Trust

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Sneakiepeeks, Trust

The bungling surveillance team is on a job so secret even the boss doesn't know about it.

The bungling surveillance team is on a job so secret even the boss doesn't know about it. Stars Nina Conti. From December 2009.

The bungling surveillance team undertakes a top-secret category G surveillance operation.

It's a job so secret even the boss doesn't know about it. 

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

Sharla ...... Nina Conti
Bill ...... Richard Lumsden
Mark ...... Daniel Kaluuya
Mrs A ...... Kate Layden
Mr A ...... Ewan Hooper
Justine ...... Tessa Nicholson
David ...... Ewan Bailey
Delphine ...... Kate Layden

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: 22/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - The Archers, 22/12/2009

Robert and Lynda have an early Christmas.

Although Usha's turned down Jim's offer to buy Blossom Hill Cottage, she's given him another three months to look for somewhere else. If she doesn't extend it further, Jim assumes he can come and stay with Shula and Alistair? When Shula reluctantly agrees, Jim teases her. It almost sounds as if she means it! Jim and Kenton have got the go-ahead for Jaxx and architects are drawing up plans as they speak. However, he and Kenton have very different ideas about their design concept, with Kenton aiming for a younger clientele. Shula wishes them luck.
 
Robert and Lynda prepare their Christmas feast for Caz and Justin. Robert's really pleased to see how happy Caz is now Justin's back. Lynda fondly agrees. Lynda and Caz look forward to their soiree with some of Caz's Ambridge friends but Robert worries that Justin might be too jetlagged. 

Later Caz notices that Lynda seems a bit subdued. Lynda explains that she's going to miss Caz and Oscar. The house is going to seem so empty and it will be a very lonely Christmas without them. Caz promises to come back soon, and tells Lynda she couldn't have got through the past few weeks without her. 

Episode written by Caroline Harrington.

Front Row

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

Front Row: 22/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, 22/12/2009

Eddie Izzard on 2012 and political aims; TV Hamlet and Turn Of The Screw reviewed.

Eddie Izzard on 2012 and his political ambitions; TV versions of the RSC's Hamlet and Turn Of The Screw reviewed; a round-up of the best radio programmes over the festive season.

John Wilson and critic Sarah Churchwell review the new television versions of the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Hamlet, starring David Tennant, and the Henry James classic ghost story, The Turn Of The Screw, starring Michelle Dockery and Sue Johnston.

Comedian and actor Eddie Izzard discusses his enthusiasm for sport and the 2012 Olympics, and reveals his political ambitions.

Guardian critic Elisabeth Mahoney gives her pick of radio listening for the festive period.

Roald Dahl

Adaptations of hilarious and horrific fantasy tales by the classic children's author.

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Programme Index

Shipping Forecast

22/12/2009

Genres

Brand

Weather

22/12/2009

Genres

Formats

Brand

1989: Day by Day

Episode 79: 22nd December 1989

Genres

Formats

Series

Shipping Forecast

22/12/2009

Genres

Formats

Brand

Weather

22/12/2009

Genres

Formats

Brand

Weather

22/12/2009

Genres

Formats

Brand

Shipping Forecast

23/12/2009

Genres

Formats

Brand

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