The best of the week's news film from all over the world, together with other subjects of interest. For the deaf and hard of hearing a commentary appears visually.
and Weather
When buffaloes fight it's the grass that suffers: a proverb from Laos where right-wing and Communist forces have been fighting on and off for nearly 20 years - a conflict as old as that in Vietnam. But a long-drawn-out civil war has not dampened the Lao spirit.
At the annual festivals, such as the great festival of fertility, the public mood is transformed into one of uninhibited delight and people surrender themselves to hours of carefree dance, cheeky playfulness, and slightly drunken tomfoolery. There are moments, too, of pure anarchy: where else would the British Ambassador be beset by a friendly mob intent on removing his shirt?
The climax in the fertility ceremonies is the firing of huge bamboo rockets from the bed of the Mekong river to ask the gods for a season of plenty, for rain and prosperity. Ironically, not far away, missiles of war are sowing death and destruction...
Pierre Boulez on two eccentrics of 20th-century music
Charles Ives (1874-1954) and Edgar Varese (1883-1965)
BBC Symphony Orchestra leader Bela Dekany conducted by Pierre Boulez in performances of 'Putnam's Camp' from Three Places in New England by Ives and Integrales by Varese
"I am very impressed by eccentrics, because they bring fresh air to a musical world, where professionalism dries things up too much" (Pierre Boulez)
Written by Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie with Tim Brooke-Taylor
Starring Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie
Special guest Liz Fraser
with Mollie Sugden, Queenie Watts, Ericka Crowne, Bert Simms, Ernest Jennings
from Brisbane: third day
by Satellite
Peter West introduces recorded highlights of the third day's play.
Presented by David Kenning, Bill Taylor in collaboration with the ABC
British, American, and Canadian capers in a bright series of swinging, singing entertainment, with host Ray Stevens and regular guest stars Lulu, Cass Elliot as well as Billy Van, Carol Robinson, Solari and Carr, Dick Curtis, Steve Martin
(Programme recorded in Canada)
