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| 20101113 | | Archive on Four marks the 70th anniversary of a broadcasting phenomenon - the story of how Yorkshire man J.B. Priestley became the voice of the nation during the darkest days of the Second World War. Using original broadcasts, information stored in BBC files and interviews with his son Tom Priestley and step son Nicolas Hawkes, Archive on Four revisits these extraordinary broadcasts and asks why, in spite of their astonishing popularity, Priestley was taken off air. Presented by Martin Wainwright. Producers: Catherine Plane and Phil Pegum. Archive on Four explores the hugely popular World War Two radio broadcasts of JB Priestley Archive on Four marks the 70th anniversary of a broadcasting phenomenon - the story of how Yorkshire man J.B. Priestley became the voice of the nation during the darkest days of the Second World War. |
| 20171230 | | Martha Kearney looks at secret government papers from 1992. Martha Kearney offers a fresh perspective on history as she opens up the National Archives and delves into the secret government files of 1992 - the year of Black Wednesday, Maastricht Ratification, the queen's Annus Horribilis, and an election result that almost nobody saw coming. John Major was still a relatively new fixture in Downing Street - but was already juggling the demands of an election campaign with deep divides in his own party over Europe. His papers from 1992 - including secret correspondence, minutes of top secret meetings and telephone calls, confidential policy advice, and the Prime Minister's own handwritten notes - reveal a story full of resonance with our current political climate. Joining Martha to look through the papers are then Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont, former Labour Lord Chancellor Charlie Falconer and the journalist John Sergeant. Producer: Robert Nicholson A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4. |
| 20201114 | | Steve Fielding explores how political parties have recovered from big election defeats. |
| 100 Years After Jack Johnson: Boxing And Black Male Identity | 20100626 | 20100628 | ![]() On 4th July 1910 Jack Johnson beat Jim Jeffries in the so-called fight of the century. It was a landmark fight that cemented Johnson's right to call himself the first black heavyweight champion of the world, busting stereotypes of black men as inferior in both body and mind. 100 years on, Gary Younge explores what the archives tell us about four boxers who span the century - Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson. How have they shaped, and been shaped by, our attitudes to black masculinity? Joe Louis was the first black boxer to be given a shot at the heavyweight title after Jack Johnson. We hear his iconic fight against German boxer Max Schmeling in 1938, which symbolised democracy vs facism and made Louis a national hero. Now one of the best-loved sportsmen of all time, Gary explores why early in his career Muhammad Ali was one of the most hated men in the US. We hear Ali on fighting form in an interview by David Frost in the run up to 1974's Rumble in the Jungle. By the end of the 20th century Mike Tyson seemed to confirm fears that black men were violent and out of control. How far was he in control of his public image? We hear the reaction to Tyson's infamous fight against Evander Holyfield in 1997, in which he bit off part of his opponent's ear. Gary interprets the archive with the help of experts including Ali biographer Mike Marqusee, Joe Louis' son Joe Louis Barrow and Ellis Cashmore, author of Tyson: Nurture of the Beast. Producer: Peggy Sutton A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4. Gary Younge explores how boxers have shaped attitudes to black men over the past 100 years |
| 1917: Eyewitness In Petrograd | 20170225 | |  Emily Dicks visits St Petersburg to trace her grandfather's teenage memories of the excitement and fear of the 1917 Revolutions - as preserved on a never-previously-revealed tape. This extraordinary recording - kept in family archives - describes the lives of ordinary people caught up in the political turmoil between the two Russian Revolutions of 1917. Henry Dicks was the son of an Estonian-based Englishman, sent to school in Petrograd during the First World War. He recorded his memories in an interview with his son in 1967. The tape covers the period immediately after Rasputin's death and the fall of the Tsar, all the way through to the Bolshevik attack on the Provisional Government's Winter Palace in October 1917, which Henry saw first-hand. Henry remembers the joy after the Tsar's fall when the whole population seemed to be in the streets, servants became much cheekier and his schoolmasters shed their uniforms. But then the Bolsheviks strengthened their power and Henry describes the unnerving feeling in metropolitan Petrograd that they were getting away with it. One October morning when, as he remembers, the air was thick with foreboding, Henry watched the attack of the Winter Palace. Once the Bolsheviks had seized power, Henry describes a kind of terror beginning and he eventually fled via Finland, where he was marooned in a hotel amid a civil war... With: Helen Rappaport, Stephen Lovell Producer: Phil Tinline. Emily Dicks visits St Petersburg to trace her grandfather's memories of 1917's revolutions Henry remembers the joy after the Tsar's fall when "the whole population seemed to be in the streets", servants became "much cheekier" and his schoolmasters shed their uniforms. But then the Bolsheviks strengthened their power and Henry describes the unnerving feeling in metropolitan Petrograd that they were "getting away with it". One October morning when, as he remembers, "the air was thick with foreboding", Henry watched the attack of the Winter Palace. Once the Bolsheviks had seized power, Henry describes "a kind of terror beginning" and he eventually fled via Finland, where he was marooned in a hotel amid a civil war... |
| 1964 - The Revolution That Nearly Wasn't | 20141011 | | Half a century on, Elinor Goodman tells the story of the election that changed the political course of the 1960s - but only just. October 15th 1964: General Election day. It was a heady time - the Beatles had topped the charts all summer with A Hard Day's Night. And during the last days of campaigning, the Olympic Games in Tokyo were offering a welcome televisual distraction, with Mary Rand our gold-medal poster-girl all over the front and back pages as the polls opened. For Britain's political leaders they were days of trading claims and counter-claims: in the blue corner, Tory grandee Alec Home - pronounced, aristocratically, as 'Hume' - the incumbent Prime Minister who'd two years previously had to renounce his peerage and fight a by-election in order to accept the premiership. Labour's leader was pipesmoking honest-john Northerner Harold Wilson, whose avuncular addressing of ordinary folk and champion of technology gave him for some a modern appeal in keeping with the age. The Liberals were led by Jo Grimond, statesmanlike and distinctly upper-middle class, whose party had just won a startling by-election. It was a fascinating fight. Both Wilson and Home were relative newcomers: Macmillan's resignation had propelled Sir Alec, a charming, if diffident foreign-affairs specialist. into the limelight, where he often appeared out of touch with the concerns of ordinary voters. Wilson too had taken the top job unexpectedly when Labour's much loved and admired Hugh Gaitskell died unexpectedly in 1963. What with sex scandals, gaffes and the satirical bite of TW3 and Beyond the Fringe, it was quite a fight, and one Wilson was expected by many to cruise. And yet, as the results poured in, it looked like it would be a dead heat... Producer: Simon Elmes. |
| 1979: Democracy's Nightmares | 20190427 | | Britain has been in political flux for a decade. So what can we learn from the last time we were in this state? 40 years on, documentary-maker Phil Tinline traces the political fears and hopes swirling in Britain on left and right alike, in the period leading up to Mrs Thatcher's 1979 election victory. In 1978 and early 1979, Britain was divided. There were street protests and marches; a government with no majority battled to keep its authority. Immigration was controversial; so was racist violence. By the time of the 'Winter of Discontent' strike wave, institutions were under such pressure that the status quo seemed to be breaking down. Who knew what awaited Britain just a few months ahead? On the left, many worried about the rise of the National Front, and a broader shift towards authoritarianism, including the actions of the Metropolitan Police's Special Patrol Group. Plays, articles and pop songs anticipated an oppressive right-wing government. On the right, meanwhile, many foresaw the ever-greater extension of state and trade union power. Novels, TV dramas and political essays and speeches pictured a coming left-wing dictatorship. And underpinning all this was a broader fear: of social breakdown. Yet even as the barriers that had kept post-war Britain relatively stable seemed to be collapsing, something else was stirring. Young people, galvanised by punk and political fear, began to challenge other barriers, through movements like Rock Against Racism. So did all that fear and chaos also reach beyond party politics to forge an unexpected new way of being British? Interviewees include: Prof. Avtar Brah, Lord Donoughue, David Edgar, Prof. Steven Fielding, Lord Lawson, Mykaell Riley, Tom Robinson, Lucy Whitman Producer: Phil Tinline Phil Tinline traces the political fears and hopes swirling in Britain in 1978 and 1979. Yet even as the barriers that had kept post-war Britain relatively stable seemed to be collapsing, something else was stirring. Young people, galvanised both by punk and by political fear, began to challenge other barriers, through movements like Rock Against Racism. So did all that fear and chaos also reach beyond party politics to forge an unexpected new way of being British? Interviewees include: Avtar Brah, Lord Donoughue, David Edgar, Professor Steven Fielding, Lord Lawson, Mykaell Riley, Tom Robinson, Lucy Whitman |
| 40 Years In Europe: How Was It For You? | 20130105 | |  January 2013 marks the 40th anniversary of the UK joining the EEC. It was the culmination of a lifetime's ambition for Prime Minister Edward Heath and marked a turning point in the relationship between the British people and our continental neighbours. In this quirky programme, one-time Europe correspondent John Sergeant asks a variety of people to assess how the subsequent four decades has impacted on their lives. Diplomat Sir Michael Jenkins, one of the first senior civil servants to serve in the new EEC, gives his candid take on what it was like to work in a totally different cultural environment in those early months. Claire Mooney and her twin brother Danny from Manchester look back through the archives and reflect on why they voted differently in the 1975 EEC Referendum. Bill Newton-Dunn and Michael Welsh talk about their initial bewilderment at being among the first elected Euro MPs in 1979. There's discussion about how closer European involvement impacted on UK culture - people who upped sticks for a life on the Costa Blanca tell us why and Reggie Perrin creator David Nobbs explains how it even inspired him to write a sitcom. Veteran foreign correspondent Ann Leslie reminisces about changes in our food habits and myths around EU regulations while psychologist Ronete Cohen, who now lives and works in England and Holland, reflects on how the Channel Tunnel changed her life. And as the debate over immigration controls continues, Archive on 4 goes to Lincolnshire to hear how the influx of Polish migrants has impacted on the town of Boston. The final verdict on the UK's role in Europe is left to a Greek, Italian, German and Spaniard over a coffee in Bonn. Produced by Ashley Byrne A Made in Manchester production for BBC Radio 4. |
| 50 Years On: Rivers Of Blood | 20180414 | | In April 1968, Enoch Powell made one of the most incendiary speeches in modern British politics. Ian McDiarmid reads the Rivers of Blood speech in its entirety - the first time it has been broadcast complete on British radio. Taking the speech section by section, he BBC's Media Editor Amol Rajan and a range of contributors reflect on the enduring influence and significance of the speech, which was delivered to local Conservative Party members in Birmingham just a few days ahead of the crucial second reading of the 1968 Race Relations Bill. Professor David Dabydeen of the University of Warwick talks about Powell's failure to realise that the racial unrest in America, which he feared might spread to Britain, was around basic civil rights such as the right to vote, and the right to sit on a bus. David Lammy MP talks about the fear that the speech created amongst his family at the time, becoming part of the wallpaper of his childhood. The text of the speech included observations on immigrants taken from Enoch Powell's Wolverhampton constituents, and ended with a reference to a moment in Virgil's Aeneid when the prophetess Sibyll predicts civil war in Italy with the River Tiber foaming with much blood. Only a short section of Powell's speech was actually recorded on the night but, for this programme, the full text is recreated by the actor Ian McDiarmid, who has played Enoch Powell on stage recently in the play What Shadows. Producer: Nathan Gower Executive Producer: David Prest A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4. Amol Rajan reflects on Enoch Powell's 1968 Rivers of Blood speech and hears it in full. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives The BBC's Media Editor Amol Rajan reflects on the enduring influence and significance of the speech, which was delivered to local Conservative Party members in Birmingham just a few days ahead of the crucial second reading of the 1968 Race Relations Bill. A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4. |
| 999 - Which Service Do You Require? | 20170624 | | 999 was the first emergency telephone number in the world when it was launched on June 30th, 1937. Within the first week, more than a thousand calls were made to the service with one burglar arrested less than five minutes after a member of the public had dialled 999. Impressive stuff. But there were teething problems... In the early days, only those wealthy enough to own a telephone could hope to avail of the service. Exchange room operators complained of stress caused by the raucous buzzers which alerted them to 999 calls. Advancing technology connected with the system began to alter the relationship between public and police. Almost unbelievably in hindsight, the 999 service wasn't made fully available across the nation until 1976. Exactly 80 years after it was introduced, Ian Sansom dials up the remarkable story of our three digit emergency number. Between rare archive, real life-or-death emergencies and interviews with call handlers on the front line, Ian takes a personal look at the evolution of 999 and asks what the future holds for this pioneering British institution. Producer: Conor Garrett. |
| A Backwards Catastrophe | 20210206 | | Travelling in reverse through the BBC archives to trace some of the present problems and oblique antecedents of the environmental crisis. Backwards Catastrophe is the latest in an occasional series of Archive on 4 programmes which journey through their subjects in reverse chronology. It's part polemic, part satire, part lyrical collage. Producer: Martin WIlliams Travelling in reverse through the archives to trace the roots of the environmental crisis. |
| A Brief History Of Anger | 20150307 | 20161210 (R4) |  
American satirist Joe Queenan presents spats, tantrums and explosions from the archive. American satirist Joe Queenan follows up his Brief Histories of Irony and Blame with A Brief History of Anger - spats, tantrums and explosions from the archive. Good anger, bad anger, creative anger, and the occasional childish moment caught on microphone. With contributions from Christopher Hitchens, Conrad Black, Russell Crowe, Joan Rivers, Joan Bakewell, and Johnny Cash. Plus new interviews with John Sergeant, Natalie Haynes and Matthew Parris, and a running commentary of anger from the presenter himself. My kids make me angry. My job makes me angry. The producer makes me angry. Then there's my wife, other people's wives, other drivers, airports, and worst of all my football team... And then there are interviewers. Interviewers always make me angry. The producer is Miles Warde. |
| A Brief History Of Blame | 20120908 | 20121225
20170819 (BBC7)
20170820 (BBC7) | Blame the abstract, blame the real, blame the stars, blame the bankers, blame the mother-in-law, blame anyone but yourself - The American satirist Joe Queenan presents A Brief History of Blame, an archive opera in six acts featuring Margaret Thatcher, Niall Ferguson, Tom Wrigglesworth, Richard Nixon, Melvyn Bragg, the Archbishop of Canterbury, plus new interviews with Germaine Greer, John Sergeant and Charlie Campbell. Together they reveal that we are all now living in a babel of blame. Queenan gives no nonsense answers to six headings, including How Blaming Began. There are explanations for the word scapegoat, discussion of the role of parents in messing things up, and a rare outing from Margaret Thatcher in a performance of Yes Minister which she wrote herself. I want you to abolish economists, she demands. Don't worry if it goes wrong - I'll get the blame, I always do. My qualifications for presenting this programme are impeccable, says Queenan. My father was an alcoholic, my mother an emotionally distant manic depressive. Together we grew up in a charm free housing project in Philadelphia. So don't whine to me about how tough life is. The producer is Miles Warde, who previously collaborated with Joe Queenan on A Brief History of Irony and An American's Guide to Failure. Satirist Joe Queenan reveals that the search for someone to blame is always successful. Blame the abstract, blame the real, blame the stars, blame the bankers, blame the mother-in-law, blame anyone but yourself - The American satirist Joe Queenan presents A Brief History of Blame, an archive opera in six acts featuring Margaret Thatcher, Niall Ferguson, Tom Wrigglesworth, Richard Nixon, Melvyn Bragg, the Archbishop of Canterbury, plus new interviews with Germaine Greer, John Sergeant and Charlie Campbell. Together they reveal that we are all now living in a babel of blame. Queenan gives no nonsense answers to six headings, including How Blaming Began. There are explanations for the word scapegoat, discussion of the role of parents in messing things up, and a rare outing from Margaret Thatcher in a performance of Yes Minister which she wrote herself. "I want you to abolish economists, " she demands. "Don't worry if it goes wrong - I'll get the blame, I always do. My qualifications for presenting this programme are impeccable," says Queenan. "My father was an alcoholic, my mother an emotionally distant manic depressive. Together we grew up in a charm free housing project in Philadelphia. So don't whine to me about how tough life is. The producer is Miles Warde, who previously collaborated with Joe Queenan on A Brief History of Irony and An American's Guide to Failure. |
| A Brief History Of Cunning | 20180210 | 20190104 (R4) | How cunning is Donald Trump? In Queenan on Cunning, the satirist Joe Queenan explores a word rarely associated with the current President of the USA. From Odysseus to Bismarck, via Brer Rabbit and Machiavelli's The Prince, there's a fine tradition of tricksters and hucksters, but where does the Donald fit in the mix? You need patience, intelligence, forward planning - some of these are Trump-like qualities. Stress on the some. But he's by no means a modern day Odysseus. Not much of a sailor. With contributions from Adam MacQueen, author of The Lies of the Land; Edith Hall, who wrote a cultural history of Homer's Odyssey; and Tibor Fischer, whose forthcoming novel is called How to Rule the World. Plus John Sergeant, Kathy Lette, Richard Nixon, Alistair McAlpine, Laura Barton... and a campaigning American president cross-faded with a much loved song from The Jungle Book. The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde. American satirist Joe Queenan explores cunning. The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde. Brilliant stories told using archive from the BBC and beyond |
| A Brief History Of Disobedience | 20160305 | 20200125 (BBC7)
20200126 (BBC7)
20210723 (R4) |  Oh my goodness, look at that sign over there. Keep Off The Grass. Makes me wonder who put it there. Makes me wonder why I should keep off the grass. And it makes me want to go on the grass! American satirist Joe Queenan presents A Brief History of Disobedience, the follow up to his programmes on Blame, Shame, Anger and Irony. He travels in time from the Old Testament to Tarrytown, his home in suburban New York. He aims to discover the importance of not doing what we are told. So let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine. With notable contributions from the archive - Gandhi, the Suffragettes, the Greenham Common Peace protestors. Our Heroes of Disobedience include Martin Luther, Geronimo, Woody Guthrie and The Doors. Plus Matthew Parris on Margaret Thatcher, Bill Finnegan on his barbarian days as a surfer and Karen Moline on writing dirty books. And finally, helpful hints about how to be usefully disobedient in everyday life. Joe Queenan is an Emmy award winning broadcaster and writer. Produced in Bristol by Miles Warde. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2016. Joe Queenan on a Brief History of Disobedience, the follow up to Blame, Anger and Shame. The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde. |
| A Brief History Of Failure | 20170211 | 20210730 (R4) |  Success is not final, failure is not fatal, said Winston Churchill. The American satirist Joe Queenan thinks he might be wrong. In this archive hour follow up to his previous programmes on Blame, Shame, Anger and Irony, Queenan rails against the very idea of failure. His sharpest attack is reserved for the supposed romance of defeat. From Braveheart in Scotland via the heretic Cathars in France to the pretend soldiers in Virginia still re-enacting the American Civil War, Queenan explores whether there may be something noble about losing a war. I'm in the south, at one of the many re-enactment battles of the American civil war that go on every year. Thousands have turned up to re-fight a war they lost. We don't do this in the north - it would be odd, and divisive, perhaps even inflammatory. But the memories of a conflict that took place over 150 years down here - they don't go away. This is the first of two archive programmes from Joe Queenan, with A Brief History of Lust coming next week. Failure features archive contributions from classics professor Edith Hall; historian Geoffrey Regan; writer Armando Iannucci; former political correspondent and Strictly star John Sergeant; plus music from Laura Marling, Viv Albertine of the Slits and rock and roll's greatest failure, John Otway. The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde. Joe Queenan on the romance of failure, or the dreaded 'failure chic'. Success is not final, failure is not fatal," said Winston Churchill. The American satirist Joe Queenan thinks he might be wrong. In this archive hour follow up to his previous programmes on Blame, Shame, Anger and Irony, Queenan rails against the very idea of failure. His sharpest attack is reserved for the supposed romance of defeat. From Braveheart in Scotland via the heretic Cathars in France to the pretend soldiers in Virginia still re-enacting the American Civil War, Queenan explores whether there may be something noble about losing a war. |
| A Brief History Of Irony | 20130928 | 20170429 (BBC7)
20170430 (BBC7)
20150110 (R4) |  What is irony ? Why do we need it ? Does it have any socially redeeming features whatsoever, or is it merely nasty ? Ian Hislop, John Sergeant, Kathy Lette, Barry Cryer and Madonna join the American satirist Joe Queenan in a search for the meaning and purpose of irony - or saying one thing to mean something else. Juvenal, Swift and John Lennon all find a place in the spotlight, as do the bible, Oliver Cromwell and World War One. Some might think it ironic that the BBC has hired an American presenter for this show, says the presenter, but the latest chapter in irony's history was written in the United States. The reference is to the 2001 destruction of the Twin Towers, and the proclamation that the Age of Irony was dead. Shattered Nation Yearns to Care About Stupid Bullshit Again, replied the Onion newspaper. We have an interview with the editor about the dangers of stepping into the irony-free zone. The programme also features Armando Iannucci, Kurt Anderson, Brenda Maddox, Dean Martin, Bert Kaempfert and The Mike Flowers Pops. The producer is Miles Warde. Satirist Joe Queenan charts the rise and fall of the 'nudge nudge wink wink' epidemic. Some might think it ironic that the BBC has hired an American presenter for this show," says the presenter, "but the latest chapter in irony's history was written in the United States." The reference is to the 2001 destruction of the Twin Towers, and the proclamation that the Age of Irony was dead. "Shattered Nation Yearns to Care About Stupid Bullshit Again," replied the Onion newspaper. We have an interview with the editor about the dangers of stepping into the irony-free zone. The producer is Miles Warde. |
| A Brief History Of Lust | 20170218 | |  Does what makes the heart beat faster really make the world go round? Oh yes. Welcome to a new history of lust presented by the American satirist Joe Queenan. From Helen and Paris of Troy to Bill and Monica via Rasputin, Edwina Currie and John Major, this is a tale of life as a bunga bunga bacchanal. With contributions from historian Suzannah Lipscomb, classicist Edith Hall, plus Agnes Poirier, Joan Bakewell (of course), Caitlin Moran and Richard Herring on Rasputin; a specially composed new poem on lust from Elvis McGonagall; and music from Prince, T Rex, Bessie Smith and Cole Porter. The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde. American satirist Joe Queenan presents a new history of lust. |
| A Brief History Of Shame | 20150627 | 20190504 (BBC7)
20190505 (BBC7)
20210716 (R4) |  American satirist Joe Queenan is joined by a stellar cast including Tiger Woods, Gordon Brown and the Duchess of York for Archive on 4's A Brief History of Shame. Queenan tackles key issues - what is shame for? The art of the apology; and then there's the French - before building to a surprising and fiery conclusion. When you do something wrong and then you admit that you did it, and people keep after you ... that’s when society becomes almost pathological. I’m never willing to give the public the benefit of the doubt – and this insane epidemic of shame – both the trivial, and the miserable, the deadly, even the murderous – it’s got to be reined in. Featuring archive of Bill Clinton, Jane Garvey, John Prescott, Jon Ronson, Tim Stanley of the Daily Telegraph, and Sir Peter Viggers, the 'duck house man'; plus new interviews with classics professor Edith Hall and novelist Kathy Lette, and music by Fats Domino, Bessie Smith and Question Mark and The Mysterians. Shame follows Joe Queenan's previous programmes on Anger, Irony and Blame. Produced in Bristol by Miles Warde. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4in 2015. American satirist Joe Queenan explores Shame. When you do something wrong and then you admit that you did it, and people keep after you... that's when society becomes almost pathological. I'm never willing to give the public the benefit of the doubt – and this insane epidemic of shame – both the trivial, and the miserable, the deadly, even the murderous – it's got to be reined in. When you do something wrong and then you admit that you did it, and people keep after you... that's when society becomes almost pathological. I'm never willing to give the public the benefit of the doubt - and this insane epidemic of shame - both the trivial, and the miserable, the deadly, even the murderous - it's got to be reined in. The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde. |
| A Brief History Of The Truth | 20170722 | 20190504 (R4) | It's time to travel down the rabbit hole of truth as American satirist Joe Queenan explores a murky world of fake news, prejudice and alternative facts. Recent politics have shown that the truth is no fun, he explains. It's like a vegetable your mother makes you eat. Yes it may be nourishing, but it tastes terrible. With archive contributions from Donald Trump, Doris Lessing, Jeremy Corbyn, Peter Mandelson and Theresa May; plus new interviews with Mark Borkowski, Edith Hall and Julian Baggini, author of a Short History of Truth. This is Joe Queenan's follow up to previous editions on Blame, Shame, Irony and Anger. The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde. The truth is like a vegetable your mother makes you eat, nourishing but it tastes terrible The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde. |
| A Broadcasting Life | 20200919 | | Sue MacGregor looks back on five decades of broadcasting in this final goodbye to Radio 4. When Sue MacGregor quietly retired from The Reunion last year, there was no fanfare, montage of past heroics or on-air hullabaloo, just a spontaneous ripple of applause from the original cast of the musical Cats. It marked the end of 52 years of continuous broadcasting on the BBC, including a unique unbroken run on Radio 4 since its inception. In this goodbye to the network, she reflects on some of her most memorable moments, and the way broadcasting has changed since 1968. She represents the deepest values of the BBC, was once described as the crown imperial of Radio 4, and has forged a unique relationship with listeners over the decades as the presenter of programmes like Woman's Hour, Today, A Good Read, Conversation Piece and many more. Radio Times readers still place her in the Top 5 of the all-time best voices on radio. In this programme, she recalls frying eggs at Piccadilly Circus (on a famously hot day in the late 60s), the El Vino's sit ins of the early 70s (the last men only wine bar on Fleet Street), being smuggled into Winnie Mandela's Soweto home whilst she was under house arrest, both wedding and funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, and memorable encounters with Julie Andrews, Margaret Thatcher, Bette Davis and a very angry Conservative Party Chairman. Producers: Ellie Clifford and David Prest A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4. |
| A Dog's Life | 20091219 | 20091221 | ![]() Peter White examines the changing role of the working dog. To mark the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, BBC Disability Affairs Correspondent Peter White examines the changing role of the working dog, from the early 1900s to their role in today's society, using extensive and sometimes previously unbroadcast archive. Perennially 'man's best friend', dogs are also now man's best colleague. From guide dogs to guard dogs, hearing dogs to healing dogs, Peter examines the ways in which we have become so dependent on canines. Over the years we have progressed from guide dogs to dual purpose dogs, to dogs that can detect imminent epileptic fits, smuggled drugs and explosive devices - even dogs that can do your washing. The programme features a mix of historical material, new interviews and previously untransmitted archive of the trainers, the owners and those that place their lives in the paws of their dogs. Perennially 'man's best friend', dogs are also now man's best colleague. From guide dogs to guard dogs, hearing dogs to healing dogs, Peter examines the ways in which we have become so dependent on canines. Over the years we have progressed from guide dogs to dual purpose dogs, to dogs that can detect imminent epileptic fits, smuggled drugs and explosive devices - even dogs that can do your washing. |
| A Girl's Own Story | 20141115 | | The history of youth culture, whether described by the mainstream press, academia or in films and novels, has most often been written by middle aged men and focused on the experience of young men. Young women and teenage girls typically have to be satisfied with walk on parts as the love interest for the main male protagonists, or as passive consumers of pop culture, or as possible victims of the latest media scare story. Teenage boys who become part of subcultures - whether mods, teddy boys, rockers or ravers - have had a very visible presence both in the streets and on the front pages; by comparison girls have remained largely unseen and unheard. Now, however, the internet has created a revolution in the place of young women in our culture, granting millions of them the chance to represent themselves to the world in all sorts of ways that Ruby Tandoh argues are both tremendously exciting and profoundly empowering. She'll look back at the development of the place of girls in youth culture over the decades, examining the importance of the private space of the bedroom in providing a crucible in which identities are actively formed, and find out about those young women in movements like punk and Riot Grrrl who blazed a trail for today's girls as they take the reins of cultural production through their vlogs, blogs and zines. Most importantly Ruby will meet some of those at the forefront of the current revolution describing the success of their various online projects, whether in fashion, photography, literature, lifestyle or politics - and talk with ordinary girls to hear first hand accounts of lives lived as young women today. NB Interviewees include Fabiola Ching, 17 year old editor at Coalition zine; Gabi from GabiFresh.com; Eleanor Hardwick, staff photographer at Rookie Mag; sixth form girls at a Coventry school; Pauline Black, lead singer of The Selecter, and former Riot Grrrl Olivia Laing. Archive dates back to the 1920s and comes up to date with more recent interviews featuring Caitlin Moran and Beth Reekles, whose secured a major publishing deal after her novel 'The Kissing Booth' received over 19 million reads. |
| A Guide To The Modern Snob | 20160604 | 20171118
20171118 (R4) |  Writer DJ Taylor creates a user's guide to the snob for the 21st century. It's 170 years since William Makepeace Thackeray wrote his gazetteer of early Victorian social life, The Book of Snobs. Most of our views on snobbery come from this single text. Now, writer DJ Taylor wants to update this user's guide to the snob for the 21st century. He is joined in his search for the modern snob by snobs and snob observers from all walks of life, as well as by voices from the archive. From the Raj to reality TV, from Westminster to the gentlemen's outfitters of Savile Row, Taylor argues that, at bottom, most of us are snobs and that snobbery is an essential part of the face we offer to the world. Comedian Al Murray explores the role of snobbery as a comedic device, from Fawlty Towers to his own Pub Landlord. Jess Phillips MP reveals the snobberies of Parliament - and says we would all benefit if the Palace of Westminster was mothballed and replaced with a more up-to-date institution. And, with broadcaster and self-professed beer snob Hardeep Singh Kohli, Taylor asks why more and more people are using snobbery as a marker of identity, a badge of pride. Produced by Hannah Marshall A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4. |
| A Hack's Progress | 20180707 | 20191220 (R4) | Journalist and author Jonathan Freedland looks at how journalists and newspapers have been depicted in fiction from the advent of the mass popular press to the present day, examining the changing public image of the fourth estate and its practitioners. Why did Edwardian novelists portray journalists as swashbuckling, truth-seeking heroes, but post-WW2 depictions present them as an alienated outsider? Why are contemporary fictional journalists often deranged, murderous or intensely vulnerable? Jonathan considers how journalists have been represented in various distinct periods of the 20th century, explaining why the representations vary so widely. Crucially, this is a history of the press, told not by historians and sociologists, but by journalists and the creators of fiction themselves. In uncovering many forgotten fictions, Jonathan explores the bare-knuckled literary combat conducted by writers contesting the disputed boundaries between literature and journalism. The contributors include Simon Jenkins, Kelvin McKenzie, Francine Stock, Hadley Freeman, and S Town producer Brian Reed. Produced by Sean Glynn and David Waters An SPG production for BBC Radio 4. Jonathan Freedland tells the story of journalism as depicted in fiction. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives An SPG production for BBC Radio 4. |
| A History Of The N-word | 20140621 | |  There are some words in English that are so controversial that they are shortened to a single letter lest they cause offence. Perhaps the most inflammatory is the N-word. The proxy barely disguises the racial insult, "nigger", which has topped lists of ugly and hateful words since it was first uttered in the seventeenth century. It has regularly wounded black people, its target, down the ages. When, for instance, the African American boxer, Muhammad Ali, was asked why he resisted the draft in the Vietnam War, he is alleged to have said: "No Vietnamese ever called me nigger. Ellah Allfrey looks at its evolution from its origins as a mispronunciation of the Spanish "negro" in the 17th century. She illuminates how and why the capitalised "Negro" became the more acceptable version of the word in the 1920s (the landmark adoption of Negro by the New York Times was in 1930); through to the subsequent re-appropriation of the N word in rap and hip-hop culture. But even when coming from the mouths of black people the N word continues to cause offence. There have been calls for the word to be banned. But is this possible or desirable? |
| A History Of The Stiff Upper Lip | 20120519 | 20131123
20161217 (BBC7)
20161218 (BBC7) |  Louisa Foxe reveals the changing British attitude towards the expression of emotion. Emotion is no longer private. Whether a marital collapse on reality TV or real-time twitter updates on the progress of an abortion, emotions are hung out there for all to witness. Whatever element of self-restraint may exist in our cultural DNA, it's increasingly under siege. We've come a long way from when the ruling classes saw reticence and fair play as virtues uniquely their own and lamented 'the emotionally-uncontrolled and latently-violent working class'; when English public schools were created specifically to educate boys into showing submission, courtesy and devotion to their superiors; and when there lurked a real fear of the working class 'losing control', rebelling, and giving rise to anarchy. Louisa Foxe goes on a journey through the archives - sometimes horrifying or amusing, always revealing and perceptive - and reveals how and why the British attitudes towards the expression of emotion have changed; how the nation has swung in and out of its penchant for repression over 600 years; and how that first Victorian stiff upper lip, far from being entrenched, was actually the product of post-Romantic pragmatism, anxiety about manliness and colonial necessity. Taking their toll on the stiff upper lip, Louisa argues, have been two world wars, the socialist project, the rise of therapy culture, and the demise of the aristocracy's moral influence. The results? Exclusively positive, some would say. But archive from World War One to Princess Diana, and interviewees including Frank Furedi, Ralph Fiennes, David Starkey, Andrew Motion, Peter Hitchens, and Thomas Dixon suggest that results are mixed at best and that we haven't changed as much as we believe. Producer: David Coomes A CTVC Production for BBC Radio 4. |
| A Laureate's Legacy - The Poetry Archive | 20090516 | 20090518
20091225 (r4) | Andrew Motion explores and tells the story of the proudest legacy of his time as Poet Laureate, The Poetry Archive - hundreds of poems, read by their authors and all available online, free to everyone. Motion began the Archive in 1999 with sound producer Richard Carrington, and it is still growing in size. It includes contemporary poets reading their work, including Seamus Heaney, UA Fanthorpe and Jackie Kay and historic recordings by poets including Hilaire Belloc, Siegfried Sassoon, WB Yeats and even Tennyson and Browning. As well as the poems there are sections for children and teachers, interviews with poets, poets in residence and useful information about genres, forms and metres. If you want to know what an anapaest is, or a pantoum, the Poetry Archive can help. Motion and Carrington talk about why they created the archive, and state that there is more to it than simply preserving poets reading their work. Motion develops his theme that poetry is primarily an aural art, and what this reveals. The poet's voice is fundamental: the windswept moor is in the voice of Ted Hughes; Charles Causley's Cornish accent and dialect are important. The sound of a poem is an aspect of its meaning. At the recording session when Carol Ann Duffy reads her book Rapture for the archive, Richard Carrington speaks about his role: not to coax a performance so much as to help the poets to be themselves. Andrew Motion and Richard Carrington lead us around the archive, playing gems that we might otherwise have missed. They talk, too, about what is missing, and appeal to people who might have recordings. For example, they do not know how Thomas Hardy, AE Housman and DH Lawrence sounded because as far as we know they never made recordings. But they might have, and one day they might turn up. Andrew Motion tells the story of the proudest legacy of his time as Poet Laureate. b00kc071Andrew Motion explores and tells the story of the proudest legacy of his time as Poet Laureate, The Poetry Archive - hundreds of poems, read by their authors and all available online, free to everyone. Motion's stint as Poet Laureate ended with predictable discussions about his successor and what he did or didn't do. But the lasting legacy of his laureateship and the great achievement of his tenure is his creation, with sound producer Richard Carrington, of the remarkable online Poetry Archive, begun in 1999 and growing. It includes contemporary poets reading their work, including Seamus Heaney, UA Fanthorpe and Jackie Kay and historic recordings by poets including Hilaire Belloc, Siegfried Sassoon, WB Yeats and even Tennyson and Browning. At the recording session when Carol Ann Duffy reads her book Rapture for the archive, Richard Carrington speaks about his role: not to coax a performance so much as to help the poets to be themselves. Andrew Motion and Richard Carrington lead us around the archive, playing gems that we might otherwise have missed. For example, they do not know how Thomas Hardy, AE Housman and DH Lawrence sounded because as far as we know they never made recordings. |
| A Laureate's Legacy - The Poetry Archive | 20090516 | 20091225 | Andrew Motion explores and tells the story of the proudest legacy of his time as Poet Laureate, The Poetry Archive - hundreds of poems, read by their authors and all available online, free to everyone. Motion began the Archive in 1999 with sound producer Richard Carrington, and it is still growing in size. It includes contemporary poets reading their work, including Seamus Heaney, UA Fanthorpe and Jackie Kay and historic recordings by poets including Hilaire Belloc, Siegfried Sassoon, WB Yeats and even Tennyson and Browning. As well as the poems there are sections for children and teachers, interviews with poets, poets in residence and useful information about genres, forms and metres. If you want to know what an anapaest is, or a pantoum, the Poetry Archive can help. Motion and Carrington talk about why they created the archive, and state that there is more to it than simply preserving poets reading their work. Motion develops his theme that poetry is primarily an aural art, and what this reveals. The poet's voice is fundamental: the windswept moor is in the voice of Ted Hughes; Charles Causley's Cornish accent and dialect are important. The sound of a poem is an aspect of its meaning. At the recording session when Carol Ann Duffy reads her book Rapture for the archive, Richard Carrington speaks about his role: not to coax a performance so much as to help the poets to be themselves. Andrew Motion and Richard Carrington lead us around the archive, playing gems that we might otherwise have missed. They talk, too, about what is missing, and appeal to people who might have recordings. For example, they do not know how Thomas Hardy, AE Housman and DH Lawrence sounded because as far as we know they never made recordings. But they might have, and one day they might turn up. Andrew Motion tells the story of the proudest legacy of his time as Poet Laureate. Motion's stint as Poet Laureate ended with predictable discussions about his successor and what he did or didn't do. But the lasting legacy of his laureateship and the great achievement of his tenure is his creation, with sound producer Richard Carrington, of the remarkable online Poetry Archive, begun in 1999 and growing. It includes contemporary poets reading their work, including Seamus Heaney, UA Fanthorpe and Jackie Kay and historic recordings by poets including Hilaire Belloc, Siegfried Sassoon, WB Yeats and even Tennyson and Browning. As well as the poems there are sections for children and teachers, interviews with poets, poets in residence and useful information about genres, forms and metres. If you want to know what an anapaest is, or a pantoum, the Poetry Archive can help. |
| A Media Divided | 20201009 | | Michael Goldfarb looks at how eliminating a simple broadcast regulation in the United States, The Fairness Doctrine, led to the birth of right-wing talk radio, Fox News, political polarisation, and the rise of Donald Trump. He explores whether the First Amendment, with its guarantees of free speech and a free press, can survive the polarisation fed and watered by unrestrained partisan fake news. A Certain Height production for BBC Radio 4 The end of the Fairness Doctrine and the rise of political polarisation in US broadcasting A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives |
| A Mystery In The Village | 20110212 | 20110214
20110214 (R4) |  On 5 June 1981 the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report in Atlanta published the mysterious deaths of 5 young gay men in LA from a rare pneumonia. A link was made with similar deaths from a rare cancer in New York. This was the start of an epidemic: AIDS. Simon Garfield, who has written about the epidemic since the 1980s, unravels the earliest clues and follows the trail from America to the UK and the largest ever peace-time public health education campaign. AIDS was first reported in the UK in December 1981, but the government response was slow. The gay community - still enjoying the freedoms won with the de-criminalisation of homosexuality in 1967 - looked after its own. The Terence Higgins Trust was formed after one of the earliest AIDS deaths in 1982, and Gay Switchboard promulgated 'safer sex'. In 1984 a test for the newly-discovered virus, HIV, became available. By December 1984 two heterosexuals had died of AIDS in the UK - both haemophiliacs who had been given contaminated blood products. With the spread to intravenous drug users, it became obvious that the UK was following the same pattern as the US, where cases were doubling every 6-8 months. Something had to be done. Secretary of State for Health, Norman Fowler, launched an information campaign in November 1986. TV adverts featured tombstones and icebergs, and leaflets dropped though 23 million letterboxes. Thirty years after the start of AIDS, Simon Garfield reviews the early years, hearing from Norman, now Lord, Fowler, Lisa Power of THT, Professor Anthony Pinching - an immunologist who was an early expert on AIDS, and Jonathan Grimshaw - diagnosed with HIV in 1984 and founder of Body Positive. Producer: Marya Burgess. Simon Garfield traces the story of AIDS from 5 mysterious deaths in LA to the UK epidemic. Simon Garfield, who has written about the epidemic since the 1980s, unravels the earliest clues and follows the trail from America to the UK and the largest ever peace-time public health education campaign. |
| A Natural History Of The Banker | 20161022 | |  Andrew Ross Sorkin traces the reputation of UK and USA bankers through history. New York Times financial journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin criss-crosses the Atlantic to trace the troubled reputation of bankers over the centuries, in the UK and the USA. With the global economy still recovering from the crash of 2008, the reputation of high finance often appears to be at an all time low. Banks and the people who run them are a common target of scorn both in pop culture and political debate. The world's masters of money have been brought low - and in full public view. But is banker-bashing really a new phenomenon, or do its roots actually run far deeper? Andrew Ross Sorkin - author of Too Big to Fail and co-creator of the TV show Billions - traces the reputation of bankers, from the mysterious stockbrokers of late 17th century London to the shock crashes of 1929 and 2008 and the success of films such as Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street. He asks if we have always been ambivalent about the financial world and those who make it tick. Featuring economist J K Galbraith, financier Charlie Munger, director Oliver Stone, anthropologist Karen Ho and historian Lucy Inglis. Produced by Alice Bloch and Victoria Shepherd. A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4. |
| A New Life In Europe Revisited | 20170429 | |  In the spring of 2015 the Dhnie family embarked on the perilous journey to Europe. They risked their lives in rubber boats and got caught up in riots at border crossings, they slept rough, ran out of money and regularly asked themselves 'Is it worth it?' In this programme the family answer that question. Award-winning journalist Manveen Rana, who accompanied the Dhnie's over the many months during which they made their way to Europe, visits them in Germany to re-live key moments of their journey, and to find out what's happened to them since. She plays back to them the recordings she made with them, an emotional and compelling soundtrack which became a powerful and multi award-winning documentary and ongoing podcast series for The World At One. As events are replayed Manveen gathers the family's response to them, eighteen months on. In this intimate and personal programme, Manveen reveals who has prospered and why some of the family bitterly regret the decision to seek a new life in Europe. Producer: Dixi Stewart. A family of Syrian migrants relive their perilous journey to seek a new life in Europe. In this programme the family answer that question. Award-winning journalist Manveen Rana, who accompanied the Dhnie's over the many months during which they made their way to Europe, visits them in Germany to re-live key moments of their journey, and to find out what's happened to them since. She plays back to them the recordings she made with them, an emotional and compelling soundtrack which became a powerful and multi award-winning documentary. As events are replayed Manveen gathers the family's response to them, two years on. Producer: Dixi Stewart. |
| A Night To Remember | 20100417 | 20100419 | ![]() Anthony Howard celebrates 60 years of election results broadcasting on TV. Election nights have always been full of high drama but it wasn't until 1950 that we began to see in all its brutal glory, exactly what effect our verdict can really have on our politicians. 60 years ago, the BBC tentatively embarked upon its very first televised coverage of British General Election results. It helped to shine a light on the personalities of the powerful and made major stars of some quite unlikely political anoraks, academics and journalists. Political commentator Anthony Howard reflects on the highs and lows of election nights over the years as he replays some magic moments and finds out from some of the major players what it was like to be at the centre of history in the making. Archive of legendary presenters like Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day and Alistair Burnett is mixed with classic excerpts of some of the great political characters of election nights past. Anthony Howard himself has been appearing on TV election night specials for more than four decades and he reflects on his first appearance alongside a very young Nigel Lawson (then a journalist himself) in 1964. A Night to Remember looks at how each election would bring ever more dramatic theme tunes and more and more sophisticated graphics. Peter Snow looks at how the swingometer became a regular feature while Sue Lawley reveals how she was once accused of stealing it! And then there's the cock ups and quirky moments, from Richard Dimbleby being forced to prove he's not wearing pyjamas to the break in proceedings in the mid 60s for the all-male BBC team to admire the young ladies in the studio. 60 years ago, the BBC tentatively embarked upon its very first televised coverage of British General Election results. It helped to shine a light on the personalities of the powerful and made major stars of some quite unlikely political anoraks, academics and journalists. A Night to Remember looks at how each election would bring ever more dramatic theme tunes and more and more sophisticated graphics. Peter Snow looks at how the swingometer became a regular feature while Sue Lawley reveals how she was once accused of stealing it! |
| A Night With Prince | 20210417 | | To mark the fifth anniversary of Prince's passing, US music critic and broadcaster Ann Powers presents a tribute framed around a night she spent with the star in 2008. This was a night for hanging out in the star's mansion in Beverly Park (which had ‘the European opulence of an upscale spa'), for meeting his protege and girlfriend Bria Valente, and for listening to tracks in Prince's limo, a local club – even his bedroom. Contributors include keyboard player Doctor Fink, sound engineer Susan Rogers, biographer Dan Piepenbring who was working on Prince's memoir just before he died, and Kristin Scott Thomas whose first ever film role was in the Prince directed Under The Cherry Moon. A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4 Music critic Ann Powers reflects on time spent with Prince in his Hollywood mansion. |
| A Question Of Character | 20180922 | | Could teaching virtues such as honesty, self-control, fairness, resilience and respect actually solve the challenges facing society today? The benefits of having a strong character and solid moral compass have always been a particularly British obsession. Brits were the sort of people who knew both how to survive the blitz and queue politely. We may have been confident in our moral fibre in the days of British Imperialism and the stiff upper lip required for two world wars. But in the post-war shift towards a less constrained and judgemental society 'character talk' dropped out of public discourse, except when considering someone's suitability for office. The Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues has been conducting the most extensive research ever undertaken into moral virtues among UK schoolchildren. It would appear they are scoring lower on some traditional values when faced with a series of moral dilemmas. But it also seems that young people are increasingly concerned about how they are viewed. We hear from Professor James Arthur a leading expert on character education who has studied how best to teach character and has advised Governments about policies to do so. It would appear Character is back... Drawing from the riches of the BBC archive we find out if this apparent decline is responsible for many of the recent societal ills, and it would appear that parents have a share in the blame! Toby Young during his time on Vanity Fair in New York succeeded in rubbing everyone up the wrong way with his abrasive character. It resulted in his book and then the film 'how to lose Friends and Alienate People'. Recently he's also had to deal with his own character coming under public scrutiny. Of course adults think that standards and moral values are worse in the younger generation. This has been the thinking since the dawn of time. But are we right to be pessimistic? Toby also delves into the nature v nurture debate and asks Behaviour Geneticist Professor Robert Plomin how much of our character is down to our genes A school in Birmingham has joined up with a leading research university to demonstrate how character education can be taught as well caught. In new recordings, Toby visits the University of Birmingham School, where competition is fierce with around 1900 applications for 150 places. A lively and provocative journey into character cut through with historic insight. Toby Young explores the history of the idea that 'character' can be taught. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives A lively and provocative journey into character cut through with historic insight. |
| A Saga Of Trying (and Failing) To Save The Planet | 20190601 | | As a palaeontologist, Professor Alice Roberts knows a lot about mass extinctions. As part of Radio 4's 'Costing the Earth' team, she's also heard a lot about the many potential solutions to our current planetary predicament. Some are already proven: we know what we have to do to de-carbonise so why are we still rushing towards the environmental apocalypse faster than Elon Musk's low carbon Hyperloop transporter AKA the ‘barf ride'? To find out how best we get to zero carbon nirvana, Alice looks back at which great green plans have worked and which remain in the lab. What has really changed in the 40 years since 'climate change' began to be discussed by world leaders, and can the environmental archive tell us what we need to do about it? Alongside some of the serious and real achievements such as fewer plastic bags, incredible advances in renewable energy and electric cars which work, Alice explores some of the more radical ideas in the archive. Why, in the future, might we stop having pets or multiple children? For the answer we can delve back to 'Costing the Earth' in 2010. To keep emissions below 2 degrees we might be eating insects, riding around in airships or holidaying on cruise ships propelled by kite. Or we might have finally figured out how to make carbon capture and storage economical, cracked the fusion power conundrum and found a way to make our waste work for us. By looking back at campaigns and ideas which have really worked, Alice hopes to find some suggestions for how we should proceed before it's too late. Professor Alice Roberts delves into the archives to find out how to save planet earth. |
| A Spy In Every Embassy | 20210515 | | “The intelligence coup of the century.” The extraordinary story of the longest running and most successful secret intelligence operation of the 20th Century. For more than half a century, governments all over the world trusted a single company, Swiss-based Crypto AG, to keep the communications of their spies, soldiers and diplomats secret. But what none of its customers ever knew was that Crypto AG was owned for over 20 Cold War years by the CIA in partnership with the BND, the German Intelligence Service. The machines that many customers bought had deliberately weakened security – a window through which the CIA and BND could read the diplomatic traffic between their embassies, their trade negotiators and their own spies. The BND sold out its share in 1993 for a tidy profit while the CIA continued until the company was broken up in 2018. Crypto AG's own secret was only cracked last year in a combined investigation by German ZDF television, Swiss SRF and the Washington Post following the discovery of a secret history, Operation Rubicon, that had been assembled by some of the operatives who had been involved in the deception. A Spy in Every Embassy is the story of the story, presented by German intelligence journalist Peter F Muller, who produced last year's television programme for ZDF, and British journalist David Ridd. It gives the chronology of the manoeuvrings, arguments, successes and deceptions of the partnership that remained secret for a quarter of a century. Its revelations offer a new perspective on some of the landmark events of those decades - the Falklands War, the US bombing of Libya from British airfields, the negotiations that lead to the Camp David Accords and the Iranian Hostage crisis, as well as the daily churn of intelligence information from around the world about both friends and opponents. The programme considers the collateral damage of deception on a grand scale. Most employees of Crypto AG knew nothing of the built in weaknesses of the machinery they were building or trying to sell to governments in some very dangerous parts of the world. Produced by John Forsyth Assistant Producer: Alexandra Quinn A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4 Extracts read by Lanna Joffrey, Annette Kossow, Blanca Belenguer, Mike Christofferson and Thilo Buergel. Archive by kind permission of ZDF Television, Crypto Museum, Harry S Truman Library, National Security Agency Archive and Bletchley Park podcast. The Swiss spy machine company secretly owned by the CIA and German BND. |
| A Strong Song Tows Us - Another History Of English Poetry | 20090228 | 20090302 | Lee Hall discovers an alternative poetry tradition as the preserve of ordinary people. Lee Hall, writer of Billy Elliot and The Pitmen Painters, uncovers a hidden history of English poetry. Stretching back to the Dark Ages and emerging in 1960s Newcastle, Lee reveals an alternative tradition of English poetry as the preserve of ordinary working people. Sunderland cork cutters, shipyard workers and pit men encounter Walt Whitman, Allen Ginsberg and Ezra Pound. And how a meeting between a 16-year-old schoolboy and one of the great modernists of English literature, Basil Bunting, contributed to the flowering of the north east as an international destination for the whole Beatnik generation. Lee Hall, writer of Billy Elliot and The Pitmen Painters, uncovers a hidden history of English poetry. Stretching back to the Dark Ages and emerging in 1960s Newcastle, Lee reveals an alternative tradition of English poetry as the preserve of ordinary working people. Sunderland cork cutters, shipyard workers and pit men encounter Walt Whitman, Allen Ginsberg and Ezra Pound. And how a meeting between a 16-year-old schoolboy and one of the great modernists of English literature, Basil Bunting, contributed to the flowering of the north east as an international destination for the whole Beatnik generation. |
| A Sympathetic Eye | 20151114 | 20190615 (BBC7)
20190616 (BBC7) |  Welcome to the 1960s and the earliest days of a new TV channel, BBC2, determined to explore the ordinary and extraordinary fringes of a rapidly changing society. With its new documentary strand Man Alive, it set out to bring human affairs, not current affairs to our TV sets, with all the candour and emotion that statement promised. In this programme, Simon Farquhar examines how TV, social hierarchies and norms were rapidly evolving in front of our eyes. As the generation gap yawned, class divisions became blurred, traditional relations between men and women were challenged, and questions were asked about attitudes to sex and sexuality, Man Alive documented it all with a sympathetic eye and its trademark question: How do you feel? Contributors include Sir David Attenborough, Dame Esther Rantzen, Twiggy, David McGillivray, Vivienne Barton and Dr Jill Singer. Producer: Adam Bowen. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015. Simon Farquhar examines how Man Alive reflected changing TV and social values in the 1960s Welcome to the Sixties and the earliest days of a new television channel, BBC2, determined to explore the ordinary and extraordinary fringes of a rapidly changing society. With its new documentary strand Man Alive, it set out to bring "human affairs, not current affairs" to our TV sets, with all the candour and emotion that statement promised. In this programme Simon Farquhar examines how television, social hierarchies and norms were rapidly evolving in front of our eyes. |
| A Tibetan Odyssey: 50 Years In Exile | 20090307 | 20090309 | On the 50th anniversary of the 1959 uprising in Tibet, Isabel Hilton hears the stories of Tibetan communities in exile. The Dalai Lama, as well as refugees in India and Britain, recount their personal experiences and discuss their hopes for the future. Isabel reflects on the journey made by the Dalai Lama's followers over the last 50 years and considers the challenges for these displaced people as they strive to preserve their culture and regain their autonomy. She speaks to the Dalai Lama, as well as refugees in India and Britain, who recount their personal tales and discuss their hopes for the future. She speaks to the Dalai Lama, as well as refugees in India and Britain, who recount their personal tales and discuss their hopes for the future. Isabel reflects on the journey made by the Dalai Lama's followers over the last 50 years and considers the challenges for these displaced people as they strive to preserve their culture and regain their autonomy. |
| A Tribute To Robert Robinson | 20110820 | 20110831
20140920 (BBC7)
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20160416 (BBC7)
20160417 (BBC7) |  We all know Robert Robinson as the chairman of such broadcasting classics as Ask the Family and Brain of Britain but in a career spanning many decades, he also made travel programmes, Points of View, the Today programme and Stop the Week which ran on Radio 4 from 1974 to 1992. In Archive on 4: A Tribute to Robert Robinson, Laurie Taylor takes a look at the life and work of one of Britain's broadcasting legends in the company of some of the former contributors to Stop the Week; Ann Leslie, Matthew Parris, Sarah Harrison and Nick Tucker. There are also contributions from Will Wyatt, Victor Lewis-Smith and Hunter Davis and a wealth of archive that reveals a complex man, a consummate wordsmith and one of the first TV celebrities. Laurie Taylor takes a look at the life and work of one of Britain's broadcasting legends. We all know Robert Robinson as the chairman of such broadcasting classics as Ask the Family and Brain of Britain but in a career spanning many decades, he also made travel programmes, Points of View, the Today programme and Stop the Week which ran on Radio 4 from 1974 to 1992. In Archive on 4: A Tribute to Robert Robinson, Laurie Taylor takes a look at the life and work of one of Britain's broadcasting legends in the company of some of the former contributors to Stop the Week; Ann Leslie, Matthew Parris, Sarah Harrison and Nick Tucker. There are also contributions from Will Wyatt, Victor Lewis-Smith and Hunter Davis and a wealth of archive that reveals a complex man, a consummate wordsmith and one of the first TV celebrities. |
| A Tribute To Robert Robinson | 20110828 | 20160416 (BBC7)
20160417 (BBC7) | Laurie Taylor takes a look at the life and work of one of Britain's broadcasting legends. |
| A Working-class Tory Is Something To Be | 20101002 | 20101004 |  David Davis explores the history of a crucial political group: the working-class Tories. David Davis MP delves into the BBC sound archive to explore the history of a crucial political group: the working-class Tories. Ever since British mass democracy began, the working-class vote has played a crucial part in returning the Conservative Party to power. And yet, for many years, there was barely a handful of working-class Conservative MPs in Parliament. But the rise of the working class Tory culminated by the 1980s with the central presence in the Thatcher Cabinet of Norman Tebbit, and the introduction of such policies as council house sales. Edward Heath, Margaret Thatcher and John Major all came from 'humble' backgrounds, in stark contrast to their aristocratic predecessors. So where is the working-class Tory today? On the one hand, Britain appears to some a much less hierarchical society. On the other, we have our first Etonian Tory PM in almost half a century. David Davis is a Tory from a working-class background - and is the man Cameron beat in 2005 for the Party leadership. In this programme, he explores the rise and fate of the working-class Tories, as charted in the BBC sound archive. And he talks to former and current working-class Tory Cabinet Ministers like Lord Tebbit, Conservative Party Chairman Baroness Warsi, and Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. He discovers why, in Oldham in 1899, one of Britain's toughest trade union leaders ran alongside Winston Churchill as a Tory candidate. Davis listens to a rare interview with Edith Pitt, a young Birmingham woman who left school at 13, became a Conservative during the Depression of the 1930s, and went on to serve in Government. And he explores the attitudes of senior Tories to the '30s hunger marchers - of whom his grandfather was one. And how the Depression shaped the politics of future Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, many of whose Geordie voters were working-class. But he also examines the crucial divide at the heart of working-class Toryism. Macmillan's supporters backed him as a wealthy man who knew how to run things. But there was another kind of working-class Tory, driven more by aspiration than deference. Davis discovers how Norman Tebbit, who himself grew up poor in the 1930s, considered Macmillan a failure as Prime Minister. And how, when the upwardly mobile Tebbit became a Cabinet Minister, he found Macmillan disparaging him as a Cockney interloper in the party elite. And he rediscovers Reginald Bevins, a Liverpudlian of 'modest' background who left Labour to join the Tories and ended up in Cabinet under Macmillan. He watches an interview in which Bevins recounts his despair at the choice of the aristocratic Alec Douglas-Home as Macmillan's successor. Two of the great comic creations of the 1960s - Albert Steptoe and Alf Garnett - were defiant working-class Tories. With historian Dominic Sandbrook, Davis watches episodes of 'Steptoe and Son' and 'Till Death Us Do Part' to unpick how the working-class Tory was seen in the age of Harold Wilson. He explores how the appeal of Tory Enoch Powell to Labour voting dockers complicated the picture in the early 1970s. And how all this looked from Europe. And he asks Lord Tebbit, Eric Pickles, Baroness Warsi, election expert John Curtice and former Tony Blair speech-writer Philip Collins, who comes from a family of working-class Tories, what part they think this durable tribe now plays in Cameron's Britain. With: Philip Collins, John Curtice, Juliet Gardiner, Ross McKibbin, Eric Pickles, Martin Pugh, Dominic Sandbrook, Lord Tebbit, Baroness Warsi. PRESENTER: David Davis was born in 1948 to a single mother, and was brought up on a council estate in south London. He was adopted by a Polish Jewish print-worker with strong trade union links; his grandfather was a committed Communist. He attended state school and Warwick University, and was the National Chairman of the Federation of Conservative Students. He became a Tory MP in 1987, and was Shadow Home Secretary from 2003 to 2008. PRODUCER - PHIL TINLINE. So where is the working-class Tory today? On the one hand, Britain appears to some a much less hierarchical society. On the other, we have our first Etonian Tory PM in almost half a century. David Davis is a Tory from a working-class background - and is the man Cameron beat in 2005 for the Party leadership. In this programme, he explores the rise and fate of the working-class Tories, as charted in the BBC sound archive. And he explores the attitudes of senior Tories to the '30s hunger marchers - of whom his grandfather was one. And how the Depression shaped the politics of future Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, many of whose Geordie voters were working-class. But he also examines the crucial divide at the heart of working-class Toryism. Macmillan's supporters backed him as a wealthy man who knew how to run things. But there was another kind of working-class Tory, driven more by aspiration than deference. Davis discovers how Norman Tebbit, who himself grew up poor in the 1930s, considered Macmillan a failure as Prime Minister. And how, when the upwardly mobile Tebbit became a Cabinet Minister, he found Macmillan disparaging him as a Cockney interloper in the party elite. And he rediscovers Reginald Bevins, a Liverpudlian of 'modest' background who left Labour to join the Tories and ended up in Cabinet under Macmillan. He watches an interview in which Bevins recounts his despair at the choice of the aristocratic Alec Douglas-Home as Macmillan's successor. Two of the great comic creations of the 1960s - Albert Steptoe and Alf Garnett - were defiant working-class Tories. With historian Dominic Sandbrook, Davis watches episodes of 'Steptoe and Son' and 'Till Death Us Do Part' to unpick how the working-class Tory was seen in the age of Harold Wilson. He explores how the appeal of Tory Enoch Powell to Labour voting dockers complicated the picture in the early 1970s. And how all this looked from Europe. David Davis was born in 1948 to a single mother, and was brought up on a council estate in south London. He was adopted by a Polish Jewish print-worker with strong trade union links; his grandfather was a committed Communist. He attended state school and Warwick University, and was the National Chairman of the Federation of Conservative Students. He became a Tory MP in 1987, and was Shadow Home Secretary from 2003 to 2008. ![]()
Adventures In Alienation 20150523 For most of us, having to leave home, at least once in our lives, is inevitable, necessary and not unwelcome. The idea of modern, secular homelessness is banal, in contrast to the imposed exile that so many are obliged to endure. The writer Amit Chaudhuri left India for England as part of his journey to becArchive On 4 20171125 Writer Amit Chaudhuri explores the idea of exile and modern, secular homelessness. The writer Amit Chaudhuri left India for England as part of his journey to becoming a writer. He resists the labels of exile or emigre or immigrant. Through these 'Adventures in Alienation', he encounters the experiences of others - among them Kirsty Gunn, James Wood and voices from the BBC Sound Archive - and examines his own understanding of what it means not to belong. Produced by Rachel Hooper. A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4. |
| A Writer And His Country - John Le Carre Across Six Decades | 20210403 | | Writer, spy, outsider, insider, neighbour, friend. Who was the real John le Carré and what does his writing tell us about him and his country? In this edition of Archive on 4, John le Carré's friend and fellow writer Philippe Sands pieces together the inner life of a beloved chronicler of postwar Britain. Using archive interviews with le Carré and new interviews with his editors and one of his sons, Philippe Sands charts le Carré's shifting sense of identity, and his relationship with Britain. Producer Caroline Bayley Sound Engineer James Beard Editor Jasper Corbett Who was the real John le Carr\u00e9 and what was his relationship with his country, Britain? Writer, spy, outsider, insider, neighbour, friend. Who was the real John Le Carre and what does his writing tell us about him and his country? In this edition of Archive on 4, John Le Carre's friend and fellow writer Philippe Sands pieces together the inner life of a beloved chronicler of postwar Britain. Using archive interviews with Le Carre and new interviews with his editors and one of his sons, Philippe Sands charts Le Carre's shifting sense of identity, and his relationship with Britain. Who was the real John Le Carre, and what was his relationship with his country, Britain? |
| A Year On The Nhs Frontline | 20210327 | 20210404 (R4) | Dr John Wright began recording for the BBC on March 16th, the day of the Prime Minister's first address to the nation on the pandemic: Winifred Robinson presents his audio diaries. This special edition of Archive on 4 uses those past recordings and also hears from medical teams on duty today at the Bradford Royal Infirmary as they reflect on the last twelve months. With the vaccination program well underway there is cause for optimism, but patients are still being treated on the covid wards and there are many people needing ongoing treatment for long covid. The series enjoyed unparalleled access at a time when so little was known and people were anxious for information: hospitals were shut to visitors and no other media access had been granted. Dr Wright, a veteran of cholera, HIV and Ebola epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa, managed to capture the emotions, sacrifices and inventiveness of his colleagues: his diaries went out on Radio 4 and the World Service and he also wrote weekly accounts for BBC News Online. A few weeks into the pandemic other journalists and photographers gained access to hospitals, but even then this series was often ahead of the curve. Dr Wright carried his recorder everywhere as he helped lead the response at his hospital, the Bradford Royal Infirmary. His colleagues became known to audiences as they battled exhaustion, infection, and coped with their own bereavements. The hospital played a leading role in national trials which helped bring new treatments into use. This was a time of fear and lockdown created the conditions for rumours and fake news to spread. Dr Wright skilfully navigated the need to inform and educate and conveyed the reality faced by NHS staff. The volume of his output at a time when he and his colleagues were under remarkable strain was remarkable: achieved by carrying his little recorder everywhere, and always keeping it sealed as he went onto the covid wards. The pandemic quickly changed every aspect of hospital life, from new ICU wards to the widespread use of CPAP machines. At the start, Dr Wright was unsure about making this kind of commitment to programme making but one year on he is glad that this important public record exists. He had overseen the response to other infectious diseases elsewhere in the world, Ebola for example and HIV, but nothing had quite prepared him for what was happening in his own hospital: We began this pandemic year knowing so little, and now we have learnt so much. We have learnt about our deep reserves of bravery and compassion in NHS and care staff. We have learnt about the remarkable kindness and generosity and the strength in our communities. We have learnt about the power of science and research to develop effective treatments and vaccines. We have also learnt how unequal the pandemic has affected our country. It is the oldest have died in the greatest numbers and the poorest who have suffered the most. There will be a long shadow from the pandemic as the virus bursts back into flame in the coming months and the economic consequences are felt. Produced by Sue Mitchell Presented by Winifred Robinson Dr John Wright shares recordings made over the last year on the covid wards in Bradford. |
| Adventures In Alienation | 20150523 | 20171125
20171125 (R4) |  Writer Amit Chaudhuri explores the idea of exile and modern, secular homelessness. For most of us, having to leave home, at least once in our lives, is inevitable, necessary and not unwelcome. The idea of modern, secular homelessness is banal, in contrast to the imposed exile that so many are obliged to endure. The writer Amit Chaudhuri left India for England as part of his journey to becoming a writer. He resists the labels of exile or emigre or immigrant. Through these 'Adventures in Alienation', he encounters the experiences of others - among them Kirsty Gunn, James Wood and voices from the BBC Sound Archive - and examines his own understanding of what it means not to belong. Produced by Rachel Hooper. A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4. |
| After The Dictator | 20111029 | 20111031 | With Gaddafi dead, Owen Bennett-Jones explores what happens after dictators fall. As Libyans absorb the impact of the death of Gaddafi, Owen Bennett-Jones explores what happens next after dictators leave power. Some, like Gaddafi and Romania's Ceausescu, are killed outright. Some, like Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic and Liberia's Charles Taylor, end up in international courts. Yet others, like Stalin and Mao, pass away peacefully in bed. So how does the manner of the dictator's downfall shape their country's chances of recovery? Presenter: Owen Bennett-Jones' long reporting experience includes his time in Romania after the fall of Ceausescu in 1989. Producer: Simon Watts. |
| After The Fallout | 20200314 | | See it once, that giant mushroom cloud - you can't take your eyes off it. See it twice - the sensation is the same - a shock wave blasting the camera; those men standing staring, with strange sun glasses covering their face. Between 1952 and 1991 over 22,000 service men took part in nuclear testing - most conscripted - at sites in Australia, and close by, including Christmas Island where the veterans in this programme were stationed. Most servicemen had no idea what they were doing until they arrived - and then they found out with a mixture of shock and awe. One soldier wrote home that - the next bomb blast may well destroy the whole island - but at least it will be quick! Everyone was terrified. So what was the human fall out of the fall out - not only on the people who took part, but their children too? We are all equally transfixed, awed, and horrified, by archive footage from the early years of nuclear testing. But who were those men, sitting in bunkers, standing in rows, laughing in shock? What about them, and what about their children? Gordon Murray, academic and playwright at the University of Winchester, has been gathering stories from the children of the soldiers ordered to stay on Christmas Island during the tests - back in the 50's and 60's. Many of them have health issues, or a sense of what he calls, the Nuclear Uncanny, which they believe comes from the tests their fathers were exposed to. What is the effect of knowing that your father was exposed to perhaps 5 or 6 nuclear tests? Is it surprising that campaigning for compensation, and attempts to get scientific confirmation of ill health resulting from the tests, continues. Using recordings, dramatic recreations and imaginative sound pieces, re-enacting those moments that would change lives for ever - Gordon Murray resists a human experiment that few would now subject themselves to willingly. Credits for Dramas Included in the programme all written by Gordon Murray STEVE CLIFFORD Narrator - Kristin Millward Clifford - Ryan Hayes Brian - Rupert Lazarus Paul Carter - Sound design Chris Drohan - Composer Featuring interviews with Steve Clifford and Ian Farlie. SHELLY GRIGG Narrator - Suzanna Hamilton Priest - Alan David Francis Dercum - Matt Gavan Chris Drohan - Sound Design and Composer Singer - Amanda Smallbone Canticle arrangement Stephen Solloway Featuring interviews with Shelly Grigg and Brother Hugh SSF. SHARON HARRIS Narrator- Suzanna Hamilton Hamm - Ronan Paterson Stage Manager - Fiona Peek Sound design and composition Stephen Solloway Interview Editor James Keane The human fall out from the Pacific Nuclear tests - dramatically revisited. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives |
| Agatha Christie's Life In Her Words | 20090912 | 20090914 | ![]() Val McDermid listens to previously-unbroadcast recordings made by Agatha Christie. Crime writer Val Mcdermid listens to recordings made by Agatha Christie which have never before been broadcast. A panel of guests, including dramatist Kevin Elyot, biographer Laura Thompson, archivist John Curran, who has recently deciphered Christie's notebooks, director Enyd Williams and writer Michael Bakewell, discuss their approach to dramatising her novels for TV and radio and the light that these recordings shed on Christie's working methods. |
| Agony | 20090221 | 20090223 | Jenni Murray presents a history of personal advice, from the agony aunts to the phone-in. Jenni Murray presents a history of personal advice, from the mythical, kindly agony aunts of women's magazines to the public confessional of the radio phone-in. The advice column began life in the women's magazines. It was the role of the kindly, but mythical aunt to re-enforce the social codes of the day, dispensing jaunty, practical, nearly always morally serious advice to their readers. Radio brought a new outlet for those doling out advice. It started in the buttoned-up 1940s with paternalistic lectures from Charles Hill, the Radio Doctor (and later chairman of BBC) on subjects such as tummy trouble and melancholia and bloomed into the frank and sometimes shocking phone-ins. Today, the 'advice industry' has expanded from radio to TV, the internet and advice columns in the newspapers, where readers can offer their own comments. Throughout the history of agony we have moved from social etiquette to sexual etiquette in terms of the questions that are being asked, and agony aunts have both reflected and influenced trends. The increasing candour of the programmes reflects a parallel shift in British emotional engagement and the rise of therapy culture, which, some would argue, is not necessarily something to be celebrated. The programme tracks these developments, exploring the phenomenon of the agony aunt and examining how the way advice is delivered has changed to suit the times. The advice column began life in the women's magazines. It was the role of the kindly, but mythical aunt to re-enforce the social codes of the day, dispensing jaunty, practical, nearly always morally serious advice to their readers. Radio brought a new outlet for those doling out advice. It started in the buttoned-up 1940s with paternalistic lectures from Charles Hill, the Radio Doctor (and later chairman of BBC) on subjects such as tummy trouble and melancholia and bloomed into the frank and sometimes shocking phone-ins. Today, the 'advice industry' has expanded from radio to TV, the internet and advice columns in the newspapers, where readers can offer their own comments. Throughout the history of agony we have moved from social etiquette to sexual etiquette in terms of the questions that are being asked, and agony aunts have both reflected and influenced trends. |
| Ajp At The Bbc | 20100213 | 20100215
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The long and turbulent relationship between the BBC and historian AJP Taylor. Joe Queenan recalls the long and turbulent relationship between the BBC and the first television don, historian AJP Taylor. Taylor's broadcasting career spanned five decades, beginning on BBC radio and then switching to the new medium of television, where his unscripted lectures brought serious history out of the university lecture halls and into the living rooms of millions of people for the first time. His broadcasts were as provocative as they were popular, at one point arousing bitter condemnation in the House of Commons, and his relationship with the corporation was often far from cordial. It dropped the sulky don, as he became known, from the airwaves on numerous occasions - once for refusing to speak any further in a live discussion programme. For his part, Taylor campaigned vigorously for an independent competitor to the BBC, and frequently mocked it in the press. Still, the relationship served both well over the years, providing Taylor with the mass audience he craved and the BBC with many hours of entertaining and enlightening broadcasting from one of the greatest academics of his day. Queenan, a long-term admirer of Taylor, tells the story of the historian and the corporation through written and broadcast archives. |
| Akenfield Now | 20191019 | | Fifty years ago, Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village became a bestselling book. A film by Peter Hall followed. In this documentary for Archive on 4, we re-visit the Suffolk village (Charsfield) on which the book was based with a group of local young people, students of Kesgrave High School who are recording and filming fresh takes on the original in a project called Akenfield Now, led by Dr John Gordon of the University of East Anglia and funded through the Heritage Lottery Fund. We also hear from the author of Akenfield Ronald Blythe, now 96. A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4 How has English rural life changed since Ronald Blythe wrote his bestseller Akenfield? Fifty years after the publication of Ronald Blythe's bestseller Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village, we revisit Charsfield in Suffolk - the real village where Ronald conducted the interviews on which the book was based. Anna Davies, aged 18 and part of a group of Suffolk sixth formers following in Ronald's footsteps, tries to find out how rural life has changed since the original Akenfield. Not content to settle for a rose tinted view of rural life, Anna talks with residents of the village today and delves into the archives. We also hear from Ronald himself - now 96 - to try and get a full picture of what country life has become. Hearing just how difficult life in places like Suffolk once was, it's hard to deny that a huge amount has been gained in the last century, but has something also been lost? |
| Alan Lomax - Songs Of Freedom | 20150131 | |  To mark the centenary of the birth of folklorist Alan Lomax in 1915, Billy Bragg presents a new and original thesis. Billy argues that the legendary "song hunter" was a vital, but overlooked figure in the Civil Rights Movement, whose recorded archive would become the authoritative repository of black folk culture in America. Alan Lomax is a towering figure in the history of music, afforded a front page obituary by the New York Times following his death in 2002. A pioneering musicologist, folklorist and broadcaster, in the 1930s Lomax extensively recorded American folk and blues musicians. Over the course of his career he collected over 3000 hours of music and in-depth interviews. While Lomax's influence in sparking the folk music revival of the 1960s is well known, in this programme Billy Bragg tells a story of far greater significance. His central thesis is that Lomax's mission was to empower black Americans by awakening them to their folk culture. The politically charged nature of Lomax's work resulted in him being hounded out of the US during the Red scare and the FBI kept a file on him for 30 years. Interviews include Lomax's former assistant the folk singer Shirley Collins, singer and Civil Rights documentarian Candie Carawan, Lomax's biographer John Szwed and Lomax's daughter Anna. This programme was made with the help of Alan Lomax's Association for Cultural Equity and the Library of Congress who have supplied a wealth of stunning archive material - including Lomax's field recordings, oral history interviews and groundbreaking radio broadcasts. Presenter: Billy Bragg Producer: Max O'Brien A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Alexei At The Seaside With The Unions | 20100911 | 20100913 | Alexei Sayle's parents were, in Liverpool, unusual; both Communists, his mother from a Lithuanian Jewish family, his father a railway union official. They gave their son Gorki's first name. For more than a decade from the late 1950's Alexei accompanied his parents to trade union conferences, mostly in seaside towns. These were important times in British and international industrial politics. There were national strikes in shipbuilding and engineering; the redundancy without pay or notice of 6,000 car workers; the London bus strike; the fight for equal pay; responses to de-colonisation; the Aberfan disaster; Barbara Castle's 'In Place of Strife'. On Saturday 11th Sept , with a repeat on Monday 13th - the day the 2010 TUC Conference opens in Manchester - Alexei selects the choicest pieces of archive to conjure the atmosphere of these important events. Set against this is his personal story of these years, his own interaction as a child with the characters involved, and his own development, politically, personally, even physically. And he brings his inside knowledge to bear...revealing how, for instance, the biggest bruisers were, at the closing balls, the most deft of dancers, and how comrades from France and Eastern Europe were nonplussed by their encounter with, for instance, Brown Windsor Soup. Producer: Julian May. Alexei Sayle on his boyhood seaside holidays - at trade union conferences in their heyday. Alexei Sayle's parents were, in Liverpool, unusual; both Communists, his mother from a Lithuanian Jewish family, his father a railway union official. They gave their son Gorki's first name. For more than a decade from the late 1950's Alexei accompanied his parents to trade union conferences, mostly in seaside towns. These were important times in British and international industrial politics. There were national strikes in shipbuilding and engineering; the redundancy without pay or notice of 6,000 car workers; the London bus strike; the fight for equal pay; responses to de-colonisation; the Aberfan disaster; Barbara Castle's 'In Place of Strife'. On Saturday 11th Sept , with a repeat on Monday 13th - the day the 2010 TUC Conference opens in Manchester - Alexei selects the choicest pieces of archive to conjure the atmosphere of these important events. Set against this is his personal story of these years, his own interaction as a child with the characters involved, and his own development, politically, personally, even physically. And he brings his inside knowledge to bear...revealing how, for instance, the biggest bruisers were, at the closing balls, the most deft of dancers, and how comrades from France and Eastern Europe were nonplussed by their encounter with, for instance, Brown Windsor Soup. |
| Alistair Cooke's Century | 19991226 | 20160917 (BBC7)
20160918 (BBC7) |  Nick Clarke joins Alistair Cooke to listen to some broadcasting gems from his career. Nick Clarke joins Alistair Cooke to listen to some gems from his career as one of Britain's best loved broadcasters. From December 1999. |
| All Things Must Pass At 50 | 20201121 | | In November 1970 a triple album was released by the Beatle previously known as ‘the Quiet One'. George Harrison's All Things Must Pass was unique, - not only because it became the most successful debut solo album by a Beatle, but because of its fascination with Eastern religion. While Lennon sang about peace, McCartney about love and Ringo about Sweet Sixteens, Harrison embraced ideas of death, God, the meaning of life and suffering. Composer Nitin Sawhney tells the story of the making of George Harrison's most successful album and shows how, with its themes, lyrics and musical style, it was ahead of its time. Interviewees include Olivia Harrison, Michael Palin, Jools Holland, biographers Graeme Thomson and Joshua M. Greene, keyboard player Bobby Whitlock, drummer Alan White, and guitarist Dave Mason. A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4 Composer Nitin Sawhney tells the story of George Harrison's most famous album. |
| Altamont: The Death Of The Hippie Dream | 20191130 | | Georgia Bergman, who was Mick Jagger's personal assistant in 1969, returns to the scene of one of rock's most notorious concerts. She gives an insider's perspective on the cultural impact of the event, detailing why it happened, what went wrong and how the concert marked the end of the 60s hippie dream. Georgia is joined by others who worked with the Rolling Stones at the Altamont concert on December 6, 1969 - including their Business Manager Ron Schneider, the Tour Manager Sam Cutler, Production Designer Chip Monck, film maker Albert Maysles, photographer Eamon McCabe and journalist Michael Lydon. A Ten Alps production for BBC Radio 4 Mick Jagger's personal assistant returns to the scene of the Rolling Stones' 1969 concert. |
| American Civility: Year Zero | 20190202 | 20200918 (R4) | America today is an uncivil society with a President who calls for his opponent to be locked up, a legislature that seems to be interested only in partisan shouting, not governing, and with large chunks of the media egging on the bad behaviour. This state of affairs didn't happen overnight. Michael Goldfarb traces the current era of partisan gridlock to the midterm election of 1994, when the Republicans led by Newt Gingrich took over the House of Representatives. His view of politics, it's the war of all against all, as opposed to an arena for compromise and consent, has taken over. Michael looks at Gingrich's rise to power and examines the ignoble history of rude, violent debate that has characterised American politics from the country's founding. And he asks if there is any way out of America's current predicament. A Certain Height production for BBC Radio 4 Michael Goldfarb looks at the history of rude, violent debate that has marked US politics. This state of affairs didnt happen overnight. Michael Goldfarb traces the current era of partisan gridlock to the midterm election of 1994, when the Republicans led by Newt Gingrich took over the House of Representatives. His view of politics, it's the war of all against all, as opposed to an arena for compromise and consent, has taken over. Michael looks at Gingrich's rise to power and examines the ignoble history of rude, violent debate that has characterised American politics from the countrys founding. And he asks if there is any way out of Americas current predicament. |
| An Unofficial Iris | 20090627 | 20090629
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Bidisha examines the life and work of fellow novelist Iris Murdoch. Bidisha listens to archive interviews and dramatisations to revisit the life and work of novelist Iris Murdoch. Debate about Murdoch has continued since her death in 1999. Her legacy as a writer has been overshadowed by the publication of her husband John Bayley's memoir about her decline into Alzheimer's disease and the subsequent film adaptation, starring Judi Dench and Kate Winslet, and directed by Richard Eyre. Bidisha listens to archive conversations between Murdoch and writers AN Wilson, As Byatt and Susan Hill, and discovers a renaissance of interest in the writer as her emphasis on morality and goodness in a godless world seems to resonate today. Author Iris Murdoch has a complex reputation thanks to her husband's memoirs. Debate about Murdoch has continued since her death in 1999. Her legacy as a writer has been overshadowed by the publication of her husband John Bayley's memoir about her decline into Alzheimer's disease and the subsequent film adaptation, starring Judi Dench and Kate Winslet, and directed by Richard Eyre. |
| Andrea Levy: In Her Own Words | 20200208 | | Profiling the life and work of Andrea Levy, the best-selling author of Small Island, who died in February 2019. Speaking on condition that the recording would only be released after her death, Andrea Levy gave an in-depth interview to oral historian Sarah O'Reilly for the British Library's Authors' Lives project in 2014. Drawing on this recording, along with comments from friends, family and collaborators, this programme explores Levy's changing attitude towards her history and her heritage and how it is intimately bound up with her writing. Andrea Levy grew up in North London in the 1960s, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants. Her father Winston came to Britain in 1948 on the Empire Windrush, and her mother Amy arrived six months later. At home, Jamaica was never discussed. Levy recalls how her parents believed that, in order to get on in this country they should live quietly and not make a fuss, and the silence around race in the family home haunted her throughout her life: I have dreams now where I sit down with my parents and we talk about the difficulty of being a black person in a white country. But at the time? No help whatsoever. A significant day arrived when she attended a racism awareness course in her workplace in the 1980s. Staff were asked to split into two groups. I walked over to the white side of the room. But my fellow workers had other ideas and I found myself being beckoned over by people on the black side. I crossed the floor. It was a rude awakening. It sent me to bed for a week. Writing came to Levy's rescue. Her first three books - Every Light In The House Burnin' (1994), Never Far from Nowhere (1996) and Fruit of the Lemon (1999) - explored questions of immigrant identity and were semi-autobiographical. Through her writing, she explored the historical connection between Britain and the Caribbean as a profoundly British concern, and her literary project was to make people of both small islands aware of their intertwined history. It was the publication of the prize-winning Small Island in 2004 that propelled Andrea Levy to international acclaim. The novel told the story of Jamaican families like her own integrating into post-war Britain and drew directly from the experiences of her parents and their passage to the Mother Country. The success of Small Island held deep personal significance for Andrea: From then on I thought, 'Things are possible'. Writing The Long Song, her novel set on a 19th century Caribbean slave plantation, was, she says, the most terrifying thing to have to go into. With the recent Windrush scandal and wider debates about the legacy of the slave trade in Britain, Levy's work could not be more relevant. The Long Song was published in 2010 and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. But it was during the writing of this book that Andrea was diagnosed with the cancer that would, she knew, eventually kill her. Andrea Levy speaks here for the first time about living with a terminal illness and her hopes for posterity. And we hear an excerpt from a previously unpublished dialogue from her archives, now housed at the British Library, in which she tackles her imminent demise with her trademark wit and wisdom. With Gary Younge, Baroness Lola Young, Louise Doughty, Helen Edmundson, Sarah Williams, Margaret Busby, Sharmaine Lovegrove, Catherine Hall and Andrea's husband Bill Mayblin. Voice actors: Josef-Israel and Lynsey Murrell. Produced by Melissa FitzGerald & Sarah O'Reilly A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4 Andrea Levy speaks candidly about her writing life and her impending death. Andrea Levy grew up in North London in the 1960s, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants. Her father Winston came to Britain in 1948 on the Empire Windrush, and her mother Amy arrived six months later on a Jamaican banana producer's boat. At home, Jamaica was never discussed. Levy recalls how her parents believed that, in order to get on in this country they should live quietly and not make a fuss, and the silence around race in the family home haunted her throughout her life: I have dreams now where I sit down with my parents and we talk about the difficulty of being a black person in a white country. But at the time? No help whatsoever. Andrea Levy speaks here for the first time about living with a terminal illness and her hopes for posterity. And we hear an excerpt from a previously unpublished dialogue from her archives, in which she tackles her imminent demise with her trademark wit and wisdom. |
| Anthony Blunt: A Question Of Retribution? | 20200606 | | David Cannadine on the controversy caused by the unmasking of Anthony Blunt as a spy. In November 1979, Margaret Thatcher exposed the British art historian Sir Anthony Blunt as a Soviet spy. She revealed that Blunt - openly gay and a former intelligence officer for MI5 - was a member of the infamous Cambridge Five spy ring who had traded secrets with Soviet Russia during the Second World War. As one of the country's leading academics and a former Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures (a role for which he received his knighthood), Blunt's influence reached to the top of the establishment. In a Britain polarised by the Cold War, Blunt's exposure provoked an unprecedented media storm and turned him into a national hate figure. Blunt had shared 1,771 top secret documents with Russia during the war and played a key role in the escape of Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess and Kim Philby, fellow members of the Cambridge Five. Ironically, Stalin's regime was so distrustful of everything they received that it is questionable how much impact the information that Blunt shared actually had. David Cannadine, the current President of the British Academy, reassesses Blunt's career before his exposure as well as the fallout afterwards. He uncovers the controversy which erupted over Blunt's academic position after he was revealed as a spy, and how the academic community came to terms with the revelation of a traitor in its midst. Eventually stripped of his knighthood and expelled from academic life, Blunt's rapid downfall was driven as much by a hostile disdain for his position as a privileged left-wing intellectual, and by a rampant homophobia in the press that labelled him a 'treacherous Communist poof'. Can artistic reputations survive political actions or personal disgrace, and what issues does Blunt's story raise for institutional loyalty and professional identity? David Cannadine speaks to many of Blunt's former students and those directly involved in the raw and personal clash of ideals over Blunt's position, some of whom remained sympathetic to him as a great intellectual and great teacher, and saw themselves as defenders of intellectual liberty against a political witch-hunt. With Dawn Ades, Christopher Andrew, Miranda Carter, Richard Davenport-Hines, Neil MacGregor, Charles Moore, Charles Saumarez Smith, Deborah Swallow, Sarah Whitfield and Richard Verdi. Historical research: Martin Spychal Produced by Melissa FitzGerald A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4 |
| Anthony Burgess: A Clockwork Archive | 20120818 | 20140607 (BBC7)
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Anthony Burgess is best known as the author of A Clockwork Orange, published 50 years ago. Burgess was born in 1917 in one of the poorest areas of North Manchester. It was entirely unpredictable that such a major literary figure and polymath would spring from such a humble background.He remained in Manchester until he graduated from the University, but never went back to live there and was careful to disguise his Northern accent. Paul Morley - a fellow Northern exile - visits some of the key landmarks of Burgess's early life - Xaverian College where he was taught by strict Catholics from the Xaverian Brothers; the Free Trade Hall where he heard the Hallé Orchestra; Central Library where he began a lifelong process of self-education. Paul also considers Burgess's continuing passion for writing classical music; his first creative ambition was to be a composer. He wrote over 200 pieces of pieces of classical music, including full-length symphonies and a ballet. Very little of his music was performed during his lifetime, but it is now attracting interest from musicians and academics. Burgess's legacy includes not only 33 published novels, two autobiographies and a large amount of journalism but a previously unheard archive of about 800 audio cassettes and home movies. Paul Morley visits The International Anthony Burgess Foundation in Manchester, which is cataloguing this rich, diverse and remarkable archive. Contributors include Dr Andrew Biswell, biographer of Anthony Burgess and Director of The International Anthony Burgess Foundation; Paul Philips, author of a book about Burgess's music; and Dr Kevin Malone an expert on the music Burgess himself wrote for his own dramatized version of A Clockwork Orange. Paul Morley on the unknown Anthony Burgess - his northern roots and his work as a composer |
| Any Questions? Is 70 | 20181013 | | Peter Cook, Enoch Powell, Margaret Thatcher, Sheila Hancock, Tony Benn...just a few of the famous voices in this exploration of the Any Questions archive. Jonathan Dimbleby and a special panel of guests offer new answers to old questions from the archive, and explore the changing character of political argument on Radio 4's flagship debate programme. Recorded in front of an audience at the BBC Radio Theatre, and on the panel: Bonnie Greer, David Blunkett, Matthew Parris and Ann Widdecombe. Producers: Camellia Sinclair and Chris Ledgard Jonathan Dimbleby and special guests on 70 years of the famous political debate programme A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives |
| Apocalypse Nigh | 20170708 | 20210601 (BBC7)
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20191025 (R4) | This year the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists set its Doomsday Clock at two minutes to midnight, their judgement that humanity had moved closer to its own destruction. It's a theme embraced in popular culture, from the surprise-bestseller, The Ladybird Book of the Zombie Apocalypse to armageddon-chic on the catwalk. However while politics, pollution and the very real threat of terrorism may indeed have made our world less stable, science broadcaster Robin Ince considers whether our concern with disaster is also age-old and sometimes imagined. Using the archive he explores our longstanding preoccupation with the apocalypse, from religion and science to comedy and drama, and what it tells us about the way we think. Drawing on diverse sources from nuclear missile tests to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Orson Wells' infamous radio hoax, Ince discovers how destruction has been portrayed in different ways across the decades, with archive contributions from thinkers including physicist Richard Feynman and philosopher Noam Chomsky. He hears from contemporary commentators with an interest in the darker side of human thought. Novelist Lionel Shriver and psychotherapist Susie Orbach are among those who explain what the apocalypse means to them. Ince also searches the archive for practical advice in the event of catastrophe. He meets Professor Lewis Dartnell, a disaster-expert who explains how to reboot civilisation in the event of apocalypse. Presenter: Robin Ince Producer: Harry Kretchmer Broadcaster Robin Ince explores our longstanding obsession with the end of days. This year the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists set its Doomsday Clock at two and a half minutes to midnight, their judgement that humanity had moved closer to its own destruction. It's a theme embraced in popular culture, from the surprise-bestseller, The Ladybird Book of the Zombie Apocalypse to armageddon-chic on the catwalk. Producer: Harry Kretchmer. In 2017 the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists set its Doomsday Clock at two minutes to midnight, their judgement that humanity had moved closer to its own destruction. It's a theme embraced in popular culture, from the surprise-bestseller, The Ladybird Book of the Zombie Apocalypse to armageddon-chic on the catwalk. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2017. |
| Apollo 13: The Rescue | 20200704 | | Houston, we've had a problem. How the mission of Apollo 13 was saved NASA has never known anything like it. An explosion hundreds of thousands of miles from Earth; a spacecraft leaking oxygen and losing power; a crew freezing in the darkness, at risk of suffocation. Will they survive long enough to get home? Will their damaged spacecraft even get them home? This is the incredible story of the flight of Apollo 13, as told by the astronauts who flew it and the teams in Mission Control who saved it. The launch of Apollo 13 on April 11th 1970 was NASA's third bid to land people on the moon. It came just nine months after the triumph of Apollo 11, which saw Neil Armstrong's famous small step win the space race, leaving the United States victorious over the Soviet Union. Apollo 12 followed suit a few months later, executing its lunar landing with pinpoint accuracy. By the time of Apollo 13, NASA appeared to have found its rhythm. And yet to the public and the media, a feat that had appeared impossible less than a year earlier, now began to seem routine. But Apollo 13 would turn out to be anything but routine. Flawed from the start, its fate was sealed by a faulty oxygen tank installed months earlier that would later explode, triggering a catastrophic series of events that threatened the spacecraft and the lives of the crew, over and over again. At first the teams in mission control are puzzled by astronaut Jack Swigert's seemingly innocent message: “Houston, we've had a problem” and insist that what they're seeing on their consoles in Houston must be an instrumentation failure. But then the truth emerges – the mission is over and now they're in the fight of their lives to save the crew. With access to the mission audio archives as well as new interview material with surviving astronauts Jim Lovell and Fred Haise as well as a host of characters who worked round the clock to save Apollo 13 and NASA, from disaster. Presented by Kevin Fong and Produced by Andrew Luck-Baker. |
| Apollo 8 | 20181215 | | Six months before Neil Armstrong's ‘one small step' came humanity's giant leap. It was December 1968. Faced with President Kennedy's challenge to land a man on the Moon before the end of the decade, NASA made the bold decision to send three astronauts beyond Earth orbit for the first time. Those three astronauts spent Christmas Eve orbiting the moon. Their legendary photograph, Earthrise showed our planet as seen from across the lunar horizon - and was believed to have been a major influence on the nascent environmental movement. Through extraordinary NASA archive, the first British astronaut Helen Sharman goes inside the capsule to tell the story of the first time man went to another world. Written and produced by: Chris Browning Researchers: Diane Richardson and Colin Anderton The first mission to take human beings beyond the earth's orbit Six months before Neil Armstrong's ‘one small step' came mankind's giant leap. It was December 1968. Faced with President Kennedy's challenge to land a man on the Moon before the end of the decade, NASA made the bold decision to send three astronauts beyond Earth orbit for the first time. Those three astronauts spent Christmas Eve 1968 orbiting the moon. Their legendary photograph, Earthrise showed our planet as seen from across the lunar horizon - and was believed to have been a major influence on the nascent environmental movement. Through extraordinary NASA archive, we go inside the capsule to tell the story of the first time man went to another world. Producer: Chris Browning Brilliant stories told using archive material from the BBC and beyond. |
| Archive Fever | 20170415 | | Matthew Sweet attempts to live in the moment and evade posterity as he pieces together an edition of Archive on 4 without the use of any archive whatsoever - and in a valiant attempt at auto-destructive radio, tries to remove all trace of this very programme from the world. Archives are everywhere. They're in every business, every high street, every attic and every pocket: museums consecrated to all kinds of ephemera, collections of writerly marginalia awaiting the attention of curious researchers - and self-storage warehouses are flourishing, as people pay to hold onto those things they can evidently live without. And as we stand there at the concert filming the action over the heads of all the other people filming the action, or Live Tweet the latest drama or extend our selfie stick to squeeze ourselves in next to the Mona Lisa, aren't we missing something fundamental? Isn't this ever-present urge to archive (as if we're afraid of impermanence, confused about what's public and what's private) affecting our ability to experience the here and now? Usually in one of these programmes it isn't long before we hear a grainy old bit of tape or the long-preserved voice of some venerable figure - the ancestor worship of the sound archive. But not this time. Like an excursion in retro radio, this programme has to be experienced in real time. It won't be available on iPlayer or the programme webpage or as a podcast. If you want to hear it you'll have to tune in as it is broadcast. After that... it will be no more. Featuring: William Basinski, Mike Figgis, Christopher Frayling, Aleks Krotoski, Hanif Kureishi, Andy Martin, Joanna Norledge, Caroline Shenton and Carolyn Steedman. With music recorded for the programme by Rhodri Davies. Producer: Martin Williams. Matthew Sweet on the modern proliferation of archives. A look back at programmes from the archive. |
| Art School, Smart School | 20141122 | 20170923 (BBC7)
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20191110 (BBC7) | Brian Eno, Grayson Perry and others reflect on the state of the art school. British art schools have produced some of the world's most successful artists, designers, filmmakers and musicians. Britain has built up a strong reputation for creativity around the world and politicians are interested in capitalising on our creative brand. Brian Eno was at art school at a particularly exciting time. In the sixties, art colleges were independent and experimental; students were challenged to rethink what art and art education were about. Brian relates his memories of Ipswich College of Art under the radical educationalist Roy Ascot, and reflects on the importance of this experience. But he also sounds a warning note - he says art schools are under huge pressures and the effects are threatening creativity. This programme brings together artists, musicians, art tutors and archive recordings to explore the last half century of art education and the state of Britain's art schools today. We hear the perspectives of high profile figures in art and design - Grayson Perry, Richard Wentworth, Eileen Cooper, Peter Kindersley, and Jay Osgerby to name a few. Britain depends on its art schools if it's to sustain its reputation for creativity. But are art schools becoming too much like universities and excluding those very people who will produce the innovations of the future? Produced by Isabel Sutton A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4. A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4. |
| As The Statues Fall | 20170916 | 20190503 (R4) | From Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Cecil Rhodes at Oriel College or Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville - public statuary is a lightning conductor for popular protest and unrest. But why are these figures of the past - often erected in another era with different moral expectations - so often in the front line of political conflict today? Lawrence Pollard and guests gather in the sound archives to listen to the symbolic moments that statues fall and explore the difference between iconoclasm by the powerful and powerless and what these events tell us about history, identity and nature of collective memory. With Dr Madge Dresser, Dr Rahul Rao, Afua Hirsch and Dr Tiffany Jenkins. Producer: Viv Jones. Lawrence Pollard traces the history of tearing down public statues. Producer: Viv Jones. From Saddam Hussain in Iraq, Cecil Rhodes at Oriel College or Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville - public statuary is a lightning conductor for popular protest and unrest. But why are these figures of the past - often erected in another era with different moral expectations - so often in the front line of political conflict today? Lawrence Pollard, along with historians whose expertise cover the globe, gather in the sound archives to listen to the symbolic moments that statues fall and explore the difference between iconoclasm by the powerful and powerless and what these events tell us about history, identity and nature of collective memory. Producer: Mark Burman. |
| Asa Briggs: The Last Victorian Improver | 20170107 | 20210112 (BBC7)
20200313 (R4) |  Tristram Hunt MP tracks the life's work of the historian Asa Briggs, who was instrumental in the founding of the University of Sussex and the Open University. By the time of his death, Asa Briggs had come a long way. From a childhood helping run his dad's struggling shop in Depression-era West Yorkshire, he began his career at amazing speed. At 16, he arrived at Cambridge University from his grammar school. At 21, he was cracking codes at Bletchley Park. In 1945, he turned down the offer of a safe Labour seat. In his late twenties, he had a fellowship at Oxford. In 1951, he went on a road trip round Syria and Turkey with a young student of his - Rupert Murdoch. Briggs became the official historian of the BBC, where he learned to run institutions - and then grabbed the chance to build one himself. At the new University of Sussex, he was there from the start, helping to make it the most visible of the new universities of the 1960s. And then he played a major role in shaping the Open University. In this programme, Tristram Hunt explores the energetic life of one of his heroes. He argues that Briggs was steeped in the Victorian era. First, through his Victorian grandfather, who took him on tours of the architectural glories of the North of England. Second, Briggs was a leading historian of the Victorian era, and played a huge role in rescuing it from negative stereotypes. But third, Asa Briggs was a Victorian himself - in the sense that he wanted to sustain their great effort to improve life. His mission to open up access to education modernised and built on the Victorians' legacy. With: Dan Briggs, Jean Seaton, David Kynaston, Miles Taylor, Bill Cash MP. Produced by Phil Tinline in association with the Open University. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2017. Tristram Hunt tracks the life's work of the historian and university founder Asa Briggs. By the time of his death last year, Asa Briggs had come a long way. By the time of his death earlier this year, Asa Briggs had come a long way. From a childhood helping run his dad's struggling shop in Depression-era West Yorkshire, he began his career at amazing speed. At 16, he arrived at Cambridge University from his grammar school on a scholarship. Not content with that, he did a second degree at the same time. At 21, he was cracking codes at Bletchley Park. In 1945, he turned down the offer of a safe Labour seat. In his late twenties, he had a fellowship at Oxford. In 1951, he went on a road trip round Syria and Turkey with a young student of his - Rupert Murdoch. Briggs became the official historian of the BBC, where he learned to run institutions - and then grabbed the chance to build one himself. First as a Dean, then as Vice-Chancellor, at the new University of Sussex, he was there from the start - building up the institution from a port-a-cabin office at first. He made Sussex the most glamorous of the new universities of the 1960s, appearing on chat shows with David Frost and James Baldwin and being interviewed by Vogue. And then he played a major role in shaping a much bigger, more radical institution: the Open University. In this programme, Tristram Hunt explores the exhaustingly energetic life of one of his heroes. He argues that Briggs was steeped in the Victorian era First, through his benevolent Victorian grandfather, who talked to him, took him seriously, and took him on tours of the architectural glories of the industrial North of England. Second, Briggs was a leading historian of the Victorian era, and played a huge role in rescuing it from the calumnies of the Bloomsbury Group and giving the Victorians' drive to improve 'ordinary' lives their due. But third, Hunt argues, Asa Briggs was a Victorian himself - in the sense that he wanted to sustain their great effort to improve life right through the twentieth century. His great mission to open up access to education - which drove him to build Sussex and the Open University - was both a mission to modernise and to build on the Victorians' legacy. Hunt explores how Briggs achieved all this, how he was at odds with both communist and conservative historians - and how he coped when the optimism of the postwar era soured in the 1970s. And he argues that Briggs' Victorian heritage, particularly through the apostle of 'self-help', Samuel Smiles, allowed him to engage with Britain's Thatcherite turn in the 1980s. |
| Ask The Fellows That Cut The Hay | 20100410 | 20100412
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Alan Dein celebrates the centenary of George Ewart Evans and his tales of Suffolk. In this week's Archive On Four, historian Alan Dein celebrates the centenary of his mentor George Ewart Evans, collector of Suffolk farming tales. Evans began by chatting to his neighbours over the fireside in the 1950's and transcribing stories about poaching shepherding, smuggling and ditching. The talk was of a hardscrabble life, of leaky roofs and meals of pea soup and pollard dumplings and beef only at Christmas with occasional festivities like the Whitsun fair. With the help of BBC producer David Thomson, Evans recorded many of these tales and they were broadcast on the Third Programme. Evans came from a Welsh mining village and he sympathised with the labourers' stories about the tyranny of the trinity of the parson, squire and farmer. He was a sympathetic listener who asked allowed his community to speak for itself and he captured the stories of people whose traditions had been unbroken for generations, who worked on the land before mechanisation and who believed in magic and folk wisdom and had intuitive understanding of working with animals. Evans' eleven books about the working lives and folk stories of Blaxhall are a portrait of every facet of his village and paved the way for books and programmes, both fiction and not fiction, about British agricultural life. Alan Dein talks to people who remember him in the village of Blaxhall and to his son Lord (Matthew) Evans and youngest daughter Susan as well as historian Owen Collins. A WHISTLEDOWN PRODUCTION FOR BBC RADIO 4. In this week's Archive On Four, historian Alan Dein celebrates the centenary of his mentor George Ewart Evans, collector of Suffolk farming tales. Evans began by chatting to his neighbours over the fireside in the 1950's and transcribing stories about poaching shepherding, smuggling and ditching. Evans came from a Welsh mining village and he sympathised with the labourers' stories about the tyranny of the trinity of the parson, squire and farmer. He was a sympathetic listener who asked allowed his community to speak for itself and he captured the stories of people whose traditions had been unbroken for generations, who worked on the land before mechanisation and who believed in magic and folk wisdom and had intuitive understanding of working with animals. |
| Atlantic Crossing | 20140419 | 20180303 (BBC7)
20180304 (BBC7) |  When Christine Finn's in-flight entertainment was accidentally tuned to cockpit radio on a transatlantic flight, the voice of air traffic control as they reached Irish airspace seemed to be welcoming her as well as the pilot. As a creative archaeologist, she wanted to unravel the connections between those who fly the Atlantic and those who guide them safely over, especially when she discovered that datalink - effectively text messaging - is increasingly being used, so that voice communication is on the wane. Listening to archive of transatlantic flights from the first by Alcock and Brown in 1919, Christine discovered that the west coast of Ireland looms large in the history. She visited Shannon airport in County Clare, scene of many departures and reunions and, in the 1950s and 60s - before the jet engine - a stop-over for most of the popular icons of the day as their planes re-fuelled after the 3000 mile flight; every US President since JFK has visited Shannon, and most stars from Marilyn Monroe to Fred Astaire. And at the North Atlantic Communications Centre in nearby Ballygirreen, Christine met the faces behind the voices she heard coming out of the dark on her own Atlantic Crossing. Producer: Marya Burgess. The connection between those who fly the Atlantic and those who guide us over it. Producer: Marya Burgess. |
| Attention All Shipping | 20120218 | 20160109 (BBC7)
20160110 (BBC7) |  Peter Jefferson presents an elegy to the Shipping Forecast he used to read. I love it. It's the nearest thing to poetry that I ever got to read on the radio - wonderful cadences" - Charlotte Green, Radio 4 announcer and newsreader is just one of dozens of professional broadcasters who've been transfixed by the strangely elegiac nature of the curt and abbreviated language of the formal statement of weather conditions around our island. For Archive on 4, Charlotte's former colleague, Peter Jefferson presents an elegy to the Shipping Forecast, travelling via the archive through the history and romance of the sea areas that daily make their weather known to seafarers. The sea is calm tonight. The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the Straits; - on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. But Matthew Arnold's poem 'Dover Beach' also perfectly encapsulates the spirit in which many Radio 4 listeners embrace the Forecast; gazing into the depths of the night, a seascape of indigo swept by a distant lighthouse beam. So is the Shipping Forecast as much a hymn to our former seafaring island as formal meteorological bulletin, to be shared and enjoyed by landlubbers who've long escaped all contact with the sea and ships....? Peter travels to Exeter where the Forecast is compiled from the Met Office's supercomputer's myriad pieces of data... and talks to sailor and radio-lover Libby Purves, national poet of Wales and composer of an ode to the Forecast, Gillian Clarke and to photographer Mark Power, who shot a stunning sequence of black-and-white images of the sea areas. Producer: Simon Elmes. I love it. It's the nearest thing to poetry that I ever got to read on the radio - wonderful cadences - Charlotte Green, Radio 4 announcer and newsreader is just one of dozens of professional broadcasters who've been transfixed by the strangely elegiac nature of the curt and abbreviated language of the formal statement of weather conditions around our island. For Archive on 4, Charlotte's former colleague, Peter Jefferson presents an elegy to the Shipping Forecast, travelling via the archive through the history and romance of the sea areas that daily make their weather known to seafarers. |
| Attention Must Be Paid - Arthur Miller's Centenary | 20151017 | |  Attention must be paid to such a person," says Linda of Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's 'Death of a Salesman'. Miller himself spent his long life paying close attention to the society and times in lived in. He scrutinised the American Dream in 'Salesman', in 'The Crucible' revealed its hysteria and in 'All My Sons' its corruption. One hundred years, to the day, after the birth of Arthur Miller his biographer, Christopher Bigsby, mines the BBC's and his own archives, tracing the life and work of this towering American figure. When Miller turned 80 Bigsby, with the radio producer Julian May, spent a weekend at Miller's Connecticut home and, on the porch with the birds singing, recorded him recalling his life. Miller talks about his early days as the son of an illiterate Polish immigrant in Harlem, surviving the Depression and his initial struggles as a writer. He remembers his first sight of Marilyn Monroe and his hearing before the Un-American Activities Committee which informed 'The Crucible'. As well as these monumental events this programme includes his insights into lesser known aspects of his life. How his earliest performed dramas were written for radio in the 1940s, for stars such as Orson Welles, recordings of which Bigsby found. There is, too, the story of how be became a music collector, and how he was a carpenter. There are contributions from Dustin Hoffman, Warren Mitchell and Brian Dennehy, who all played Willy Loman, and Ying Ruocheng, who played the role in Beijing. Henry Goodman speaks about working on his late play, 'Broken Glass'. We hear from Harold Pinter, Nicholas Hytner and John Malkovich. And there is previously unbroadcast material from Miller's brother and sister, and his wife, the photographer, Inge Morath. |
| Back To Vietnam | 20180127 | 20181229 (R4) | Julian Pettifer, the BBC's 'man in Saigon' during the Vietnam War, reflects on the Tet Offensive of 1968 as a turning point in world history. On the evening of 30th January 1968, Julian dined with his cameraman Ernie Christie in a hotel in Saigon, while reporting the Vietnam War. There were few journalists there at the time because the Communists had agreed to a truce during Tet, the Vietnamese festival of New Year, and many of the international press corps had left the city. It was Ernie's telephone call, in the darkness of the early hours of the 31st January, which alerted Julian to the Tet Offensive. Ernie was staying in a hotel close to the Presidential Palace and he called Julian to tell him there was heavy fighting in the streets nearby. As Julian says, In Saigon we were used to the lullaby of distant gunfire, but this was something much more immediate - the unmistakable thump of a heavy machine gun, far too close for comfort. Julian and Ernie took up a position in the driveway of an elegant house and shot close-up footage which at the time would only be seen in the movies. For several hours they remained in this position, trapped in the driveway by gunfire, with the mutilated body of a red-headed, bespectacled American military policemen hanging out of a Jeep beside them. Julian says that the face of that man still haunts him to this day. It was not until that evening that they begin to learn the scale of the Tet Offensive - thousands of Communist troops had infiltrated Saigon, attacking dozens of targets including the American Embassy. Almost every provincial town and major US base in South Vietnam had also been assaulted. Julian's reporting of Tet got to the heart of the conflict. He interviewed American GIs and Vietnamese civilians caught up in the war, bringing a human side to the tragedy that was unfolding. His style was serious, yet honest and down-to-earth and ground-breaking, the soldier's-eye view reportage he produced of the Tet Offensive won him a BAFTA and later an OBE for his services to broadcasting. Tet turned out to be the turning point in the Vietnam conflict, coming completely out of the blue, it caught the American military and the world at large off-guard. Against the armed might of the USA and its allies, the Communists suffered a tactical defeat, but in the long term they won an extraordinary strategic and propaganda victory. It was those images, nightly on television, that finally turned the US public against the war and convinced them that it could not be won. Fifty years on, Julian returns to his archive to recount his personal experiences, drawn from the heart of the Vietnam war. He recounts how during his time reporting in Vietnam, the Joint US Public Affairs Office threatened to take away his accreditation because they believed his reports to be 'Anti-American' and unbalanced. Julian explores how Tet was the spark which ignited a series of explosive events that made it a turning point, not only in the Vietnam war, but in modern history. The anti-Vietnam war movement, which spread worldwide, gave powerful moral support to other causes that challenged the establishment. The Civil Rights Movement in the US, and women's rights and student rights movements almost everywhere, took inspiration and courage from the growing opposition to the war. Contributors include: Martin Bell; Don North, formerly of ABC News; Lien-Hang Nguyen, Professor of History at Columbia University; Andrew Preston, Professor of American History at Cambridge University; Tariq Ali; Sheila Rowbotham. Produced by Melissa FitzGerald. A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4. Julian Pettifer reflects on the Tet Offensive of 1968 as a turning point in world history. Conbtributors include: Martin Bell; Don North, formerly of ABC News; Lien-Hang Nguyen, Professor of History at Columbia University; Andrew Preston, Professor of American History at Cambridge University; Tariq Ali; Sheila Rowbotham. A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4. Julian and Ernie took up a position in the driveway Archive On 4 Barbara 20100904 20100906 An appraisal of Barbara Castle in the centenary of her birth. Barbara Castle - the Red Queen, clever, sexy and single-minded she was the most important female politician the Labour party has produced. 2010 is the centenary of her birth and in this archive hour , her official biographer Anne Perkins, examines her life and legacy. The further we move from the 20th century, the more remarkable her achievements seem. In one of the ironies of politics, she paved the way for Margaret Thatcher.She embodied the spirit of the starry-eyed landslide Labour government of 1945 and was a unique participant in the history of the left. We hear of her early life growing up in a Yorkshire family -more bourgeois than she'd admit - devoted to the Independent Labour Party and William Morris; tales of climbing out of college windows at Oxford with her friend, the pioneering broadcaster Olive Shapley; her devotion to the open air which led to the founding of the Pennine Way - she tramped the inaugural walk in a tweed skirt and brogues, alongside Hugh Dalton. Then there were her dogged campaigns for equal pay and child benefit. And that's before we get to the breathalyser and the Unions. Her passionate skills of oratory leap out of the archive, crackling with energy and fire.She was a feminist but was always puzzled by what she saw as the stridency the movement took on in the seventies and initially resisted the idea of all-women shortlists. She wasn't averse to using her great personal charm to negotiate her way out of some of the most monumental political battles of the era - dressed impeccably and no stranger to the hairdresser's. Did she stand out precisely because she was that rare creature : a colourful woman amongst all the grey suits ? Or was it her potent mix of lightning wit, passion, diligence, red bouffant and fierce intellect that helped carve out a place in history for her. And could she have achieved all she did if she'd had children? We hear intimate archive interviews with Barbara Castle recorded before her death, and new interviews including Baroness Shirley Williams , Baroness Betty Boothroyd ,Janet Anderson , and the veteran political commentator Geoffrey Goodman. Producer Lindsay Leonard. Brilliant stories told using archive material from the BBC and beyond. She wasn't averse to using her great personal charm to negotiate her way out of some of the most Archive On 4" |
| Backwards Brexit | 20191026 | 20191030
20200131 (R4) | This week's Archive on 4 goes backwards in time to unearth some of the roots and routes of Brexit. As part of an occasional series of Archive on 4 programmes which tell their stories in reverse, Backwards Brexit begins in the present day and picks a selective path backwards in time to illuminate and juxtapose some of the themes and sentiment that gathers about the UK's decision to leave the European Union. It's not a news programme. It's part satire, part polemic: a partial and imaginative accompaniment to a febrile period whose slippery discourse has drawn out magical thinking and seemingly demonstrated the ability of words to float free of meaning. It implicitly relies on a sense that, on some level, Brexit is a discussion about history. It's made up of five sections. The first section begins today, with the announcement of the UK's imminent departure from the EU. It then moves backwards to the 1990s, to the end of Margaret Thatcher's premiership and the period of Maastricht. From there, it moves backwards again to the 1970s, beginning with a vote to join the EEC in 1971 and a referendum to stay there four years later. After that it jumps back to the 1950s, when the foundations of the EU were built up, as the legitimacy of the British Empire was brought down. In the final section we go much further back in time and look outwards from a Northumberland shore. The programme ends with a refrain from Harold Macmillan, a quote which might mean nothing, but in light of the mean win/lose strategising of current conversation, has the feeling of profundity: It's a moral question, it's what kind of people we want to be. Producer: Martin Williams Thanks to Roger Boaden, Olivette Otele, Ailsa Rutter, Marshall Tisdale and Emmett! This week's Archive on 4 goes backwards in time to find the roots and routes of Brexit. Spooling in reverse - from the confusions of the present day to a Northumberland shore ten thousand years ago - we're like a terrier off the lead in a cow field: rolling around in the muck of it. Spooling in reverse -- from the confusions of the present day to a Northumberland shore 10000 years ago -- we're like a terrier off the lead in a cow field: rolling around in the muck of it. |
| Barbara | 20100904 | 20100906
20181117 (BBC7)
20181118 (BBC7) | ![]() An appraisal of Barbara Castle in the centenary of her birth. Barbara Castle - the Red Queen, clever, sexy and single-minded she was the most important female politician the Labour party has produced. 2010 is the centenary of her birth and in this archive hour , her official biographer Anne Perkins, examines her life and legacy. The further we move from the 20th century, the more remarkable her achievements seem. In one of the ironies of politics, she paved the way for Margaret Thatcher.She embodied the spirit of the starry-eyed landslide Labour government of 1945 and was a unique participant in the history of the left. We hear of her early life growing up in a Yorkshire family -more bourgeois than she'd admit - devoted to the Independent Labour Party and William Morris; tales of climbing out of college windows at Oxford with her friend, the pioneering broadcaster Olive Shapley; her devotion to the open air which led to the founding of the Pennine Way - she tramped the inaugural walk in a tweed skirt and brogues, alongside Hugh Dalton. Then there were her dogged campaigns for equal pay and child benefit. And that's before we get to the breathalyser and the Unions. Her passionate skills of oratory leap out of the archive, crackling with energy and fire.She was a feminist but was always puzzled by what she saw as the stridency the movement took on in the seventies and initially resisted the idea of all-women shortlists. She wasn't averse to using her great personal charm to negotiate her way out of some of the most monumental political battles of the era - dressed impeccably and no stranger to the hairdresser's. Did she stand out precisely because she was that rare creature : a colourful woman amongst all the grey suits ? Or was it her potent mix of lightning wit, passion, diligence, red bouffant and fierce intellect that helped carve out a place in history for her. And could she have achieved all she did if she'd had children? We hear intimate archive interviews with Barbara Castle recorded before her death, and new interviews including Baroness Shirley Williams , Baroness Betty Boothroyd ,Janet Anderson , and the veteran political commentator Geoffrey Goodman. Producer Lindsay Leonard. A long-overdue appraisal of Barbara Castle in the centenary of her birth. An appraisal of the Labour politician Barbara Castle, in the centenary of her birth. |
| Bards Of The Back Straight | 20120602 | 20160326 (BBC7) |  Poet Paul Farley explores how the language of poetry and sports commentary compare. A journey through the BBC archives. Poet Paul Farley explores how the language of poetry and sports commentary compare. With Sir Peter O'Sullevan. From June 2012. |
| Bathrooms Are Coming: An Internal History Of Corporate Comms | 20161231 | |  In-house journals and industrial musicals, how firms have communicated to their workers. From in-house journals to industrial musicals, from opinion research to email cascades, the actor and communications expert Vincent Franklin explores the archive to chart the different ways in which companies have talked to their workers - and how staff have talked back. He investigates the first in-house journals from the "Lowell Offering", written by American female mill workers in the 1840s, to the magazines for British Nylon Spinners a hundred years later. He hears how American corporations developed the Industrial Musical in the 1950s, getting top class songwriters to pen numbers extolling things like the virtues of tractors, in order to galvanise their workforce. Drawing on the contorted corporate language spoken around his character in the Olympic comedy Twenty Twelve, Vincent talks to its creator John Morton about the use of language in staff communication - when it works and when it doesn't. During the programme, he explores how workforces have been addressed by their managers, whether to tell them good news or bad. And he also hears about the new techniques in corporate comms being used today. With a profession numbering around 45,000 people, how have the demands of the job of doing internal communications changed? Along with the voices from the archive, we hear other new interviews with Tom Watson, Emeritus professor at Bournemouth University's Faculty of Media and Communication, Jennifer Sproul Chief Executive of the Institute of Internal Communication, Kathie Jones, archivist and former member of the British Association of Industrial Editors ,Steve Young who co-wrote the book "Everything's Coming Up Profits" about the age of the Industrial Musicals and Amol Rajan, former Editor of the Independent newspaper. Producer: Emma Kingsley. |
| Beat Mining With The Vinyl Hoover | 20090330 | | Broadcaster Toby Amies digs into the archives to discover the value and significance of old vinyl. He uncovers a network of dealers and buyers, supplying a community of 'crate diggers' and 'beat miners' and a world in which samples from records bought for a few pence in a car boot sale can provide the basis for a million-selling hit. Broadcaster Toby Amies digs into the archives to discover the significance of old vinyl. |
| Beating Hitler With Humour | 20190831 | | On the 80th anniversary of the start of the Second World War, German writer Timur Vermes examines how the BBC used humour throughout the war to counter Nazi propaganda. Historians have poured over Joseph Goebbels and his reputedly efficient propaganda machine - particularly the Nazi manipulation of radio to gain and maintain power. But few have explored the leading opponent of his propaganda - the German Service of the BBC. Fewer still have acknowledged that the BBC's radio transmissions to Germany contained not only news and comment but also drew on an unusual method of British psychological warfare, satire and humour, as a form of counter-propaganda. From mid-1940 until the very end of the war, pioneering satire feature programmes were written by German exiles under the close supervision of British authorities. They included Frau Wernecke - a sketch fronted by a fictional Berlin housewife, Kurt and Willi - a double act depicting two bungling Nazi propagandists, and Letters from Corporal Hirnschal - a soldier writing to his wife. Meanwhile another popular feature, Hitler on Hitler tried to point out inconsistencies in the Fuhrer's rhetoric. What did the authors of these programmes, the BBC officials and the relevant governmental institutions hope to achieve with satire as a weapon of war? Timur Vermes pours over the archive with experts, hears testimony from those who risked their lives listening to the satire, and tries to work out if satire is effective as wartime propaganda. A Made in Manchester production for BBC Radio 4 Timur Vermes on how the BBC used humour in its battle with Hitler during the World War II. |
| Beckett's Last Tapes | 20190810 | | Robert McCrum explores the elusive Samuel Beckett's astonishing literary career through rare audio tape recordings from the Samuel Beckett Research Centre at the University of Reading. Housed in the unlikely spot of the Museum of English Rural Life, Beckett - the lifelong outsider - would have enjoyed the absurdity of finding his archives next to dairy farming data and combine harvester records. As a result, perhaps not unintentionally, Beckett's tapes have remained here as a well-kept secret. Many of the tapes are interviews recorded by Beckett's friend, the scholar James Knowlson, while he was researching an official biography. The interviews they contain reveal fascinating insights into the way Samuel Beckett worked closely and collaboratively with his actors and friends - including Sian Phillips, Paul Daneman, Billie Whitelaw and Harold Pinter - and the respect they showed for him in return. Taking Krapp's Last Tape as inspiration for this programme, Robert tells the story of the Samuel Beckett archive at Reading and invites surviving collaborators, friends and those who have found inspiration in Beckett's work - including Tom Stoppard, Edna O'Brien, Sian Phillips, Lisa Dwan, Lady Antonia Fraser and James Knowlson - to listen to extracts from the tapes and reflect on his unique method and the expression of his genius. Robert aims to gain new insight into the mind of one of the 20th century's literary giants, while bringing out the poignancy and nostalgia involved in revisiting memories and life-events through the tapes. Produced by Melissa FitzGerald A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4 Robert McCrum explores Samuel Beckett's literary career through rare recordings. Taking Krapp's Last Tape as inspiration for this programme, Robert tells the story of the Samuel Beckett archive at Reading and invites surviving collaborators, friends and those who have found inspiration in Beckett's work - including Tom Stoppard, Edna O'Brian, Sian Phillips, Lisa Dwan, Lady Antonia Fraser and James Knowlson - to listen to extracts from the tapes and reflect on his unique method and the expression of his genius. |
| Being Bored: The Importance Of Doing Nothing | 20161119 | 20210105 (BBC7)
20200509 (R4) |  Is boredom under threat? There are more TV channels than we can count, Smartphones keep us engaged around the clock, and the constant white noise of social media coerces us to always 'interact'. In fact, there is so much to stimulate our everyday lives in this digital age that we need never be bored ever again. So do we still need to be bored? And what would we miss if we did eliminate boredom completely from our lives? The happily bored Phill Jupitus takes a creative look at our attitude to this misunderstood emotion. He will examine what boredom is, and how it has influenced our leisure time, our workplaces, our creativity and our evolution. Phill will examine its impact on comedy, art, music, and television, taking us from punk to prison, from J. R. R. Tolkien to Sherlock Holmes, from Danish sex clubs to London's 'Boring Conference'. This will be a lively look at the simple, very real and essential emotion of boredom, and a stout defence of the right to sometimes just sit down and do nothing. Interviews include - the Reverend Richard Coles, the writer Natalie Haynes, the artist George Shaw, the comedy writer & producer Robert Popper, the psychologist Peter Toohey, the punk musician Gaye Black (formerly of The Adverts), the psychologist Sandi Mann, the BBC newsreader Simon McCoy, Dr Teresa Belton and the social media entrepreneur Jodie Cook. Phill Jupitus explores the importance of being bored. Interviews include - the Reverend Richard Coles, the writer Natalie Haynes, the artist George Shaw, the comedy writer and producer Robert Popper, the psychologist Peter Toohey, the punk musician Gaye Black (formerly of The Adverts), the psychologist Sandi Mann, the BBC newsreader Simon McCoy, Dr Teresa Belton and the social media entrepreneur Jodie Cook. |
| Bent Coppers | 20190216 | | Author Jake Arnott traces the history of corruption in the Metropolitan police, from Dixon of Dock Green to Line of Duty. What's changed? As an author, Jake has written about corruption; the shadowy figure of the bent copper has featured in more than one of his novels. In this programme, he's making some enquiries into that abhorrent character... From the lone corrupted officer, often characterised as a single “bad apple”, to the “Fall of Scotland Yard” and the realisation that a barrel of bad apples might be a better metaphor, Jake hears about whistle blowers' lives ruined and murder cases blighted by police corruption that still reverberate to this day. He speaks to Steve Noonan from the Independent Office for Police Conduct, the body now responsible for tackling corruption in the force, and asks whether he's right to suggest that institutionalised police corruption is a thing of the past? Writer GF Newman (‘Law and Order', ‘Judge John Deed') and sociologist Sarah Moore explore police corruption in fiction – why are we so obsessed with watching bent coppers on TV? And journalists Martin Short and Graeme McLagan reveal the role of journalists in holding the police to account. Producer: Hannah Marshall A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4. Author Jake Arnott traces the history of corruption in the Metropolitan police. From the lone corrupted officer, often characterised as a single “bad apple ?, to the “Fall of Scotland Yard ? and the realisation that a barrel of bad apples might be a better metaphor, Jake hears about whistle blowers' lives ruined and murder cases blighted by police corruption that still reverberate to this day. He speaks to Steve Noonan from the Independent Office for Police Conduct, the body now responsible for tackling corruption in the force, and asks whether he's right to suggest that institutionalised police corruption is a thing of the past? Author Jake Arnott traces the history of corruption in the Metropolitan police, from Dixon of Dock Green to Line of Duty. Whats changed? As an author, Jake has written about corruption; the shadowy figure of the bent copper has featured in more than one of his novels. In this programme, hes making some enquiries into that abhorrent character... From the lone corrupted officer, often characterised as a single bad apple, to the Fall of Scotland Yard and the realisation that a barrel of bad apples might be a better metaphor, Jake hears about whistle blowers lives ruined and murder cases blighted by police corruption that still reverberate to this day. He speaks to Steve Noonan from the Independent Office for Police Conduct, the body now responsible for tackling corruption in the force, and asks whether hes right to suggest that institutionalised police corruption is a thing of the past? Writer GF Newman (Law and Order, Judge John Deed) and sociologist Sarah Moore explore police corruption in fiction why are we so obsessed with watching bent coppers on TV? And journalists Martin Short and Graeme McLagan reveal the role of journalists in holding the police to account. |
| Bernstein, My Mentor | 20151010 | 20170630
20170630 (R4) |  No other conductor has made such an impact on Marin Alsop as Leonard Bernstein. He taught her at several points along her path to becoming a professional conductor and imparted his humanistic perspective on life and his love of sharing great music with others. He instilled in her his beliefs, his values, his dedication to education, as well as his understanding of conducting. Her sense of gratitude to Bernstein is part of the subject of this programme. We hear Marin talk very personally about her memories of working with the maestro at the famous Tanglewood music center in Massachusetts and watching him conduct concerts in New York. We also hear the reflections of Leonard's daughter, Jamie Bernstein, who remembers - as a child - watching the Young People's Concerts that Bernstein presented to vast televisions audiences across America while director of the New York Philharmonic. John Mauceri and Matthew Barley who, like Marin, benefitted from Bernstein's teaching and mentoring offer their perspectives on his huge capacities as a teacher, conductor and composer. The programme considers the music Bernstein himself composed, in particular West Side Story, Kaddish and Mass. Marin discusses what makes Bernstein's music so rewarding and complex, so innovative, experimental and widely appreciated. She admires his commitment to harmony, to tonal music - the place where he felt music communicated most deeply to people. Presented by Marin Alsop Produced by Isabel Sutton A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4. Acclaimed conductor Marin Alsop remembers her mentor, the great Leonard Bernstein. A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Bertrand Russell - The First Media Academic? | 20120114 | 20150221 (BBC7)
20150222 (BBC7) |  Robin Ince listens back to some of the BBC archive of philosopher Bertrand Russell. Bertrand Russell was one of the greatest thinkers of the last century. His contributions to the field of mathematics and philosophy are still widely acknowledged as some of the most important of their kind. But, as Robin Ince discovers, he was also arguably one of the first great media academic stars, who brought his own brand of rationalism and intellect to an audience far beyond the academic and political circles he routinely mixed with. His relationship with the BBC goes back almost to the beginning of its own history, and his many broadcasts and appearances on radio, in particular, brought his ideas to a whole new audience. He delivered the very first Reith Lectures back in 1948, and was a regular panellist on the hugely popular "The Brains Trust". His thoughts on themes ranging from education, through to nuclear armament and religion, were regularly broadcast on the BBC, right up to the end of his life. Robin Ince takes a listen back to some of Russell's great contributions to broadcasting and looks at the life of arguably the first great media academic. Producer: Alexandra Feachem. Bertrand Russell was one of the greatest thinkers of the last century. His contributions to the field of mathematics and philosophy are still widely acknowledged as some of the most important of their kind. But, as Robin Ince discovers, he was also arguably one of the first great media academic stars, who brought his own brand of rationalism and intellect to an audience far beyond the academic and political circles he routinely mixed with. His relationship with the BBC goes back almost to the beginning of its own history, and his many broadcasts and appearances on radio, in particular, brought his ideas to a whole new audience. He delivered the very first Reith Lectures back in 1948, and was a regular panellist on the hugely popular The Brains Trust. His thoughts on themes ranging from education, through to nuclear armament and religion, were regularly broadcast on the BBC, right up to the end of his life.Robin Ince takes a listen back to some of Russell's great contributions to broadcasting and looks at the life of arguably the first great media academic. |
| Beyond The Kitchen Sink | 20130831 | 20170909 (BBC7)
20170910 (BBC7) | To complement Radio 4's British New Wave drama season Paul Allen, presents a first-hand account of it, using the archive to illuminate the social changes which allowed it to flourish. For ten years after the Second World War the battered British public had been soothed, culturally, by urbanity and charm. In the mid-fifties it was as if a huge wave - the New Wave - had crashed over a quiet beach; frightening and exhilarating. Paul Allen witnessed this. He was a theatre-struck schoolboy when he read Kenneth Tynan's remark that he couldn't love anyone who didn't want to see 'Look Back in Anger'. He relished the language and northern working class voices in the novels of Alan Sillitoe such as 'Saturday Night' and 'Sunday Morning' and felt the rage of David Storey's play 'This Sporting Life'. Then came the challenging sexuality of Nell Dunn's 'Up the Junction'. Paul Allen, was a young reporter in the North of England, then a regional critic and a national broadcaster, presenting 'Kaleidoscope', Radio 4's daily arts show, for 20 years. He interviewed and got to know the leading figures of the New Wave - John Osborne ('Look Back in Anger'), Stan Barstow ('A Kind of Loving'), Barry Hines ('Kes'), Margaret Forster ('Georgy Girl') and Alan Sillitoe. Using the BBC's and his own archives Paul explores the artistic and social upheavals of the British New Wave. He reveals how it was not a single movement, but a series of progressions in literature and theatre, and in popular forms beyond these, and went way beyond 'kitchen sink' dramas. Producer: Julian May. Paul Allen uses the archive to explore the social changes that led to the British New Wave Producer: Julian May. |
| Bill Buckley - Mr Right | 20090606 | 20090608 | A selection of conservative writer and intellectual William F Buckley's finest moments. Michael Portillo presents some of conservative writer, intellectual and wit William F Buckley's most glittering exchanges with the leading politicians and personalities of his day. Buckley helped to move conservatism from the outer fringes to the very centre of American political life. Waspish, provocative, sometimes infuriating but never dull, his weekly programme Firing Line became the world's longest-running TV show with a single host. From 1966 to 1999, everyone from presidents to poets, politicians and punks submitted to Buckley's weekly interrogations. A Paladin Invision production for radio 4. Buckley helped to move conservatism from the outer fringes to the very centre of American political life. Waspish, provocative, sometimes infuriating but never dull, his weekly programme Firing Line became the world's longest-running TV show with a single host. From 1966 to 1999, everyone from presidents to poets, politicians and punks submitted to Buckley's weekly interrogations. |
| Bing Crosby Meets | 20011229 | 20171223 (BBC7)
20171224 (BBC7) | Ken Barnes - Bing Crosby's record producer - explores how this beloved American crooner also maintained a high profile radio career. One out of four Americans tuned into his Kraft Music Hall. For 30 years, Bing Crosby was the King of Radio, hosting over 4000 broadcasts - including singing and speaking with stars like Louis Armstrong, Groucho Marx, Judy Garland, Ella Fitzgerald and Bob Hope. Producer: Caroline Barbour First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001. Ken Barnes explores how a beloved singer became king of radio. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001. |
| Black Aquarius | 20150425 | |  Matthew Sweet explores the dawning of the age of Black Aquarius - the rise (and sudden end) of the weirdly great wave of occultism in British popular culture in the 1960s-70s. From underground journals like the Aquarian Arrow and specialist bookshops appearing in cities all over Britain to the bestselling novels of Dennis Wheatley, moral panics about upper-crust Satanic cults in the tabloid press and the glut of illustrated books, magazines and TV drama. It was a wildly exuberant seam of British pop culture, but where did it come from, and why did it all take off then? Flowering from the more arcane parts of the hippy movement perhaps, but mutating into something quite different - why was there such a huge mainstream, crossover appeal for the British public? At one point, Dennis Wheatley had five books in the bestseller list simultaneously. Was this a continuation of the Sixties cultural battleground of restrictive morality being secretly titillated, or was it something darker? This era matched the first, late Victorian craze for the occult in its intensity and popularity, and certainly drew from some of that era's obsessions - astral planes, dark dimensions, unearthly energies - but the second wave was filtered through 'the permissive society', through a hugely eclectic counterculture, swinging sexual liberation and (for this was all about Chelsea mansions, exotica and sports cars too) new kinds of consumption and lifestyle. Producer: Simon Hollis A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Blair Versus Hitchens: The Religion Debate | 20101211 | 20101213 | Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens debate whether religion is a force for good. Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens discuss the proposition that religion is a force for good in the world. Recorded in front of a live audience in the Canadian city of Toronto, the debate is chaired by Rudyard Griffiths, and forms part of the twice yearly series of Munk Debates. Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens discuss the proposition that religion is a force for good in the world. Recorded in front of a live audience in the Canadian city of Toronto, the debate is chaired by Rudyard Griffiths, and forms part of the twice yearly series of Munk Debates. |
| Blinded By War | 20170513 | | Adam Scourfield interviews three British veterans - of the Second World War, the Northern Irish Troubles and the Falklands - all of whom were blinded in the course of these conflicts. Ray Sherriff was in the Parachute Regiment during World War Two, and fought in Italy and Sicily, even after being shot in the chest in North Africa. He was blinded while fighting at Arnhem, and taken prisoner. Ray Hazan was serving in Northern Ireland in 1973, when he severely injured by a parcel bomb, which took his sight, and his right hand, and killed his colleague. When Adam spoke to him in 2000, he had not talked about this for 27 years. Terry Bullingham served as a Fleet Air Arm engineer in the Falklands on HMS Antrim. He vividly recalls the Argentinian air assault which blinded him. As he sardonically remarks, the last thing he saw was a Mirage - the plane that attacked his ship. So each man's experience of military life before they were blinded is very different from the others. Even the ways they lost their sight are surprisingly divergent. But they each share the terrible moment of realising that their lives had changed forever. And from there, Adam traces their different routes to coming to terms with what had happened to them. Written and Presented by Adam Scourfield Producers: Adam Scourfield and Phil Tinline. Adam Scourfield interviews three British veterans blinded in conflict. Producers: Adam Scourfield and Phil Tinline. |
| Blithe Margaret | 20121229 | 20151017 (BBC7)
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20170423 (BBC7) |  Margaret Rutherford was a benign battleaxe, chin wagging like a windsock, famous as Miss Marple, Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit and for her roles in Passport to Pimlico, The Importance of Being Earnest and an Oscar-winning performance in The VIPs. Stephen Fry looks back at the life and work of one of our finest comedy actors and one of Britain's best-loved box office stars. The comic and dramatic roles Margaret played were as nothing to the astonishing true crime stories that shaped her life and career. Murder was to play a part in her life, beyond the role of Miss Marple. She was also a regular visitor to a young offenders' institution and had a family secret that she never revealed. The programme includes archive of Margaret herself, film director David Lean, writer Rumer Godden, comedian Frankie Howerd, actor Robert Morley, her husband Stringer Davis, and informally adopted daughter Dawn Langley Simmons. We also hear from Andy Merriman (author of Margaret Rutherford: Dreadnought with Good Manners) and actress Damaris Hayman. And Stephen talks to one of Margaret's distant relatives. Somewhat surprisingly, it's the Rt.Hon.Tony Benn. Producer: Tamsin Hughes A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4. Stephen Fry on the mysterious life of the much-loved comedy great Margaret Rutherford. A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Bob Dylan And Me | 20110521 | 20110523
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20140907 (BBC7) |  A cast of musicians, writers and poets reflect as Bob Dylan turns 70. Marking the musician's 70th birthday on May 24th 2011 and drawing on archive, much of which has never before been broadcast, a group of writers, poets, musicians and fans have been asked to reflect on what Bob Dylan means to them. Bob Dylan and Me offers a series of essays, richly woven together with songs and archive interviews. Cerys Matthews talks about Bob Dylan's personal impact on her life and music. Paul Morley reflects on Dylan's ability to acquire fame by staying aloof. Professor Christopher Ricks looks at Dylan's years with God. Eddi Reader reflects on the women in his songs. Billy Bragg takes on Bob's troubadour tradition. Beat poet Michael McClure gives a personal view on the man. Natasha Morgan talks about the night she saw Bob Dylan's first British appearance in 1961. Also featured in the programme will be a number of rare Bob Dylan interviews, many not broadcast on British radio before. We will hear Dylan's radio debut from 1962 on WBAI, I was with the carnival off and on for six years, and he tells KQED San Francisco in 1965, Do you think of yourself primarily as a singer or a poet? Oh I think of myself as more a song and dance man y'know Sound Design by Alice K. Winz Producers: David Prest and Caroline Hughes. A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4. Cerys Matthews talks about Bob Dylan's personal impact on her life and music. Paul Morley reflects on Dylan's ability to acquire fame by staying aloof. Professor Christopher Ricks looks at Dylan's years with God. Eddi Reader reflects on the women in his songs. Billy Bragg takes on Bob's troubadour tradition. Beat poet Michael McClure gives a personal view on the man. Natasha Morgan talks about the night she saw Bob Dylan's first British appearance in 1961. We will hear Dylan's radio debut from 1962 on WBAI, "I was with the carnival off and on for six years," and he tells KQED San Francisco in 1965, " Do you think of yourself primarily as a singer or a poet?" "Oh I think of myself as more a song and dance man y'know Sound Design by Alice K. Winz |
| Bob Dylan: Verbatim | 20210522 | | The many variations of Bob Dylan’s life and music told in his own words, combining rare interviews, studio outtakes, archive and musings, all set to his music. Part of Radio 4's celebrations of Dylan's 80th birthday. From his very first interviews when he arrived in New York in 1961 in search of Woody Guthrie and a path to musical eminence, Dylan created mystique and drama by offering obfuscate descriptions of his early life, as he set about creating a bohemian troubadour myth that transcended the real suburban Zimmerman upbringing. He enjoyed these early fabrications and, realising they gave him power over journalists, he continued to use contradiction, dissension and confutation in interviews to avoid being labelled and typecast. As his reputation grew, his patience withered and, before long, the media began describing him as tense, belligerent, taciturn, grim and irascible. All these iterations of one of the most acclaimed and admired singer songwriters in modern music are incorporated in to this unique soundscape. A Zinc Media production for BBC Radio 4 The many variations of Bob Dylan\u2019s life and music told in his own words. |
| Bombing Berlin | 20130907 | 20180721 (BBC7)
20180722 (BBC7) | Stephen Evans, the BBC's Berlin correspondent, tells the story of Wynford Vaughan-Thomas's report recorded aboard a Lancaster Bomber during a raid on Berlin. In 1943, the RAF contacted the BBC with a dramatic offer - they were willing to send a two-man radio crew on a bombing raid over Berlin. The BBC chose Wynford Vaughan-Thomas for the mission. He accepted, knowing he might never return. So on the night of 3rd September 1943, Vaughan-Thomas recorded for the BBC live from a Lancaster Bomber during a bombing raid over Berlin. Wynford Vaughan-Thomas's experiences as a wartime reporter were remarkable; he was at Belsen and at the Normandy landings, reporting as it happened. The recording over Berlin shows his remarkable courage, literally under fire, and his description of the bombing and the views from the plane are rich indeed. Vaughan-Thomas went on to become one of post-war Britain's most prominent media-intellectuals, a regular commentator and journalist, but those hours aboard the plane clearly remained a defining time in his life. Forty years later, interviewed by Parkinson, he called it the most terrifying eight hours of my life. Berlin burning was like watching somebody throwing jewellery on black velvet - winking rubies, sparkling diamonds all coming up at you. Stephen Evans puts Wynford Vaughan-Thomas's recordings in context. He looks at the experience on the ground in Berlin that night, reflects on the place of the broadcast in journalistic history, and dips into a lifetime of reflections from Vaughan-Thomas on a night which changed his life for ever. Featuring Karin Finell, Max Hastings, Roger Moorhouse, Harold Panton, Jean Seaton, Dietmar Seuss and David Vaughan-Thomas. Producer: Martin Williams. Stephen Evans on Wynford Vaughan-Thomas's 1943 dispatch during a bombing raid on Berlin. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Producer: Martin Williams. Vaughan-Thomas went on to become one of post-war Britain's most prominent media-intellectuals, a regular commentator and journalist, but those hours aboard the plane clearly remained a defining time in his life. Forty years later, interviewed by Parkinson, he called it ""the most terrifying eight hours of my life. Berlin burning was like watching somebody throwing jewellery on black velvet - winking rubies, sparkling diamonds all coming up at you. |
| Bombing Berlin | 20130914 | | Stephen Evans, the BBC's Berlin correspondent, tells the story of Wynford Vaughan-Thomas's report recorded aboard a Lancaster Bomber during a raid on Berlin. In 1943 the RAF contacted the BBC with a dramatic offer: they were willing to send a two-man radio crew on a bombing raid over Berlin. The BBC chose Wynford Vaughan-Thomas for the mission. He accepted, knowing he might never return. So on the night of 3rd September 1943, Vaughan-Thomas recorded for the BBC live from a Lancaster Bomber during a bombing raid over Berlin. Wynford Vaughan-Thomas's experiences as a wartime reporter were remarkable; he was at Belsen and at the Normandy landings, reporting as it happened. The recording over Berlin shows his remarkable courage, literally under fire, and his description of the bombing and the views from the plane are rich indeed. Vaughan-Thomas went on to become one of post-war Britain's most prominent media-intellectuals, a regular commentator and journalist, but those hours aboard the plane clearly remained a defining time in his life. Forty years later, interviewed by Parkinson, he called it "the most terrifying eight hours of my life. Berlin burning was like watching somebody throwing jewellery on black velvet - winking rubies, sparkling diamonds all coming up at you. Stephen Evans puts Wynford Vaughan-Thomas's recordings in context. He looks at the experience on the ground in Berlin that night, reflects on the place of the broadcast in journalistic history, and dips into a lifetime of reflections from Vaughan-Thomas on a night which changed his life for ever. Featuring Karin Finell, Max Hastings, Roger Moorhouse, Harold Panton, Jean Seaton, Dietmar Seuss and David Vaughan-Thomas. Producer: Martin Williams. |
| Boy, Oh Boy, He's Going Down | 20000129 | 20140719 (BBC7)
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20171231 (BBC7) |  Sean Street examines those moments where Radio forgets itself, when laughter, alcohol or sheer emotion well up. Traditionally the wireless has been somewhat formal, but occasionally reporters have been overwhelmed by what they're witnessing, contributors so passionate in argument and commentators overcome by mirth - or drink - that the conventions are dropped. Then communication comes pure, direct and unselfconscious: a Battle of Britain dogfight sounds like sport, sport like war, a naval fleet becomes fairyland, the author of a fairytale about rabbits attacks another guest. Hear the moments when Radio reveals far more than what is said. Producer: Julian May First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2000. Sean Street examines those moments where Radio forgets itself. Sean Street examines those moments where Radio forgets itself, when laughter, alcohol or sheer emotion overwhelm. From January 2000. |
| Breaking The Mould | 20110108 | 20110110 | Shaun Ley recalls the SDP's rise and fall. Does the SDP still live on in other parties? Shaun Ley recalls the dramatic rise and fall of the SDP during the 1980s. The party never quite made a breakthrough, but did it change British politics? Is the SDP's legacy its impact on the other main parties? In January 1981 four former cabinet ministers announced that they were about to leave the Labour Party. Over the subsequent two years, dozens of MPs joined them; it appeared as if the fledgling party might, as Roy Jenkins put it, break the mould. But the electoral breakthrough never happened, partnership with the Liberals ended in acrimony, and in a final humiliation, the SDP polled fewer votes than the representative of the Monster Raving Loony Party in a by-election. It was a failure. Or was it? In 'Breaking the Mould', Shaun Ley draws on sound archive and fresh contributions with key players to consider whether the SDP has had a bigger impact than is generally recognised. Was the SDP a Labour saving device, because it gave Labour a severe shock, without which it would never have modernised sufficiently to win office again? And did the SDP's ideas eventually triumph, not just in the Liberal Democrats, but also in the counsels of New Labour and even inside Conservative Party headquarters? Was the triumph of the SDP exemplified by the formation of the Coalition Government in 2010? - the present Government includes former SDP-ers, and not just among the Liberal Democrats. Producer: Rob Shepherd. Shaun Ley recalls the dramatic rise and fall of the SDP during the 1980s. The party never quite made a breakthrough, but did it change British politics? Is the SDP's legacy its impact on the other main parties? In January 1981 four former cabinet ministers announced that they were about to leave the Labour Party. Over the subsequent two years, dozens of MPs joined them; it appeared as if the fledgling party might, as Roy Jenkins put it, break the mould. But the electoral breakthrough never happened, partnership with the Liberals ended in acrimony, and in a final humiliation, the SDP polled fewer votes than the representative of the Monster Raving Loony Party in a by-election. It was a failure. Or was it? In 'Breaking the Mould', Shaun Ley draws on sound archive and fresh contributions with key players to consider whether the SDP has had a bigger impact than is generally recognised. Was the SDP a Labour saving device, because it gave Labour a severe shock, without which it would never have modernised sufficiently to win office again? And did the SDP's ideas eventually triumph, not just in the Liberal Democrats, but also in the counsels of New Labour and even inside Conservative Party headquarters? Was the triumph of the SDP exemplified by the formation of the Coalition Government in 2010? - the present Government includes former SDP-ers, and not just among the Liberal Democrats. |
| Bremner On Bush - A Final Farewell | 20090110 | 20090112 | Rory Bremner considers the rhetorical evolution of George W Bush. Rory Bremner considers the rhetorical evolution of George W Bush, from gaffe-prone candidate to grandiose war president. He considers whether Bush grew to become an effective orator and who was responsible for writing the words he spoke and examines some of his key speeches and phrases. Featuring contributions from political commentators and former Bush speechwriters. Rory Bremner considers the rhetorical evolution of George W Bush, from gaffe-prone candidate to grandiose war president. He considers whether Bush grew to become an effective orator and who was responsible for writing the words he spoke and examines some of his key speeches and phrases. Featuring contributions from political commentators and former Bush speechwriters. |
| Bring Your Darlings Back To Life | 20150620 | 20190427 (BBC7)
20190428 (BBC7) |  Hidden away, beneath old newspapers, books of stamps and expectant sellotape lie the best pieces of work. They are the darlings, the stories, the ornaments, the gems we are told to cut. Producers, script writers, authors, editors have all had the rule thrown at them. These scenes may be fantastically written, funny, evocative - but they don't belong. They obscure the plot, blind us from the truth. It's a rule of writing passed around like an illegal cigarette. You must murder your darlings. Kill Your Darlings. With contributions from Larry King, PJ O'Rourke, Kurt Cobain, journalists Jon Savage and Cal Fussman - what if you could bring those darlings back to life? The saying Murder your Darlings has been attributed to Fitzgerald, Nabokov, Stephen King and Hemingway. But the real author comes from Cornwall. Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch. Better known under the pseudonym Q, he is the forgotten figure of 20th century literature. In 1914 he delivered a series of twelve lectures on writing at Cambridge University, and one in particular on style: ‘Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it – wholeheartedly – and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings.' But who was Q? How do you tell a story? What is it that takes prominence - the character or the plot? Producers ask themselves whether to retain the idiosyncrasies of how people talk - the pauses and silences - or whether to cut them out because they need to lose three minutes? It's often the smallest details that help us see these characters. Producer: Barney Rowntree A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2015. What if the best anecdotes and stories had a programme to themselves? 'Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it - wholeheartedly - and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings.' A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Britain And Biafra 50 Years On | 20180428 | | If one word ruptured the early optimism felt in Britain for its ex-colonies, it was Biafra. Pictures of black children with distended bellies, headlines like Land of No Hope, footage of aid workers struggling on the ground - such coverage may have since become banal but, in June 1968 in the new era of TVs and tabloid splashes, it was unprecedented. Fifty years on, through archive material and interviews with first-hand witnesses, Afua Hirsch explores the Nigerian-Biafran conflict and its legacy as one of the first wars beamed nightly into British living rooms. It's the story of a new style of British reportage - visceral, humanitarian, and heavily collaborating with NGOs. And, after Empire, perhaps a new sense of Britishness too as a shocked public helped send the largest ever civilian airlift to Biafra to deliver aid. We hear from Nigerians recalling their childhood memories of famine and their teenage experiences of battle. We hear from British journalists still shocked at what they found in the Biafran enclave. And we hear from the aid workers reacting to those reports, flying to places they had never heard of to try to help. It would be a type of coverage - the foregrounding of human stories, of wide-eyed hungry black babies, and the relegation of politics - with a deep imprint on how we came to know Africa, from Biafra through Ethiopia and Live Aid to the present day. But has it proved deeply harmful to our understanding of what is actually happening on the continent? The impact of the Biafran war in Nigeria is much discussed - here we ask how it shaped the way Britain sees the world. Producer: Sami Kent An Overtone production for BBC Radio 4. Afua Hirsch explores the Nigerian-Biafran War, its famine, and their legacy in Britain. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives An Overtone production for BBC Radio 4. |
| British Jews, Right And Left | 20171209 | | How did Britain's Jews make their long journey from left to right over the last century? Jo Coburn, presenter of BBC TWO's Daily Politics, tells this remarkable story by weaving archive and interviews together with the story of her own family. She speaks with, among others, The Rt. Hon. Edwina Currie, former Conservative minister; Lord Levy, Middle East envoy for Tony Blair when prime minister; The Rt. Hon. Sir Oliver Letwin, M.P., senior adviser to David Cameron; Jon Lansman, founder of Momentum, the grass-roots movement that supports Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader; Rabbi Jonathan Romain of Maidenhead Reform Synagogue; Melanie Phillips, columnist on The Times and Ruth Smeeth, Labour M.P. for Stoke-on-Trent, North. Producer: Simon Coates. Jo Coburn explores the changing political affiliations of British Jews and their salience. Jo Coburn explores the changing political affiliations of British Jews. |
| Broadcasting Freedom | 20000909 | 20140726 (BBC7)
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20180204 (BBC7) |  Bonnie Greer reports on the fascinating story of how black, pioneering broadcasters broke radio's racial taboos, putting radio at the heart of the national debate on race and laying the groundwork for the civil rights' movement. From 2000. Bonnie Greer is a London-based playwright and author. Bonnie turned her own appearance on Question Time with Nick Griffin into a libretto of opera - and has indeed sat on the boards for the British Museum, the Royal Opera House, the Serpentine Gallery, even the Bronte Society. This programme saw her trek throughout different locations in America to talk to those instrumental in the Civil Rights struggle as expressed through audio broadcast media. Bonnie Greer explores how black broadcasters put radio at the heart of the race debate. This programme saw her trek throughout different locations in America to talk to those instrumental in the Civil Rights struggle as expressed through audio broadcast media. |
| Build The Wall! | 20191109 | 20200103 (R4) | On the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Katy Long asks why political leaders are celebrating the occasion while building new border walls of their own. From the United States, where 'build the wall' has become a symbol of the Trump presidency, to Norway, India and South Africa, dozens of walls have gone up since 1989, with many more being built, planned or imagined. In this programme, Katy tells the modern history of border walls to ask why they are being built, and why now, when new virtual technologies increasingly offer alternatives to concrete barriers. Katy will examine the complicated history of the Berlin Wall, and what it meant during the Cold War. She'll examine border walls and border communities in Northern Ireland, the United States, South Africa and Israel, exploring what happens when walls are built - for good and ill - and whether it's possible to take them down again. She'll look at the difference between walls to keep people in, and keep them out, and whether the walls are really about safety, or certainty, or just about 'us' and 'them'. Producer: Giles Edwards Assistant Producer: Patrick Cowling 30 years after the Berlin Wall fell, Katy Long examines the history of border walls. |
| Burroughs At 100 | 20140215 | |  Here comes Johnny Yen again, With the liquor and drugs, And the Flesh Machine. Even for those that don't know William Burroughs, he's easy to find. He's in the lyrics to Iggy Pop's Lust For Life and on the cover of Sgt. Pepper. The bands Steely Dan and The Soft Machine take their names from his books. He even coined the term "heavy metal". Drug addict, homosexual crusader, gun nut, beat writer, the Godfather of Punk, countercultural icon - Burroughs was many things. Marking the author's centenary, rock legend Iggy Pop presents a unique hour on the quintessential American iconoclast. William Seward Burroughs II was born to an upper middle-class St. Louis family in February 1914. In 1940s New York, with Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, he started the Beat Movement. His addiction to heroin would motivate a turbulent journey that came to a tragic climax in Mexico City, where he shot and killed his wife during a drunken "William Tell" routine. The tragedy threw Burroughs into "a lifelong struggle, in which I have had no choice except to write my way out". Whizzing from Mexico to South America to Tangier to Paris to London, then finally back to the States, Burroughs forged an influential body of work. With Junkie, Queer, Naked Lunch, the "Cut-Up Trilogy", the "Red Night Trilogy", paintings, audio recordings and films, Burroughs became the only name worth checking in the counterculture. Iggy Pop reflects on Burroughs' extraordinary life with close friends and artists that felt his influence. Contributors include James Grauerholz, Will Self, Victor Bockris, Jean-Jacques Lebel, Genesis P-Orridge and John Waters. Producer: Colin McNulty A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Call Jane At 643-3844 | 20200118 | | Pregnant? Don't want to be? Call Jane at 643-3844 Between 1969 and 1973, in the years before the US supreme court opened up access to abortion across the country, a group of women in Chicago built an underground service. The University of Chicago student Heather Booth had been asked for help in 1965, when a friend's sister with an unwanted pregnancy was distraught and nearly suicidal. Her friend wanted to know if there was anywhere to turn in a state where abortion was illegal and where there was little guarantee for a woman's health or safety if she did manage to secure one. In response, Booth found a connection to the civil rights leader and surgeon TRM. Howard, who performed the procedure. Word spread quickly that she was someone who could help women access safe abortions. Operating under the pseudonym Jane, Heather Booth began to receive calls from other women. As the years went on and the number of calls increased, she looked for others to help carry on her work - and Jane: The Abortion Counseling Service of Women's Liberation began in earnest. At first, the women sought out doctors for the procedure but, eventually, they found someone who trained them to carry out the abortions themselves. It's estimated that the women performed over 11,000 abortions during this time. In this documentary, we hear archive from the time, exploring the climate in the years running up to Roe v Wade, alongside an interview with a detective tasked with investigating Jane (originally recorded for the Radio Diaries podcast The Story of Jane), voices from the city and new interviews with Jane members. Presented by Laura Barton Produced by Eleanor McDowall A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4 A look back at Chicago's underground feminist abortion service. The University of Chicago student Heather Booth had found herself asked for help in 1965, a friend's sister with an unwanted pregnancy was distraught and nearly suicidal - her friend wanted to know if Booth knew anywhere she could turn in a state where abortion was illegal and there was little guarantee for a woman's health or safety if she did manage to secure one. Booth found a connection to the civil rights leader and surgeon T.R.M. Howard who performed the procedure and word quickly spread that she was someone who could help women access abortions safely. Operating under the pseudonym 'Jane' she began to receive calls from other women in her Chicago dorm room. As the years went on and the numbers of women calling increased, Booth sought out others to carry on her work - and Jane: The Abortion Counseling Service of Women's Liberation began in earnest. At first the women sought out doctors who would perform the procedure before they eventually found someone who would train them to perform the procedure themselves. It's estimated that the women performed over 11,000 abortions during this time. In this documentary we hear archive from the time, exploring the climate in the years running up to Roe v Wade, alongside interviews with police tasked with investigating Jane, voices from the city and new interviews with Jane members. |
| Call Up: The Story Of National Service | 20200307 | | Sixty years after the last conscripts arrived at their barracks and queued for their kit, historian Richard Vinen uncovers stories of the two million young men who went through National Service. While some embraced the discipline, camaraderie and opportunities that National Service offered, others endured misery. Most never left the country, but some fought in Korea or the Malayan jungle, or found themselves in Kenya, Suez or Cyprus. As well as memories of parade grounds and patriotism, brief moments of terror and long months of tedium, Richard considers the absurdities of army life and post-war ideas of class and masculinity. And in an era when war with the Soviet Union seemed likely, Richard unpicks the politics of National Service from the late 1940s to the early 1960s, asking why post-war Britain needed its young conscripts and whether conscription changed Britain. A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4 Sixty years after the call-up ended, Richard Vinen looks back at National Service. |
| Capering With Ken Campbell | 20091031 | 20091102 | ![]() Ian McMillan explores the world of the actor and director Ken Campbell, who died in 2008. Campbell's acting credits included Fawlty Towers, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Brookside, Law and Order and In Sickness and In Health, as well as performing one-man shows. He also directed theatrical events, including the nine-hour Illuminatus trilogy, a 22-hour production of The Warp and Macbeth in pidgin English. His daughter, Daisy, gives Ian Mcmillan a tour of Ken's home in Essex, where he didn't have a bedroom and had a parrot run in every room. He also talks to Campbell's manager Colin Watkeys, theatre director Richard Eyre, fan and collaborator Ian Potter and fellow actors Julia Mckenzie and Jim Broadbent Campbell's acting credits included Fawlty Towers, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Brookside, Law and Order and In Sickness and In Health, as well as performing one-man shows. He also directed theatrical events, including the nine-hour Illuminatus trilogy, a 22-hour production of The Warp and Macbeth in pidgin English. His daughter, Daisy, gives Ian McMillan a tour of Ken's home in Essex, where he didn't have a bedroom and had a parrot run in every room. He also talks to Campbell's manager Colin Watkeys, theatre director Richard Eyre, fan and collaborator Ian Potter and fellow actors Julia McKenzie and Jim Broadbent. |
| Captive Media: The Story Of Patty Hearst | 20140322 | 20180714 (BBC7)
20180715 (BBC7) |  On 17 May 1974, in the district of Compton in Los Angeles, American network television broadcast live the longest gunfight in the nation's history, in a scene worthy of the studios of nearby Hollywood. It marked the beginning of the end for the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), a leftist guerrilla group that sprang to fame three months earlier after kidnapping heiress Patricia Hearst, granddaughter of the newspaper magnate, William Randolph Hearst. This saga - described as probably the mystery story of the 20th Century - is one of the most bizarre episodes of recent American history. Within hours of Patty's kidnapping the media arrived outside the Hearst mansion, where they would camp out in a self-styled 'press city'. Communiqués issued by the SLA on cassette tapes, often spoken by Patty herself, were broadcast in full. The family posted a sign that read 'Please don't feed reporters'. After 57 days in captivity, sympathy for the captive heiress turned to shock as she declared herself a member of the SLA, denounced her family and was pictured wielding a gun as the gang robbed a bank in San Francisco. 18 months later Patty was arrested, and convicted in what the press called 'The Trial of the Century'. Four decades on, Benjamin Ramm explores how this sensational story was driven by exhaustive daily media coverage. He asks to what extent it changed the way news was reported and anticipated many of today's debates about the ethics and appetites of rolling news. Interviewees include Linda Deutsch, renowned court reporter; John Lester, a news anchor who became the Hearst family spokesman; Bill Deiz, who reported the LA shootout using new camera technology; and former member of the SLA, Mike Bortin. Produced by Rebecca Maxted. A Sparklab Production for BBC Radio 4. How the kidnapping of a newspaper heiress captivated and transformed the American media. On 17 May 1974, in the district of Compton in Los Angeles, the longest gunfight in the nation's history was broadcast live on American network television. It was a scene worthy of the studios of nearby Hollywood. It also marked the beginning of the end for the Symbionese Liberation Army, a radical leftist guerrilla group that sprang to fame three months earlier by kidnapping heiress Patricia Hearst, granddaughter of the newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. Within hours of Patty's kidnapping the media arrived outside the Hearst mansion, where they would camp out for months, in a self-styled 'press city'. Lengthy communiqués issued by the SLA on cassette tapes, often spoken by Patty herself, were broadcast in full. The family posted a sign that read 'Please don't feed reporters'. After 57 days in captivity, media and public sympathy for the captive heiress turned to shock as she declared herself a member of the SLA, denounced her family and was pictured wielding a gun as the gang robbed a bank in San Francisco. Eighteen months later Patty was arrested and convicted. Forty years on, Benjamin Ramm explores how this story was driven by exhaustive daily media coverage. He asks to what extent it changed the way news was reported and anticipated many of today's debates about the ethics and appetites of rolling news. Interviewees include Linda Deutsch, renowned court reporter; John Lester, a news anchor who became the Hearst family spokesman; Bill Deiz, who reported the LA shootout using new camera technology; Ken Levine, a radio DJ who received an SLA communiqué and a visit from the FBI; Al Preciado, who led the SWAT team at the shootout; and former member of the SLA, Mike Bortin. Producer: Rebecca Maxted A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives A Sparklab Production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Carl Sagan - A Personal Voyage | | 20110423 | Physicist and broadcaster Brian Cox presents a tribute to his science hero, the American astronomer Carl Sagan, the man who many people describe as the greatest populariser of science of all time. His landmark television series Cosmos was seen by more than 60 million people worldwide and inspired a generation of young scientists to regard the universe with wonder and awe. Physicist and broadcaster Brian Cox presents a tribute to his science hero, Carl Sagan. |
| Carl Sagan - A Personal Voyage | 20090411 | 20090413
20110423 (R4) | Physicist and broadcaster Brian Cox presents a tribute to his science hero, Carl Sagan, the man who many people describe as the greatest populariser of science of all time. His landmark television series Cosmos was seen by more than 600 million people worldwide and inspired a generation of young scientists to regard the universe with wonder and awe. Physicist and broadcaster Brian Cox presents a tribute to his science hero, Carl Sagan. Physicist and broadcaster Brian Cox presents a tribute to his science hero, the American astronomer Carl Sagan, the man who many people describe as the greatest populariser of science of all time. His landmark television series Cosmos was seen by more than 60 million people worldwide and inspired a generation of young scientists to regard the universe with wonder and awe. Physicist and broadcaster Brian Cox presents a tribute to his science hero, the American astronomer Carl Sagan, the man who many people describe as the greatest populariser of science of all time. His landmark television series Cosmos was seen by more than 60 million people worldwide and inspired a generation of young scientists to regard the universe with wonder and awe. Physicist and broadcaster Brian Cox presents a tribute to his science hero, Carl Sagan, the man who many people describe as the greatest populariser of science of all time. His landmark television series Cosmos was seen by more than 600 million people worldwide and inspired a generation of young scientists to regard the universe with wonder and awe. |
| Carry On Britain | 20100104 | |  ![]()
Carolyn Quinn looks at the Carry On films and asks what they tell us about British society between the late 1950s and the late 1970s. Carolyn Quinn asks what the Carry On series of films tells us about British society. |
| Castaway - 70 Years Of Desert Island Discs | 20120128 | | Kirsty Young tells the story of the long-running programme as it celebrates its 70th anniversary and investigates what has made it such an enduring part of the radio schedule. In addition to hearing some classic clips from some amazing castaways, Kirsty talks to BBC historian Professor Jean Seaton, former castaway Mary Portas and is also joined by her predecessors, Sue Lawley and Sir Michael Parkinson and, from the archives, by Roy Plomley himself. Producer: Isabel Sargent. Kirsty Young tells the story of the long-running radio programme. |
| Cerys Goes Under Milk Wood | 20141025 | 20200412 (R4) | Cerys Matthews unlocks an archive of rare interviews, made by her uncle Colin Edwards, with Dylan Thomas's closest friends and family. The recordings date from the early 1960s, a decade after the poet's death, when his reputation was becoming clouded by scandal. Cerys believed the recordings lost or destroyed. In fact, over a hundred hours of interviews were bequeathed to the National Library of Wales by her uncle's widow and some of them are broadcast here for the first time. This personal journey into the archive is both a celebration of the life of Dylan Thomas and a glimpse into the life of her uncle - 'an eccentric, radical journalist and film-maker'. Here Cerys goes Under Milk Wood - into the communities in which Dylan Thomas lived. We hear Dylan's mother, Florence, describe how the eight-year-old Dylan would write poems about the kitchen sink. Dylan's school friend Charles Fisher recalls how he 'collected words like rare butterflies'. Dylan's daughter, Aeronwy , reflects on his daily rituals and drinking habits. One of his closest friends Bert Trick, a Marxist grocer from Swansea, describes Dylan's profane sense of humour. And we hear from theatre director Philip Burton and poet Robert Lowell about meetings with Dylan towards the end of his life. 'Listening to these tapes I started to understand the strange contradictions at the heart of Dylan Thomas. The boozer with the self-discipline to write verse, the child with a visionary voice, the buffoon who took life so seriously,' says Cerys. Some of Cerys's favourite Dylan Thomas poems and writings are set to music in the programme. Jeff Towns, Terry Jones, Andrew Lycett, Gwen Watkins and David Thomas also contribute. Produced by Sarah Cuddon A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4 Cerys Matthews unlocks her uncle's rare recordings of Dylan Thomas's friends and family. A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Charles Parker: Radio Pioneer | 20190406 | | Sean Street delves into the archive of one of the most innovative and controversial BBC radio producers, reviewing Charles Parker's work from the Radio Ballads to his sacking in 1972. Parker was born in Bournemouth on April 5th 1919 – the son of a redundant railway clerk who sold paraffin from a handcart – and died in 1980 on the same day as John Lennon. For a man who revolutionised radio production, who is still talked about and revered today, his death was hardly reported in the press. He is probably best known for his series of eight radio ballads made with Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger. These programmes became a high point in radio production but they eventually became expensive luxuries that could no longer be afforded. He was sacked or left the BBC in 1972. Now in Parker's centenary year, Bournemouth University's Emeritus Professor of Radio, Sean Street, reviews the life of an icon in the radio industry who, according to fellow producer Michael Mason, was a real creative genius… his razor blade was like a sculptor's chisel, releasing the hidden poets in people. Talking to family, friends and those who worked with Charles Parker, Sean explores his radio productions and ideas on preserving the oral tradition as he delves into a rich archive of material - creating a portrait of a master magician in radio. Parker's life was also a journey from poverty to Cambridge University, from a Conservative Christian to a Socialist, from a Submarine Commander to a Radio Producer. But throughout his career, two things remained constant - his dedication, often working for days without sleep, and most importantly his desire to tell the extraordinary stories of ordinary people in their own words. Producer: Andy Cartwright A Soundscape production for BBC Radio 4 Sean Street celebrates the centenary of one of the most innovative radio producers. |
| Chemists' Dirty Secret | 20190112 | | For more than a hundred years chemical weapons have terrorised, maimed and killed soldiers and civilians alike. As a chemist, the part his profession has played in the development of these weapons has long concerned Andrea Sella, Professor of Chemistry at University College London. In this programme he examines the motivation of chemists like Dr Fritz Haber, who first encouraged the German military to deploy chlorine gas in World War One for the sake of “The Fatherland” and of Dr Gerhard Schrader, who, in his hunt for an effective pesticide, accidentally discovered a new class of lethal nerve agents for Nazi Germany. From chlorine, phosgene and the mustard gases, to tabun, sarin, soman, VX and the novichok agents used to target former Soviet agent Sergei Skipal in England, Andrea weaves archive with interviews with key figures in the ongoing campaign to control and ban the use of such weapons and he asks how science educators can prepare young chemists for the moral hazard posed by this particular class of weapon. Producer: Fiona Hill The weapons of war born in the laboratory. For more than a hundred years chemical weapons have terrorised, maimed and killed soldiers and civilians alike. As a chemist, the part his profession has played in the development of these weapons has long concerned Andrea Sella, Professor of Chemistry at University College London. In this programme he examines the motivation of chemists like Dr Fritz Haber, who first encouraged the German military to deploy chlorine gas in World War One for the sake of “The Fatherland ? and of Dr Gerhard Schrader, who, in his hunt for an effective pesticide, accidentally discovered a new class of lethal nerve agents for Nazi Germany. |
| China In Slogans | 20210717 | | As the Chinese Communist Party celebrates its 100th anniversary, Celia Hatton looks at how party slogans reveal the turbulent history of modern China. Throughout its existence, the party has used key slogans to communicate policy and mobilise the country's vast population. These messages reflect not just the ambitions of party leaders but also have a profound impact on the lives of millions. Using the BBC archive Celia examines the story behind eight key Communist Party slogans, from their early years as a guerrilla movement to the campaigns of China's current all-powerful leader Xi XInping. Contributors: Professor Vivienne Shue, Dr Jennifer Altehenger, Dr Olivia Cheung, author Lijia Zhang, Dr Rowena He, and New York Times correspondent Christopher Buckley. Presenter: Celia Hatton Producer: Alex Last Editor: Hugh Levinson How Communist Party slogans reveal the turbulent story of modern China. |
| Churchill's Secret Cabinet | 20130706 | 20160213 (BBC7)
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20180701 (BBC7) |  A humble wooden cabinet reveals secrets about how Churchill developed his oratorical style Clement Attlee once claimed that Churchill led Britain to victory in the Second World War through his words. But what influenced these words and their delivery? The answer lies in a wooden cabinet containing not only Churchill's private collection of gramophone records, but also rare recordings of his unknown speeches. In this Archive on 4, historian Andrew Roberts joins archivists, historians, musicians, even Churchill's own family, to discover how these rapidly disintegrating discs - some of them over a hundred years old - offer new clues about his oratorical style. Their survival depends on the fast action of the Cambridge archivists in a race against time to digitise them, before they quite literally turn to dust. The work has turned up some surprising revelations - including a glimpse into Churchill's very own desert island discs. The apparently unmusical Churchill turns out to be someone who treasures songs of satire, humour and intense patriotism. We discover recordings of black swans enjoyed by a nature loving Churchill we rarely see, and then there are those fascinating newly discovered recordings of Churchill's own voice - including the first known recording of him, from the early 20th century. From these records, Andrew Roberts gleans valuable insights into that famous titan of British oratory - how it was not just his words, but his unique musical delivery that came to reflect and even embody the hopes of a nation. Producer: Kati Whitaker. A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4. The answer lies in a newly discovered wooden cabinet containing not only Churchill's private collection of gramophone records, but also rare recordings of his unknown speeches. Already, the work in progress has turned up some surprising revelations - including a glimpse into Churchill's very own desert island discs. The apparently unmusical Churchill turns out to be someone who treasures songs of satire, humour and intense patriotism. We discover recordings of black swans enjoyed by a nature loving Churchill we rarely see, and then there are those fascinating newly discovered recordings of Churchill's own voice - including the first known recording of him, from the early 20th century. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Close To Home - The Story Of Local Radio | 20071110 | 20171111 (BBC7)
20171112 (BBC7) | As well as the launch of BBC Radio 1 to 4, 1967 also saw the arrival of the BBC's first batch of local radio stations: Radio Leicester on 8th November, Radio Sheffield on 15th November and Radio Merseyside on 22nd November. Made to mark the 40th anniversary in 2007 - Libby Purves takes an affectionate look back at the first chaotic days of local programming - from unruly guests and erratic phone-ins to technological mishaps - and explores how the ideals of the early pioneers survived into the 21st Century. Starting in the 1920s, Libby charts the history of the stations which were to bring us the likes of Kate Adie, Tony Adamson, Michael Buerk, Paul Heiney and Des Lynham. From its early beginnings, and after much deliberation and research, the BBC began to build a network of local radio stations across England. The project was driven mainly by the energy of Frank Gillard, then BBC Radio's Managing Director. The other five stations in the original batch of eight BBC local stations were: Radio Nottingham (31st January 1968); Radio Brighton (14th February 1968); Radio Stoke-on-Trent (14th March 1968); Radio Leeds (24th June 1968) and Radio Durham (3rd July 1968). Producer: Paula McGinley First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2007. The start of BBC local radio with stations in Leicester, Sheffield and Merseyside. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2007. |
| Close To The Edit | 20171028 | 20210413 (BBC7)
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20191101 (R4) | Filmmaker Mike Figgis explores the story of edited film, audio and culture, and how the simple process of cutting and splicing has changed the way people view the world. We are living in an age of the edit. From the jump-cuts of Eisenstein and Hitchcock, to the fractured narratives of Virginia Woolf and James Joyce, from the cut-and-paste sounds of musique concrete and hip-hop, to the sensibility of social media (to say nothing of the radio feature itself), it's the edit - the cut, the splice; montage and juxtaposition - that has ushered us into the present. To some, it's the stuff of life itself: chimps, for example, share 99% of our DNA; what matters is the sequencing, the edit. There's a year zero to this story of the edit. From the moment we get up in the morning until we close our eyes at night, the visual reality we perceive is a continuous stream of apparently linked images. That's the way we experienced the world for millennia. Then suddenly, just over a century ago, human beings were confronted with something else: edited film. But this isn't an exercise in cinema history. It's about our present culture. A culture in which the invisible mediating hand of the editor is ever-present. A culture of the 'creative commons' in which we can pull anything out of context and re-edit it (a gif, an internet meme, a mash-up, a parody of a political speech) and make the edit itself become an art form. Cutting, splicing, sampling -- it's all part of the way the world functions now. This is just the beginning. With Vicki Bennett aka People Like Us, Margie Borschke, Walter Murch and Will Self. Producer: Martin Williams. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2017. Filmmaker Mike Figgis explores the age of the edit. Producer: Martin Williams. |
| Collar The Lot | 20130427 | 20160611 (BBC7)
20160612 (BBC7) |  Tom Conti explores the story of Italian internment in Britain during World War II. Actor Tom Conti explores the story of Italian internment in Britain during the Second World War. On June 10th 1940, Mussolini declared war on Britain and France. Overnight, as a result, the thousands of Italians living in Britain were declared enemies, considered a potential threat. Winston Churchill ordered the authorities to 'collar the lot' of so-called 'enemy aliens' and over four thousand Italians were rounded up and imprisoned. Most were shopkeepers, hairdressers, ice cream sellers and respectable citizens at the heart of their communities. Many had been in Britain all their lives. We hear from some of the very few still alive, who were taken from families, jobs and homes to makeshift camps across the UK. Tom Conti's own father was an Italian who had made a life in Scotland. He was married to a Scottish woman and ran a successful business in ladies' hairdressing. The day after Italy declared war he was taken from his home, and interned on the Isle of Man. Tom visits the island to discover which camp his father was kept in, and what conditions were like for the many thousands of men who were kept behind barbed wire during the war. Alfonso Conti narrowly avoided being put on board the cruise liner the Arandora Star, which had been requisitioned for war duties and was bound for Newfoundland carrying internees. It was hit by a torpedo just off the Irish coast and sank within twenty minutes. With archive interviews and testimony from the last Italian survivor, Tom will tell the story of the ship's tragic sinking, in which nearly 500 Italian civilians lost their lives, and lift the lid on this overlooked episode in British history. Produced by Jo Wheeler A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Commuterville | 20180519 | 20210504 (BBC7)
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20190531 (R4) | It's over 175 years since the word "commuter" was used for the first time. (The word does not in fact describe a traveller, it describes a transaction: regular travellers on the railroad into Manhattan were given the opportunity to "commute" their individual tickets into a season pass. Ever since, commuters have been both travellers and revenue stream.) Today - our great cities inhale and exhale millions of commuters, who start their journey in the darkness of winter mornings in the suburbs, resurface blearily in the heart of the city and return to long tucked-in children in darkness. It wasn't meant to be like this. Matthew Sweet looks at our imagined world of fantasy journeys and asks if driverless cars, monorails or high-speed transport systems might deliver them in the future. Producer: Mark Rickards First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2018. Matthew Sweet looks at how commuting has changed the world. It is 175 years since the word "commuter" was used for the first time. (The word does not in fact describe a traveller, it describes a transaction: regular travellers on the railroad into Manhattan were given the opportunity to "commute" their individual tickets into a season pass. Ever since, commuters have been both travellers and revenue stream.) Today our great cities inhale and exhale millions of commuters, who start their journey in the darkness of winter mornings in the suburbs, resurface blearily in the heart of the city and return to long tucked-in children in darkness. It wasn't meant to be like this. Matthew Sweet looks at our imagined world of fantasy journeys and asks if driverless cars, monorails, or high speed transport systems might deliver them in the future. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Producer Mark Rickards. It wasn't meant to be like this. Matthew Sweet looks at our imagined world of fantasy journeys and asks if driverless cars, monorails, or high speed transport systems might deliver them in the future. |
| Could The Pm Have A Brummie Accent? | 20180714 | | BBC political correspondent Chris Mason examines the changing accents of politics and politics of accents, with help from politicians, language experts and an impersonator. The programme examines the ways that stereotypes and prejudices can be loaded onto accents, how the voting public responds to different voices, and what politicians can do and have done about it all. With the help of the archive, the former Labour leader Neil Kinnock and former Conservative minister Edwina Currie reflect on the political soundtrack of their lifetimes. How have their voices, those of their contemporaries and the sound of the national political conversation changed? How is it possible and when it is sensible to change your accent? Chris is joined by Steve Nallon, who impersonated Lady Thatcher on Spitting Image, to listen back to her as a new backbencher and later as Prime Minister. And what about the sound of political reporting? The archive allows the former Today Programme presenter Jack Di Manio to give Chris (a son of the Yorkshire dales) a lesson in speaking 'properly'. So are we really becoming more open minded about this aspect of political communication? The programme hears from two MPs who say they still struggle to be understood in the Commons today. Producer: Joey D'Urso. Chris Mason examines how politicians' accents - and attitudes towards them - have changed. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Producer: Joey D'Urso. |
| Coups And Coalitions: The Two Elections Of 1974 | 20150207 | |  May's general election is the most open in decades. In Archive on 4, Steve Richards goes back to 1974, to explore the last time Britain faced such political flux, and its lessons for today. 1974 saw two elections in eight months. The first was so indecisive it produced a minority government. Like today, politics was going through a long, painful change. Neither major party had a commanding leader or a dominant political argument. And then all this was brought to a head by the worst economic crisis since the War. Steve talks to veterans about what followed, as many feared democracy itself hung in the balance. Conservative MP-to-be Douglas Hurd was at Prime Minister Edward Heath's side as his struggling Government was driven to call an early election, only to lose power. His party colleague, Norman Tebbit, already an MP, was biding his time before declaring his contempt for what he saw as Heath's discredited compromises. Dennis Skinner was a junior Labour MP, close to the miners' union - in sharp contrast to his party colleague, Shirley Williams. In 1974, she became Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection - to spearhead the minority government's push against inflation. Meanwhile, as today, smaller parties were on the rise. David Steel had to race back to London to make sure his leader, Jeremy Thorpe, didn't take the Liberals into coalition with the Tories. And Gordon Wilson was one of several new SNP MPs who arrived at Westminster - feeling, he tells Steve, like commandoes in hostile territory. They explore the lessons of all this for today, as Britain faces a return, for the first time since 1974, to an era of deep electoral uncertainty. PRODUCER: PHIL TINLINE. |
| Covering Edward Said: 40 Years Of Islam, Media And The West | 20210605 | | In 1981, the Jerusalem-born intellectual Edward Said published a book that examined how ideas of Islam are disseminated in the western news media by commentators and experts. It was called Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World. Forty years on, columnist and author Nesrine Malik examines how Said's ideas - and the responses to them - stack up. Through his blistering public lectures and interviews, we hear not only Said’s irrepressible erudition and his humour but the prescience of Said’s ideas today - ones that speak to questions of identity and coexistence. Covering Islam emerged from Said’s observations of the western media’s coverage of the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Reflecting later, Said said the media's 'arsenal of images' created an impression of the utmost negative sort of evil emanation...as if the main business of Muslims was to threaten and try to kill Americans.” When he came to update Covering Islam 17 years later, after the Gulf War, Said believed the situation to be even worse. Nesrine Malik explores how Said’s scholarship and public intellectualism sought to dismantle the idea of a “clash of civilisations” between ‘The West’ and ‘Islam’ through the 80s and 90s to his death in 2003 - and how these tropes have played out and twisted since. Nesrine also considers what Said’s ideas might offer us now, and how he might have dealt with social media and its dissemination of his ideas. Producer: Katherine Godfrey Assistant Producer: Dahaba Ali-Hussen Mixing Editor: Sami El-Enany Executive Producer: Steven Rajam An Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4. Exploring the legacy of Edward Said's Covering Islam, published forty years ago. |
| Cradle To Grave | 20150801 | | 
The history of the National Health Service told through the story of one hospital, the QEII, which was opened by the Queen in Welwyn Garden City in 1963. Fifteen years earlier, on July 5th 1948, the National Health Service had been launched, taking control of nearly 480 000 hospital beds in England and Wales, with 125,000 nurses and 5,000 consultants as well as GPs, dentists and other health professionals. Minister of Health Aneurin Bevan described it as "the biggest single experiment in social service that the world has ever seen undertaken". The QEII - the first all-purpose, district general NHS hospital - opened with some 100 beds to meet the needs of a rapidly increasing population, many from London who had relocated to the new Garden City. In the summer of 2015, the old hospital was closed down as part of a centralisation of health services by East and North Herts NHS Trust, with in-patients services moved out to the Lister Hospital at Stevenage and outpatients services moved into the new QEII hospital on the same site. Cradle to Grave captures the sounds of the old QEII hospital during its last days and gathers the memories of hospital staff and patients, past and present. Other contributors include Dr Geoffrey Rivett who, as well as starting his career as a hospital doctor in the new health services, has written a definitive history of the NHS. Produced by Sara Parker A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Crime Of The Century | 20130713 | 20180505 (BBC7)
20180506 (BBC7) | In the early hours of August 8th 1963, the Royal Mail train from Glasgow to London was held up in the Buckinghamshire countryside by a gang of London thieves. After assaulting the train driver, the criminals stole over two and a half million pounds, something in the region of £40 million in today's money. The twists and turns of the case, and its main characters, ensured that the robbery stayed in the public eye for the decades that followed. There was the discovery of an abandoned hideout, the high-profile captures, escapes from maximum security prisons, bundles of cash left in phone boxes, and extradition battles that went on for years. Gang members Bruce Reynolds, Buster Edwards and Ronnie Biggs became celebrities. Novelist Jake Arnott takes a deeper look at the gang behind the headlines, and considers how the legacy of this crime has become a curse for the criminals. In his last recorded interview before his death, Bruce Reynolds describes his early life of crime and what it took to plan the audacious raid. From his care home in North London, Ronnie Biggs spells out how he randomly got involved in the heist and kept the story running for years as a fugitive in Brazil. Also taking part are criminologist Laurie Taylor, former head of Scotland Yard John O'Connor, Bruce's son Nick Reynolds, BBC reporter Reg Abbiss, Daily Express reporter Colin MacKenzie and former Buckinghamshire policeman John Woolley. Producer: Colin McNulty A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4. Jake Arnott examines the Great Train Robbery of 1963. |
| Da Da Da Daaaaa! | 20201212 | | To mark Beethoven's 250th anniversary, Rachel Parris leads us on an irreverent tour of his 5th Symphony starting with four notes almost anybody in the world will recognise: da da da daaa! Rachel's journey takes her through the highs and lows of the composer's life, as well as on detours via cover versions, rip-offs and spoofs. But what's the secret of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, and why has it triumphed where so much other music has fallen flat? Does the answer lie in those first four notes? Produced by Glyn Tansley Rachel Parris leads us on an irreverent tour of Beethoven's 5th Symphony. |
| Dark Horse: An Alec Guinness Archive | 20140412 | 20150627 (BBC7)
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Alistair McGowan reveals the private side of a purportedly 'retiring' artist - a man who forged one of the most stunningly successful theatrical and cinematic careers of the last century with intelligence, guile and a deep understanding of the creation of image. One of the most extraordinary aspects of the film, television, stage and radio career that made Sir Alec the most successful British character actor of the 20th century was his apparent talent for anonymity. Laurence Olivier, Alec Guinness' mentor and co-star, famously described him as 'a dark horse' in a leading article in Time Magazine. A remarkably good mimic, Sir Alec preferred, it seemed, to define himself by the roles he played. Was he really the scholarly, unworldly artist he appeared to be? He was a diarist, raconteur, and polished Hollywood operator, who turned self-deprecation into an art-form, took pride in not being recognised and disliked showmanship. Alistair McGowan examines the many contradictions in the life of this enigmatic man through archive of interviews with the actor himself and those who knew him well. Producer: Frank Stirling A Unique production for BBC Radio 4. Alistair McGowan investigates the enigma of a private man who became a global star. On the 100th anniversary of Sir Alec Guinness' birth, and in the year when the British Library makes his newly acquired letters and diaries available to the public, Alistair McGowan reveals the private side of this purportedly 'retiring' artist - a man who forged one of the most stunningly successful theatrical and cinematic careers of the last century with intelligence, guile and a deep understanding of the creation of image. |
| David Bowie: Verbatim | 20160130 | 20191221 (BBC7)
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20210109 (R4) |  With previously unheard interviews, studio out-takes and a collection of musings from throughout the years, the story of David Bowie's extraordinary life and career told in his own words. By his own count, David Bowie inhabited seven different personas throughout his career and, while each one of those creations channelled wildly different musical influences that were often difficult to identify, Bowie was always able to articulate with great conviction which musical universe he was inhabiting at each turn – even if he often contradicted himself. “I usually don't agree with what I say very much. I'm an awful liar”, he claimed in 2002, while summarising his many changes in style. Producer: Des Shaw A Ten Alps production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2016. “I usually don't agree with what I say very much. I'm an awful liar”, he claimed in 2002, while summarizing his many changes in style. “I usually don't agree with what I say very much. I'm an awful liar ?, he claimed in 2002, while summarizing his many changes in style. By his own count, David Bowie inhabited seven different personas throughout his career and, while each one of those creations channelled wildly different musical influences that were often difficult to identify, Bowie was always able to articulate with great conviction which musical universe he was inhabiting at each turn - even if he often contradicted himself. I usually don't agree with what I say very much. I'm an awful liar", he claimed in 2002, while summarizing his many changes in style. A Ten Alps production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Dear Adolf - Letters To The Fuhrer | 20120929 | 20160820 (BBC7)
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Christopher Cook examines a unique set of recordings from the vaults of the American Jewish Committee that strove to define America's war aims and values. For 6 weeks, in 1942, the airwaves of NBC hummed with the voices of Hollywood stars such as James Cagney, Raymond Massey and Helen Hayes addressing the Fuhrer in the guise of ordinary citizens. Ever since the trauma of Pearl Harbor, thousands of letters had poured into radio networks and newspaper offices expressing support, anger and defiance at the new war America was now fighting. These letters earned themselves the sobriquet of 'Dear Adolf's' and Pulitzer prize winning writer Stephen Vincent Benet drew on their inspiration for six fictional missives to Hitler. But the backstory of these and other broadcasts from the AJC is as compelling as the star names chosen to speak for the people of America. Formed in 1906, the American Jewish Committee was a response to the plight of Eastern European Jewry then suffering a wave of pogroms. Avowedly 'unpolitical', in so far as it eschewed the major movements then gripping the Jewish world (Socialism, Zionism and Communism) it sought to defend Jewish life both in the U.S. and the heartlands of Eastern Europe and to engage in inter faith dialogue at home. At its heart was advocacy of a loyal American Jewish citizenry and a desire to overcome prejudice. By the late 1930's the A.J.C. took to the airwaves to use the power of radio. Producing thousands of radio messages and programs aimed at fighting bigotry on the homefront and promoting democratic values for a diverse number of programmes. This was a time of rising anti-semitism, domestically & abroad with the German American Bund holding mass rallies in Madison Square Gardens and the siren voice of radio demagogue Father Coughlin railing against 'internal enemies'. Series like Dear Adolf and a gripping dramatization of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, made just months after its destruction, are just a few of the archival gems of the A.J.C. spanning two decades of attempts to counter prejudice and imbue ordinary American's with the spirit of tolerance. Producer: Mark Burman. Christopher Cook explores how the power of radio was used to define America's war effort. By the late 1930's the A.J.C. took to the airwaves to use the power of radio. Producing thousands of radio messages and programs aimed at fighting bigotry on the homefront and promoting democratic values for a diverse number of programmes. This was a time of rising anti-semitism, domestically and abroad with the German American Bund holding mass rallies in Madison Square Gardens and the siren voice of radio demagogue Father Coughlin railing against 'internal enemies'. Producer: Mark Burman. For 6 weeks, in 1942, the airwaves of NBC hummed with the voices of Hollywood stars such as James Cagney, Raymond Massey and Helen Hayes addressing the Fuhrer in the guise of ordinary citizens. Ever since the trauma of Pearl Harbour, thousands of letters had poured into radio networks and newspaper offices expressing support, anger and defiance at the new war America was now fighting. These letters earned themselves the sobriquet of 'Dear Adolf's' and Pulitzer prize winning writer Stephen Vincent Benet drew on their inspiration for six fictional missives to Hitler. Series like Dear Adolf and a gripping dramatization of the WarsawArchive On 4 Decimal Day - What's That In Old Money? 20110205 20110207 Forty years ago, Britain went decimal. Two thousand years of everyday currency history was overthrown overnight as the country woke up to new money on February 15th 1971 and said goodbye to coins such as the crown, the florin and the shilling. Few economic events have affected the entire country so immediately and Peter Day delves into the archives to examine how the country prepared for and responded to D Day. It was Harold Wilson's Labour government that began the process of decimalisation in the 1960s after many years of discussion. Then cabinet minister Tony Benn recalls how changing Britain's money fitted in with the modernising ideology of the time, while former Chief Secretary to the Treasury Dick Taverne remembers the passion of the Save our Sixpence campaign. Economists Peter Jay and Will Hutton discuss whether decimalisation contributed to the double-digit inflation of the 1970s alongside archive stories of price rises and rounding up, as earnest commentators worried about how 'the housewife' would cope. Did we lose something, culturally and intellectually, when we embraced new money? Oxford Professor of Mathematics Marcus du Sautoy considers whether thinking in tens is really the best way to go about things. And Peter visits The Kings' Head pub in North London where the landlord's tills charged in pounds, shillings and pence for some three decades after D-Day. He also talks to Sir Patrick Moore - patron of the Metric Martyrs campaign - about his love of imperial measures. Britain may have been successful in decimalising its currency in 1971 but why was the movement towards full metrication - begun at the same time - never completed? Finally Peter asks, if you're old enough to remember, is it still possible to think in old money? Producers: Simon Jacobs and Phil Smith A Unique production for BBC Radio 4. Peter Day considers the events and impact of Britain's currency going decimal in 1971. Forty years ago, Britain ""went decimal"". Two thousand years of everyday currency history was overthrown overnight as the country woke up to ""new money"" on February 15th 1971 and said goodbye to coins such as the crown, the florin and the shilling. Few economic events have affected the entire country so immediately and Peter Day delves into the archives to examine how the country prepared for and responded to D Day. It was Harold Wilson's Labour government that began the process of decimalisation in the 1960s after many years of discussion. Then cabinet minister Tony Benn recalls how changing Britain's money fitted in with the modernising ideology of the time, while former Chief Secretary to the Treasury Dick Taverne remembers the passion of the ""Save our Sixpence"" campaign. Economists Peter Jay and Will Hutton discuss whether decimalisation contributed to the double-digit inflation of the 1970s alongside archive stories of price rises and ""rounding up"", as earnest commentators worried about how 'the housewife' would cope. Did we lose something, culturally and intellectually, when we embraced new money? Oxford Professor of Mathematics Marcus du Sautoy considers whether ""thinking in tens"" is really the best way to go about things. And Peter visitArchive On 4 Dial-a-poem 20130629 Poet Brian Patten explores the 1960s counter-culture through its radically risqu\u00e9 poetry. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Brian Patten, one of the original Liverpool poets, explores how radical, subversive and occasionally risqué poetry - rooted in the counter-culture of the late 1960s - became available to a mass audience at the end of a phone line for the first time. Dial-a-Poem changed the public face of poetry for generations. Producer: Llinos Jones A Terrier production for BBC Radio 4. Poet Brian Patten looks back at 1960s counterculture through Dial-a-Poem. Poet Brian Patten explores the 1960s counter-culture through its radically risqué poetry. |
| Decimal Day - What's That In Old Money? | 20110205 | 20110207
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20110207 (R4) | Peter Day considers the events and impact of Britain's currency going decimal in 1971. Forty years ago, Britain went decimal. Two thousand years of everyday currency history was overthrown overnight as the country woke up to new money on February 15th 1971 and said goodbye to coins such as the crown, the florin and the shilling. Few economic events have affected the entire country so immediately and Peter Day delves into the archives to examine how the country prepared for and responded to D Day. It was Harold Wilson's Labour government that began the process of decimalisation in the 1960s after many years of discussion. Then cabinet minister Tony Benn recalls how changing Britain's money fitted in with the modernising ideology of the time, while former Chief Secretary to the Treasury Dick Taverne remembers the passion of the Save our Sixpence campaign. Economists Peter Jay and Will Hutton discuss whether decimalisation contributed to the double-digit inflation of the 1970s alongside archive stories of price rises and rounding up, as earnest commentators worried about how 'the housewife' would cope. Did we lose something, culturally and intellectually, when we embraced new money? Oxford Professor of Mathematics Marcus du Sautoy considers whether thinking in tens is really the best way to go about things. And Peter visits The Kings' Head pub in North London where the landlord's tills charged in pounds, shillings and pence for some three decades after D-Day. He also talks to Sir Patrick Moore - patron of the Metric Martyrs campaign - about his love of imperial measures. Britain may have been successful in decimalising its currency in 1971 but why was the movement towards full metrication - begun at the same time - never completed? Finally Peter asks, if you're old enough to remember, is it still possible to think in old money? Producers: Simon Jacobs and Phil Smith A Unique production for BBC Radio 4. Forty years ago, Britain "went decimal". Two thousand years of everyday currency history was overthrown overnight as the country woke up to "new money" on February 15th 1971 and said goodbye to coins such as the crown, the florin and the shilling. Few economic events have affected the entire country so immediately and Peter Day delves into the archives to examine how the country prepared for and responded to D Day. It was Harold Wilson's Labour government that began the process of decimalisation in the 1960s after many years of discussion. Then cabinet minister Tony Benn recalls how changing Britain's money fitted in with the modernising ideology of the time, while former Chief Secretary to the Treasury Dick Taverne remembers the passion of the "Save our Sixpence" campaign. Economists Peter Jay and Will Hutton discuss whether decimalisation contributed to the double-digit inflation of the 1970s alongside archive stories of price rises and "rounding up", as earnest commentators worried about how 'the housewife' would cope. Did we lose something, culturally and intellectually, when we embraced new money? Oxford Professor of Mathematics Marcus du Sautoy considers whether "thinking in tens" is really the best way to go about things. And Peter visits The Kings' Head pub in North London where the landlord's tills charged in pounds, shillings and pence for some three decades after D-Day. He also talks to Sir Patrick Moore - patron of the Metric Martyrs campaign - about his love of imperial measures. Britain may have been successful in decimalising its currency in 1971 but why was the movement towards full metrication - begun at the same time - never completed? Finally Peter asks, if you're old enough to remember, is it still possible to think in "old money"? |
| Desert Island Myths: Three Centuries Of Robinson Crusoe | 20191102 | | Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe was first published on 25 April 1719. By the end of the 19th century it had become the most reissued, adapted and translated novel in the world. Over the years, this island adventure story has been interpreted in a huge variety of ways: by critics as the first ever novel in English; by political theorists as an allegory of colonialism; by economists as a story of primitive accumulation; by anthropologists as a classic statement of nature and civilisation; and by educationalists as a story of learning by doing. The book has also inspired countless creative works, from Gulliver's Travels, Swiss Family Robinson and Treasure Island to Lost In Space, Cast Away and The Martian. Not forgetting several reality TV shows and the ever popular Desert Island Discs. Three hundred years on from Robinson Crusoe's publication, cultural historian Christopher Frayling sets sail through the BBC archive to explore the creation and legacy of this controversial text. Interviewees: Charles Boyle, author of Good Morning, Mr Crusoe Judith Hawley, Professor of 18th-Century Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London Andrew Lambert, Professor of Naval History at King's College London Olivette Otele, Professor of History at Bath Spa University Andrew Pollard, writer, director and pantomime dame Brian Sibley, author and broadcaster Producer: Jane Long |
| Destroyer Of Worlds | 20150711 | |  How Britain discovered the world's first atomic bomb only to lose it to the Americans when the U.S. reneged on an Anglo-American agreement to share atomic research. A dawn of two suns - the world's first atomic bomb explosion tested in the New Mexico desert on July 16 1945 - inaugurated the atomic age, forever defining the global struggle for supremacy. At the time, the so called 'Father of the atomic bomb', Robert Oppenheimer, famously quoted Hindu scriptures with the apocalyptic words "Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds". This programme examines the little known story of British involvement in the top secret Manhattan Project to make an atomic bomb and how Britain, once the lead in nuclear weapons, was eventually marginalised. It is a story of a British/US rivalry which ended in Britain being squeezed out of the project. But it is also the story of Churchill's failure to secure a position on the global high table of nuclear powers, a failure many regard as a betrayal. While Britain may have regretted the loss of their atomic leadership, this programme also examines the views that one of the reasons for Britain's isolation - American fears about the security risk of British participation - was well justified. After all Klaus Fuchs, a member of the British delegation, was arguably the most significant of the wartime atomic spies. But, speaking to the widow of an until recently unknown American atomic spy, the programme also uncovers evidence that the so-called 'best kept secret', the Manhattan Project, was far more deeply penetrated than we have previously realised. Produced by Kati Whitaker A Kati Whitaker production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Dial-a-poem | 20130629 | 20160820 (BBC7)
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20180624 (BBC7) |  Poet Brian Patten explores the 1960s counter-culture through its radically risqu\u00e9 poetry. Brian Patten, one of the original Liverpool poets, explores how radical, subversive and occasionally risqué poetry - rooted in the counter-culture of the late 1960s - became available to a mass audience at the end of a phone line for the first time. Dial-a-Poem changed the public face of poetry for generations. Producer: Llinos Jones A Terrier production for BBC Radio 4. Poet Brian Patten looks back at 1960s counterculture through Dial-a-Poem. Poet Brian Patten explores the 1960s counter-culture through its radically risqué poetry. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives A Terrier production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Diana: A Life Backwards | 20170826 | | Marking the 20th anniversary of her untimely death, Archive on 4 presents a unique and moving portrait of Diana, Princess of Wales - her life documented in reverse chronology. Diana, Princess of Wales was arguably the most famous - and most photographed - woman in the world. Her life has been exhaustively discussed and disassembled in the media both before and since her untimely death on 31st August 1997. As the anniversary of that tragic event approaches, is there anything truly new for us to learn about her remarkable, turbulent, and short life - and how the way we reacted to it changed our society? Drawing from hundreds of hours of footage, Archive on 4 presents a unique, unmediated portrait of the Princess - starting with the sombre events of her funeral and taking the listener on a journey backwards through her life and times: from the remarkable public outpouring of grief that followed her passing; the almost unbearable press intrusion into her private world in her last months; her new life as a single woman; her divorce, her married life and the public jubilation surrounding the Royal Wedding of 1981; right back to the announcement of the 19 year-old Diana's engagement to Prince Charles. Unpresented and unmediated, the programme offers a unique audio montage of the events of, and reaction to, one of the most extraordinary lives of the 20th century. Featuring contributions from the archives from Piers Morgan, Andrew Neill, Jennie Bond, Richard Kay - as well as several of Diana's closest friends, and members of the British public. Produced by Steven Rajam and James Roberts for BBC Radio 4 Contributors: Arthur Edwards Barbara Daly Bea Campbell David Emanuel David Starkey Denis Lawson Eammon McCabe Earl Spencer Elizabeth Emanuel Glenn Harvey James Naughtie James Reynolds James Whitaker Jeremy Paxman John Humphrys Ken Lennox Martin Bashir Michael Shea Patrick Jephson Penny Juror Rosie Boycott Tim Graham Tom Cruise Tony McGrath Archive: All Things Considered, BBC Radio Wales Archive on 4 - A History of the Stiff Upper Lip, BBC Radio 4 A Royal Recovery, BBC Radio 4 BBC News Special - Diana: 10 Years On, BBC News 24 Capturing the Royals: The Story of Royal Photography, BBC2 Decisive Moments: A Rough Road, BBC2 Diana: The People's Princess, BBC1 Great Britons: Diana, BBC2 Heart of the Matter, BBC1 Fifty Years with the Firm: Prog 5: Doom & Gloom, BBC Radio 4 Mediumwave, BBC Radio 4 Memories of Diana, BBC1 Modern Times: The Shrine, BBC4 Newsnight, BBC1 Panorama, BBC1 Proms, BBC1 The Princess's People: A View from the Crowd, BBC2 The Reunion: The Wedding of Charles & Diana, BBC Radio 4 The Today Programme, BBC Radio 4 Thinking Allowed: Remembering Diana, BBC Radio 4 Top of the Pops, BBC1 Woman's Hour, BBC Radio 4. The life of Diana, Princess of Wales - movingly portrayed in reverse chronology. Fifty Years with the Firm: Prog 5: Doom and Gloom, BBC Radio 4 The Reunion: The Wedding of Charles and Diana, BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour, BBC Radio 4. Unpresented and unmediated, the programme offers a unique audio montage of the events of, and reaction to, one of the most extraordinary lives of the 20th century. Featuring contributions from the archives from Piers Morgan, Andrew Neill, Jennie Bond, Richard Kay - as well as several of Diana's closest friends, and members of the British public. |
| Dickie Attenborough: A Life In Film | 20150822 | 20190525 (BBC7)
20190526 (BBC7) | In a career that encompassed acting, producing and directing, Richard Attenborough was a mainstay of the British film industry; in fact, for at least 20 years, he was arguably the British film industry. At the time when Attenborough began directing films, starting with Oh What a Lovely War in 1969, British film was reaching an all time nadir. Attenborough helped to bring it back from the brink. Inheriting a steadfast belief in citizenship and social responsibility, Dickie or Dick (as he was known by his friends) threw his phenomenal energy and determination into making films like Gandhi and Cry Freedom, the latter telling the story of the anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko and the journalist Donald Woods. He didn't set out to make box office hits, yet Gandhi played for weeks at the Odeon Leicester Square and won eight Oscars including best actor for Ben Kingsley. Kingsley, Anthony Hopkins, David Puttnam, William Goldberg and the late John Mills all join in celebrating Attenborough's skill as a director of actors, his stamina and his huge commitment to the British film industry. A year on from his death, Susan Marling (who met and recorded with Attenborough before he died) asks what his legacy has been. Producer: Isabel Sutton A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2015. Susan Marling celebrates Richard Attenborough's legacy a year on from his death. Produced by Isabel Sutton A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Dictators On The Couch | 20170610 | 20190525 (R4) | For decades psychologists working for the CIA have drawn up psychological profiles of foreign leaders. Using expertise developed watching the Nazis, the programme presented American Presidents with detailed profiles of their opponents, complete with proposed weak points and personal foibles. In 1961, prior to a planned summit meeting between John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, the CIA profiled the Russian leader, declaring him an uninhibited ham actor who...has a truly unusual ability to project the force of his own powerful personality. The report - which today reads like generalisation of a peculiarly obvious kind - so impressed Kennedy that he became addicted to reading analyses of foreign leaders, particularly if they contained details of sexual peccadilloes. The Russians became keen on psychological reports too, commissioning one on Kennedy which questioned whether his liberalism was anything more than skin deep. Extraordinarily, the CIA unit profiling foreign leaders survived the Cold War, offering such gems as... Fidel Castro is not crazy, but he is so highly neurotic and unstable a personality as to be quite vulnerable to certain kinds of psychological pressure. The outstanding neurotic elements in his personality are his hunger for power and his need for the recognition and adulation of the masses... While Saddam Hussein is not psychotic, he has a strong paranoid orientation... Psychoanalyst Daniel Pick explores these extraordinary files, and speaks to psychiatrists about the validity of distance readings and foreign policy experts and historians about how they may have influenced the direction of American foreign policy. And what exactly are the psychiatrists currently saying about today's world leaders? For decades, the CIA profiled the minds of foreign leaders. Daniel Pick investigates. And what exactly are the psychiatrists currently saying about today's world leaders? |
| Dimbleby On Dimbleby | 20160813 | | Jonathan Dimbleby tells the story of his legendary broadcaster father, Richard Dimbleby. Fifty years ago this year, Westminster Abbey played host to a remarkable occasion, a memorial service for a mere journalist and broadcaster. The Abbey was packed. Hundreds of members of the public stood outside in the cold and wet to pay their respects to someone they saw as a trusted friend, Richard Dimbleby. In this programme, Jonathan Dimbleby dips into the extensive treasure-chest of his father's work, dating back to the 1930s, when Dimbleby Sr boldly wrote to the BBC to propose the idea of such a thing as a 'radio reporter' and promptly got the job he'd envisaged. Right from the start, he displayed a remarkable natural flair for bringing reports alive through his choice of language, facility for painting vivid pictures and ability to improvise under pressure. Richard Dimbleby was the BBC's first-ever out-and-about radio reporter, cutting his teeth by reporting live from a telephone box on the burning down of Crystal Palace. He was the Corporation's first war correspondent and air correspondent during the Second World War, remembered for flying with bombers, reporting the horrors of the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp and sitting in Hitler's chair. Dimbleby pioneered the art of broadcast commentary on major national events, describing the Coronation of Elizabeth II and the funerals of Winston Churchill and John F Kennedy. When the Telstar satellite enabled live trans-Atlantic television, there was Dimbleby to host a debut programme. And who was in Red Square to host the first live tv broadcast from Moscow? Dimbleby was the first to perfect the art of anchoring General Election results broadcasts and was a major factor in turning a faltering Panorama programme into essential viewing for millions in the depths of the Cold War. As a radio personality, he graced Down Your Way as presenter and Twenty Questions as panellist. 'Assisting Jonathan Dimbleby in assessing his father's talents are three leading figures in post-war broadcasting - Sir Paul Fox, Sir Jeremy Isaacs and Michael Peacock. Produced by Andrew Green A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Disinformation: A User's Guide | 20180317 | 20180921 (R4) | What if there was never a 'Truth' era before 'Post-Truth'? In this edition of Archive on 4, Phil Tinline mines the archives to trace the story of 'disinformation' - navigating the slippery history of such incidents as the Zinoviev Letter, the Reichstag Fire, the Moscow Trials, the allegations that the US used germ warfare in the Korean War, British operations in Northern Ireland and the CIA's attempt at a pornographic movie. He tracks the origins of modern disinformation to the struggles between Tsarists and revolutionaries in pre- and post-Revolutionary Russia - a period which produced the notorious forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which was championed by the Nazis. It was a milieu that shaped the Bolsheviks' ruthless approach to information and disinformation - a mindset they carried with them from the underground to the Kremlin. Amid the rise of totalitarianism, leading thinkers on left and right alike were worrying about the 'End of Truth' over 70 years before today's furores. Anxiety about truth and its enemies seems to flare up at times when orthodoxies are falling apart - political uncertainty is rife and people become unusually open to the comforting certainty of extreme ideas. So - if 'fake news' is not as new as advertised, might we have something to learn from this history? Phil uses this long history of deliberate attacks on truth to identify tricks and techniques that are still in use today, drawing on the expertise of Lawrence Bittman, the ex-deputy chief of the Czechoslovak disinformation department. Speakers include: Gill Bennett, Lawrence Bittman, Richard Evans, Peter Pomeranzev, Robert Service, Lyndsey Stonebridge, Calder Walton, Kathryn Weathersby Producer: Phil Tinline. Phil Tinline mines the long history of disinformation to identify techniques in use today. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Producer: Phil Tinline. In this edition of Archive on 4, Phil Tinline mines the archives to trace the story of 'disinformation' - navigating the slippery history of such incidents as the Zinoviev Letter, the Reichstag Fire, the Moscow Trials and the allegations that the US used germ warfare in the Korean War. So - if 'fake news' is not as new as advertised, might we have something to learn from this history? Phil uses this long history of deliberate attacks on truth to identify tricks and techniques that are still in use today. And he investigates what all this has to do with underground Bolsheviks, Cambridge scientists and the supposed science of 'brainwashing'. Speakers include: Peter Pomeranzev, Robert Service, Lyndsey Stonebridge, Kathrn Weathersby |
| Disorienting: Asians On Screen | 20201219 | | New documentary from BBC Radio 4. Comedian Phil Wang takes a personal look at the representation of East and South East Asians in the West - on stage, screen and beyond. He shines a light on many ingrained racist stereotypes, reflects on yellowface and whitewashing - all at a unique moment. With a backdrop of an alarming rise in violence and threat in the shadow of Covid-19, East and South East Asian artists, writers and others in the media are mobilising like never before to fix the longstanding issues and address a persistent form of racism that gets largely overlooked. Talking with academics Diana Yeh, Xun Zhou and Lu Gram, actors and writers Daniel York Loh and Chloe Mi Lin Ewart, master illusionist Jim Steinmeyer and musician Emma-Lee Moss (also known as Emmy the Great), Phil encounters magic crystal lanterns, starships and ouija boards. He takes a yellowface ride from Fu Manchu, to James Mason in a dodgy moustache with an even dodgier accent, through to 21st century Hollywood. Phil also discovers the dark power of stereotypes, from the screen to the playground to the street and in the bedroom. Presenter: Phil Wang Producer: Richard Ward Executive Producers: Max O'Brien and Sean Glynn A Novel production for BBC Radio 4 Phil Wang investigates the representation of East and South East Asians in western media. |
| Divided Nation | 20191221 | | Current political and social divisions are bitter and seemingly intractable. But a look back over just fifty years reminds us of labour unrest in the 1970s that brought down a government, and the 1980s miners' strike that left communities and even families divided for a generation. Are we really more divided now than at any time in the last fifty years? And if so, what has really caused the deep fracture of British society and politics? Using archive which conveys the powerful emotions of the time, including the music that expressed social and political passions, as well as news and interviews with those who played a significant part in divisive events or tried to bring warring sides together on common ground, Divided Nation examines social and political changes which have fed the sense of division in Britain. Recent data suggests that one in five Leave voters and one in three Remain voters would not welcome a member of the other camp marrying into the family. This parallels data in the US showing that Republican and Democrat voters are less socially open to their opposite numbers than in the past. Today's Brexit divide is often explained as reflecting deeper cultural differences, as well as different economic realities. Does this account for the description of unprecedented division? With the help of more contemporary archive, historians and sociologists, we will look for possible reasons for this feeling that we have never been more divided. Producer: Jonathan Brunert Timandra Harkness asks if the nation is more divided now than it has been for fifty years |
| Divorce - British Style | 20110312 | 20110314 | 40 years after the Divorce Act came into force, what was the impact on British society? 40 years ago, a legal change ushered in one of the most profound and rapid changes in British society. The Divorce Act of 1969 came into force in 1971, introducing the concept of no-fault divorces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland followed with its own reform not long after. The results were dramatic. The rate of divorce - which had been around 30,000 a year in the 1960s, rocketed in the first year of the new act to over 110,000. It continued to rise, hitting a high of over 160,000 couples in the mid-80s, before dropping back down as more couples cohabit rather than marry. Still, four out of ten marriages are estimated to end in divorce, and the UK has one of the highest divorce rates in Europe. Rosie Boycott, herself a veteran of the feminist battles of the 1960s, revisits the personal stories and surprising debates of the 1950s, 60s and 70s documenting and reflecting on the profound social change unleashed by the new divorce legislation. Producer: Daniel Tetlow. 40 years ago, a legal change ushered in one of the most profound and rapid changes in British society. The Divorce Act of 1969 came into force in 1971, introducing the concept of no-fault divorces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland followed with its own reform not long after. The results were dramatic. The rate of divorce - which had been around 30,000 a year in the 1960s, rocketed in the first year of the new act to over 110,000. It continued to rise, hitting a high of over 160,000 couples in the mid-80s, before dropping back down as more couples cohabit rather than marry. Still, four out of ten marriages are estimated to end in divorce, and the UK has one of the highest divorce rates in Europe. |
| Dna 60 Years On | 20130323 | 20130328
20161029 (BBC7)
20161030 (BBC7) |  Robert Winston traces the impact of DNA - from its discovery 60 years ago to today. Just 60 years ago, the initials DNA were unknown to the public. A handful of scientists were in a race to discover the structure of this complex molecule which possibly held the secret of life. Today, DNA is a crucial part of our knowledge about health, identity and our whole world. In April 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick published their conclusion that the structure of DNA was a double helix. In this programme Robert Winston traces the ways in which DNA has entered our lives, including a new interview with the 85 year old James Watson, who reflects on the consequences of his pioneering work with Crick. The programme begins with archive of Watson and Crick as they talk about their attempts in Cambridge to solve the structure, while their rivals in London, Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin, competed and contributed to the groundbreaking discovery. Understanding the genetic code of the structure led to the Human Genome project, completed in 2003, which aimed to identify all genes in human DNA. Its application for medical conditions, identifying gene mutations that could lead to disease and disability, has continued to raise questions of ethics as to how this intimate knowledge of people's genes might be used. A further leap forward in the application of DNA was discovered by Alec Jeffreys in 1984, when he realised that each person's DNA fingerprint was unique. Whether it's in solving crimes or paternity issues, working towards a cure for cancer or heart disease, or finding Richard III in a car park, the revolution that was heralded 60 years ago has galloped into our lives. Robert Winston assesses where we are and looks ahead to what DNA might lead to in the future. Producer: Richard Bannerman A Ladbroke production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Doctor Who - The Lost Episodes | 20091226 | 20091228
20141227 (BBC7)
20141228 (BBC7) |  
Shaun Ley investigates what happened to 108 missing episodes of Doctor Who from the 1960s. What happened to the 108 missing episodes of Doctor Who from the 1960s? Shaun Ley investigates why the tapes were wiped and how dedicated fans hunted down copies of other episodes in film collections from Cyrpus to New Zealand. While we may have lost those early programmes, Shaun hears how some home recordings ensured all audio survived. Producer: Chris Ledgard. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009. Shaun Ley investigates what happened to 108 missing episodes of Doctor Who from the 1960s, why the tapes were wiped and how dedicated fans hunted down copies of other episodes in film collections from Cyprus to New Zealand. And while we may have lost those early programmes, Shaun hears how home recordings ensured all the audio survived. Shaun Ley investigates what happened to 108 missing episodes of Doctor Who from the 1960s, why the tapes were wiped and how dedicated fans hunted down copies of other episodes in film collections from Cyprus to New Zealand. And while we may have lost those early programmes, Shaun hears how home recordings ensured all the audio survived. |
| Domesday Reloaded | 20110514 | 20110516 | Historian Michael Wood surveys the rise, fall, and rehabilitation of the most ambitious digital survey, ever carried out. The project took the name of William the Conqueror's Domesday book and was completed in time for the 900th anniversary of its namesake, The anniversary prompted BBC TV producer Peter Armstrong to propose an equally ambitious project. Using money left over from the successful country wide roll-out of the BBC Micro computer to schools, he hit upon the idea of compiling something similar to the Domesday Book. He wanted to collect pictures and text, gathered by children everywhere, in a digital format, and ultimately deliver a computer resource for every library and school. The country was divided into 3x4 mile squares, and for two years community groups from schools, Scout and Guide troops, Women's Institutes and Tourist Information Centres, were corralled into diligently gathering information about local life in the 1980s. After a huge press launch over a million people took part in the survey, and their stories were astonishingly diverse. 14,000 schools took up the challenge and approached the project in many different ways. From the small Scottish school who undertook a full census of the wildlife on their island, to the (newly) ex-miners' children who wrote poetry about their hopes for a non-coal powered future. The stories and photographs were eventually loaded onto the Domesday machine and the technology was demonstrated to at the highest level, from the Queen, to the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and to President Mitterand. However, when the final machine - a slightly Heath-Robinson combination of a BBC Master, a tracker-ball pointer (this was pre-mouse) and a large 12 inch video disc player (this was pre-CD Rom) - was unveiled in November 1986, it was frustratingly expensive. At almost £5,000, the machines were outside the price range of nearly all libraries and schools. So most of the people involved in gathering the data and snapping the photos never even saw the fruits of their labour. As time went by, the BBC scrapped its interest in interactivity, and the project decayed. All the data so painstakingly collected was locked up in obsolete technology - a good example of the Digital Dark ages of the 1980s. By 2002 the hidden Domesday data started to gain cult status and was a treasure trove for digital archaeologists, many of whom have laboriously excavated the data from the disintegrating discs. Now, 25 years after the original project, that digital archaeology is resurrecting a history of Britain never seen before and data from the 1986 Domesday project is now being made available via the internet at www.bbc.co.uk/domesday. Michael Wood unlocks the secrets of the 1986 BBC Domesday project. The country was divided into 3x4 mile squares, and for two years community groups from schools, Scout & Guide troops, Women's Institutes and Tourist Information Centres, were corralled into diligently gathering information about local life in the 1980s. Historian Michael Wood surveys the rise, fall, and rehabilitation of the most ambitious digital survey, ever carried out. The project took the name of William the Conqueror's Domesday book and was completed in time for the 900th anniversary of its namesake, The anniversary prompted BBC TV producer Peter Armstrong to propose an equally ambitious project. Using money left over from the successful country wide roll-out of the BBC Micro computer to schools, he hit upon the idea of compiling something similar to the Domesday Book. He wanted to collect pictures and text, gathered by children everywhere, in a digital format, and ultimately deliver a computer resource for every library and school. The country was divided into 3x4 mile squares, and for two years community groups from schools, Scout and Guide troops, Women's Institutes and Tourist Information Centres, were corralled into diligently gathering information about local life in the 1980s. After a huge press launch over a million people took part in the survey, and their stories were astonishingly diverse. 14,000 schools took up the challenge and approached the project in many different ways. From the small Scottish school who undertook a full census of the wildlife on their island, to the (newly) ex-miners' children who wrote poetry about their hopes for a non-coal powered future. However, when the final machine - a slightly Heath-Robinson combination of a BBC Master, a tracker-ball pointer (this was pre-mouse) and a large 12 inch video disc player (this was pre-CD Rom) - was unveiled in November 1986, it was frustratingly expensive. At almost £5,000, the machines were outside the price range of nearly all libraries and schools. So most of the people involved in gathering the data and snapping the photos never even saw the fruits of their labour. As time went by, the BBC scrapped its interest in interactivity, and the project decayed. All the data so painstakingly collected was locked up in obsolete technology - a good example of the Digital Dark ages of the 1980s. By 2002 the hidden Domesday data started to gain cult status and was a treasure trove for digital archaeologists, many of whom have laboriously excavated the data from the disintegrating discs. Now, 25 years after the original project, that digital archaeology is resurrecting a history of Britain never seen before and data from the 1986 Domesday project is now being made available via the internet at www.bbc.co.uk/domesday. The country was divided into 3x4 mile squares, and for two years community groups from schools, Scout & Guide troops, Women's Institutes and Tourist Information Centres, were corralled into diligently gathering information about local life in the 1980s. After a huge press launch over a million people took part in the survey, and their stories were astonishingly diverse. 14,000 schools took up the challenge and approached the project in many different ways. From the small Scottish school who undertook a full census of the wildlife on their island, to the (newly) ex-miners' children who wrote poetry about their hopes for a non-coal powered future. |
| Don't Be Rude On The Road | 20160917 | 20170407 (R4) |  Alan Dein takes a breakneck tour through the history of the public information film. Alan Dein fastens his seat-belt and takes a breakneck tour through the history of the Public Information Film, from its post war origins to its digital present. For 65 years the Central Office of Information sought to influence the nation's behaviour with thousands of Public Information Films. Trawling through an abundant sea of archive, Alan finds the campaigns that arose in each decade and the themes that were repeated, until some attained cult value. From road safety to child safety, using the telephone to embracing nuclear power, the dangers of drugs to the dangers of the internet, Public Information Films have been used to warn and educate young and old about the perils of life in an ever changing modern Britain. The legendary Charley Says and Green Cross Man films have also made a comeback in the last few years to warn of 21st century hazards. When it closed in 2012, the Central Office of Information left its vast film archive to the British Film Institute where it is undergoing the transformation from celluloid to digital at the BFI's Conservation Centre. Most of the films heard on this programme can be viewed in the BFI Player by clicking on this link: http://player.bfi.org.uk/collections/public-information-films/ Producer Neil McCarthy. |
| Don't Panic! It's The Douglas Adams Papers | 20180303 | 20210525 (BBC7)
20210529 (BBC7)
20210530 (BBC7)
20200215 (R4) | John Lloyd unearths the private papers of his friend and colleague Douglas Adams, and discovers more about the agonies he went through to write The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The papers, donated to St John's College, Cambridge University, include note books, ramblings, rants about how hard it is to write, unfinished scenes and passages never included in Douglas Adams' books. John Lloyd co-wrote the first series of Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, which started on Radio 4 in 1978. He reveals that he and Douglas Adams had been commissioned to write the first novel together, following the success of the radio series, but Douglas decided to "give me the boot" and went on to write the books on his own. The novels have sold something in the region of 14 million copies. Other contributors to the programmes include the original producer and now novelist Simon Brett; original cast members Simon Jones, Geoffrey McGivern and Mark Wing-Davey; and Paddy Kingsland of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. John also discusses how unpublished writings by Douglas Adams have just been used in a new series of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, about to be transmitted on Radio 4. A Bite Media production for BBC Radio 4. John Lloyd uncovers the private papers of the late Douglas Adams. John Lloyd co-wrote the first series of Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, which started on Radio 4 in 1978. He reveals that he and Douglas Adams had been commissioned to write the first novel together, following the success of the radio series, but Douglas decided to give me the boot and went on to write the books on his own. The novels have sold something in the region of 14 million copies. John Lloyd unearths the private papers of his friend and colleague Douglas Adams, and discovers more about the agonies he went through to write The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, forty years ago. A Bite Media production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Don't Write, Make A Record | 20020420 | 20150516 (BBC7)
20150517 (BBC7)
20190518 (BBC7)
20190519 (BBC7) |  Just 7 of thin vinyl connects generations, continents, lovers and the lost. From 1935 until the coming of the cassette, anyone, anywhere in the world, from Australia to Argentina, could walk into an auto-recording booth, from the Empire State to Brighton Pier, a Cunard Liner to the NAAFI and make their own short gramophone record. From the anonymous to the likes of Tennessee Williams, the Beats and Gracie Fields, join Alain Dein on a journey through the grooves of time and memory. Producer: Mark Burman First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2002. Alan Dein explores how people recorded their own voices on gramophone records. Alan Dein explores how people recorded their own voices on gramophone records before the age of audio cassette. From April 2002. |
| Down Your Way Revisited | 20060520 | 20161105 (BBC7)
20161106 (BBC7) | Jeffrey Richards on the impact of the BBC radio programme on the lives of ordinary people. Down Your Way was one of Britain's longest-running radio series. It started in 1946 when BBC producer Leslie Perowne hit on the idea of spinning out a popular music programme on the BBC Home Service with short interviews with members of the public. The idea was an instant success, and Down Your Way became a staple of the BBC's radio schedules for decades. At the height of its success in the 1950s - when television had yet to make a significant impact - it was attracting 10 million listeners a week. It finished its run in 1992. Cultural historian, Professor Jeffrey Richards argues that Down Your Way portrayed a 'heritage Britain', intent on preserving the past, which provided listeners with a reassurance that - despite all appearances to the contrary - nothing would ever really change in their green and pleasant land. Producer: Libby Cross First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2006. |
| Dr K | 20130420 | 20160618 (BBC7)
20160619 (BBC7)
20180414 (BBC7)
20180415 (BBC7) |  Should we remember Henry Kissinger as America's wise strategist or its ruthless operator? Henry Kissinger is the most celebrated figure in US foreign policy, despite having left office over thirty-five years ago. His much-vaunted opening to China with President Nixon in 1972, his détente policy with the Soviet Union during the Cold War and his shuttle diplomacy across the Middle East, all saw Dr. Kissinger guiding American interests and seeking durable power balances. Ever since then, each US president has sought out Kissinger's sage advice. But Kissinger's reputation has a darker side. Some critics still find inexcusable the Americans' bombing of Cambodia and involvement in Chile's 1973 military coup. They also deplore what they see as his indifference to human rights. In this programme, Mark Malloch Brown, a former Foreign Office minister and top official at the United Nations, presents a personal perspective on Dr. K. As a young man in the 1960s and 1970s, Mark was repelled by what he saw as Kissinger's ruthless realpolitik and apparent downplaying of the plight of peoples from IndoChina to Latin America. However, over the course of his own long career, Mark's view of Dr K has changed. The collapse of communism, the rise of China and the problems left unresolved by the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq have led Mark to view Kissinger's insights into foreign policy - and how to achieve stability and security - more sympathetically. As Kissinger's 90th birthday nears, Mark asks: what are the lessons of Dr K's thinking and practice for our own times? Also taking part are the historian, Margaret MacMillan; the colleague and critic of Henry Kissinger, Morton Halperin; the long-standing Kissinger aide, Winston Lord; and the author of the award-winning critique of America's bombing of Cambodia, William Shawcross. Producer Simon Coates. His much-vaunted "opening to China" with President Nixon in 1972, his détente policy with the Soviet Union during the Cold War and his shuttle diplomacy across the Middle East, all saw Dr. Kissinger guiding American interests and seeking durable power balances. Ever since then, each US president has sought out Kissinger's sage advice. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Producer Simon Coates. |
| Dramatising New Labour | 20100717 | 20100719 | ![]() What can we learn about New Labour from the way it has been portrayed in drama? The dramatists have delved into the troubled relationship between Blair and Brown, the events leading up to the Iraq war and its aftermath, the junking of old Labour values, the personalities, the sex scandals, and of course, spin. They have characterised New Labour and its leading players in comedy, satire, drama, docu-drama and bio-pics. Some Labour politicians even think they have seen a Blair-like figure materialise in Dr Who. Whilst some dramatists base their work on detailed factual research, others lean heavily on their imagination. But all hope to convey an essential truth about New Labour and its leading players, and indeed sometimes to plug a gap left by conventional journalists. In this programme Professor Steven Fielding examines these dramas and their impact. He asks what contribution the dramas have made to the way we see New Labour. Do they confuse the viewer about what really happened and what is made up? What is it like for politicians to see themselves portrayed? Do they reveal a deeper truth? How far have they been genuinely revelatory? The interviewees are former Downing Street spin doctors Alastair Campbell and Lance Price, writers and directors David Hare (Absence of War and other New Labour plays), Alistair Beaton (A Very Social Secretary and The Trial of Tony Blair), Neil McKay (Mo), Peter Kosminsky (The Project and The Government Inspector) and Stephen Frears (The Deal and The Queen), and current and former Labour MPs Clare Short, Adam Ingram, Andrew Mackinlay and Stephen Pound. The producer is Jane Ashley Steven Fielding is Director of the Centre for British Politics at the University of Nottingham. Professor Steven Fielding looks at how New Labour has been dramatised on stage and screen. They have characterised New Labour and its leading players in comedy, satire, drama, docu-drama and bio-pics. Some Labour politicians even think they have seen a Blair-like figure materialise in Dr Who. Whilst some dramatists base their work on detailed factual research, others lean heavily on their imagination. But all hope to convey an essential truth about New Labour and its leading players, and indeed sometimes to plug a gap left by conventional journalists. In this programme Professor Steven Fielding examines these dramas and their impact. He asks what contribution the dramas have made to the way we see New Labour. Do they confuse the viewer about what really happened and what is made up? What is it like for politicians to see themselves portrayed? Do they reveal a deeper truth? How far have they been genuinely revelatory? |
| Driven | 20171021 | 20191122 (R4) | Peter Curran looks back at the culture of cars - as the driverless era approaches. It's lasted barely 11 decades, yet the era of the driver and the car is slowly coasting to a close. Fewer young people are learning to drive while the technology behind autonomous vehicles is set to come of age. Peter traces his enthusiasm for driving back to his disreputable teenage years in Belfast. He starts this Archive on 4 with Mr Toad of the Wind in the Willows who, in 1908 (the year of the model T Ford), promised his friends he'd never drive again - only to break his promise almost instantly. The Toad story is prophetic. For many, cars are compulsive. Using choice archive, Peter looks at the diverse role of driver - from Barbara Cartland's posh Chauffeur to the hapless guests featured on Road Rage School. And he tracks the car as style icon, with special reference to the lovable Morris Minor, the stylish Mini and the all-things-to-all-drivers Ford Cortina, whose pre-launch codename was the Archbishop. Peter Curran identifies one car as prophetic. The VW Beetle - part of a plan by Adolf Hitler to allow all workers the freedom associated with motoring - starred in its own 1968 movie, the Love Bug. Herbie was the first-ever driverless car, though he was propelled by magic and belief, not artificial intelligence. Meanwhile Alexei Sayle thinks future generations will marvel at the idea that their ancestors were allowed to drive cars in the same way chemists were allowed to put opium in cough syrup. A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4. A look back at the culture of cars as the driverless era approaches. A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Easier Than Curing A Toothache? The Story Of Lobotomy | 20210130 | | It is remembered as the most barbaric medical procedure of the 20th century, but lobotomy was once hailed as a miracle cure. Claire Prentice explores the archives to uncover the hidden history of lobotomy, the surgery which some believed would make treating mental illness 'easier than curing a toothache'. Developed by Egas Moniz, a Portuguese neurologist in the 1930s, lobotomy, an operation in which healthy brain tissue was destroyed to treat mental illness, was adopted by doctors around the world to treat the most seriously ill psychiatric patients. The most prolific lobotomist in the UK was Sir Wylie McKissock who carried out an estimated 3,000 lobotomies. He was a larger than life figure, lionised by the newspapers of the day, who was based in London but was happy to give up his weekends to travel around the UK carrying out lobotomies wherever there was a need. But for every patient who was returned to family and friends cured of depression, anxiety and delusions there were scores who were left docile, incontinent, child-like and affectless. Combining archive from the 1940s to 2010 with new interviews with neurosurgeons, medical historians and Howard Dully, who was given a lobotomy when he was just 12 years old, this programme explores the rise and decline of a procedure which once captivated doctors, the media and the public. Claire Prentice looks at the history of a notorious medical procedure - lobotomy. |
| El Tren Fantasma | 20101030 | 20101101 | Ride the Ghost Train from Los Mochis to Veracruz, and travel across country, coast to coast, from the Pacific to Atlantic, on an acoustic journey through the heart of Mexico on board one of the most exciting, beautiful and dynamic engineering projects the country has ever known, but which has now passed into history. It's more than a decade since the Mexican State Railway System operated its last continuous passenger service across the country. Sound recordist Chris Watson spent a month on board the train with some of the last passengers to travel this route. In this sound portrait, based on his original recordings, we recreate the journey of the 'ghost train'; evoking memories of a recent past, capturing the atmosphere, rhythms and sounds of human life and wildlife along the tracks of one of Mexico's greatest engineering projects. Our journey begins on the west coast at Los Mochis. From here the track rises to an altitude of around 2,500 metres (over 8,000 ft) travelling through truly spectacular scenery as it sweeps through the Copper Canyon. The Tarahumara people, descendants of the Aztecs, still live a simple life in these canyons, as they have done for thousands of years. From here, we descend into Chihuahua City, and pause in the goods yard of the station, eavesdropping on an industrial symphony of metallic sounds. Further south, near the city of Durango, we swap railway coach for stage coach and travel to La Joya, the ranch once owned by the actor, John Wayne. Then it's back on the train, and onwards to the silver mines of Zacatecas. The dangers of working here are legendary. The ghost train travels on.. a gentle breeze sighs through the pine forest along the track side, and then, further south, the sounds of the Mariachi bands greet the train as it travels through Mexico city. In the vast landscape of shanty towns, the tracks are used as commuter routes by the locals. Cattle are even driven along them. But such practices can be fatal; in these suburbs, the trains don't stop. Then there's a diversion to El Tajin; here the descendants of the Mayans spin from tall poles and play games where the winner faces a sacrificial death. The end of the journey approaches; the ghost train thunders on towards the east coast, the Gulf of Mexico and our destination, Veracruz, where ship hooters in the harbour compete with the deafening screech of the train horn. The recordings used in this programme were originally made by Chris Watson whilst in Mexico with a film crew for the BBC Television programme, Great Railways Journeys: Mexico. Sadly, since these recordings were made, the artist Phil Kelly has died (August 2010). Narrator Chris Watson Producer Sarah Blunt. An acoustic journey by train across Mexico is recreated using archive recordings. It's more than a decade since the Mexican State Railway System operated its last continuous passenger service across the country. Sound recordist Chris Watson spent a month on board the train with some of the last passengers to travel this route. In this sound portrait, based on his original recordings, we recreate the journey of the 'ghost train'; evoking memories of a recent past, capturing the atmosphere, rhythms and sounds of human life and wildlife along the tracks of one of Mexico's greatest engineering projects. Our journey begins on the west coast at Los Mochis. From here the track rises to an altitude of around 2,500 metres (over 8,000 ft) travelling through truly spectacular scenery as it sweeps through the Copper Canyon. The Tarahumara people, descendants of the Aztecs, still live a simple life in these canyons, as they have done for thousands of years. From here, we descend into Chihuahua City, and pause in the goods yard of the station, eavesdropping on an industrial symphony of metallic sounds. Further south, near the city of Durango, we swap railway coach for stage coach and travel to La Joya, the ranch once owned by the actor, John Wayne. Then it's back on the train, and onwards to the silver mines of Zacatecas. The dangers of working here are legendary. The ghost train travels on.. a gentle breeze sighs through the pine forest along the track side, and then, further south, the sounds of the Mariachi bands greet the train as it travels through Mexico city. In the vast landscape of shanty towns, the tracks are used as commuter routes by the locals. Cattle are even driven along them. But such practices can be fatal; in these suburbs, the trains don't stop. Then there's a diversion to El Tajin; here the descendants of the Mayans spin from tall poles and play games where the winner faces a sacrificial death. The end of the journey approaches; the ghost train thunders on towards the east coast, the Gulf of Mexico and our destination, Veracruz, where ship hooters in the harbour compete with the deafening screech of the train horn. The recordings used in this programme were originally made by Chris Watson whilst in Mexico with a film crew for the BBC Television programme, Great Railways Journeys: Mexico. Sadly, since these recordings were made, the artist Phil Kelly has died (August 2010). |
| Elvis Presley Comeback Special | 20181201 | 20200104 (BBC7)
20200105 (BBC7) | Paul Morley tells a parallel story of Elvis and America, from the vantage point of the King's finest hour in 1968. I've got to do this sooner or later, Elvis says sheepishly, so I may as well do it now. And so the 1968 Comeback Special begins: his quiff defying gravity and his leather jumpsuit chafing, as he bursts into an elemental rendition of Heartbreak Hotel. It had been one of his first singles thirteen years before, initially recorded when he was still a teenager living in the Jim Crow South at the beginning of rock and roll. Much had happened in the meantime: JFK, the Beatles, the hippies and Detroit soul. And Elvis had become a different person, depressed, addicted and increasingly irrelevant. So by 1968, after his stint in the army, the uninspired films and the years of absence from the stage, the Comeback Special was an opportunity to resuscitate Elvis's career, to claw back his status as a powerful, credible force. And it did, fleetingly. He was fabulous, and his discography is never better showcased than on that day. But it also marked the point at which it became clear that the King was fragile. He was 33, a new father, and he would never be this good again. Paul Morley believes the 1968 Comeback Special shows us Elvis at his best. But also that it offers a vantage point from which to look backwards, forwards and outwards to a changing America - remembering where the hillbilly kid had come from and poignantly aware of where he would end up. Featuring historian Mary Frances Berry, filmmaker Eugene Jarecki, writer Luc Sante and theatre artist Greg Wohead. Producer: Martin Williams. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2018. He was thirty-three, a new father, and he would never be this good again. Brilliant stories told using archive from the BBC and beyond |
| Embarrassment | 20160206 | 20191123 (BBC7)
20191124 (BBC7) |  Journalist Lynne Truss prepares to cringe as she investigates embarrassment. We all suffer from it, many of us work hard to avoid it and some of us love to talk about it. Why do we get embarrassed? What exactly is it? It's different to shame and humiliation but at the time feels just as bad. We like to laugh about it which is why so much of comedy is based upon it. Darwin thought it's what makes us human, Keats believed it was essential to love. Author and Journalist Lynne Truss prepares to cringe through the archive of blunders, blushes and bashfulness and hopes it is not too embarrassing. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2016. Archive on 4: Embarrassment - we all suffer from it, many of us work hard to avoid it and some of us love to talk about it. Why do we get embarrassed? What exactly is it? It's different to shame and humiliation but at the time feels just as bad. We like to laugh about it which is why so much of comedy is based upon it. Darwin thought it's what makes us human, Keats believed it was essential to love. Author and Journalist Lynne Truss prepares to cringe through the archive of blunders, blushes and bashfulness and hopes it is not too embarrassing. |
| Embracing Idleness | 20130216 | 20150919 (BBC7)
20150920 (BBC7) |  The writer, Oliver Burkeman, wanders through the archives, thinking about the pros and cons of idleness. In these goal obsessed, triple-dip recession conscious days, the merest hint of idleness can send politicians and headline writers into a state of near apoplexy. Front-benchers from all political parties seem to be tripping over themselves in a bid to establish the supremacy of their moral devotion to the 'hard working families' and upstanding citizens of 'alarm clock Britain'. Oliver Burkeman steps back from the fray to unravel the complications of idleness and even discover some of its merits. As a non-idler who confesses to that feeling of smugness at having achieved tasks before breakfast time, Oliver nonetheless questions whether our target driven culture can ever bring any sense of contentment or happiness. The crux of the conflict seems to be that although idleness may be the dream, we spend most of our lives actively rejecting it. And so we admire, despise and envy the idler, all at once. Oliver consults a diverse range of characters from the archive to untangle some of the complications. These include Bagpuss, Rab C Nesbitt, Tony Hancock, Waynetta Slob and Ronald Reagan, who all help Oliver examine idleness and its relation to childhood, creativity, boredom, social class and subversion. There are also wonderful insights from 'real people'. There's the testimony of a schoolboy from 1960s Birmingham, dreaming of the island life. Unbothered by the noise of everyday life (including The Queen chasing him for rates) he is able to compose opera by seeking inspiration from nature. A gloriously grand Colonel's wife flagrantly tells of her life of luxury, being fed and watered by her husband with bath time Brandy and Ginger Ales, iced coffees, only occasionally talking to the children through the intercom if she is particularly bored. Then there's the fisherman who believes that idleness and death go hand in hand and that the introduction of the Welfare State could only turn him into a sluggard. And there's the moving testimony of a former miner, who began work in the pits during his school holidays in 1925, and then paradoxically found the greatest moments of happiness and freedom during the months of idleness brought about by the General Strike. Oliver also meets with the founder of The Idler magazine, Tom Hodgkinson, for a whistle stop history of idleness and the philosophical debate, to discover how the work ethic became so inculcated. Tom argues that at least part of the reason for this is because, by their very nature, pro-idlers are bound to be less zealous in spreading the idleness word. There's also an appealing aside, when Oliver observes that in the right person, idleness and that special insouciance that can go with it, is simply 'cool'. With fantastic music, enquiry, and laughter, join Oliver Burkeman, Embracing Idleness. Producer: Sarah Langan. Oliver Burkeman uses the archive to explore the controversial subject of idleness. |
| England Expects | 20100529 | 20100531 | ![]() Presenter David Goldblatt relives 60 years of hope and hurt in England's World Cup campaigns, and how through the World Cups England can trace its relationship with itself and the rest of the world. This programme uses archive from the North West Sound Archives, including interviews with Alf Ramsey, Bobby Robson, Stanley Matthews and Brian Clough. It will also look at the role that devolution has had on the English psyche, reflected at international matches with the Union Jack flag in decline, being replaced by the St George's Cross. In Brazil 1950 England thought themselves invincible, only to find themselves humiliated by a USA team made up of part-timers. England's football world was shaken, just as the country was coming to terms with a shift in its post-war political position in the world. The role of the managers will be examined in this programme, starting with Walter Winterbottom, who wasn't allowed to select his own team. His successor changed that and insisted on having complete control over who played. That manager was Alf Ramsey and with him we see England finally achieve their goal, World Cup winners in 1966. Ramsey was the first manager to clash with the media, a familiar pattern that would subsequently repeat itself. The high of 1966 was followed by disappointments: the dark years of the 1970s when the team failed to qualify for the next two World Cups, and the country struggled with economic problems at home, as well as increasing violence at football matches.The 1990 World Cup in Italy saw a game in the process of transformation. On the eve of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, England Expects will reflect on 60 years of the nation's participation in the greatest sporting event in the world. Producer: Carol Purcell. David Goldblatt relives 60 years of hope and hurt in England's World Cup history. This programme uses archive from the North West Sound Archives, including interviews with Alf Ramsey, Bobby Robson, Stanley Matthews and Brian Clough. It will also look at the role that devolution has had on the English psyche, reflected at international matches with the Union Jack flag in decline, being replaced by the St George's Cross. In Brazil 1950 England thought themselves invincible, only to find themselves humiliated by a USA team made up of part-timers. England's football world was shaken, just as the country was coming to terms with a shift in its post-war political position in the world. The role of the managers will be examined in this programme, starting with Walter Winterbottom, who wasn't allowed to select his own team. His successor changed that and insisted on having complete control over who played. That manager was Alf Ramsey and with him we see England finally achieve their goal, World Cup winners in 1966. Ramsey was the first manager to clash with the media, a familiar pattern that would subsequently repeat itself. |
| Epic Fail | 20150404 | 20171216 (BBC7)
20171217 (BBC7) | Grace Dent presents a field guide to failure. Journalist Grace Dent presents her own field guide to failure, told through some of our most cherished and ear-popping examples of infamous fails. Featuring contributions from writer Jon Ronson, philosopher Andy Martin and Stephen Pile, author of "The Book Of Heroic Failures". |
| Everyone's A Star | 20200222 | | YouTube is a cultural behemoth. It's the second biggest website on the internet after Google and is watched by people across the world for over a billion hours a day. But what effect is it having on us as individuals, and on our society? Tech journalist Chris Stokel-Walker charts the video sharing website's rise from an idea in a computer engineering student's bedroom to a platform with a reach far greater than the BBC and all other television networks put together. Chris meets one of the internet's original vloggers, talks to an early YouTube celebrity and finds out what it's like to become famous on YouTube in 2020. He also explores the dark side of the website. In the past 18 months, YouTube has been accused of driving political extremism and giving credence to conspiracy theories and fake news. How did one simple design decision taken by higher ups at the company help fuel those accusations? Chris talks to an ex-YouTube insider who helped build the algorithm that lies at the centre of that decision. We hear from an American teenager who says watching videos on the website was the reason he became a far-right radical. And we talk to an academic whose research helped uncover a shocking and terrible secret that forced YouTube to reckon with its fiercest critics. Produced by Joe Sykes A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4 Chris Stokel-Walker assesses how YouTube has shaped and changed the society we live in. |
| Farewell To Winston | 20050129 | 20150124 (BBC7)
20150125 (BBC7) |  Nicholas Witchell remembers the winter's day on 30th January 1965 when the sleet fell - and a generation who had lived and served through the Second World War lost an iconic leader. The grandeur of Churchill's state funeral saw a procession through the City of London, plus the coffin's final voyage down the River Thames to the Royal Festival Hall and on to Waterloo Station. From there the coffin was taken by train to its final resting place at Bladon Parish Church, Oxfordshire. With excerpts from the original BBC commentary by Richard Dimbleby and Raymond Baxter, the programme recollects the thoughts and feelings of the wartime generation. With interviews with those were in the crowd or part of the procession. Features: Winston S Churchill, Nicholas Soames, Lord Deedes, Lady Soames, and Peter Dimmock. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2005. Nicholas Witchell remembers the grandeur and impact of Winston Churchill's state funeral. Nicholas Witchell remembers the grandeur and impact of Winston Churchill's state funeral on 30 January 1965. From January 2005. |
| Father's Day | 20170617 | 20210615 (BBC7)
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20180615 (R4) | On the eve of Father's Day, Mark Thomas examines how the image of dad has been made and re-made over the decades. This is a personal journey into the BBC archives and beyond. Mark's own Dad was tough. Mark says he's a softee as a father. Do we need more definition of what it is to be dad? While motherhood is traditionally twinned with apple pie, one strong image of fatherhood is a man dressed in a batman suit protesting his rights of access to his children. There's no single dominant image, though. We have gay dads, soft dads, disciplinarian dads, workaholic dads, stay-at-home dads and absentee dads. This is rich and rewarding territory, and the archive comes both from the public and private sphere. We hear experts and writers on fatherhood, famous dads like David Beckham and Sir Bob Geldof, and civilian dads' tales too. Seismic events and cultural awakenings have shaped and re-shaped the figure of the father and yet today we still question who he really is. Why? Mark also talks to fatherhood experts and those who have been watching the changing role of the father with a passionate interest over the decades - MP David Lammy, Adrienne Burgess from the Fatherhood Institute and Professor Charlie Lewis. Produced by Sarah Cuddon A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4. Mark Thomas peels off the labels of fatherhood - from breadwinner to stay-at-home dad. A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in June 2017. |
| Femmes Fatales | 20170527 | 20210126 (BBC7)
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20190329 (R4) | Recorded on location in Manhattan, screen siren Kathleen Turner celebrates the enduring mystique of the femme fatale. Turner, who famously played the husky-voiced femme fatale Matty Walker in the steamy thriller Body Heat, traces the history of the Femme Fatale in cinema and in film noir where she was so often a central character. Film noir always come to the fore during moments of deep cultural anxiety. And the character of the femme fatale shines a revealing light on the role of women in society and the relationship between the sexes. It was towards the end of the Second World War that noir first emerged as a style of filmmaking. These were gritty thrillers that exposed the dark underbelly of the American Dream. In films such as Double Indemnity, Out Of The Past and The Postman Always Rings Twice, the femme fatale was the intelligent but heartless seductress who entrapped the male protagonist, for her own murderous and financial gain. In the late 70s and early 80s, America experienced another moment of deep cynicism following the Vietnam war and filmmakers returned to film noir, with Kathleen Turner's Matty Walker as the ultimate neo noir femme fatale character in Body Heat. These films, not content with the racy innuendo of 1940s noir, shocked and thrilled audiences with explicit sex scenes. But through her typical tough dame talk, Matty Walker also draws attention to the underestimation of women by men. With contributions from Eddie Muller (President of the Film Noir Foundation), Professor Ellis Cashmore and Nick James (Editor of the BFI's Sight and Sound magazine), Kathleen introduces standout performances from Lauren Bacall, Barbara Stanwyck, Rita Hayworth, Joan Crawford and Lana Turner. The film noir femme fatale was a wonderfully meaty role for an up-and-coming Hollywood actress, such as British star Peggy Cummins. Now 91, she reflects on her role as the femme fatale in Joseph H. Lewis' Gun Crazy about an ambitious fairground sharp-shooter who goes on a bank robbing spree with her trigger-happy husband. Julie Grossman (author of Rethinking The Femme Fatale in Film Noir) argues that we make blithe and easy reference to femmes fatales without considering their social and psychological context. Many 1940s femmes fatales in film noir were deeply interesting characters who felt trapped, bored or led deeply unfulfilling lives. Kathleen argues that, despite great advances in gender equality since the 1940s, the femme fatale will always be relevant because men will always be terrified of women. Producer: Victoria Ferran A Just Radio production First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2017. Screen siren Kathleen Turner celebrates the film noir femme fatale's enduring mystique. A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4. A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Fitzroy Maclean: To Russia With Love | 20101225 | 20101227 | Brian Wilson looks at the life of Sir Fitzroy Maclean, Churchill's man in the East. Sir Fitzroy Maclean was Churchill's man in the East, a member of the SAS and close friends with Field Marshall Tito of Yugoslavia. Brian Wilson presents the archive of his remarkable and colourful life. Sir Fitzroy Maclean was Churchill's man in the East, a member of the SAS and close friends with Field Marshall Tito of Yugoslavia. Brian Wilson presents the archive of his remarkable and colourful life. |
| Five And The Fascists | 20090905 | 20090907 | ![]() Robert Giddings on the confrontation between creativity and Fascism in interwar Germany. In 1929 five leading European conductors - Toscanini, Klemperer, Furtwangler, Erich Kleiber and Bruno Walter - met at the Berlin Festival at the height of the Weimar Republic, shortly before Hitler took power. Robert Giddings explores the confrontation between creativity and Fascism through the decisions made by these five musical giants. In 1929 five leading European conductors - Toscanini, Klemperer, Furtwangler, Erich Kleiber and Bruno Walter - met at the Berlin Festival at the height of the Weimar Republic, shortly before Hitler took power. Robert Giddings explores the confrontation between creativity and Fascism through the decisions made by these five musical giants. |
| Flat 113 At Grenfell Tower | 20190323 | | On the 14th floor of Grenfell Tower, firefighters moved eight residents into flat 113. Only four would survive. Using evidence from stage 1 of the Grenfell Tower Public Inquiry, Katie Razzall pieces together what went wrong that night in flat 113. The answer reveals a catalogue of errors which may help to explain the wider disaster. What went wrong in flat 113 at Grenfell Tower? Katie Razzall pieces together the evidence |
| Flexible Friend Or Foe | 20100130 | 20100201 |  ![]()
Max Flint explores the arrival of the credit card into British life and its role today. How did a little sliver of plastic take over the world? Journalist Max Flint explores the arrival of the credit card into British life and the huge role it plays today. The credit card was launched by Barclays in the UK in 1966. The Barclaycard was marketed at first as a 'shopping card', rather than a credit card, to thwart the British public's resistance to getting into debt. Barclaycard's first on-screen ad was called Travelling Light; it was targeted at women and featured the famous Barclaycard Bikini Girl who, oblivious to the shocked looks of passers-by, is seen making her way down a busy shopping street buying clothes and records, wearing nothing but a lilac-coloured bikini and carrying her Barclaycard in the bikini bottom. The advert finished with the line, 'Barclaycard: all a girl needs when she goes shopping.' Barclaycard executives admit that the name of the first face of Barclaycard has now been lost in the mists of time. The Bikini Girl and subsequent marketing has now given rise to the biggest cause of personal bankruptcies in the UK. That first card is now accompanied by some 1,700 other credit cards in Britain alone, and we have the unenviable record as the world's most intensive credit card country, with 67 million cards for 59 million people. With the launch of the first card began a technological battle between fraudsters and card companies, and the war is yet to be won. The American credit companies invaded us in the mid-90's and goaded Britain into unheard-of levels of debt. The thrill of the till has created a spending spree which is untempered by all the warnings from the archive news clips in this programme, taken from over the last 40 or so years, all of which tell us all what we already know - that this can't continue. The credit card was launched by Barclays in the UK in 1966. The Barclaycard was marketed at first as a 'shopping card', rather than a credit card, to thwart the British public's resistance to getting into debt. Barclaycard's first on-screen ad was called Travelling Light; it was targeted at women and featured the famous Barclaycard Bikini Girl who, oblivious to the shocked looks of passers-by, is seen making her way down a busy shopping street buying clothes and records, wearing nothing but a lilac-coloured bikini and carrying her Barclaycard in the bikini bottom. The advert finished with the line, 'Barclaycard: all a girl needs when she goes shopping.' Barclaycard executives admit that the name of the first face of Barclaycard has now been lost in the mists of time. The Bikini Girl and subsequent marketing has now given rise to the biggest cause of personal bankruptcies in the UK. That first card is now accompanied by some 1,700 other credit cards in Britain alone, and we have the unenviable record as the world's most intensive credit card country, with 67 million cards for 59 million people. With the launch of the first card began a technological battle between fraudsters and card companies, and the war is yet to be won. The American credit companies invaded us in the mid-90's and goaded Britain into unheard-of levels of debt. The thrill of the till has created a spending spree which is untempered by all the warnings from the archive news clips in this programme, taken from over the last 40 or so years, all of which tell us all what we already know - that this can't continue. |
| For One Night Illegally - The History Of The Bootleg | 20090418 | 20090420 | Writer and broadcaster David Hepworth charts the story of bootleg recordings. Writer and broadcaster David Hepworth charts the story of secret recordings, artist out-takes and demo tapes that make up the world of bootleg recordings, from Bob Dylan's Great White Wonder in 1969 to the file sharing internet sites of the 21st century, via the Beatles, the Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Sex Pistols and Led Zeppelin. David also talks to contemporary artists including Ryan Adams who have come to embrace the bootleggers, and hears from bootleggers of the 1960s and 70s who pitted their wits against security guards, the Feds and the record companies to get their unofficial releases out to the public. A Bite Yer Legs production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Four Dead In Ohio | 20200502 | | Michael Goldfarb explores America at the time of the Kent State massacre, 50 years ago. May 4th 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the Kent State massacre in Ohio. On the day the shootings occurred, Michael Goldfarb was in his second year at another university just down the road. By the end of the week he was being tear gassed in front of the White House. For him, that event and the days and weeks that followed remain a turning point not just in his life but also in the history of political activism in the US. By creating the conditions that would inevitably lead to the shootings at Kent (and at Jackson State, a historically black college in Mississippi, ten days later) a message was sent by government - you can protest this far and no further. We will kill you. He believes that, over the decades, this has affected expressions of activism - it has constrained, particularly in the Democratic Party, its more radical wing. Now, as the US faces arguably its most consequential election since the Kent State shootings - with the country even more divided today than back then - is the Democratic party still feeling the effect of Kent? Since the Million Woman March, what sustained political movement has arisen? Which activists have risked jail or death to build a popular movement to turn the country around? As the Democrats go through their primaries to select a presidential candidate, Michael Goldfarb explores through archive and personal memory what America was like at the time of that terrible weekend 50 years ago - and what it is like today. Today, the site of the shooting is a National Historical Landmark and Kent State's current administrators are making a huge effort to mark the anniversary. The programme illuminates the continuities of history - Kent State does not exist in the past perfect tense. It is still shaping lives. It is, to appropriate Faulkner, not even the past. A Certain Height production for BBC Radio 4 |
| Four Women Poets Today | 20140920 | 20180901 (BBC7)
20180902 (BBC7)
20200718 (R4) | In 1992, four relatively unknown poets spoke with Peggy Reynolds for BBC Radio 4 about the impact of gender and nationality on their poetry and on their sense of themselves as poets. Today, Carol Ann Duffy is the first-ever Poet Laureate, Gillian Clarke is the National Poet of Wales, Liz Lochhead is the Makar or National Poet of Scotland, and Eavan Boland is a highly distinguished scholar-poet who divides her year between Stanford and Dublin. In the light of these developments - not to mention the constitutional changes and wild economic fluctuations of the last 21 years - Peggy Reynolds speaks with each of them again, asking them to reflect on their creative and professional journeys and on the state of women's poetry - and poetry in general - today. Finally, she asks them to cast forward and predict what they might say if there were a similar programme in 21 years time. Their replies surprise her. Producer Beaty Rubens. Poets Carol Ann Duffy, Liz Lochhead, Gillian Clarke and Eavan Boland update a 1992 debate. Twenty one years ago, four relatively unknown poets spoke with Peggy Reynolds about the impact of gender and nationality on their poetry and on their sense of themselves as poets. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Producer Beaty Rubens. In 1992, four relatively unknown poets spoke with Peggy Reynolds for BBC Radio 4 about the impact of gender and nationality on their poetry and on their sense of themselves as poets. Then, in 2014, they spoke with Peggy again. In the intervening 21 years, Carol Ann Duffy had become the first-ever woman Poet Laureate, Gillian Clarke the National Poet of Wales, Liz Lochhead the Makar or National Poet of Scotland, and, until her recent death, Eavan Boland was a highly distinguished scholar-poet dividing her year between Stanford in the USA and Dublin. In the light of these developments - not to mention the constitutional changes and wild economic fluctuations of the last 21 years and more - when Peggy spoke with each of them in 2014, she asked them both to listen back to their previous contributions and to reflect on their creative and professional journeys and on the state of women's poetry - and poetry in general, both here and across the globe. To mark the death of Eavan Boland, this broadcast offers another opportunity to hear four great poets in a changed and fast-changing world. Carol Ann Duffy, Liz Lochhead, Gillian Clarke and Eavan Boland on gender and poetry. |
| Frankenstein Lives! | 20180113 | 20210302 (BBC7)
20210306 (BBC7)
20210307 (BBC7) | Mary Shelley's extraordinary, ground-breaking novel about the creation of a living being who becomes a monster. Cultural historian and writer Christopher Frayling considers how the story of Victor Frankenstein and his creature has become a creation myth for our age. Frankenstein is one of a handful of works whose title has passed into the language of everyday life and has been adapted countless times for cinema, radio, television and theatre - with each new generation discovering the unique power of the original. In the overwhelmingly Christian society of 1818, the notion of man creating life was both unthinkable and blasphemous. Two centuries later, the moral dilemmas of the original story continue to challenge and perplex us. After Dr Christiaan Barnard performed the first heart transplant in 1967, he proclaimed "I am the new Frankenstein'. Since then we have truly entered an age of genetically and surgically modified nature - from cloned sheep to disease-resistant crop strains. Inevitably these developments are met with newspaper headlines that scream Frankenstein! Christopher Frayling uses his expert knowledge to lead us through the rich and unsettling history of the Frankenstein myth, amidst a host of chilling archive recordings and insightful contributions from filmmakers, writers and scientists. He explores how and why, 200 years after it was born, Mary Shelley's nightmare creation is still very much alive and kicking. Interviewees: Kim Newman, critic and horror writer John Landis, film director Sara Karloff, daughter of Boris Karloff who played The Creature in the 1931 film Madeline Smith, Hammer Studios actress Miranda Seymour, biographer of Mary Shelley Professor Sharon Ruston, science and literature expert Stephen Hebron, Curator of Special Projects, Bodleian Library Producer: Jane Long A Hidden Flack production for BBC Radio 4. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2018. Christopher Frayling explores the rich and unsettling history of the Frankenstein myth. January 2018 is the 200th anniversary of the publication of Frankenstein - Mary Shelley's extraordinary, ground-breaking novel about the creation of a living being who becomes a monster. Cultural historian and writer Christopher Frayling considers how the story of Victor Frankenstein and his creature has become a creation myth for our age. Sara Karloff, daughter of Boris A Hidden Flack production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Freeman's World | 20110219 | 20110221
20110221 (R4)
20130105 (R4) |  
"Tighter, tighter!". This, the television producer Hugh Burnett tells Sue MacGregor, was a typical instruction to cameramen on the BBC series Face to Face which ran from 1959 to 1962. Face to Face was Burnett's idea and it was simple. Each week, a public figure would join the presenter John Freeman for a half hour interview. Fifty years on the programmes still shine, remarkable for their relentless camera close-ups and Freeman's forensic questioning, bringing celebrities to television screens as never before. In Freeman's World, Sue MacGregor and Hugh Burnett look back on the series, beginning with its interrogation of Tony Hancock - "There's something troubling you about the world and I should like to know what it is". Critics rounded on Freeman for the tough line he took. In fact, the two men became firm friends. Perhaps the most enduring Face to Face image is Gilbert Harding in distress as he's asked about seeing someone die (Freeman didn't know Harding's mother had just passed away). But Harding didn't cry, reveals Hugh Burnett. He was sweating under the lights. Moreover, Burnett says, he knew he was in for "a public beating." Face to Face made John Freeman a celebrity, to his distaste. But his face was almost never seen, only the back of his head. And interviewing was just part of a life in which he has been soldier, MP, magazine editor, TV executive and high-ranking diplomat. Freeman's World also features Bertrand Russell, Carl Jung, Dame Edith Sitwell and Sir Stirling Moss. And then there's Evelyn Waugh, aloof and ill at ease in the studio. Asked by John Freeman why he's agreed to appear on Face to Face, Waugh replies "Poverty. We've both been hired to talk in this deliriously happy way." Producer: Chris Ledgard. Sue MacGregor examines the work of John Freeman on the pioneering TV series Face to Face. Freeman's World also features Bertrand Russell, Carl Jung, Dame Edith Sitwell and Sir Stirling Moss. And then there's Evelyn Waugh, aloof and ill at ease in the studio. Asked by John Freeman why he's agreeArchive On 4 20110219 20130105 |
| Freeman's World | 20110219 | 20130105 |  Tighter, tighter!". This, the television producer Hugh Burnett tells Sue MacGregor, was a typical instruction to cameramen on the BBC series Face to Face which ran from 1959 to 1962. Face to Face was Burnett's idea and it was simple. Each week, a public figure would join the presenter John Freeman for a half hour interview. Fifty years on the programmes still shine, remarkable for their relentless camera close-ups and Freeman's forensic questioning, bringing celebrities to television screens as never before. In Freeman's World, Sue MacGregor and Hugh Burnett look back on the series, beginning with its interrogation of Tony Hancock - "There's something troubling you about the world and I should like to know what it is". Critics rounded on Freeman for the tough line he took. In fact, the two men became firm friends. Perhaps the most enduring Face to Face image is Gilbert Harding in distress as he's asked about seeing someone die (Freeman didn't know Harding's mother had just passed away). But Harding didn't cry, reveals Hugh Burnett. He was sweating under the lights. Moreover, Burnett says, he knew he was in for "a public beating. Face to Face made John Freeman a celebrity, to his distaste. But his face was almost never seen, only the back of his head. And interviewing was just part of a life in which he has been soldier, MP, magazine editor, TV executive and high-ranking diplomat. Freeman's World also features Bertrand Russell, Carl Jung, Dame Edith Sitwell and Sir Stirling Moss. And then there's Evelyn Waugh, aloof and ill at ease in the studio. Asked by John Freeman why he's agreed to appear on Face to Face, Waugh replies "Poverty. We've both been hired to talk in this deliriously happy way. Producer: Chris Ledgard. |
| Freud Vs Jung | 20120121 | 20160521 (BBC7)
20160522 (BBC7) |  Lisa Appignanesi explores the intense relationship between Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung's names may be linked in the public imagination but the two men were friends and collaborators for only a few short years. In 1912 they had a final, catastrophic split and never worked together again. Lisa Appignanesi tells the story of the titanic struggle which shaped our map of the unconscious. Did the bisected science fail to fulfil its promise and how much can be laid at the door of the primal argument between its dominant father and rebellious son? |
| From Donald Winnicott To The Naughty Step | 20130504 | 20141018 (BBC7)
20141019 (BBC7) | Seventy years ago the psychoanalyst and parenting expert Donald Winnicott first broadcast his idea of the 'good-enough mother'; the mother who wasn't perfect and was free, to some extent, to fail. From 1943-1962 he gave some 50 BBC broadcasts. Aimed directly at mothers, they had a profound impact on popular ideas about motherhood. Winnicott's pioneering talks came after the rigid, traumatising regime advocated by Frederick Truby-King - babies fed every four hours, left uncuddled in prams outdoors. Anne argues Truby-King is the spiritual father of the much discussed contemporary ideas of Gina Ford, of Supernanny and the naughty step. By contrast, Winnicott believed that "It is when a mother trusts her judgement that she is at her best." In his work he took the radical step of talking to mothers directly through the radio. Winnicott explained a baby's development in vivid, non-clinical language; he avoided exciting guilt or anxiety in 'the ordinary devoted mother' without access to help or therapy. He broadcast anonymously but received sacks of letters. When his talks were published, they sold over 50,000 copies, and influenced Dr Spock. Winnicott invented a new language in which to talk about babies and with the help of the BBC he created a new way to talk to parents about parenting. His broadcasts touched on many subjects: stepparents, saying no, feeling guilty, the development of a child's sense of right and wrong, why babies cry, weaning, the baby as a person, and what we mean by a normal child. His brilliance was to build up mothers by breaking down the idea of motherhood. By unburdening women of inherited notions of perfection he helped them to become better mothers. He argued that failing was in fact a necessary part of parenting, and through the failure of the parent the child realises the limits of its own power and the reality of an imperfect world. And he questioned the assumption that professionals always new better and broke taboos about parenting. With a proliferation of parenting manuals and TV shows today, Winnicott's message seems to have been lost. Many parents and in particular mothers still feel guilty about not living up to an ideal for their children. Anne Karpf is argues that today mothers need Winnicott more than they ever did. Anne Karpf on psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott, among the first to broadcast to new mothers. |
| From Easy To Cryptic - 100 Years Of The Crossword | 20121124 | 20121226 | Lynne Truss decodes interviews and puzzles to find the secrets of this hardy mind teaser. Famous for her own love of word play, Lynne Truss decodes a bountiful archive of clues, answers, interviews and puzzles to celebrate the centenary of this resilient mind teaser. The first crossword appeared in the New York Times in 1913, devised by a Liverpudlian called Arthur Wynne. He was the first of many setters whose cryptic clues and clever answers encapsulate the cultural and social agenda of their age. MI5 interrogated the Telegraph's first setter in 1944 when his crossword solutions suggested he knew too much about military operations. Lynne learns that code breakers selection for Bletchley Park was based on their prowess for cracking crosswords. In an internet age of gaming and quick access to information, Lynne Truss learns why scientists argue that the hardy crossword keeps the mind agile and listens to the sounds of the setter and crossword solver at work, pondering the trickiest clue. |
| From Inside: The Guildford Four | 20141004 | | The inside story of the Guildford Four, based on the previously unheard letters home of Paul Hill, written during his fifteen-year wrongful incarceration for the Guildford Pub Bombings. Paul Hill was one of the Guildford Four, who were subsequently found to have been wrongly convicted of IRA pub bombings in 1974. After a lengthy campaign, their convictions were quashed and they were released in 1989. Martin McNamara presents this collection of passionate, evocative, angry and poignant letters written by Paul Hill to members of his family, especially his mother, sister and uncle. His words give a real sense of an ordinary young man caught in a terrible miscarriage of justice, trying to reassure his mother, growing up at a distance from the world and his loved ones. They eloquently chart the nightmare of being jailed for something he did not do. After his release Paul Hill donated hundreds of the letters he sent to his family to the Archive of the Irish in Britain at the London Metropolitan University. At the original trial, where the convictions were based solely on confessions, the judge regretted that he could not impose the death penalty. From his cell, Paul Hill watched the world change: the birth of his child, the Thatcher years, punk, the miners' strike, the death of John Lennon, Glasnost. The programme includes interviews with Hill himself from his adopted home in the USA, and with Joshua Rozenberg, who was the BBC legal correspondent during the period of Hills incarceration and release. Reader...Jonjo O'Neill Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery. |
| From Midpoint To Endpoint - Talking With John Updike | 20090404 | 20090406 | Mark Lawson traces the career of John Updike from 1969, after he had been pictured on the cover of Time magazine and brought to international recognition by his best-selling novel Couples, to a final interview recorded months before Updike's death in January 2009. Mark draws on his own interviews with Updike - including the one made in October 2008 which proved to he his last - appearances on programmes including Desert Island Discs and the writer's readings of his own stories and memoirs. Updike talks about writing, sex, death, God, golf, American presidents from Kennedy to Obama, 9/11 and changes in literary culture. Mark Lawson traces the career of late US novelist and poet John Updike. |
| From Our Rome Correspondent | 20120407 | 20161015 (BBC7)
20161016 (BBC7) | The BBC's veteran Rome correspondent David Willey looks back at his 50-year career. There are few who can remember the days when David Willey wasn't the BBC's Rome Correspondent. Here, with the help of the BBC's and his own private archive, David looks back at his years acting as our eyes and ears in the Italian capital. The programme also delves into David's earlier career covering North and East Africa and the early years of the Vietnam War. But it's the understanding of the culture and the politics of Italy that David has made his lifetime's work. In this very personal reminiscence he explores again the events of his time in the country. He talks to old friends and new arrivals about Italian life and attitudes at a crucial point in the country's story, and he offers his own telling insights into the stories behind the stories, and the importance of gaining and sustaining the trust of those on whom he reports. There's a particularly telling view of the Vatican and its workings from a man who was largely responsible for the Pope providing Radio Four with a unique 'Thought for the Day'. There's also a chance to hear the lighter side of David's Roman adventure including a truffle hunt with an eccentric female aristocrat and a conversation with a man who has both a Stradivarius and a Guaneri violin to choose from when he performs. But it's the extra insights, the tour of Silvio Berlusconi's private tomb and the private conversations with the late Pope John Paul II that make David Willey such a unique and treasured figure in the BBC News story. Producer: Tom Alban. |
| From The Self To The Selfie | 20150919 | 20190601 (BBC7)
20190602 (BBC7) |  The current craze for taking selfies has attracted vast tracts of criticism - mostly from the pre-selfie generation. These posted self portraits are often seen as narcissistic, superficial, infuriating and possibly dangerous for vulnerable young people. Lauren Laverne takes an elegant and thoughtful look at the origins of the selfie and its cultural context. She talks to art historian Andrew Graham Dixon, philosopher Simon Blackburn, beauty editor Sali Hughes and fashion designer Henry Holland, together with psychologist Oliver James and author and journalist Hadley Freeman. It seems that selfies have their roots in our shifting attitudes to celebrity and to the self. In an ever more democratic landscape of media and communications they are about our increasing desire to star in the show of our own lives. They are also forging a revolution in industries such as fashion and beauty and, some argue, putting the power back in the hands of the people. The programme includes archive from the earliest Amateur Hour on US radio, through the self-help campaigns of the 80s, and on to the Kardashian-fuelled selfie phenomenon of the present. Produced by Susan Marling and Victoria Ferran A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2015. Lauren Laverne on the origins and effects of the obsession with selfies. The current craze for taking Selfies has attracted vast tracts of criticism mostly from the pre-selfie generation. These posted self portraits are seen as narcissistic, superficial, infuriating and possibly dangerous for vulnerable young people. Here Lauren Laverne takes an elegant and thoughtful look at the origins of the selfie and its cultural context. She talks to art historian Andrew Graham Dixon, philosopher Simon Blackburn (commenting on shampoo whose promise is that we are 'worth it'), beauty editor Sali Hughes and fashion designer Henry Holland, together with psychologist Oliver James and author and journalist Hadley Freeman. They are also forging a revolution in industries such as fashion and beauty and, some argue, putting the power back in the hands of the people. The show includes archive from the earliest Amateur Hour on US radio through the self-help campaigns of the 80s and the Kardashian-fuelled selfie phenomenon of the present. A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Frost On Nixon | 20121215 | 20130907
20170128 (BBC7)
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Watching Richard Nixon's first inauguration ceremony in January 1969, and hearing the prayer of the Reverend Billy Graham who stood by him at that ceremony, it seemed that here was an honest man of integrity. Yet much detail has emerged since that time demonstrating that the 37th President of the United States was less than upstanding in his dealings with his Democrat opponents and the American people. But who was Nixon the man? What was he really like? Do all those allegations and solid facts alluding to his dirty tricks - the wire-tapping, the break-ins, the pay-offs, the Commie slurs, the Machiavellian manoeuvrings - add up to a thoroughly dishonest and dislikeable man? Many of the Nixon insiders, some of whom were jailed and several of whom were sacked by their boss after the Watergate scandal, were not critical of Nixon - and others, such as Bob Haldeman, while not admitting to a love of Nixon, still claimed to respect him after the event. Many observers and colleagues point to Nixon's awkwardness and aloofness, citing that he came across in this way because he was a diffident man who was not a natural politician. His speeches were often mawkishly sentimental and manipulative, simplistic in their appeal to an American down-home conservatism and a hatred of Communism. Yet he won two elections - the second a landslide despite the parlous state of a country being riven in two because of the Vietnam war. In this programme, the man who got close to Nixon when in 1977 he taped nearly 29 hours of interviews with Nixon, Sir David Frost, searches through the BBC archives and the White House tapes to try to discover just what kind of man Richard Nixon was. Producer: Neil Rosser A Ladbroke production for BBC Radio 4. David Frost turns to the archives to get beneath the skin of Richard Nixon. But who was Nixon the man? What was he really like? Do all those allegations and solid facts alluding to his dirty tricks - the wire-tapping, the break-ins, the pay-offs, the "Commie" slurs, the Machiavellian manoeuvrings - add up to a thoroughly dishonest and dislikeable man? |
| Gagarin And The Lost Moon | 20210410 | | On 12 April 1961, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became an explorer like none other before him, going faster and further than any human in history, into what had always been the impenetrable and infinite unknown. Raised in poverty during the Second World War, the one-time foundry worker and a citizen of the Soviet Union became the first human to fly above the Earth in the vastness of space. In doing so he became an instrument in The Cold War – an ideological battle between the superpowers: East versus West, communism versus democracy. Dr Kevin Fong tells the story of how 27 year old Yuri Gagarin came to launch a new chapter in the history of exploration and follows the cosmonaut's one hour flight around the Earth. The Soviet Union's triumph in 1961 was the event that galvanised the United States to win the Space Race: to send the first people on the Moon by the end of the decade. Yuri's own ambitions to voyage to the Moon were frustrated by his political masters, a faltering Soviet lunar space program and two tragic accidents. As well as presenting archive recordings, Kevin talks to space historians and writers: Tom Ellis, historian at the London School of Economics Stephen Walker, author of ‘Beyond' Slava Gerovitch, author of Soviet Space Mythologies' and ‘Voices of the Soviet Space Program' Andrew Jenks, author of 'The Cosmonaut who couldn't stop smiling' Cathleen Lewis, curator at the National Air and Space Museum Actor Stewart Campbell is the voice of Yuri Gagarin. Tony Turner is Soviet space program founder Sergei Korolev. Nicholas Murchie is General Nicolai Kaminin, head of cosmonaut training. Technical production is by Giles Aspen and Jackie Margerum. Co-writer and producer: Andrew Luck-Baker of the BBC Radio Science Unit. (Picture: Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Photo credit: Imagno/Getty Images.) The story of Yuri Gagarin, the first human to fly into space A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives |
| Gareth Gwynn's Alternative Archive | 20190119 | | Remember when Russia landed the first man on the moon? How Tony Blair became European President, and Delia Smith became Pope? Or how the American Writers Guild Strike indirectly led to the election of President Donald J Trump? Satirist Gareth Gwynn does. Blurring fact and fiction, using genuine archive from the last 50 years, he tells the story of world-changing events that could have happened. Written and presented by Gareth Gwynn Produced by Victoria Lloyd A BBC Studios Production Gareth Gwynn presents the first Archive on 4 that looks sideways rather than backwards. |
| George Blake - The Confession | 20090801 | 20090803
20210205 (R4) | A remarkable interview with the notorious double agent, who recently passed away. George Blake became a senior MI6 officer - even though he had converted to the Communist cause while held as a prisoner in North Korea. He photographed vast numbers of classified documents, and by his own estimates betrayed around 500 agents working for the Western powers. In the late 1980s, the journalist Tom Bower secured the first interview with Blake, in which he freely confessed to betraying his colleagues and described in detail his sensational escape from Wormwood Scrubs Prison in London, and his journey to exile in Moscow. This radio version was first broadcast in 2009. A remarkable interview with the notorious double agent, first broadcast in 2009 Former Panorama reporter Tom Bower introduces the documentary he made in the late 1980s about double agent George Blake. For 18 years, Blake served as a trusted and senior MI6 officer. But secretly, in 1952, he became a double agent, betraying MI6 operations and personnel to the KGB. Over the course of nine years, at a critical period of the Cold War, he destroyed most of MI6's activities in Eastern Europe. 'I don't know what I handed over', he admitted, 'because it was so much'. b00ly0nx
For 18 years, Blake served as a trusted and senior MI6 officer. But secretly, in 1952, he became a double agent, betraying MI6 operations and personnel to the KGB. Over the course of nine years, at a critical period of the Cold War, he destroyed most of MI6's activities in Eastern Europe. 'I don't know what I handed over', he admitted, 'because it was so much'. Tom Bower introduces his documentary about double agent George Blake. |
| Getting To Know My Father | 20110730 | 20110801 | For Radio 4, Today presenter, Justin Webb goes on a personal journey through the archive to get to know his father; journalist and BBC man Peter Woods. Justin met him only once, when he was six months old, but despite not knowing him Peter was omnipresent when he was growing up. Whether reporting from Berlin when the wall was built, or presenting the BBC's first colour news programme, he dominated the news. Using the archive to piece together his career, from the 1950s tabloid journalism through to his comedy cameos in the 1980s, Justin tells the story of his father's on-screen life, and that of his secret son whose career was happening in parallel. Getting To Know My Father takes the listener back to 1960s Fleet Street, '70s newsrooms, and the halcyon days of the alpha-male journalist and the hard-living culture that eventually interfered with Woods' career, as Justin's colleague, John Humphreys reveals: 'How can I put this politely? Peter was very very different from you, Justin. He was colourful. You never quite knew how he was going to behave. And it did depend a little bit, I'm afraid, on how recently he'd had an encounter with the bottle. Meeting other people who knew Peter back in his prime: comedian Michael Palin; broadcaster Angela Rippon; and former Fleet Street editor Brian Hitchen, Justin finds out what kind of man his father was: He was very streetwise, and very cunning. During the Suez crisis he conned the commanding officer of the parachute regiment that he could do a jump- he'd never done one before. Brian Hitchen, Daily Mirror colleague. Building a picture of his father Justin contemplates on the man he never knew, and who never tried to contact him. Will Peter reveal himself through the archive and will Justin like the person that is uncovered? Producer: Gemma Newby A Wise Buddah production for BBC Radio 4. Justin Webb goes through the archive to get to know Peter Woods; the father he never knew. |
| Ghost In The Machine | 19991030 | 20191026 (BBC7)
20191027 (BBC7) | Many claim to have seen ghosts, but what should a bump in the night sound like? For Halloween, Ian Peacock puts together a soundtrack of the supernatural, from genuine apparitions-taped at seances and haunted houses - to the noises of spectres invented for funfairs and theatre productions. Producers: Robyn Read and Ian Peacock. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1999. Ian Peacock puts together a soundtrack of the supernatural. From 1999. |
| Gillian Reynolds - Audiophile | 20160618 | 20201124 (BBC7) | Gillian Reynolds CBE unearths the voices that have echoed through her life as critic and broadcaster on commercial and BBC radio. A professional writer about radio for over 50 years, Gillian's love affair with the medium started when she was a child growing up in pre-war Liverpool. First their to leave their impact, were legendary Second World War voices like Lord Haw-Haw, Nazi propagandist William Joyce, Mrs Mopp, from Tommy Handley's madcap wartime show ITMA, and Band Waggon star Arthur Askey. But in a lifetime of listening and reviewing, via the Guardian, Daily Telegraph and The Times, Gillian has always kept pace with what's new on the broadcasting block – from the advent of commercial radio in the 1970s, the BBC Gulf War station cobbled together at short notice (popularly known as ‘Scud FM') which inspired BBC Radio 5Live, or the latest American podcast sensations making recent headlines for audio. Gillian spices her show with new interviews with a handful of her contemporaries, heroes and friends. Sue MacGregor, Dame Jenny Abramsky, Nick Pollard and Jimmy Gordon help to capture the seismic changes in radio during Gillian's lifetime and its unquenchable, irresistible appeal even in the clamorous age of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Producer: Simon Elmes An Overtone production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in June 2016. Critic and broadcaster Gillian Reynolds celebrates 50 years' professional radio listening. Gillian Reynolds has been a professional writer about radio for fifty years and, for Archive on 4, unearths the voices that have echoed through her life as critic and broadcaster on commercial and BBC radio. Gillian's love affair with the medium started when she was a child growing up in pre-war Liverpool. The first real characters to make an impact on her were those legendary Second World War voices like Lord Haw-Haw, Nazi propagandist William Joyce, Mrs Mopp, from Tommy Handley's madcap wartime show ITMA, and Band Waggon star Arthur Askey. But in a lifetime of listening and reviewing, initially for the Guardian but for four decades at the Daily Telegraph, Gillian Reynolds has always kept pace with what's new on the broadcasting block – from the advent of commercial radio in the 1970s, the BBC Gulf War station cobbled together at short notice (popularly known as ‘Scud FM') which inspired Radio 5Live, or the latest American podcast sensations that have been making recent headlines for audio. Gillian spices her show with brand new interviews with a handful of her contemporaries, heroes and friends. Sue MacGregor (of The Reunion, Today, Woman's Hour and The World at One), Dame Jenny Abramsky (who retired as BBC Director of Radio in 2008), Nick Pollard (Gillian's colleague at commercial Radio City, and later a senior figure at ITN and Sky News) and Jimmy Gordon (who founded Clyde FM) join Gillian to capture the seismic changes in radio during her lifetime and its unquenchable, irresistible appeal even in the clamorous age of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016. But in a lifetime of listening and reviewing, initially for the Guardian but for four decades at the Daily Telegraph, Gillian Reynolds has always kept pace with what's new on the broadcasting block - from the advent of commercial radio in the 1970s, the BBC Gulf War station cobbled together at short notice (popularly known as 'Scud FM') which inspired Radio 5Live, or the latest American podcast sensations that have been making recent headlines for audio. An Overtone production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Girl Power Rip | 20200620 | | Journalist and author Ella Whelan asks if contemporary feminism is - well - dead. Journalist and author Ella Whelan asks if contemporary feminism has lost its way. Is it in fact... dead? Maybe feminism used to be a dirty word, but now it's on the lips of politicians, actors or almost any public figure male or female as a must-have badge of credibility. Ella doesn't use the label feminist to describe herself, but she still believes passionately that women's freedom in all its potential has yet to be achieved. In Girl Power RIP, she looks back over the battles women have fought for greater equality and pinpoints where she feels it went wrong. Weaving through the big wins and debates for women over the past 50 years - from abortion rights, contraception and equal pay to anti-porn, No More Page 3 and #metoo - she looks at where we are now and questions whether the current discussion around women's rights and women's freedom is helpful or even healthy. Speaking with feminist journalist Julie Bindel, women's activists Sophie Walker and Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, and academics Joanna Williams and Zoe Strimpel, Ella asks if feminism is still relevant or whether the fight for women's liberation has ended up spawning a culture of victimhood that's damaging women. Producer: Philippa Geering Executive Producers: Max O'Brien and Sean Glynn A Novel production for BBC Radio 4 |
| Giving Way To A New Era | 20080405 | 20180331 (BBC7)
20180401 (BBC7) | John Sergeant and Tony Benn look back on the impact of live broadcasting from the Commons. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives |
| Gloria And Me | 20131102 | 20150314 (BBC7)
20150315 (BBC7)
20170603 (BBC7) |  Growing up in Belfast, the writer Glenn Patterson assumed that everything that moved him musically came from afar. To begin with, it was England and Glam Rock, but gradually strange sounds began to infiltrate from even further afield. A school friend introduced him to Patti Smith. Patti Smith introduced him to 'Gloria'. It was a convoluted route by which the song finally reached him - only a couple of miles from where it was written. At a gig in the USA in 1988, Bruce Springsteen shouted lets take it back to where it all started as he launched into a version of Gloria. It's a song that's been covered by everyone from Simple Minds to Ricky Lee Jones to The Doors. Glenn talks to Mickey Bradley, bass player with the Undertones, who remembers Gloria being one of the first songs the band learned to play. The simple three chord structure makes it deceptively straightforward - although Glenn's attempt to learn it might disprove that theory - but the song has always held a strange magic for him. Even now, he says, he would fight his corner to say it's one of the best songs Van Morrison has ever written. Mickey and his fellow Undertones were learning to play Gloria while listening to Nuggets, an album of garage rock highlights put together by Patti Smith's guitarist, Lenny Kaye. His relationship with Gloria starts with the Patti Smith band and both he and Patti talk about why they picked this song to re-work. And Glenn unearths a rare recording of the famously taciturn Van Morrison discussing the song, with a young Rolling Stone journalist, Cameron Crowe. Produced by Rachel Hooper A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio Four. Glenn Patterson traces the cultural journey of Van Morrison's much-covered song Gloria. At a gig in the USA in 1988, Bruce Springsteen shouted "lets take it back to where it all started" as he launched into a version of Gloria. It's a song that's been covered by everyone from Simple Minds to Ricky Lee Jones to The Doors. Glenn Patterson traces the cultural journey of Van Morrison's song Gloria. A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio Four. |
| God Bless The Prince Of Wales | 20190706 | | Historian Martin Johnes revisits the Investiture of the Prince of Wales in July 1969 and explores the stories we tell about it and the stories we tell about ourselves. You knelt a boy, John Betjeman wrote upon the investiture of Charles as Prince of Wales, you rose a man. Not his finest work, perhaps – and it's certainly a sentiment that many in Wales would have found difficult to stomach. Take the Free Wales Army for example. Fresh from manoeuvres in Pembrokeshire and bomb training in Snowdonia, they threatened an armed rising in response to Charles's presence in Wales. Part of this insurrection included a plan to dump tonnes of manure on Charles's procession from a helicopter. The leading members of the Free Wales Army were arrested on public order and explosives charges and put on trial to coincide with the investiture ceremony. Or take Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru (MAC). They might have been more of a threat. MAC had already blown up four public buildings that year, attempted to blow up a monument to Charles in Holyhead and sent a letter bomb to a police officer. The group planned another four bombs on the day of the investiture ceremony. Two members of MAC were killed the day before when the gelignite they were carrying exploded. And a ten-year-old boy lost a leg when one of the bombs planted on Prince Charles's route exploded late. The threats of violence were real and they cast a dark shadow over the Imperial pomp. A glance at the running order of Radio 4's World at One on the day of the ceremony tells its own story: bombs, guns, arrests, showtrials – paramilitary terrorism on British soil, before the rise of the Provos. These events are dim in the collective memory of the UK, but they're important – they cleared a way for the sentiment that would lead to devolution – and they inform a politics that is still very much alive and still being played out. Featuring: Laura Clancy, Gethin ap Gruffydd, Elfed Wyn Jones, Mab Jones, Dominic Sandbrook, Wyn Thomas, Tim Williams. Producer: Martin Williams The explosive story of Prince Charles' investiture - a pivotal moment in British politics. |
| Going To The Flicks - 01 | 20110115 | 20110117
20150110 (BBC7)
20150111 (BBC7) |  Barry Norman on the changing experience of British cinema going over the last century. Barry Norman is one of Britain's best loved film broadcasters, but for this series he is not so much interested in the films as in exploring how the experience of going to the cinema in Britain has changed over the last one hundred years. In fact, his first surprise is the discovery that people are far more likely to recall the general experience of going to the cinema than the individual films they saw. He draws on BBC archive as well as recordings from the University of Lancaster which have never been broadcast before, and also new interviews to find out how people's experience of this most popular form of entertainment has changed over the decades. The Silent Era, it turns out, was not all that silent, with plenty of chatting and tea-drinking going on, not to mention children reading out the titles to their illiterate parents and grandparents. Barry then moves on to hear how overwhelmed many viewers were by the sheer luxury of the cinemas built in the inter-war years and how these pleasure palaces offered a few hours of escape from lives which were harsh or sometimes simply dull. He himself recalls going to the pictures in the 1950s, which was the golden age of Saturday morning cinema for children. In the 1960s, with the advent of television, Barry finds out about the ultimately failed attempts to introduce novelties such as Cinerama and The Smellies to cinema and hears confessions about just what went on in the back row! With contributions from film expert Annette Kuhn and architectural historian Richard Gray, this first part of Barry Norman's memoir of Going to the Flicks is a heady mix of nostalgia and surprise. Producer : Beaty Rubens. Barry Norman on the changing experience of cinema going over the last century. |
| Going To The Flicks - 02 | 20110122 | 20110124
20150117 (BBC7)
20150118 (BBC7) | 
Charting the rise from the 1970s low ebb to today's exciting innovations. Continuing his two-part survey of the changing experience of British cinema-going over the last century, Barry Norman starts with cinema at a low ebb in the 1970s and moves up to the exciting innovations of the present. Barry Norman is one of the best-loved critics of film in Britain but for this series he explores not the pictures on the screen but the changing experience of participating in one of the most popular cultural activity of all - simply going to the cinema. He starts in the 1970s, when film was at a particularly low ebb and ticket sales had fallen to an all-time low. In conversation with Sir David Puttnam, he recalls his own pessimism about the future of cinema at the time. Moving onto the 1980s, Barry explores the impact of an American import - the Multiplex - on Britain. He then moves onto the challenge of videos and DVDs in the 1990s and is ultimately surprised to find how positive the picture now looks as British cinemas embrace 3D and other innovations and attendance figures continue to rise. Featuring archive never broadcast before, this series attempts for the first time ever to survey the changing experience of cinema-going in Britain over the last century. Producer: Beaty Rubens. Charting the rise from the 1970s low ebb in cinema-going to today's exciting innovations. |
| Going To The Gay Bar | 20190914 | | LGBTQ+ venues are closing across the UK. Research from the UCL Urban Laboratory indicates that, since 2006, the number of venues in London has fallen from 125 to 53 - with some still at risk of closure. Conversely, there's been a 144% increase in hate crimes against LGBTQ+ people, with one in five experiencing a hate crime this year. Performance artist and writer Travis Alabanza asks if the venues have served the purpose they were originally built for or if now, more than ever, LGBTQ+ people need these spaces. Speaking to Professor Ben Campkin from UCL, Travis finds out why individual venues are closing and the impact of their loss. Travis hears personal accounts of how these venues shapes individuals, and visits one of London's oldest LGBTQ+ venues, The Black Cap, which closed in 2015. Campaigners have since held weekly vigils there, but developers want to turn the upper part into luxury apartments and say a new pub will have an LGBT flavour. Travis also visits a venue being threatened with closure, The Eden Bar in Birmingham, as well as other LGBTQ+ spaces beyond nightlife; Gay's The Word bookshop, and The Outside Project. Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell explains the impact of these venues in the 70s and 80s compared to today, and London's Night Czar Amy Lamé discusses how London is working to protect venues. Finally, Travis speaks with Phyll Opoku- Gyimah, the co-founder of UK Black Pride, to consider whether these venues truly serve the entirety of the LGBTQ+ community. Produced by Anishka Sharma and Sasha Edye-Lindner Researcher: Eleanor Ross A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4 LLGC Oral History clips and First Out Oral History clips courtesy of UCL Urban Laboratory. Photo credit: Tiu Makkonen Travis Alabanza investigates the impact of the closure of LGBTQ+ venues in the UK. Producer: Sasha Edye-Lindner Executive Producer: Anishka Sharma |
| Gone With The Wind: A Legacy | 20141213 | | Author, journalist and academic Diane Roberts examines the impact of one of the most successful Hollywood movies of all time, 75 years after its release. Using previously un-broadcast extracts from archive interviews with cast and crew, conducted by the veteran Hollywood correspondent Barbra Paskin, Diane looks at how the book and film came about, the reaction it received across America, and its lasting legacy. It's been called racist, discriminatory, retrograde, and offensive - but, as we discover, the importance of Gone With The Wind lies in part in the conversation it provokes about an ugly and often overlooked chapter in American history. We hear how issues around race dominated the film's premiere in Atlanta and even spilled over on Oscar night. Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American to win an Academy Award but she was racially segregated from her co-stars at the ceremony - made to sit at a separate table at the back of the room. Gone with the Wind had a $3.7m budget - unheard of at the time. It grossed over $390m globally at the box office and it was filmed and presented on a scale not seen in modern productions. There were a massive 554 speaking roles and a supporting cast of 2,400 people. This programme includes archive of Evelyn Keyes who played Scarlett's sister Suellen, Ann Rutherford who played Careen, the film's make up artist Frank Westmore, script clerk Lydia Schiller and Editor Hal Kern. We also hear from Barbra Paskin who conducted the original interviews, and from Professor Helen Taylor, author of the book Scarlett's Women: Gone with the Wind and Its Female Fans. Produced by Ashley Byrne A Made in Manchester production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Good Luck Professor Spiegelhalter | 20180106 | 20210309 (BBC7)
20210313 (BBC7)
20210314 (BBC7)
20190222 (R4) | Whether we believe in luck or not, we do use the word- a lot! More as a figure of speech than an article of faith perhaps, but some do pray for luck, others fantasize about it - and bad luck or misfortune is a staple of comedy. Can luck be said to exist as some force in our lives and if so, what is its nature? How have people thought about luck in the past and what's changed today? Can you bring good luck upon yourself - there's a school of thought these days that thinks you can without appealing to the divine or supernatural. Professor Spiegelhalter, the Winton professor for the public understanding of risk at Cambridge University looks at notions of luck in gambling, traces the origins of how we think about fate and fortune, the religious and psychological view of luck and how the emergence of theory of probability changed our view of it. He is convinced by the philosopher Angie Hobbs that there is one form of luck it is rational to believe in and by psychologist Richard Wiseman that there is a secular solution to bringing about good fortune in your life. Produced in Salford by Kevin Mousley First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2018.: The certainty of chance. Professor David Spiegelhalter investigates Luck. Whether we believe in luck or not, we do use the word- a lot! More as a figure of speech than an article of faith perhaps but some do pray for luck, others fantasise about it - and bad luck or misfortune is a staple of comedy In Good Luck Professor Spiegelhalter, the Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk at Cambridge University looks at notions of luck in gambling, traces the origins of how we think about fate and fortune, the religious and psychological view of luck and how the emergence of theory of probability changed our view of it. Good Luck Professor Spiegelhalter, is presented by David Spiegelhalter and produced in Salford by Kevin Mousley. Good Luck Professor Spiegelhalter, is presented by David Spiegelhalter and produced in Salford by Kevin Mousley. |
| Government Is Not The Solution | 20120310 | | Amid global economic turmoil, high government debts and the rise of the Tea Party, hostility to overweaning, overspending government power appears to be on a roll in America today. As Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum all struggle to win the US Republican Party's Presidential nomination, each is doing their best to convince the Party's membership that he is the man to rein in 'Big Government'. But, as Jonathan Freedland explores, this hostility has its roots at the very beginning of the United States. In this programme, he traces how Americans' suspicion of centralised power began with the 1770s rebellion against British rule - and how it became the basis of the way America is governed, through the 'separation of powers'. Jonathan unearths a rich seam of archive which shows how this has coloured American politics over recent decades, even as the size of government has grown. He explores how it fuelled opposition to the New Deal, Civil Rights and the War in Vietnam. And he asks how American Presidents have found ways to push against the constraints of the Constitution and drive their policies through. Historian Professor Desmond King argues that from Franklin Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan and beyond, Presidents have repeatedly declared 'War' on everything from the Depression to drugs, poverty to inflation. This was always a canny bid to play on American patriotism and the President's role as Commander-in-Chief - to make social reform sound as urgent and necessary as fighting a foreign foe. But has this strategy now run out of firepower? And if so, is America's relationship with the very idea of central government now more vexed than ever? Producer: Phil Tinline. Jonathan Freedland traces the history of American hostility to 'Big Government'. |
| Grayson Perry: En Garde | 20170812 | 20190322 (R4) | Grayson Perry goes backwards in the archive in search of the moment the avant-garde died. It's a century since Marcel Duchamp submitted his artwork called Fountain to an exhibition staged by the Society of Independent Artists in New York. Fountain was a urinal -- not a painting of a urinal or a sculpture, just a urinal, bought from a Manhattan hardware store and signed R.Mutt. The Society of Independent Artists rejected Duchamp's provocation and the original object was lost. Nowadays Duchamp's urinal is canonised as the fountainhead of conceptual art and the high water (closet) mark of the avant garde. Replicas of the Fountain grace museums around the world - emblems of the avant-garde spirit of experimentation and confrontation. Somewhere in the intervening years though, something changed - contemporary art lost its ability to shock and critique. We're still hopelessly drawn to the idea of art that's 'cutting edge', 'ground-breaking', 'revolutionary'. But is that possible at this point -- haven't we seen it all before? Maybe the death knell was sounded when the Saatchi Gallery opened on the South Bank? Or with the advent of protest and radical chic in the 1960s? Maybe it was when the CIA funded the abstract expressionists? Or when the post-war art market began to reign supreme? Or when the Museum of Modern Art opened its doors in 1927? Or maybe it was all a matter of style the very moment Duchamp's Fountain was conceived? Featuring Brian Eno, Kenneth Goldsmith, Nnenna Okore, Cornelia Parker, and Sarah Thornton. Producer: Martin Williams. Grayson Perry goes in search of the moment the avant-garde died. Producer: Martin Williams. |
| Great Spy Books: Fact Or Fiction? | 20121201 | 20141004 (BBC7)
20141005 (BBC7)
20160813 (BBC7)
20160814 (BBC7) |  Peter Hennessy, an expert on state secrecy, asks how close spy novels come to reality. Peter Hennessy, the leading expert on state secrecy, asks how close the great British spy novels come to reality and explores what they reveal about the top secret world of intelligence and security - MI5, MI6 and Whitehall. By drawing on official papers and what were once top secret intelligence documents, and by interviewing former diplomats and former officers in MI5 and MI6, he compares and contrasts the great spy novels with the real world of espionage. Much of the appeal of great spy novels lies in their apparent authenticity and some leading spy writers draw on their experience of secret intelligence work. But how much do their fictional characters, such as James Bond or George Smiley, resemble real spies? And is fact sometimes stranger than fiction? Peter Hennessy shows that spy books in the early 1900s reflected British anxieties about a German invasion and made a big impact, contributing to the founding of Britain's first secret service bureau, the forerunner of MI5 and MI6. He traces the development of spy fiction from its early days to the more nuanced spy stories of Somerset Maugham in 'Ashenden' and of Eric Ambler's 1930s' novels. Their more subtle approach is echoed by Graham Greene and John le Carre, whereas Ian Fleming's hero, James Bond, is part spy, part assassin. Cold War novels reflect the deep fear of nuclear war and of betrayal by double-agents ('moles'), but can modern spy fiction achieve the same degree of intrigue and suspense? Peter Hennessy compares the views and works of spy writers with evidence of official intelligence work and the experiences of former diplomats and intelligence officers, as he assesses great spy books - fact or fiction. Producer: Rob Shepherd. Peter Hennessy, the expert on state secrecy, asks how close spy novels come to reality. Peter Hennessy, the leading expert on state secrecy, asks how close the great British spy novels come to reality and explores what they reveal about intelligence and security. By drawing on official papers and what were once top secret intelligence documents, and by interviewing former diplomats and former officers in MI5 and MI6, he compares and contrasts fiction with real espionage. Much of the appeal lies in their apparent authenticity. But how much do James Bond or George Smiley resemble real spies? And is fact sometimes stranger than fiction? Peter Hennessy shows that spy books in the early 1900s made a big impact, influencing Britain's first secret service bureau, the forerunner of MI5 and MI6. He traces the development of spy fiction from its early days to the more nuanced spy stories of Somerset Maugham in 'Ashenden' and of Eric Ambler's 1930s' novels. Their more subtle approach is echoed by Graham Greene and John le Carre, whereas Ian Fleming's hero, James Bond, is part spy, part assassin. Cold War novels reflect the deep fear of nuclear war and of betrayal by double-agents ('moles'), but can modern spy fiction achieve the same degree of intrigue and suspense? |
| Greece: An Unquiet History | 20120331 | | Maria Margaronis asks if the spectre of the Greece's unstable past is haunting its current nightmares. Culturally at Europe's heart, geographically at its edge, Greece has always been pulled and pushed by the contradictory needs of the big powers. Maria looks back through the defining chapters of the country's history beginning her journey in Thessaloniki-once a vibrant Ottoman city city of Jews, Muslims and Christians at the moment of its conquest by the young Greek state a century ago. She then travels through lands populated by refugees from the Asia Minor disaster in 1922 and on into villages burned by German occupation forces in the 1940s, arriving in the Athens of the colonels' junta of 1967-74. Along the way she explores both public and private memories of Greece's turbulent recent history. The recent financial crisis has made Greeks once again deeply divided about Europe, enlisting history on both sides of the argument. Is Greece still the guarantor of human rights, freedom and progress, or has it become a new repressive force, suspending democracy to safeguard its own and Europe' s interests? Consciously or unconsciously, history is informing that debate. Producer: Mark Burman. Writer Maria Margaronis asks if the spectre of Greece's past haunts its current nightmares |
| Harold Evans At 90 | 20180623 | 20201024 (R4) | As he turns 90, and at a time of unprecedented change and scrutiny of the media, Razia Iqbal interviews and listens again to the archive from a newspaper man whose name has become a byword for serious investigative journalism. From his flat in New York, she speaks to Sir Harold Evans about giving voice to the voiceless, risking going to prison and changing British law in his lifelong pursuit of the truth. Producer: Sarah Shebbeare. Newspaper man Harold Evans reveals his lifelong pursuit of the truth. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Producer: Sarah Shebbeare. AKA Harold Evans In February 2018, BBC journalist Razia Iqbal travelled to New York to interview a newspaper man whose name was a byword for serious investigative journalism. From his flat in New York, Razia Iqbal spoke to Sir Harold Evans about giving voice to the voiceless, risking going to prison and changing British law in his lifelong pursuit of the truth. Harold Evans in pursuit of the truth |
| Hate Against Hope | 20100306 | 20100308 | ![]() How the anti-racist struggles in London's East End in the 1970s and 80s relived the past. Alan Dein hears how London's East End Bangladeshi community forged new alliances to oppose racism in the 1970s and 80s. The East End had been a centre of racial struggle and opposition since the 1930s, when Oswald Mosely's Blackshirts had paraded through the then largely Jewish streets around Brick Lane. By the 1970s a new wave of predominantly Bangladeshi immigrants faced racism again from the National Front and its sympathisers. As provocation and attacks increased, this community made new alliances with local anti-fascist activists, culminating in large-scale movements such as Rock Against Racism. Once again Brick Lane and the streets beyond became a battleground. class=""blq-clearfix""> The East End had been a centre of racial struggle and opposition since the 1930s, when Oswald Mosely's Blackshirts had paraded through the then largely Jewish streets around Brick Lane. By the 1970s a new wave of predominantly Bangladeshi immigrants faced racism again from the National Front and its sympathisers. As provocation and attacks increased, this community made new alliances with local anti-fascist activists, culminating in large-scale movements such as Rock Against Racism. Once again Brick Lane and the streets beyond became a battleground. |
| Here's Looking At You, Parents! | 20191026 | | At home, surrounded by their own parenting paraphernalia, comedy couple Josie Long and Jonny Donahoe leap into the fictional and factual world of parenting to discover what lessons we can learn or loose from our TV and Radio counterparts. Script writers from every generation have embraced parents, and the misadventures of mums and dads have kept TV and Radio in business for decades. In the early days, putting parents on TV and Radio was all about showing us how it 'should' be done, but in recent years writers have reflected back to us what we're really like! And as family set ups have evolved from mum and dad, to mum and mum, dad and dad or mums or dad, Radio and TV writers have travelled that route too. Parents have provided them with a seemingly endless source of material which in turn has provided us with ideas as to how to parent better or simply reassured us that we're not the only ones doing it badly. From 'Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em' to 'Motherland', sit back, relax and enjoy a journey of parenting mayhem and memories that will unite us all! Presented by Josie Long and Jonny Donahoe Produced by Nicola Humphries Featuring TV Writer and Critic Michael Hogan, Jennifer Traig, author of Act Natural: A Cultural History of Misadventures in Parenting, and Dr Charlotte Faircloth, Lecturer in Sociology of Gender at UCL. Parenting comedy couple Josie Long and Jonny Donahoe share their parenting archive clips. |
| Heroes And Hacks | 20130511 | 20140816 (BBC7)
20140817 (BBC7) |  Monicagate. Camillagate. Hackgate. Plebgate. It's 40 years since the world was introduced to the original "gate" via the televised Senate Watergate Hearings. In this Archive on 4, journalist Eamonn O'Neill investigates the Watergate legacy. The film All the President's Men, with Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, inspired an entire generation of journalists. "Deep Throat," "inside sources" and "follow the money" became buzzwords for a supposedly golden age of journalism. But was it really hard-bitten reporting that brought down the leader of the free world? Or is that it a convenient myth, aided by Hollywood, indulgently lifting the expectations of journalists? 40 years later in Britain, the golden age seems to be long gone, thanks to the excesses of "Hackgate." It was Watergate in reverse, a scandal that brought down journalists, leaving politicians largely intact. Eamonn examines the nature of modern investigative journalism, through archive from Watergate and other political scandals since. He talks to Washington Post journalists, including Bob Woodward, about their heroic status. He meets the new breed of "heroic" investigative journalists, including Heather Brooke, who helped expose the MPs expenses scandal, and Nick Davies, who exposed the phone hacking scandal for The Guardian. Eamonn also looks at fate of the investigative press in a post-Leveson environment, searching for the line between hero and hack. Producer: Colin McNulty A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4. Journalist Eamonn O'Neill examines his profession through the legacy of Watergate. |
| High Crimes And Misdemeanours: Us Presidential Impeachment | 20191123 | | America's Constitution provides for the removal of a President if he commits high crimes and misdemeanours in office. The process is called impeachment. In the first two centuries of its existence, only one US President was impeached. Now for the third time in 45 years, the House of Representatives is preparing articles of impeachment against a sitting US president. In this Archive on 4, Michael Goldfarb explains the mechanics of impeachment and how it became a weaponised tool of partisan politics. Using archive from the Nixon and Clinton impeachment processes, as well as interviews with participants in those events, the programme explains the British origins of impeachment for High Crimes and Misdemeanours. A Certain Height production for BBC Radio 4 Michael Goldfarb looks back at how impeachment became a tool of US partisan politics. |
| Hobsbawm: A Life In History | 20120414 | 20121001 | Historian Prof Eric Hobsbawm is interviewed by Simon Schama about his work and his extraordinary life. With archive clips from Eric's previous TV and radio appearances. Eric Hobsbawm is interviewed by Simon Schama to discuss his work and his extraordinary life. Professor Eric Hobsbawm is one of our most eminent historians. His four-volume history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, starting with 'The Age of Revolution' and ending with 'The Age of Extremes', is considered a masterpiece, an accessible classic which is still read by students today. Hobsbawm was born in Alexandria in 1917, months before the Russian Revolution. He grew up in Vienna and Berlin, before moving to England, where he studied history at Cambridge. At 94 years old, he is President of Birkbeck College, and is still writing. His most recent book, published in 2011 is 'How to Change the World', in the light of the global financial crisis, it is a timely collection of essays reassessing Marx and Marxism. Simon Schama meets Eric at his home in Hampstead to discuss his turbulent childhood, orphaned at 14, he moves to Berlin to stay with relatives who are too concerned with scratching a living in the collapsing Weimar Republic to notice that the teenage Eric is hiding a Communist Party printing press in his bedroom. In 1933 he moved to England, a country he found incredibly boring after the excitement of Berlin, however, it is the English education system that makes him a historian, when he wins a scholarship to Cambridge, later founding Communist Party Historians Group, and the journal Past and Present, which influenced a whole generation, including a young Simon Schama. Eric Hobsbawm is an unrepentant Marxist, whilst acknowledging the failure of twentieth century Communism, he has not given up on Marxist ideals. As he tells Simon Schama, he would like to be remembered as 'somebody who not only who kept the flag flying, but who showed that by waving it you can actually achieve something, if only good and readable books'. Their discussion is illustrated with BBC archive clips from Eric's previous tv and radio appearances Producer: Jessica Treen. Historian Prof Eric Hobsbawm is interviewed by Simon Schama about his work and life. |
| Houses V Fields | 20120526 | 20130608
20150620 (BBC7)
20150621 (BBC7) |  
Which is a better use of our land? A beautiful green field, or a human home? We have long tied ourselves in knots trying to answer this question. Anne McElvoy ploughs the BBC archive to unearth the tangled roots of one this country's great, eternal inner conflicts. Anne listens to a stinging mid-century polemic against new 'ribbon developments'. And she finds out which writer was so incensed at suburban sprawl that she burned cardboard models of suburbs in her garden. But she also hears interviews with those who had managed to flee the slums and who were enraptured by the fresh air on new estates. One ex-EastEnder is agog simply at the fact that she has running water upstairs. In this new, planning-friendly world, Prime Minister Winston Churchill broadcast to the nation on the virtues of the new emergency pre-fabricated houses - complete with "excellent baths". He expresses impatience with those who would "plan every acre" to ensure the landscape was not spoiled. But she also hears the rough reception that greeted the Minister who ventured to Stevenage to extol the virtues of the coming new town. This opposition to new building on ancient fields came to a new crisis in the 1980s when the boom in the south east led to extraordinary tensions. Environment Secretary Nicholas Ridley backed plans to build new settlements in the Home Counties. Protestors burned him in effigy in a Hampshire field. And with the Coalition Government now introducing fresh plans to encourage development while empowering local communities, Anne asks Planning Minister Greg Clark how he is trying to resolve the struggle between houses and fields. With John Carey, Greg Clark, Juliet Gardiner, Tristram Hunt, Roger Scruton, Christine Whitehead Producer: Phil Tinline. Anne McElvoy explores the eternal struggle: Is a green field better than a human home? And with the Coalition Government trying to encourage development while empowering local communities, Anne asks Planning Minister Nicholas Boles how he is trying to resolve the struggle between houses and fields. With Nicholas Boles, John Carey, Juliet Gardiner, Tristram Hunt, Roger Scruton, Christine Whitehead Which is a better use of our land? A beautiful green field, or a human home? We have long tied ourselves in knots trying to answer this question. Now, as the Government seeks to encourage more house-building, Anne McElvoy ploughs the BBC archive to unearth the tangled roots of one this country's great, eternal inner conflicts. In the years after the First World War, the southern English countryside was held up as the symbolic heart of the nation. And yet at the same time, that other great embodiment of Englishness - the owner-occupied house - was becoming the ever more achievable dream of a growing population. And so hundreds of thousands of new homes were built, at great speed, every year. Often these appeared along the sides of the many new arterial roads that snaked out into the fields beyond the towns. Anne listens to the anguished regret of writers like EM Forster and John Betjeman at the vanishing of their childhood pastures. She listens to a stinging polemic against the new 'ribbon developments'. And she finds out which writer was so incensed at suburban sprawl that she burned cardboard models of suburbs in her back garden at dusk. But she also hears interviews with those who had managed to flee the slums of the cities and who were enraptured by the cleanliness and fresh air of their new homes on new estates. One ex-EastEnder is agog simply at the fact that she has running water upstairs. The destruction of the Second World War spurred a post-war drive to clear the slums, ease city overcrowding amid the bombsites and create a fresh life for a population who had borne the brunt of the fighting. In this new, planning-friendly world, as Anne hears, Prime Minister Winston Churchill found himself broadcasting to the nation on the virtues of the new emergency pre-fabricated houses - complete with "excellent baths". He expresses impatience with those who would "plan every acre" to ensure the landscape was not spoiled, and stresses that land will be made available for new houses. And all this less than three months before D-Day. But she also listens to the rough reception that greeted the Town and Country Planning Minister who ventured to Stevenage two years later to extol the virtues of the coming new town. To rousing cheers, one local demands to know why the Minister doesn't ask the freeholders in the Commons to give up their holdings - "before they come for ours? This opposition to new building on ancient fields came to a new crisis in the 1980s when the boom in the south east led to extraordinary tensions between Environment Secretary Nicholas Ridley. He backed plans to build new settlements in the Home Counties - but faced furious locals who protested outside his Cotswolds home and burned him in effigy in a field. As Anne explores, this is not a left-right division. Just as those on the right are split between champions of dynamic development and the conservers of the countryside, those on the left must choose between better housing for working people and the needs of the environment. And with the Coalition Government now introducing fresh plans to encourage development, she asks the Minister for Decentralisation and Cities, Greg Clark, how he is setting about trying to resolve the intractable struggle between our homes and our fields. And with the Coalition Government trying to encourage development while empowering local communities, Anne asks Planning MiniArchive On 4 How Britain Went To War 20140726 Peter Hennessy, the leading historian of Whitehall, examines Britain's secret war planning and preparations before 1914, explores the difficulties over the plans within government, and asks what difference the plans made when war came. Drawing on official papers, sound archive, and interviews with historians, Hennessy takes us inside Whitehall during the years before 1914. He discusses what was in the minds of Asquith, his ministers and their officials and top soldiers and sailors, as they prepared for a possible conflict and as they finally took Britain into a major war in August 1914. He explores the tensions between senior military and naval officers, between the Admiralty and the War Office, and within the Cabinet, where ministers resisted state planning, and he shows how the resulting debates and divisions shaped the war plans and influenced their effectiveness. But as he also shows, these years also saw the creation of Britain's first Secret Service Bureau (forerunner of MI5 and MI6) and the first ever 'War Book', a detailed set of instructions for government departments to follow during the transition from peace to war - a vital element of Whitehall planning that has continued ever since. Producer: Rob Shepherd."" |
| How Britain Went To War | 20140726 | 20190629 (BBC7)
20190630 (BBC7) |  Peter Hennessy, the leading historian of Whitehall, examines Britain's secret war planning and preparations before 1914, explores the difficulties over the plans within government, and asks what difference the plans made when war came. Drawing on official papers, sound archive, and interviews with historians, Hennessy takes us inside Whitehall during the years before 1914. He discusses what was in the minds of Asquith, his ministers and their officials and top soldiers and sailors, as they prepared for a possible conflict and as they finally took Britain into a major war in August 1914. He explores the tensions between senior military and naval officers, between the Admiralty and the War Office, and within the Cabinet, where ministers resisted state planning, and he shows how the resulting debates and divisions shaped the war plans and influenced their effectiveness. But as he also shows, these years also saw the creation of Britain's first Secret Service Bureau (forerunner of MI5 and MI6) and the first ever 'War Book', a detailed set of instructions for government departments to follow during the transition from peace to war - a vital element of Whitehall planning that has continued ever since. Producer: Rob Shepherd First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2014. Peter Hennessy examines Britain's secret war planning and preparations before August 1914. |
| How Marx Made The Right | 20170121 | |  Marking 150 years since the publication of Das Kapital, Tim Stanley, a former Marxist, makes the case that the Right's ideological debt to Marx is almost as large as that of the Left. He argues that, both historically and on a personal level, conservatism is largely a response to Marxism. We can trace the Marxist influence on conservative doctrine as far back as the 19th century when, reacting to the revolution of 1848, French political theorist Alexis de Tocqueville first made the case for turning the proletariat into a class of small property owners so as to give them a stake in society and prevent revolutions. A nation of property owners remains a central conservative ideal nowadays. Meanwhile, the contemporary right is defined by a fiscal credo devised by economists Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman, as a direct response to the ideological threat they saw in state socialism. On a personal level, many leading conservatives - including Tim Stanley himself - became conservatives as if in response to their own early embrace of Marxist doctrines. And while the right wing ideologies devised by Hayek, Friedman, and Thatcher seemed to have triumphed in the 1990s and early 2000s, the rise of a new brand of right-wing populism suggests that the right-wing doctrines of neo-liberalism in fact needed their socialist enemy to survive. A Kati Whitaker production for BBC Radio 4. Tim Stanley argues that the Right's debt to Marx is nearly as great as the Left's. |
| How Santa Claus Stole Christmas | 20181222 | | Cultural historian and writer Christopher Frayling explores how Hollywood movies helped to create the modern global Christmas. If Dickens' A Christmas Carol invented the Victorian Christmas of family, good works and good cheer, Hollywood has created its modern counterpoint - Santa Claus, elaborate presents, hummable tunes, consumer satisfaction and family tensions and reconciliations. From Holiday Inn and Miracle On 34th Street to It's A Wonderful Life and White Christmas, Christmas movies are designed to create a warm glow in the audience. They have helped turn Christmas into a global event, spread across cultures and religions, and rebranded for the age of mass consumption. In the process, the meaning of Christmas has become comprehensively Americanised - complete with the ubiquitous iconography of Santa Claus, red-nosed reindeer, red costumes trimmed with white and shopping to the sound of piped seasonal muzak. A cultural critic said recently that Santa Claus is to American material faith what Jesus Christ is to the spiritual. Christopher Frayling dives into the BBC archive to discover how this happened and why - with the help of filmmakers, advertisers and historians, as well as comedians, commentators and religious figures. Interviewees: Joe Dante, film director Judith Flanders, historian and author Sir John Hegarty, advertising executive Karen Krizanovich, broadcaster and writer Kim Newman, critic and horror writer Producer: Jane Long A Hidden Flack production for BBC Radio 4 Christopher Frayling explores how Hollywood helped to create the modern global Christmas. |
| How To Archive Yourself | 20110409 | 20110411 | In October 1998 Gordon Bell went paperless. This is Gordon Bell, of Microsoft, who has been described as the Frank Lloyd Wright of computers. He has archived everything he has written and now records the minutiae of his life digitally as part of a project called MyLifeBits, an experiment designed to assist and maybe even supersede memory. But now that we can record so much of our lives are we missing out on the living of them? The wealth, range and affordability of devices to record your own life - from the 'basic' camera phone, hand-held internet connection, and even biological and genetic sequencing, has expanded exponentially over recent years. Take a look at the next event you are enjoying - viewing the Mona Lisa, watching David Byrne at the Royal Festival Hall, enjoying a friend's birthday cake candles being blown out - and count how many people are watching and how many are recording the moment. But what is all this for? Why are we doing it? And is an archive an archive if it is not structured, indexed, given meaning? Talking to passionate archvist Robert Fripp, from King Crimson, dispassionate archivist Geoff Dyer, and Sue Aldworth, an artists whose whole house is her arhive, presenter and self-archivist Toby Amies argues that the virtual moment has now become a vital part of the moment, not a dilution of it and that by being part of this new explosion of archiving we are playing our part in a shift of consciousness. He believes that the virtual is becoming as important, or as real, as the real and that this is part of the slow move into a future where technology and humans intersect in a different way. He examines the explosion in the archiving of human existence, wondering whether we are in the age of the super diary or at a launching point for the transference of our consciousness into the digital universe, for good. Producer: Sara Jane Hall. Technology makes keeping a record of our lives easy. Toby Amies asks what is it all for? Relentless self-archivist Toby Amies argues that the virtual moment has now become a vital part of the moment, not a dilution of it and that by being part of this new explosion of archiving we are playing our part in a shift of consciousness. Drawing a line from Pepys to Facebook, from Proust to Twitter, he examines the explosion in the archiving of human existence, wondering whether we are in the age of the super diary or at a launching point for the transference of our consciousness into the digital universe, for good. In October 1998 Gordon Bell went paperless. This is Gordon Bell, of Microsoft, who has been described as the Frank Lloyd Wright of computers. He has archived everything he has written and now records the minutiae of his life digitally as part of a project called MyLifeBits, an experiment designed to assist and maybe even supersede memory. But now that we can record so much of our lives are we missing out on the living of them? Relentless self-archivist Toby Amies argues that the virtual moment has now become a vital part of the moment, not a dilution of it and that by being part of this new explosion of archiving we are playing our part in a shift of consciousness. He believes that the virtual is becoming as important, or as real, as the real and that this is part of the slow move into a future where technology and humans intersect in a different way. Technology makes keeping a record of our lives easy. Toby Amies asks what is it all for? But what is all this for? Why are we doing it? And is an archive an archive if it is not structured, indexed, given meaning? Talking to passionate archvist Robert Fripp, from King Crimson, dispassionate archivist Geoff Dyer, and Sue Aldworth, an artists whose whole house is her arhive, presenter and self-archivist Toby Amies argues that the virtual moment has now become a vital part of the moment, not a dilution of it and that by being part of this new explosion of archiving we are playing our part in a shift of consciousness. He believes that the virtual is becoming as important, or as real, as the real and that this is part of the slow move into a future where technology and humans intersect in a different way. |
| How To Archive Yourself | 20110409 | 20120804 | Technology makes keeping a record of our lives easy. Toby Amies asks what is it all for? In October 1998 Gordon Bell went paperless. This is Gordon Bell, of Microsoft, who has been described as "the Frank Lloyd Wright of computers". He has archived everything he has written and now records the minutiae of his life digitally as part of a project called MyLifeBits, an experiment designed to assist and maybe even supersede memory. But now that we can record so much of our lives are we missing out on the living of them? The wealth, range and affordability of devices to record your own life - from the 'basic' camera phone, hand-held internet connection, and even biological and genetic sequencing, has expanded exponentially over recent years. Take a look at the next event you are enjoying - viewing the Mona Lisa, watching David Byrne at the Royal Festival Hall, enjoying a friend's birthday cake candles being blown out - and count how many people are watching and how many are recording the moment. But what is all this for? Why are we doing it? And is an archive an archive if it is not structured, indexed, given meaning? Talking to passionate archivist Robert Fripp, from King Crimson, dispassionate archivist Geoff Dyer, and Sue Aldworth, an artists whose whole house is her archive, presenter and self-archivist Toby Amies argues that the virtual moment has now become a vital part of the moment, not a dilution of it and that by being part of this new explosion of archiving we are playing our part in a shift of consciousness. He believes that the virtual is becoming as important, or as real, as the real and that this is part of the slow move into a future where technology and humans intersect in a different way. He examines the explosion in the archiving of human existence, wondering whether we are in the age of the super diary or at a launching point for the transference of our consciousness into the digital universe, for good. Producer: Sara Jane Hall. But what is all this for? Why are we doing it? And is an archive an archive if it is not structured, indexed, given meaning? Talking to passionate archvist Robert Fripp, from King Crimson, dispassionate archivist Geoff Dyer, and Sue Aldworth, an artists whose whole house is her arhive, presenter and self-archivist Toby Amies argues that the virtual moment has now become a vital part of the moment, not a dilution of it and that by being part of this new explosion of archiving we are playing our part in a shift of consciousness. He believes that the virtual is becoming as important, or as real, as the real and that this is part of the slow move into a future where technology and humans intersect in a different way. In October 1998 Gordon Bell went paperless. This is Gordon Bell, of Microsoft, who has been described as the Frank Lloyd Wright of computers. He has archived everything he has written and now records the minutiae of his life digitally as part of a project called MyLifeBits, an experiment designed to assist and maybe even supersede memory. But now that we can record so much of our lives are we missing out on the living of them? Relentless self-archivist Toby Amies argues that the virtual moment has now become a vital part of the moment, not a dilution of it and that by being part of this new explosion of archiving we are playing our part in a shift of consciousness. He believes that the virtual is becoming as important, or as real, as the real and that this is part of the slow move into a future where technology and humans intersect in a different way. Drawing a line from Pepys to Facebook, from Proust to Twitter, he examines the explosion in the archiving of human existence, wondering whether we are in the age of the super diary or at a launching point for the transference of our consciousness into the digital universe, for good. |
| How To Be, Or Not To Be, A Politician | 20130921 | | Serving Cabinet Ministers and other experienced politicians share their secrets and recall moments when they wish they had done things differently. Anne McElvoy looks at advice from Ancient Rome and talks to today's politicians. She hears their views on how to be a successful politician and some of the classic pitfalls to avoid. Interviewees include Iain Duncan Smith. Boris Johnson, Peter Hain, Shirley Williams, Louise Mensch, Hazel Blears, Kenneth Clarke, Edwina Currie, Alan Johnson, Miranda Green, Melissa Lane Producers: Catherine Donegan Jane Ashley. |
| How To Go Straight | 20160319 | 20180126
20180126 (R4) |  Ex-convicts tell intimate stories of how they renounced lives of crime. What makes an ex-convict renounce a life of crime? With staggering levels of re-offending, this is a vital question for our criminal justice system. One little-known radio programme has been providing some answers, through some powerful and intimate personal stories. Outside In is a collaboration between the BBC and National Prison Radio, presented by former prisoners. It focusses on the stories of ex-criminals who have turned their lives around. Sitting in the studio and talking to fellow ex-cons, they reveal themselves in a way that is rarely heard elsewhere. They talk about the turning points when they decided to resist returning to their old ways, sometimes after several drearily repetitive spells inside. Often the real change is developing a sense of self-worth. For a lifetime they have been told they are worth nothing. To go straight, they have to believe they are worth something. Outside In presenter Hilary introduces some of the most powerful moments from the programme. He talks to Andrew Wilkie from National Prison Radio who explains why hearing these stories in cells across the country is helping to change minds. And we hear from some of the talented former prisoners who have performed on the programme - singing and rapping with a fierce conviction. Producer: Shabnam Grewal. Producer: Shabnam Grewal. What makes an ex-convict renounce a life of crime? With staggering levels of re-offending, this is a vital question for our criminal justice system. One little-known radio programme has been providing some answers, through some powerful and intimate personal stories. ""Outside In"" is a collaboration between the BBC and National Prison Radio, presented by former prisoners. It focuses on the stories of ex-criminals who have turned their lives around. Sitting in the studio and talking to fellow ex-cons, they reveal themselves in a way that is rarely heard elsewhere. They talk about the turning points when they decided to resist returning to their old ways, sometimes after several drearily repetitive spells inside. Often the real change is developing a sense of self-worth. For a lifetime they have been told they are worth nothing. To go straight, they have to believe they are worth something. Outside In presenter Hilary Ineomo-Marcus introduces some of the most powerful moments from the programme. He talks to Andrew Wilkie from National Prison Radio who explains why hearing these stories in cells across the country is helping to change minds. And we hear from some of the talented former prisoners who have performed on the programme - singing and rapping with a fierce conviction. |
| How To Make An Archive On 4 | 20150718 | 20170603
20190105 (BBC7)
20190106 (BBC7)
20170603 (R4) |  Ever wondered how to make an Archive on 4? Here's your chance to find out! Alan Dein enters the strange world of instructional records where you can teach yourself just about anything - from yodelling to training your budgie to talk. It all started in 1901 when Polish émigré Jacques Roston harnessed the new technology of sound recording to teach foreign languages, signing up such luminaries as George Bernard Shaw and JRR Tolkien to lend their support. By the 50s and 60s you could buy LPs on how to do just about anything - from keep fit to playing a musical instrument, relaxation and passing your driving test. Perhaps the most surprising are those which help you to train your pet budgerigar to talk - with help from Sparkie, Britain's favourite budgie, who supposedly had a vocabulary of over 500 words. With help from Sparkie, Alan Dein tells the story of instructional records and, along the way, reveals a few of the secrets of how to make an Archive on 4. Producer: Laurence Grissell. Alan Dein enters the strange world of instructional records. Producer: Laurence Grissell. Brilliant stories told using archive from the BBC and beyond |
| How To Win A Tory Leadership Election | 20190608 | | What lessons should the current candidates to be Conservative leader learn from the contests of the past? The political journalist Michael Crick explores this question with the help of archive clips and interviews with leading figures involved. He recalls key moments from contests going back to Edward Heath's battle against Reginald Maudling in 1965, when the Conservative party first began to elect rather than appoint its leader. How should candidates approach and woo their colleagues - and the wider party? Can certain dark arts be useful? What tips can history offer on campaigning, presentation and media relations? What role can luck and timing play? How can a campaign become derailed? And does the favourite really never win? Interviewees include Kenneth Baker, Iain Duncan Smith, Gabby Bertin, Andrew Mitchell, Iain Dale, Producer: Leala Padmanabhan Michael Crick looks back at success and failure in Tory leadership contests in the past |
| How We Remember Them | 20181110 | | Since 2014 the world has been reflecting on the centenary of the First World War. The atrocities of the conflict have been well-covered but how has our interpretation changed over time? With powerful accounts of veterans, from the iconic 1964 BBC series The Great War and the Imperial War Museum's sound archive, as well as moving early commemorations at the Cenotaph, historian Dan Snow looks at how and why our perceptions of the conflict have changed over time, and how that's affected the way we commemorate the event. Joined by Dan Todman, Lucy Noakes, Helen McCartney and Jean Seaton, as well as Peter Hart, who interviewed many veterans on behalf of the IWM, we'll look at why Remembrance still seems to matter to people today and, as the centenary draws to a close, how it might change going forward. Producers: Megan Jones and Glyn Tansley Dan Snow looks back at how the First World War has been commemorated over the past century Brilliant stories told using archive material from the BBC and beyond. |
| Hurry Up Please, It's Time | 20100227 | 20100301 | ![]() Roberts Hanks explores the pub in literature. From Falstaff at The Boar's Head to John Self at The Shakespeare in Martin Amis's Money, English literature and the pub are intertwined. It started in a pub - Chaucer's pilgrims setting out from The Tabard in Southwark - and has been waiting to be chucked out ever since. Robert Hanks presents an elegy for pubs in literature and an exploration of what the smoking ban, the gastro pub and the five quid pint are going to do to writing. From Falstaff at The Boar's Head to John Self at The Shakespeare in Martin Amis's Money, English literature and the pub are intertwined. |
| I Did Not Interview The Dead | 20090704 | 20090706 | ![]() The voices and immediate memories of Nazi concentration camp survivors, recorded in 1946. In 1946, psychologist Dr David Boder travelled across the American zones of war-torn Europe to record 120 interviews that remain unique. In Yiddish, Polish, German, Spanish and English, mostly Jewish young men, women and orphan children were asked to tell their personal stories of survival and loss in the world of Nazi concentration and death camps. Boder also gathered from them the songs of the ghettos.These recordings are arguably the first ever oral histories and the only contemporary interviews with people who had survived the worst but whose immediate fate was unkown. Alan Dein listens to those still making sense of their terrible experiences. In 1946, psychologist Dr David Boder travelled across the American zones of war-torn Europe to record 120 interviews that remain unique. In Yiddish, Polish, German, Spanish and English, mostly Jewish young men, women and orphan children were asked to tell their personal stories of survival and loss in the world of Nazi concentration and death camps. Boder also gathered from them the songs of the ghettos.These recordings are arguably the first ever oral histories and the only contemporary interviews with people who had survived the worst but whose immediate fate was unkown. Alan Dein listens to those still making sense of their terrible experiences. |
| I Think I've Been Here Before | 20200201 | | To mark Groundhog Day, writer Ross Sutherland explores the joy that comes from repetition. Repetition is everywhere. Repetition is persuasive. Repetition is fun. Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again. The music we like, the games we play - it all seems to revolve around the pleasure of repetition. After all, familiarity provides comfort. Our jobs are loops. Our social lives are loops. Are we into infinity because we are not infinite? The loop, unlike us, never dies. We shouldn't be afraid of saying something more than once - the deepest aha's spring from an encounter and then a return. A build and a release. Yet repeating oneself is embarrassing. We call out the robotic language of diplomats, politicians and liars. Even history itself seems to endlessly loop back around, forcing each new generation to make the same mistakes as the last. Ross Sutherland looks at the behavioural grooves that we return to, the concepts of pattern, memory and déjà vu - with contributions from Professor Catherine Loveday, Techno DJ and Rinse FM resident “Hodge”, along with comedian Glenn Moore. Produced by Hana Walker-Brown A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4 Repetition is everywhere. Repetition is persuasive. Has Ross Sutherland been here before? Ross Sutherland looks at the behavioural grooves that we return to, the concepts of pattern, memory and déjà vu - with contributions from Professor Catherine Loveday, Techno DJ and Rinse FM resident “Hodge ?, along with comedian Glenn Moore. |
| I'm In Charge | 20101218 | 20101220
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20170902 (R4) |  The London Palladium has always occupied a unique place in Bruce Forsyth's heart: "No theatre on this earth has ever superseded the Palladium in my affections; it's just so special. as intimate as a family's front room." It was one night at the Palladium back in 1958 when Bruce Forsyth's career changed forever - a celebrated appearance with the late comedian Dickie Henderson led to Bruce being offered the highly sought after job of compere of the weekly TV variety show, 'Sunday Night at the London Palladium'. Together, the show and its new presenter, turned out to be a sensation - the highlight of the week for Britain's viewing millions and the topic of conversation in factories, offices, schools and shop floors on Monday mornings. On the eve of the Theatre's 100th birthday - the Palladium first opened its doors to the public on Boxing Day 1919 - Bruce takes Paul Jackson on a tour of the theatre that every star of their day aspired to performing in. If you made the Palladium, you had it made. From Ella Sheilds and Dan Leno to the golden era of American stars like Frank Sinatra and Danny Kaye who had the crowds queuing round the block; from George V & George VI, to Pinky & Perky and Morcambe & Wise, the London Palladium has played host to them all. Producer: Paul Kobrak. Bruce Forsyth and Paul Jackson visit the London Palladium which opened on Boxing Day 1910. Bruce Forsyth and Paul Jackson on the London Palladium, which opened on Boxing Day 1910. The London Palladium has always occupied a unique place in Bruce Forsyth's heart: "No theatre on this earth has ever superseded the Palladium in my affections; it's just so special... as intimate as a family's front room. It was one night at the Palladium back in 1958 when Bruce Forsyth's career changed forever - a celebrated appearance with the late comedian Dickie Henderson led to Bruce being offered the highly sought after job of compère of the weekly TV variety show, 'Sunday Night at the London Palladium'. Together, the show and its new presenter, turned out to be a sensation - the highlight of the week for Britain's viewing millions and the topic of conversation in factories, offices, schools and shop floors on Monday mornings. On the eve of the Theatre's 100th birthday - the Palladium first opened its doors to the public on Boxing Day 1919 - Bruce takes Paul Jackson on a tour of the theatre that every star of their day aspired to performing in. If you made the Palladium, you had it made. From Ella Sheilds and Dan Leno to the golden era of American stars like Frank Sinatra and Danny Kaye who had the crowds queuing round the block; from George V and George VI, to Pinky and Perky and Mocombe and Wise, the London Palladium has played host to them all. From Ella Sheilds and Dan Leno to the golden era of American stars like Frank Sinatra and Danny Kaye who had the crowds queuing round the block; from George V and George VI, to Pinky and Perky and Morcambe and Wise, the London Palladium has played host to them all. It was one night at the Palladium back in 1958 when Bruce Forsyth's career changed forever - a celebrated appearance with the late comedian Dickie Henderson led to Bruce being offered the highly sought after job of compere of the weekly TV variety show, 'Sunday Night at the London Palladium'. Together, the show and its new presenter, turned out to be a sensation - the highlight of the week for Britain's viewing millions and the topic of conversation in factories, offices, schools and shop floors on Monday mornings. On the eve of the Theatre's 100th birthday - the Palladium first opened its doors to the public on Boxing Day 1919 - Bruce takes Paul Jackson on a tour of the theatre that every star of their day aspired to performing in. If you made the Palladium, you had it made. From Ella Sheilds and Dan Leno to the golden era of American stars like Frank Sinatra and Danny Kaye who had the crowds queuing round the block; from George V and George VI, to Pinky and Perky and Morcambe and Wise, the London Palladium has played host to them all. Producer: Paul Kobrak. On the eve of the Theatre's 100th birthday - the Palladium first opened its doors to the public on Boxing Day 1919 - Bruce takes Paul Jackson on a tour of the theatre that every star of their day aspired to performing in. If you made the Palladium, you had it made. From Ella Sheilds and Dan Leno to the golden era of American stars like Frank Sinatra and Danny Kaye who had the crowds queuing round the block; from George V & George VI, to Pinky & Perky and Morcambe & Wise, the London Palladium has played host to them all. On the eve of the Theatre's 100th birthday - the Palladium first opened its doors to the public on Boxing Day 1919 - Bruce takes Paul Jackson on a tour of the theatre that every star of their day aspired to performing in. If you made the Palladium, you had it made. From Ella Sheilds and Dan Leno to the golden era of American stars like Frank Sinatra and Danny Kaye who had the crowds queuing round the block; from George V & George VI, to Pinky & Perky and Mocombe & Wise, the London Palladium has played host to them all. |
| I'm On The Train | 20100710 | 20100712 | ![]() For Radio 4's London Season, writer Ian Marchant explores the daily rail commute. Does the daily experience of the embattled commuter define the British national character almost better than anything else? Consider the need for endurance and stoicism, the acceptance of the ritual of the queue and the ability to completely blank out one's neighbours? As part of the London season this is the starting point for writer and broadcaster Ian Marchant as he eavesdrops upon the experiences of generations of hapless commuters. Acknowledging the first commuter line which was built in the 1830s, this feature documentary bears testimony to the cumulative toll exacted by that daily dose of suspended animation, tepid coffees and half-completed crosswords. Ian reflects on the way in which mobiles and laptops have transformed our experience of public and private space. Addressing the daily round of anxious clock-watching, dashed hopes, and frequently failed expectations, Ian shares his theories on the existence of a new time zone to describe the experience of wasted hours: British Nothing Time. BNT, he convincingly demonstrates, is intricately woven through the best years of our lives He will look at how generations have dealt with the need for diversion looking at the heydayof the crossword, its recent eclipse by Sudoku, the tonnage of newspapers glanced at and discarded, and the onward march of gadgets, from transistor radios to iPods. With these changes have come a renegotiation of what is private and public, as people loudly regale a whole carriage with the intimacies of their supposedly private lives. He'll also find out about the relationships that have formed and foundered on the train, and about the train as a creative space - an astonishing number of first novels were not only drafted but also completed on the 07.48 and the 17.55. And, as we'll hear, the commute is no innocent activity: its existence has fuelled the disappearance of the clear lines between town and country. Producer: Mark Smalley. As part of the London season this is the starting point for writer and broadcaster Ian Marchant as he eavesdrops upon the experiences of generations of hapless commuters. Acknowledging the first commuter line which was built in the 1830s, this feature documentary bears testimony to the cumulative toll exacted by that daily dose of suspended animation, tepid coffees and half-completed crosswords. Ian reflects on the way in which mobiles and laptops have transformed our experience of public and private space. Addressing the daily round of anxious clock-watching, dashed hopes, and frequently failed expectations, Ian shares his theories on the existence of a new time zone to describe the experience of wasted hours: British Nothing Time. BNT, he convincingly demonstrates, is intricately woven through the best years of our lives He will look at how generations have dealt with the need for diversion looking at the heydayof the crossword, its recent eclipse by Sudoku, the tonnage of newspapers glanced at and discarded, and the onward march of gadgets, from transistor radios to iPods. With these changes have come a renegotiation of what is private and public, as people loudly regale a whole carriage with the intimacies of their supposedly private lives. He'll also find out about the relationships that have formed and foundered on the train, and about the train as a creative space - an astonishing number of first novels were not only drafted but also completed on the 07.48 and the 17.55. |
| I'm Only Joking | 20190309 | | Comedian Ed Byrne investigates the archive for offensive comedy while exploring the idea of censorship and who should control it. Jokes have the ability to divide an audience like nothing else. What one person finds funny, another can find grossly offensive – but should personal taste set the boundaries of what can and can't be said? Ed follows this idea from the filthy, innuendo-laden music hall comedians who were banned by the BBC in the 1930s and 40s to the YouTube comedians of today. He asks whether, if censorship is necessary, who takes the role of moral arbiter? Did Mary Whitehouse have the right to get Monty Python's Life of Brian banned in cities across the UK? Did the UK government have the right to ban Lenny Bruce from the country? Should the media have brought nationwide attention to Chris Morris' Brass Eye? And is there a need to reappraise a comedian's career because of their trangressive behaviour? Ed talks to leading figures in the world of comedy including Roger Law, Jane Bussmann, Graham Linehan, Doug Stanhope, Gina Yashere, Tiff Stevenson, Terry Gilliam and Glenn Wool. There's archive too on shows like Brass Eye, The Establishment, Beyond the Fringe, Benny Hill, Monty Python and many more. Produced by Richard Power A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4 Ed Byrne traces the history of offensive comedy while exploring the idea of censorship. |
| I'm Terry Gross And This Is Fresh Air | 20200404 | 20210116 (R4) | Terry Gross's remarkable conversations have become a daily fixture for millions of Americans. Since 1975, the presenter of Fresh Air, one of National Public Radio's most popular shows, has interviewed thousands of public figures - including musicians, Hollywood actors, Nobel Prize-winning authors and US Presidents. In this Archive on 4, the writer Dolly Alderton turns the tables on Terry to find out how this unlikely host, who describes herself as shy, insecure and self-conscious, mastered the art of the radio interview. These interviews rarely happen face to face. Instead, they are conducted remotely, with Terry in Philadelphia and her guests in recording studios all over the world. Like a priest in a confession box, she is entrusted with their innermost thoughts and feelings. Dolly picks out some of the most funny, poignant and revealing radio interviews of all time from the Fresh Air archive, including Terry's unforgettable conversations with Maurice Sendak, Elton John, Lizzo and James Baldwin. Terry also reflects on some of her prickliest on-air encounters, with stars like Gene Simmons and Hillary Clinton. With thanks to Danny Miller and the Fresh Air archive. Produced by Paul Smith A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4 Dolly Alderton turns the tables on the master of the radio interview, Terry Gross. |
| Imagining The Audience | 20140607 | 20160109 (R4) |  
In the days before audience research, who did the early BBC think it was talking to? Imagine a world without polling and audience research - who did the early BBC think it was talking to? Imagine too those early broadcasters, standing in front of microphones, clearing their throats before they spoke to... well, who? The unknown, unseen audience. If they were a little unsure of themselves, it would be little surprise, since they had only the vaguest sense of who was listening - or if anyone was at all. And if they couldn't see the whites of their listeners' eyes, how would they know, as MP Lady Astor laments in 1937, whether they were "dozin' off"? Matthew Sweet unearths some of the earliest archive recordings in existence and uncovers a complicated relationship between the BBC and its vast, invisible audience. From football by numbers to tap dancing on the radio; from tips on how to plant your dahlias to the aspirational fantasies of overwrought housewives. The new medium was excitingly and scarily new and it threw up all sorts of unexpected questions. How should people listen at home? ("Try turning out the lights, so that your eye is not caught by familiar objects in the room" said the BBC.) What should "listeners" be called? ("Radiauds" suggested a correspondent to the Radio Times.) And how could an organisation made up almost entirely of middle class people in dinner jackets speak authentically to a flat cap-wearing, working class audience? Matthew looks back at the first editions of the Radio Times, rifles through the private memos of BBC staff and talks to people who remember listening to the radio as children in the 1930s. What he finds contradicts the stereotype of the austere, Reithian BBC. Produced by Hannah Marshall Executive Producer: Elizabeth Burke A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4. |
| In Event Of Moon Disaster | 20130330 | | Last year, as American election day drew nearer, Presidential candidate Mitt Romney told the media he'd only prepared one speech: a 1,018 word victory address. He never got to make it of course. Thankfully President Nixon was never called upon to deliver the speech entitled 'In event of moon disaster' and fate prevented John F.Kennedy from delivering a speech on trade policy in Dallas in November 1963. In this Archive Hour former speech writer and Times columnist Daniel Finkelstein listens to the world's greatest speeches that never saw the light of day, from Winston Churchill to David Miliband. Through the many voices of impressionist Jon Culshaw, Radio 4 will bring forgotten speeches to life, exploring the context and the ramifications had circumstances not intervened. Producer Caitlin Smith. |
| In The Beginning Was The Nerd | 20091003 | 20091005
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Stephen Fry recalls the unnecessary panic that surrounded the so-called Millennium Bug. Stephen Fry recalls how, in the build-up to the year 2000, the world prepared itself to face a terrifying scare - The Millennium Bug. Who or what was to blame for such an expensive and unnecessary panic? With the help of the BBC Archive, Stephen travels back to the dawn of the digital age to argue that a major cause was our attitude to the technology and the people we held responsible for it. A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4. |
| In The Bluff | 20160220 | 20200222 (BBC7)
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20210306 (R4) |  There is, argues poet Paul Farley, something very particular about the bluff that sets it apart from other members of the deception family. More theatrical than a straight-forward, two-dimentional lie, it can be called, it can be doubled, and often times remains mysterious - we never actually find out whether indeed a particular bluff was just that. It permeates our everyday conversation, with nods of the head and affirmative grunts suggesting that yes indeed we have read Proust, and are of course conversant with Scandinavian philosophy; it proves a vital weapon on the sports field and the poker table; and in international relations and military strategy remains an invaluable resource. Paul takes to the poker table himself, and speaks to experts from a variety of fields, including Jonathan Agnew and Bridget Kendal, to delve deeper into the psychology and application of the bluff. Along the way he frequently has need to suggest a degree of knowledge in subjects that in fact remain largely a mystery to him. Producer: Geoff Bird Poet Paul Farley shows his hand in a celebration of bluffing, from poker to geo-politics. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2016. There is, argues poet Paul Farley, something very particular about the bluff that sets it apart from other members of the deception family. More theatrical than a straight-forward, two-dimentional lie, it can be called, it can be doubled, and often times remains mysterious - we never actually find out whether indeed a particular bluff was just that. Paul takes to the poker table himself, and speaks to experts from a variety of fields, including Jonathan Agnew and Bridget Kendal, to delve deeper into the psychology and application of the bluff. Along the way he frequently has need to suggest a degree of knowledge in subjects that in fact remain largely a mystery to him. There is, argues poet Paul Farley, something very particular about the bluff that sets it apart from other members of the deception family. More theatrical than a straight-forward, two-dimensional lie, it can be called, it can be doubled, and often times remains mysterious - we never actually find out whether indeed a particular bluff was just that. It permeates our everyday conversation, with nods of the head and affirmative grunts suggesting that yes indeed we have read Proust, and are of course conversant with Scandinavian philosophy; it proves a vital weapon on the sports field and the poker table; and in international relations and military strategy remains an invaluable resource. Paul takes to the poker table himself, and speaks to experts from a variety of fields, including Jonathan Agnew and Bridget Kendal, to delve deeper into the psychology and application of the bluff. Along the way he frequently has need to suggest a degree of knowledge in subjects that in fact remain largely a mystery to him. |
| In The Dark Tower - Louis Macneice At The Bbc | | 20140809 (BBC7)
20140810 (BBC7) |  Poet Paul Muldoon recalls a fellow Belfast wordsmith who innovated radio production. Poet Paul Muldoon recalls a fellow Belfast wordsmith who innovated radio production, loved rugby and drank hard. From January 2007. |
| In The Wake Of Wakefield | 20180217 | | Twenty years ago, in February 1998, one of the most serious public health scandals of the 20th century was born, when researcher, Andrew Wakefield and his co-authors published a paper in the medical journal The Lancet suggesting a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. As we know, in the years that followed, Wakefield's paper was completely discredited as an elaborate fraud and retracted. Attempts by many other researchers to replicate his findings have all failed and investigations unearthed commercial links and conflicts of interests underpinning his original work. Wakefield himself was struck off the medical register. And yet, the ripples of that episode are still being felt today all over the world as a resurgent anti-vaccine movement continues to drive down inoculation rates, particularly in developed Western societies, where measles rates have rocketed particularly in Europe and the United States. But the Wakefield scandal hasn't just fostered the current ant-vax movement but has played a key role in helping to undermine trust in a host of scientific disciplines from public health research to climate science and GM technology. Through the archive, science journalist Adam Rutherford explores the continuing legacy of the anti-vaccine movement on the anniversary of one of its most notorious episodes, and explore its impact on health, on research and on culture both at home and abroad. Adam Rutherford explores the 20-year legacy of a paper linking the MMR vaccine and autism. Through the archive, science journalist Adam Rutherford explores the continuing legacy of the anti-vaccine movement on the anniversary of one of its most notorious episodes, and explore its impact on health, on research and on culture both at home and abroad. |
| Inner Voices - The Burton Diaries | 20120811 | 20150321 (BBC7)
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20130303 (RW) |  Richard Burton was the Welsh miner's son who became a superstar of stage and screen. Melvyn Bragg reassesses Burton through the private diaries that he kept for much of his life. The archive of Richard Burton is a rich treasure. The performances are by common consent amongst the most compelling of any age, given in a voice that many have felt to be an aural equivalent of heaven. Hamlet, Under Milk Wood, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Equus stand out, and then there are the blockbusters: Wild Geese, Where Eagles Dare, Anthony and Cleopatra, Night of the Iguana and The Robe. Add to that the poetry readings - Dylan Thomas of course but also Shakespeare and the English Classics. It is a feast for the ears. Yet it is a remarkable testament to the man and to his life that, just as magnetic as the body of work, is another collection. Through several periods of his life, most notably from the mid-1960s to the early '70s (his 'superstar years') he kept a diary, sometimes handwritten, mostly typed out and assembled in thick notebooks. The diaries provide a unique view of the world in which he moved, among actors and directors, writers and poets, millionaires and royalty. They also give an insight into his approach to acting, his insecurities, his drinking and his volatile relationship with Elizabeth Taylor at a time when they were the most famous couple in the world. Twenty-five years ago, shortly after Burton's death, Melvyn Bragg was given access to the diaries to write his definitive biography of Burton, Rich. Now, to mark the publication of the complete diaries, Bragg presents an Archive on 4 which examines Burton's life through broadcast interviews and the previously inaccessible lens of his diaries. Bragg returns to Burton to reassesses the man in the light of his own experience and in the light of the private and confessional thoughts that Burton wrote, alone, throughout his life. Burton was the gifted son of a Welsh miner. He met a remarkable teacher and made the journey to Oxford and on to superstardom - but he was seldom really happy. He was a hellraiser who often behaved appallingly and was accused of squandering an extraordinary talent on drinking and bad movies. If that was all he was then he'd be just a footnote in 20th century culture. But Burton was also a man of wonderful erudition, passion, insight and self- knowledge. He fought his way through life through force of will, love, and voracious reading. It is this side of the man that makes him such a remarkable presence. It is also a side of him captured in a rich vein of BBC archive and interviews. The diaries show him on top of the world, in love, in despair, and fighting the alcoholism that had killed his father and he knew was killing him. This programme puts the flesh and the voice back into our collective understanding of one of the great cultural figures of the 20th century. Melvyn Bragg reassesses the life of Richard Burton through his private diaries. |
| Inquiries - Facing Our Failures | 20170819 | | After scandals or disasters like Grenfell Tower, the call is always for a public inquiry. But what do these inquiries achieve, and why are they often so controversial? Which ones have been admired and led to change, which seen as expensive cover-ups? Chris Bowlby reveals a rich history of inquiries into everything from rail crashes and murders to corruption and treachery. How have they changed as deference and backroom deals gave way to political theatre and angry public opinion? Archive from key moments and insights from insiders will shed light on some of Britain's greatest failures - and the painful attempt to learn the lessons. Producer Smita Patel Editor Emma Rippon. Chris Bowlby reveals a rich history of public inquiries from rail crashes to treachery. Editor Emma Rippon. |
| Instant History | 20161217 | 20200403 (R4) |  
University of Hertfordshire students create an oral history archive - in a weekend. The word archive conjures up images of dusty shelves and gradual, patient accumulation of historical material. But what if an archive could be created in a matter of hours - an instant history? Oral history projects abound across the country but, at the University of Hertfordshire, the exercise has been dramatically condensed to create so-called instant histories on subjects including supporters of Stevenage Football Club and memories of British migrants to the Antipodes. The instant history concept has been developed at the university by the likes of Professor Owen Davies, Dr Anne Murphy and Visiting Research Fellow Andrew Green, who presents this Archive on 4. Across a single weekend at the end of October, the members of the university's oral history team tackled a project on retirement in 2016. They spread out far and wide to interview people from many walks of life who have either just retired or are about to cease full-time employment. Interviews took place as far afield as Llandudno, Scunthorpe, Ipswich and Cheltenham with interviewees from nursing, the steel industry, firefighting, City finance, carpentry and international engineering, teaching and supermarket management. A first-class cricketer talked about what it means to retire in his thirties. The founder of an addiction treatment centre spoke movingly of the scale of the crisis she addressed in her career. This programme features choice extracts from the newly created archive. Andrew Green explains the processes involved in enabling a stranger to tell their story, and examines the potential conflict between academic history and the subjective narration of personal stories, opinions and feelings in an oral history. Produced by Andrew Green A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4 The word "archive" conjures up images of dusty shelves and gradual, patient accumulation of historical material. But what if an archive could be created in a matter of hours - an instant history? A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Iraq Tales: What The Army Learned | 20130309 | | Chris Parry delves into the US army's unique oral history archive of the Iraq war. Recorded during the war, these oral histories chronicle what the men and women who fought the war thought about it. What was going right? What was going wrong? And what lessons are they learning for the future? The US army has sent military history detachments into every battle since the Second World War. Now, on the tenth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, Archive on 4 has been given unprecedented access to the recordings for the early months of the Iraq war. The interviews reveal fascinating new insights into the conflict, based on contemporaneous views from the front-line, unaffected by hindsight. A former leading strategist for the British military and Rear Admiral, Parry himself analysed and produced the official lessons for the British armed forces immediately after the war. In this programme he explains how the US Army uses these combat histories to derive lessons from conflicts. He also tracks how its Center for Military History ensures that the lessons are applied and, with these oral histories, evolve into military doctrine. With access to everyone from the commanding general of coalition land forces to the logisticians and transport corps supporting the campaign, this programme presents a gripping picture of a modern army at war. Producer: Giles Edwards. |
| Is That Machine On? | 20180526 | 20210704 (BBC7)
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20190809 (R4) | Stuart Maconie celebrates the golden age of the music press interview. In the heyday of the printed music media between the mid-60s and early noughties, the music interview was many things - combative, intimate, confessional, unhinged, flirtatious, sometimes violent - but it was rarely dull. Still, it seems that long-gilded age of rock journalism is now over. The days of extraordinary access, when a reporter might spend a week with a band on its tour bus or private plane, hanging out in their dressing rooms and hotel suites, are at an end. The music papers are gone. In 2018, NME - the last inky survivor - went online only. Stuart Maconie looks back at the lost world - those revealing encounters between journalist and musician. Featuring classic recorded archive interviews with Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Bob Marley and Michael Jackson – plus contributions from journalists Caitlin Moran, Barney Hoskyns, Allan Jones and Dawn Slough. Producer: Jonathan Mayo A TBI production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in May 2018. Stuart Maconie celebrates the golden age of the music press interview. In the heyday of the printed music media between the mid-60s and early noughties, the music interview was many things - combative, intimate, confessional, unhinged, flirtatious, sometimes violent - but it was rarely dull. Still, it seems that long-gilded age of rock journalism is now over. The days of extraordinary access, when a reporter might spend a week with a band on its tour bus or private plane, hanging out in their dressing rooms and hotel suites, are at an end. The music papers are gone. In 2018, NME - the last inky survivor - went online only. Stuart Maconie looks back at the lost world - those revealing encounters between journalist and musician. Featuring classic recorded archive interviews with Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Bob Marley and Michael Jackson – plus contributions from journalists Caitlin Moran, Barney Hoskyns, Allan Jones and Dawn Slough. Producer: Jonathan Mayo A TBI production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in May 2018. Stuart Maconie celebrates the golden age of the music press interview. In the heyday of the printed music media between the mid-60s and early noughties, the music interview was many things - combative, intimate, confessional, unhinged, flirtatious, sometimes violent - but it was rarely dull. Still, it seems that long-gilded age of rock journalism is now over. The days of extraordinary access, when a reporter might spend a week with a band on its tour bus or private plane, hanging out in their dressing rooms and hotel suites, are at an end. The music papers are gone. In 2018, NME - the last inky survivor - went online only. Stuart Maconie looks back at the lost world - those revealing encounters between journalist and musician. Featuring classic recorded archive interviews with Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Bob Marley and Michael Jackson – plus contributions from journalists Caitlin Moran, Barney Hoskyns, Allan Jones and Dawn Slough. Producer: Jonathan Mayo A TBI production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in May 2018. Stuart Maconie celebrates the golden age of the music press interview. In the heyday of the printed music media between the mid-sixties and the early noughties, the music interview was many things - combative, intimate, confessional, unhinged, flirtatious, sometimes violent - but it was rarely dull. Still, it seems that long-gilded age of rock journalism is now over. The days of extraordinary access, when a reporter might spend a week with a band on its tour bus or private plane, hanging out in their dressing rooms and hotel suites, are at an end. The music papers are gone. Earlier this year NME - the last inky survivor - went online only. Stuart Maconie looks back at the lost world - those revealing encounters between journalist and musician. The programme features classic recorded archive interviews with Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Bob Marley and Michael Jackson - as well as contributions from journalists Caitlin Moran, Barney Hoskyns, Allan Jones, Dawn Slough and others. Presenter: Stuart Maconie Producer: Jonathan Mayo A TBI production for BBC Radio 4. Stuart Maconie celebrates the golden age of the music press interview. Stuart Maconie looks back at the lost world - those revealing encounters between journalist and musician. The programme features classic recorded archive interviews with Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Bob Marley and Michael Jackson - as well as contributions from journalists Caitlin Moran, Barney Hoskyns, Allan Jones, Dawn Slough and others. Presenter: Stuart Maconie A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives A TBI production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Island Dreams | 20090214 | 20090216
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20170625 (BBC7) | Poet Gwyneth Lewis explores the idea of the island and island life, and the ways in which it continues to capture the British imagination. She uses drama, talks and documentary from the BBC audio archive to illustrate its appeal, from reality TV programmes to Desert Island Discs and the Shipping Forecast, and also cites the many instances of island settings in classic literature, including Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, Peter Pan and Lord of the Flies. Including contributions from literary critic Dame Gillian Beer, historian Robert Colls, a group of people who tried to set up an island utopia in the 1960s and the very last man to leave the island of St Kilda in the Outer Hebrides. Gwyneth Lewis explores the idea of the island, and its appeal to the British imagination. Including contributions from literary critic Dame Gillian Beer, historian Robert Colls, a group of people who tried to set up an island utopia in the 1960s and the very last man to leave the island of St Kilda in the Outer Hebrides. Poet Gwyneth Lewis explores the idea of the island and island life, and the ways in which it continues to capture the British imagination. She uses drama, talks and documentary from the BBC audio archive to illustrate its appeal, from reality TV programmes to Desert Island Discs and the Shipping Forecast, and also cites the many instances of island settings in classic literature, including Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, Peter Pan and Lord of the Flies. |
| Island Of Tears | 20020706 | 20170701 (BBC7)
20170702 (BBC7) | Surprising history and compelling testimonies of US immigrants using Ellis Island gateway. |
| It's Behind You! The Weird And Wonderful Story Of British Pantomime | 20201226 | 20201230 (R4) | Cultural historian and writer Christopher Frayling delves into the archive to explore the rich and surprising history of pantomime. What could be more British than the Christmas tradition of going out with the family to see a pantomime? Yet panto dates back to ancient Rome, via the 16th century Italian travelling street theatre known as the Commedia dell'arte. The familiar trappings of modern British panto originated with the Victorians - the principal boy, the dame, popular tunes with new lyrics, double entendres, and those well-worn catchphrases - 'It's behind you!' and 'Oh yes it is!'. Since then, pantomime has been rebooted in line with other forms of popular entertainment, from working class music hall to middle class variety; radio to film and television. Today, celebrities from both sides of the Atlantic queue up to appear on British stages at Christmas. The panto season has stretched to last from the start of December to the end of January, and become essential to the UK's theatre economy. With the help of pantomime historians, actors, writers and directors, Christopher Frayling explores how the form has remained so very popular for almost as long as Shakespeare's plays. He examines its role in our more enlightened, politically correct times and hears how companies are striving to stage pantomimes in 2020. Interviewees: Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner - writers and actors, Potted Panto Professor Katherine Newey - Chair in Theatre History, University of Exeter Neal Foster - actor and manager, Horrible Histories' Car Park Panto Simon Sladen - Senior Curator, V&A and pantomime expert Susie McKenna - pantomime actor, writer and director Producer: Jane Long Sound: Jon Calver A Hidden Flack production for BBC Radio 4 Cultural historian Christopher Frayling explores the rich and surprising history of panto. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives |
| Ivor Cutler At 90 | 20130810 | 20170323 (6M)
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20180805 (BBC7) |  The deceptively quiet wordsmith was born in 1923 near the Rangers ground at Ibrox Park. I have a harmonium and it's going to explode in two minutes, were the opening words spoken on the Andy Kershaw Show in 1980 by a gentle voiced Scotsman called Ivor Cutler. Championed by everyone from the Beatles to Billy Connolly, Ivor Cutler was a poet, humourist and absurdist whose appearances on BBC radio and television span over 5 decades. As well as producing a vast body of records, books and plays, Ivor was a notable eccentric, often seen cycling around London in plus fours, handing out homemade stickers and badges to strangers. To mark what would have been Ivor's 90th birthday, BBC Radio 4 held a 'party', to celebrate his life and BBC archive in particular. Except a full house, with performers, fans, collaborators and even his long-term partner, Phyllis King, introducing their favourite poems, songs and memories of Ivor. Weirdness from the archives, pleasure for fans, and a singular introduction to those encountering him for the very first time. Highlights include Bramwell and King re-enacting a morse code performance of The Little Black Buzzer. Presenter: David Bramwell is a writer, musician and, recently, presenter of Sony Award winning The Haunted Moustache. He is the founder of the Catalyst Club; a place for enthusiasts to speak on any subject close to their heart. Ivor Cutler is a subject close to his, having kept correspondence with him in the 1980's. Producer: Sara Jane Hall. A celebration of the 90th anniversary of poet, humourist and absurdist Ivor Cutler. To complement the 6 Music Festival in Glasgow, another chance to hear a programme first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2013 celebrating what would have been Ivor Cutler's 90th birthday. The deceptively quiet wordsmith was born in 1923 near the Rangers ground at Ibrox Park. I have a harmonium and it's going to explode in two minutes", were the opening words spoken on the Andy Kershaw Show in 1980 by a gentle voiced Scotsman called Ivor Cutler. Highlights include Bramwell and King re-enacting a morse code performance of "The Little Black Buzzer". Presenter: David Bramwell is a writer, musician and, recently, presenter of Sony Award winning "The Haunted Moustache". He is the founder of the "Catalyst Club"; a place for enthusiasts to speak on any subject close to their heart. Ivor Cutler is a subject close to his, having kept correspondence with him in the 1980's. A celebration of the ninetieth anniversary of poet, humourist and absurdist Ivor Cutler. 'I have a harmonium and it's going to explode in two minutes' - Ivor Cutler imagined at 90 Championed by everyone from the Beatles to Billy Connolly, Ivor Cutler was a poet, humorist and absurdist whose appearances on BBC radio and television span over 5 decades. As well as producing a vast body of records, books and plays, Ivor was a notable eccentric, often seen cycling around London in plus fours, handing out homemade stickers and badges to strangers. To mark what would have been Ivor's 90th birthday, BBC Radio 4 holds a 'party', to celebrate his life and BBC archive in particular. Except a full house, with performers, fans, collaborators and even his long-term partner, Phyllis King, introducing their favourite poems, songs and memories of Ivor. Weirdness from the archives, pleasure for fans, and a singular introduction to those encountering him for the very first time. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Producer: Sara Jane Hall. |
| James Burke: Our Man On The Moon | 20190720 | | Fifty years ago, when the Apollo 11 mission landed the first human beings on the moon, James Burke was the voice of science for the BBC. Join him to relive the dramatic days in the studio, sharing the moment-by-moment drama to a live audience. You'll remember his excited voice counting down the seconds and desperately trying to avoid talking over any communication with the astronauts. Here is your chance to find out what went on behind the scenes as James revisits the final moments of the Apollo mission. He'll recreate the drama, struggling to make sense of flickering images from NASA and working with the limitations of 1960s technology. We'll hear what went wrong as well as what went right on the night! Illustrated with amazing archive material from both the BBC and NASA, this will be the story of the moon landings brought to you by the man who became a broadcasting legend. A night neither he nor we will never forget. James Burke revisits his coverage of the moon landings in 1969 in front of a live audience |
| Jay Rayner Pigs Out | 20151226 | 20190323 (BBC7)
20190324 (BBC7) |  Jay Rayner gets serious and sybaritic about pigs - starting with medieval Britain swarming with wild boars and ending with 21st century pigs cannibalised for human spare parts. Jay muses on recent rumours surrounding a certain Prime Minister and a pigs head. Does the pig-image make it all the more taboo? This is the extraordinary and, at times, shocking tale of our relationship with the allegedly filthy animal. The archive groans and grunts with pig - much of it anthropomorphic, some fact and some fiction. Remember the Tamworth Two who escaped a Wiltshire abattoir in 1998 and went on the run? They were renamed Butch and Sundance and their intelligence was celebrated by the world's press. Rescued by a popular tabloid, they escaped the slaughterhouse. Jay Rayner, on the other hand, has dutifully been to see pigs killed and dealt with the carcasses. Animal lovers beware - this portrait of our fellow omnivores is controversial. Jay is a non-observant Jew who loves pork - he cooks it, eats it, reviews it, reveres it. Jay also considers pig as man's best friend, delighting in the poetry of Dylan Thomas and in another pig fancier, Winston Churchill. The upper classes have always loved their pigs. In the hands of George Orwell however, the intelligence of the pig makes for some dark meat. And Jay hears from comedian Aatif Nawaz who explains why his mother can't even say the word 'p*g.' Plenty here about the pigs' fitness for cannibalising human spare parts too. Our porcine friends share some startling similarities to humans, including the size and pumping capacities of their hearts. Produced by Sarah Cuddon A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4. Jay Rayner, self-confessed greedy pig, gets serious about porkers. Plenty here about the pigs' fitness for cannibalizing human spare parts too. Our porcine friends share some startling similarities to humans, including the size and pumping capacities of their hearts. |
| Jfk, Bobby And Dad | 20110903 | 20110905 | In 1965, two years after the assassination of John F Kennedy, and three years before the murder of Senator Bobby Kennedy, a man named Kenneth O'Donnell taped around 200 hours of audio interviews at various locations with a journalist named Sander Vanocur. Vanocur was White House correspondent for NBC News in the 1960s, and O'Donnell was no ordinary raconteur. He spent years at the heart of the Kennedy administration as JFK's Special Assistant and was best friend to Bobby Kennedy from Harvard until Bobby's tragic death. He was also the father of Helen O'Donnell, who in this Archive on Four takes the listener on a journey through these tapes, which have never before been broadcast. They are full of insight into the Kennedy story, and for Helen, full of insight into the father she lost when just a teenager. Producer: Isobel Williams A Bite Yer Legs production for BBC Radio 4. JFK aide Kenneth O'Donnell's daughter Helen presents her father's interview tapes. Vanocur was White House correspondent for NBC News in the 1960s, and O'Donnell was no ordinary raconteur. He spent years at the heart of the Kennedy administration as JFK's Special Assistant and was best friend to Bobby Kennedy from Harvard until Bobby's tragic death. He was also the father of Helen O'Donnell, who in this Archive on Four takes the listener on a journey through these tapes, which have never before been broadcast. They are full of insight into the Kennedy story, and for Helen, full of insight into the father she lost when just a teenager. |
| Jfk, Bobby And Dad | 20110905 | | In 1965, two years after the assassination of John F Kennedy, and three years before the murder of Senator Bobby Kennedy, a man named Kenneth O'Donnell taped around 200 hours of audio interviews at various locations with a journalist named Sander Vanocur. Vanocur was White House correspondent for NBC News in the 1960s, and O'Donnell was no ordinary raconteur. He spent years at the heart of the Kennedy administration as JFK's Special Assistant and was best friend to Bobby Kennedy from Harvard until Bobby's tragic death. He was also the father of Helen O'Donnell, who in this Archive on Four takes the listener on a journey through these tapes, which have never before been broadcast. They are full of insight into the Kennedy story, and for Helen, full of insight into the father she lost when just a teenager. Producer: Isobel Williams A Bite Yer Legs production for BBC Radio 4. JFK aide Kenneth O'Donnell's daughter Helen presents her father's interview tapes. |
| Joan Littlewood And The People's Theatre | 20140927 | 20160507 (BBC7)
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20180826 (BBC7) |  Richard Eyre pays tribute to maverick left-wing theatre director Joan Littlewood. Such a woman might easily have been burned as a witch. Kenneth Tynan When Sir Richard Eyre was head of the National Theatre he wrote to Joan Littlewood asking if he could put on a production of her masterpiece, Oh What a Lovely War. He got a postcard in reply. Something to this effect: Dear Richard...I don't know what you're doing in that building...you should blow it up. To her core, Joan Littlewood was an anti-establishment figure. This programme illustrates her determination to create a theatre for everybody, touring villages and towns in Northern England for nearly a decade and then - when the company settled in East London - sending letters to the local trade unions to advertise the theatre to working people. Did she succeed in attracting the audiences she wanted? Sir Richard Eyre gives his take on this question, along with Professor Nadine Holdsworth and critic Michael Billington. The programme pieces together a selection of the best archive from Joan's career. The actors she trained - Victor Spinetti, Avis Bunnage, Brian Murphy - explain why working for Joan was different to working with other directors. Murray Melvin, still going strong and curating the archive at Stratford East, introduces us to the Theatre Royal where Joan directed her company for over 20 years. Here at the Theatre Royal, Joan created the shows which made her name - Brendan Behan's The Hostage, Shalegh Delaney's A Taste of Honey, Frank Norman's Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be, and of course Oh What a Lovely War. The programme gives a taste of these shows and how they succeeded in being controversial, innovative, and entertaining at the same time. Produced by Isabel Sutton A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4. Such a woman might easily have been burned as a witch." Kenneth Tynan A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4. |
| John Arlott: Cricket's Radical Voice | 20120107 | 20160806 (BBC7)
20160807 (BBC7) |  Mark Whitaker investigates the life of the cricket commentator and political campaigner. This is a programme to mark the twentieth anniversary of the death of John Arlott. It is not an exercise in nostalgia about a man universally considered to be the greatest cricket commentator and 'the voice of an English summer' it is an exploration of Arlott as a political figure both inside and outside the world of cricket. John Arlott's politics can best be summed up as those of a radical liberal, and he twice stood unsuccessfully as a parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Party. But he would have found obedience to the party whip difficult, and he rarely adopted a party political stance during the many years that he appeared on the panel of the BBC Home Service's Any Questions. He appeared with such people as Richard Man, Michael Foot and a young Margaret Thatcher; and he attacked the political orthodoxies of both left and right. He always championed the 'common man' against the power or money or privilege. His political bravery was most obvious within the deeply conservative world of English cricket. He challenged its leaders prejudices on both race and class. He was responsible for bringing Basil D'Oliveira to England, and we broadcast - for the first time - the correspondence between the two men in 1960. He refused to commentate when white South African teams came, and he was centrally involved in the Stop The Tour campaign in 1970. We interview Peter Hain about Arlott's influence. He also supported the Professional Cricketers Association - the players' trade union - and said that being elected its first President was the greatest honour ever shown him. The programme uses archive from the BBC and beyond. Written and presented by Mark Whitaker. Producer: Mark Whitaker A Square Dog Radio production for BBC Radio 4. John Arlott was more than a great cricket commentator: he was a powerful political figure. |
| John Barbirolli - Angel Of The North | 20090509 | 20090511 | James Naughtie remembers English conductor Sir John Barbirolli. James Naughtie remembers English conductor Sir John Barbirolli, in his own words as well as in the recollections of colleagues and through archive recordings. Barbirolli had Italian and French blood in his veins but he was a proud cockney who became a champion of English music. When he died in 1970, Britain lost a figure who seemed part of our musical life. Barbirolli is remembered affectionately for his work with the Halle Orchestra in Manchester with whom he forged a unique bond from 1942 onwards and brought new vigour and worldwide renown to the oldest professional orchestra in Britain. James chairs a discussion between Sir Mark Elder, current music director of the Halle, David Lloyd-Jones, conductor and founder of Opera North, and writer Andrew Farach-Colton. Barbirolli had Italian and French blood in his veins but he was a proud cockney who became a champion of English music. When he died in 1970, Britain lost a figure who seemed part of our musical life. |
| John Cage - Composing Controversy | 20120901 | | John Cage was one of the Twentieth Century's most controversial and exciting musicians. On the centenary of his birth, English composer and protégé Gavin Bryars explores Cage's archive appearances to examine what lay behind the American's artistic personality and to consider how the reception of his work and ideas has changed. Throughout his sixty-year career, John Cage was a composer whose radical aesthetic outlook and unashamed iconoclasm challenged audiences, critics and fellow composers alike. Cage's most infamous achievement is undoubtedly 4'33", a piece which calls for its performer to remain silent on stage for the prescribed time, but - as the archive interviews and performances reveal - Cage was continually rethinking what the word "music" could mean and forever defending his work in the face of confused crowds, hostile critics and - amazingly - an angry community of Buddhist monks! Gavin talks to Jean Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, who takes inspiration from Cage's ideas of letting "sounds be themselves", as well as Brian Eno, a composer fascinated by the notions of process-based music that he traces back to Cage. Dancer Carolyn Brown recalls the legendary Happenings of the 1950s, where painting, music and dance collided, and Stewart Lee offers his take on Cage's command of timing, comic or otherwise. For Gavin Bryars, a 1966 performance in London by John Cage and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company was a life-changing moment, inspiring him to pursue a career as a composer. For a new generation who could never have such proximity to the man and his ideas, the archive of interviews and performances that remain offer a window into the world of a true icon. Producer: Phil Smith A Somethin' Else Production for BBC Radio 4. Composer Gavin Bryars explores the ideas, personas and reception of his mentor John Cage |
| John Lennon: Verbatim | 20151003 | |  marks the iconic Beatle's 75th birthday on October 9th with a soundscape incorporating rarely heard archive interviews, poetry readings, studio outtakes and alternative recordings of some of his most acclaimed compositions. It's a personal insight into the creative genius of one of the 20th centuries most diverse artistes. Long before public figures mastered the art of the sanitised sound bite to protect their privacy, Lennon always spoke openly and honestly about his art and his personal life, whether talking about his earliest childhood memories, the highs and lows of The Beatles or his solo career. Lennon loved radio because he found it more relaxing than coping with the confrontation of a television film crew, so his radio sessions were often very revealing and entertaining. Collated from conversations recorded between 1962 and 1980, it's an opportunity to hear, in John's own words, the honesty and passion that fuelled his genius. Produced by Des Shaw A Ten Alps production for BBC Radio 4. John Lennon: Verbatim marks the iconic Beatle's 75th birthday on October 9th with a soundscape incorporating rarely heard archive interviews, poetry readings, studio outtakes and alternative recordings of some of his most acclaimed compositions. It's a personal insight into the creative genius of one of the 20th centuries most diverse artistes. |
| John Tavener | 20140208 | 20180224 (BBC7)
20180225 (BBC7) |  Sir John Tavener became a popular composer of classical music. Sir Nicholas Kenyon explores how he achieved this, through archive and through conversation with Lady Tavener, in her first interview since her husband's death, and with Tavener's friends. These include the cellist Steven Isserlis, the oboist Nicholas Daniels, and Martin Neary, Organist and Master of the Choristers at Westminster Abbey at the time of Princess Diana's funeral, when Tavener's Ode to Athene accompanied her coffin from the Abbey and brought his music to a wider public. Producer Marya Burgess. Sir Nicholas Kenyon reflects on the life of composer Sir John Tavener. Producer Marya Burgess. Sir John Tavener became a popular composer of classical music. Sir Nicholas Kenyon explores how he achieAs Bbc World Service [radio Wales] Factual Archive On 4 20140208 |
| Joni Mitchell Taught Me How To Feel | 20181124 | | Music writer and broadcaster Ann Powers explores Joni Mitchell's impact on her fans and on songwriting. Even the songs of hers I've heard a thousand times can still give me the weird feeling that she knows me personally, she says. In the month of Joni Mitchell's 75th birthday, Ann Powers considers what it is about her music that speaks to people in this way. And how does this emotional connectedness square with an artist who has constantly shape-shifted, who is full of contradictions? She's a master lyricist who dislikes most poetry. Her words challenged who women were supposed to be, who they could be, and yet she bristled against feminism. And when she's had such a powerful effect on so many listeners, why has she only had one top 20 hit? Through excerpts from live BBC recordings from the late 1960s and 70s, and the conversations Joni Mitchell recorded in the same period with broadcaster Malka Marom, we travel across a decade of her music. From the familiar territory of songs like Woodstock, we reach the wilder, exploratory sounds of her late 70s work, via some of her most critically acclaimed albums from earlier that decade - Blue, Court and Spark, The Hissing of Summer Lawns and Hejira. Writers and critics Linda Grant, Sean O'Hagan, Jessica Hopper and Barney Hoskyns reflect on the rapid evolution of Joni Mitchell's musical and lyrical approach, alongside the memories of some of those who've been closest to her -: songwriter and former lover Graham Nash, bassist and ex-husband Larry Klein, and longstanding friend Malka Marom. With thanks to Malka Marom and the Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library at the University of Toronto, for sharing clips Joni Mitchell's conversation with Malka Marom. Producer: Chris Elcombe A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4 Brilliant stories told using archive material from the BBC and beyond. |
| Judy Garland: The Final Rainbow | 20191005 | | Renée Zellweger introduces a programme exploring Judy Garland's last concerts at London's the Talk of The Town in 1969 - the subject of a new feature film. Weaving together newly restored archive recordings and eye-witness accounts, we separate the woman from the myth, examine her exceptional talent, exploitation and troubled relationship with Hollywood. Judy Garland was one of the 20th century's greatest entertainers. A living legend. But in late December 1968, embattled and in poor health, she arrived in London for a five week run at the Talk of The Town in Leicester Square, for £2,500 a week. London was her place of sanctuary, she had performed spectacular comeback concerts in the city in 1951, 1957, 1960 and 1964. When Renée Zellweger was preparing to play Judy in a new biopic, directed by Rupert Goold, little-heard archive concert recordings and first hand accounts were key to understanding the singer's state of mind during those final performances. Judy Garland died of an accidental overdose in her Chelsea home six months later, aged 47. Rosalyn Wilder was the young production assistant tasked with getting Judy on stage each night at the Talk of The Town. Looking back now, Rosalyn describes the stress of that responsibility, but she is also deeply sympathetic - it was clear Judy's personal life had spiralled out of control. Michael Hirst, the venue's general manager, also remembers Garland's 5 week engagement for its unpredictability. For jazz pianist Dave Lee, now 93, his experiences working with Judy couldn't be more different. Starting in 1960, he worked with her over a six year period. The Judy Garland he encountered was bouncy, happy and fun - but with an incredible talent for picking the wrong men. We also hear from Judy director Rupert Goold, New York composer Johnny Meyer who gave Garland shelter in the summer of 1968, film critic David Benedict, and audio engineer John Haley who has restored many rare Judy Garland recordings. Produced by Victoria Ferran and Susan Marling A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4 The spectacular story of Judy Garland's last concerts in London. |
| Julian Huxley And The Invention Of The Public Scientist | 20110507 | 20110509 | Through the life and work of Julian Huxley Jim Al-Khalili explores the idea of the public scientist. Huxley was a member of the BBC's Brains Trust and a founder of UNESCO. He also invented the Childrens Zoo at London Zoo. He wrote accessible books on evolution. But how did being a media figure, committed to the public understanding, square with the world of academic science? And where does Huxley's influence lie to this day? Without Huxley no Brian Cox? Through the life of Julian Huxley Jim Al-Khalili explores the idea of the public scientist Through the life and work of Julian Huxley Jim Al-Khalili explores the idea of the public scientist. Huxley was a member of the BBC's Brains Trust and a founder of UNESCO. He also invented the Childrens Zoo at London Zoo. He wrote accessible books on evolution. But how did being a media figure, committed to the public understanding, square with the world of academic science? And where does Huxley's influence lie to this day? Without Huxley no Brian Cox? |
| Kindertransport | 20150926 | |  The story of the Kindertransport, told through the voices of the unaccompanied children sent to Britain from Nazi Europe. In late 1938, the British government agreed to grant asylum to children from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia, as long as they came alone and would not be a burden on public funds. 10,000 arrived, most of them Jewish, and the BBC was there to record their stories. A team went to Dovercourt Camp in Kent and recorded the innocent, hopeful voices of the newly arrived children for "Children in Flight" a remarkable radio documentary. "We are all waiting to go to homes in England where we can stay till our parents will leave Germany," a girl called Kathe told the BBC team. "All the children hurry to see if there is a letter from home which tell them of their families," Irene said. In 1999, historian David Cesarani went in search of these children for a Radio 4 documentary, to find out how they had adapted to life in Britain, and to the eventual realisation of the terrible fate of most of their parents. Few had understood what their departure from home really meant. "I thought it was a temporary thing, it was a temporary parting," Eva Urbach told Dr. Cesarani. "We did not realise the seriousness." With a new wave of refugees dominating the news, the story of the Kindertransport has again become a vital part of the national discussion. Radio 4 is repeating the 1999 broadcast to provide the human story of this tale of survival and heartbreak. Producer: Hugh Levinson. |
| Lawrence Of Arabia: The Man And The Myth | 20121208 | 20160430 (BBC7)
20160501 (BBC7) |  Allan Little considers the legacy of Lawrence of Arabia. David Lean's epic film Lawrence of Arabia was premiered in London fifty years ago. It perpetuated but also critiqued the myth of TE Lawrence, the Imperial desert adventurer, and proved a turning point in the representation of the Empire on screen. Allan Little examines the film and Lawrence's own account of his desert campaign on which it was based, Seven Pillars of Wisdom. He considers how they may be read in the light of the modern Middle East. With archive of those who knew and served with Lawrence, recollections of his brother and his biographer, contributions from Arab scholars and Lawrence's own words, Allan Little makes a case for Lawrence as a man of great foresight - both as the 'father of guerrilla warfare' and as a strategist who championed the Arab cause. The programme includes recordings from Jordan, where a team of archaeologists from Bristol University is currently excavating the remains of The Great Arab Revolt and Lawrence's part in it. Producer: Susan Marling A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Leaders Under The Lights | 20100313 | 20100315
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Reeta Chakrabarti unearths some memorable moments in presidential TV debates. It's 50 years since Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John F Kennedy made history with the first ever presidential TV debate. The idea was quickly adopted around the world. But how much do voters really learn from these encounters, and do they ever make the difference between winning ald losing? The BBC's political correspondent Reeta Chakrabarti unearths some memorable moments from the archives and talks to politicians, television producers, academics and journalists about the heated negotiations, meticulous preparation and sometimes painful gaffes which have had millions glued to their sets at election time. She also asks what Britain's party leaders can learn, as they prepare to face each other on TV for the first time. It's 50 years since Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John F Kennedy made history with the first ever presidential TV debate. The idea was quickly adopted around the world. But how much do voters really learn from these encounters, and do they ever make the difference between winning ald losing? The BBC's political correspondent Reeta Chakrabarti unearths some memorable moments from the archives and talks to politicians, television producers, academics and journalists about the heated negotiations, meticulous preparation and sometimes painful gaffes which have had millions glued to their sets at election time. She also asks what Britain's party leaders can learn. The BBC's political correspondent Reeta Chakrabarti unearths some memorable moments from the archives and talks to politicians, television producers, academics and journalists about the heated negotiations, meticulous preparation and sometimes painful gaffes which have had millions glued to their sets at election time. She also asks what Britain's party leaders can learn, as they prepare to face each other on TV for the first time. |
| Lehmans - A Backwards Collapse | 20180915 | | Tracing the roots of the financial crisis in reverse. Lehman Brothers was a huge and historic financial institution -- the fourth largest investment bank in the United States -- and its bankruptcy on 15th September 2008, following the Fed's decision not to bail it out with taxpayers' money, became the tipping point in a financial crisis which encompassed the entire world and still impacts on our lives today. The irresponsible behaviour - can we call it gambling? - which led to the collapse (the sub-prime lending, the CDOs and short selling) had been going on for years, implicitly celebrated by a society that evidently valued a powerful financial sector very highly. The consequences were unseen by most, including classical economists, but foreseen by a few. But for the purposes of this programme, the collapse of Lehman Bros is not an ending - it's just the beginning. Built entirely out of archive, this programme starts on that day in mid-September 2008, when the real-world effects of the financial crisis could still only be speculated upon, and spools backwards in time, in search of roots and connections, implications and antecedents. Not definitive direct causes - they are more simple and more complicated, more varied, than this modest Saturday evening entertainment can accommodate - but rather seeking some semblance of clarity by stepping again in the footprints that led us here. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Built entirely out of archive, this programme starts on that day in mid-September 2008, when the real-world effects of the financial crisis could still only be speculated upon, and spools backwards in time, in search of roots and connections, implications and antecedents. Not definitive direct causes - they are more simple and more complicated, more varied, than this modest Saturday evening entertainment can accommodate - but rather seeking some semblance of clarity by stepping again in the footprints that led us here. |
| Lenny Bruce - In His Own, Unheard, Words | 20160730 | |  Fifty years since Lenny Bruce died, Mark Steel explores his legacy in the 21st century. Fifty years since Lenny Bruce died, Mark Steel explores his legacy in the 21st century, drawing on personal tape recordings from a newly established Lenny Bruce archive at Brandeis University, as well as classic clips from some of his ground-breaking comedy and social commentary routines. With contributions from Lenny's daughter, Kitty Bruce, and from those who knew and wrote about him, including author Laurence Schiller. Dubbed a 'sick' or 'dirty' comedian, Lenny Bruce burned a pioneering trajectory through the late Fifties and early Sixties America, breaking social taboos on what it was acceptable to say. In later years he was pursued through the courts and convicted of obscenity, ending up bankrupt before being found dead of an overdose. Subsequently, Lenny Bruce was the subject of books and films during the 1970s and 1980s and a campaign to have him posthumously pardoned was successful in 2003. But today it seems, the words and ideas that made him notorious in Sixties America may not have lost their power to offend and Lenny Bruce might struggle to be heard on some American campuses - campaigners are using his example to highlight the dangers to free speech. Presenter: Mark Steel Producer: Philip Reevell A Manchester Digital Media production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Lenny Henry On Richard Pryor: The Making Of A Satirist | 20171223 | | Lenny Henry retraces the late comedian Richard Pryor's seven month stay in Berkeley, California - a crucial moment in his artistic development. Richard Pryor is often hailed as the greatest stand up comedian of all time. For Lenny Henry, it was Pryor's fearless act in the mid 70s and 80s that inspired him as a young comic. And he remains Lenny's comedy hero to this day. But the Richard Pryor that Lenny knows and loves had a very different act when he first started out in 1960s New York. A self-confessed Bill Cosby clone, charming audiences with his 'white bread' humour. It's the stuff of legend how Pryor's biting social satires, salty language, and character-driven routines like The Wino and The Junkie came about after he threw away a lucrative job in Las Vegas and vowed to reinvent himself. But, for Lenny, the key to Pryor's artistic transformation lies in his short stay in Berkeley, California. When he arrived in February 1971, revolution was in the air. A hub for American counterculture, there were pitched battles in the streets between activists and the police. Berkeley was also home to the Black Panthers and a burgeoning black arts movement. Pryor made friends with a local radio producer who invited him on to the local station KPFA, gave him a recorder so he could brainstorm new material, and taped several of his performances around town. With these little-heard tapes, Lenny pieces Pryor's life together during his self-imposed exile. Pryor immersed himself in black history and culture, hanging out with intellectuals like Ishmael Reed and Cecil Brown. For the first time, Pryor was taken seriously as an artist and we get a fascinating glimpse him recording free verse poetry. We also hear Pryor experimenting with edgier material at local clubs. For example, we hear blistering attacks on police brutality and his response to the 1971 Attica prison rebellion - which sound remarkably modern even today. Contributors include: N ovelist and poet, Ishmael Reed Former poet laureate of California, Al Young Richard's widow and keeper of his archives, Jennifer Pryor Comedian and director, David Steinberg Actress and comedian, Liz Torres Author of Becoming Richard Pryor, Scott Saul Producer: Victoria Ferran A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4. Lenny Henry explores a transformative moment in the career of late comedian Richard Pryor. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Lern Yerself Scouse | 20150328 | 20200201 (BBC7)
20200202 (BBC7) | Writer Paul Farley cooks a pot of Scouse for a party of eminent Liverpudlians to explore the complex flavours and disputed origins of the Scouse accent. In the company of Willy Russell, Gillian Reynolds, Michael Angelis and Roger McGough, Paul explores a rich archive of Scouse voices, charting some of the recent mutations in the accent. Producer: Emma Harding First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2015. Paul Farley cooks a pot of Scouse as he explores the complex flavours of the Scouse accent Writer Paul Farley cooks a pot of Scouse for a party of eminent Liverpudlians to explore the complex flavours and disputed origins of the Scouse accent. In the company of Willy Russell, Gillian Reynolds, Michael Angelis and Roger McGough, Paul explores a rich archive of Scouse voices, charting some of the recent mutations in the accent. Produced by Emma Harding. |
| Lights, Camera, Inaction: An Existential Guide To The Movies | 20200321 | | From Woody Allen to the Truman Show via Groundhog Day and Taxi Driver; Matthew Sweet examines the many and varied ways that cinema communicates existentialist ideas. Both in ways we expect and in ways that we don't (step forward Bridget Jones). Cinema is very good at explaining Existentialism and capturing its various moods and feelings; but its deeper than that. The language of existentialism with its heroes, choices and crises sounds suspiciously like the language of screenwriting. They are, after all, both ways of trying to create meaning and narrative out of nothing. The blank page that confronts a screenwriter confronts all of us as we decide how to live. As Jean Paul Sartre, Simone De Beauvoir and Albert Camus would tell us - the blank page is us; the film of our lives is waiting to be made. Films included in the program: The Music Box (1932) directed by James Parrott, produced by Hal Roach Groundhog Day (1993) directed by Harold Ramis; produced by Harold Ramis and Trevor Albert Play it Again Sam ((19792) directed by Herbert Poss; produced by Arthur P Jacobs. Love and Death (1975) directed by Woody Allen; produced by Charles H Joffe Bridget Jones Diary (2001) directed by Sharon Maguire; Produced by Tim Bevan, Jonathan Cavendish and Eric Fellner. Taxi Driver (1976) directed by Martin Scorsese; produced By Michael Phillips and Julia Phillips. Casablanca (1943) directed by Michael Curtiz; produced by Hal B. Wallis The Rebel (1961) directed by Robert Day; produced by W.A Whittaker The Truman Show (1998) directed by Peter Wier; produced by Scott Rudin, Andrew Niccol, Edward S. Feldman, Adam Schroeder. Matthew Sweet looks at why mainstream cinema and existentialism seem so fond of each other Cinema is very good at explaining Existentialism and capturing its various moods and feelings; but its deeper than that. The language of existentialism with its heroes, choices, and crises sounds suspiciously like the language of screenwriting. They are, after all, both ways of trying to create meaning and narrative out of nothing. The blank page that confronts a screenwriter trying to create authentic characters confronts all of us as we decide how to live. As Jean Paul Sartre, Simone De Beauvoir and Albert Camus would tell us - the blank page is us; the film of our lives is waiting to be made. |
| Listen To Britain | 20180512 | | The 1942 black and white propaganda film Listen to Britain, directed by Humphrey Jennings, summed up our nation in just twenty memorable minutes of sounds and pictures. Inspired by watching and discussing this masterpiece, writers Julie Burchill and Dominic Grace set out to discover what Britishness means now. They visit some of the places featured in the film , from the Blackpool Tower Ballroom to Trafalgar Square, and they report from Hastings, Newport and Bradford on pride, steel, lies, pubs, drag, flags and poncification. Produced by Peter Everett A Pennine production for BBC Radio 4. The 1942 film Listen to Britain summed up our nation in sounds. How does it sound today? A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives A Pennine production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Listen Without Mother | 20140405 | 20170506 (BBC7)
20170507 (BBC7) |  Fi Glover gets stuck in to generations of mothers in the radio archive - Ambridge's Jennifer Aldridge and her shockingly illegitimate baby, Kim Cotton the first official surrogate mother, Nicola Horlick the billionaire hedge fund supermum, and Lesley Brown the UK's first test tube mum. Fi also consults motherhood experts like Penelope Leach, Dr Miriam Stoppard and Gina Ford. This personal journey into the BBC archives critically tracks the changing concept and practice of motherhood over the last five decades. We hear how tone and advice have changed over the years and how - eventually - mothers learned to laugh at themselves and not be brow-beaten. The divine source, the domestic goddess, the earth mother, the do-it-all superwoman, the yummy, slummy, chummy and dummy mummy. And the mother of all mother images - the beautiful, servile, immaculate Virgin Mary. They've all got a lot to answer for. Each new generation brings with it a new version of the Mother. And, over the decades, even the stark biological facts have changed with surrogacy and IVF. We've seen the rise and acceptance of single motherhood and gay motherhood. Perhaps the single, overriding maternal emotion - guilt - is the one thing that each defining epoch never solves. The advent of Mumsnet in 2000 brought with it the benefit of a kind of plurality. You could share without being identified or judged. Or could you? With contributions from Dr Miriam Stoppard, Gillian Reynolds, Irma Kurtz and Justine Roberts. Produced by Sarah Cuddon A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4. Fi Glover peels the labels off motherhood, from sacred mother to slummy mummy. A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Lives And Politics | 20130518 | 20170826 (BBC7)
20170827 (BBC7) | What makes a politician tick? How has the business of politics changed over time? Two remarkable archives, eighty years apart, offer some revealing answers. In the 1930s, Colonel Josiah Wedgwood sent a questionnaire to a wide selection of politicians ranging from the greatest Minister of State to the lowliest backbencher, putting questions no one had the temerity to ask before - including how much they earned, their religious views, their trade or profession and what they most disliked about Parliament. The answers offered a snapshot of their times, class and personalities. This portrait of political life has lain in the Archives of the History of Parliament Trust for 80 years. Now the Trust is repeating the exercise in a set revealing of audio interviews with veteran politicians who've spent their lives in Westminster. This programme compares and contrasts the two accounts. The current generation remembers the War, the new Welfare State and Britain's declining global role. They worked through an era of industrial strife, economic uncertainty, social change, Thatcherism, Northern Ireland and mass media. Their careers saw a shift in how we regard politicians - from deference to suspicion. What beliefs made them enter politics - and do they still retain them now? How did they deal with party, constituency, ministerial office? How did experiences of life outside Westminster - personal and professional - affect them and has something been lost in the gradual professionalisation of politics? Matthew Parris looks at what has changed and what has remained constant about politics, and examines how individuals felt they could make a difference. Presenter: Matthew Parris Producer: Mike Greenwood A Pier production for BBC Radio 4. Two remarkable archives, 80 years apart, throw light on what makes a politician tick. A Pier production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Lives In A Landscape | 20151128 | 20190928 (BBC7)
20190929 (BBC7) |  In 2005, Radio 4 broadcast the first in a series of observational documentaries about contemporary Britain. It was called Lives in a Landscape. It would focus on stories of individuals facing challenges, excitements and big changes in their lives, and those of their families and communities. Using the programme's archive, Alan Dein looks at what's changed – and unchanging – about Britain's social and physical landscape, from the lonely, depopulating island of Canna in Scotland, to the Cornish village that was about to be sold, lock, stock and barrel. The first ever Lives featured two very different sets of people: on one hand was Brian, ex-miner from Barnsley turned ratcatcher; on the other, a group of wealthy Londoners who'd met Brian on a Countryside Alliance march. They would go ratting together, they promised each other. And so they did; but what emerged were revelations that had nothing to do with long-tailed rodents. From the wealthy suburb of Clapham, just a few months before the financial crash, to the Hackney riots of 2011, Lives in a Landscape has observed changes on the streets of the capital. It's tracked the controversial installation of wind turbines in a Welsh beauty spot, the passionate pigeon-racers of inner-city Edinburgh and the fortunes of a Zimbabwean refugee musician trying to rebuild his formerly starry career in downtown Belfast. Other enthusiastic performers include the teenage schoolboy band Socio from Grimsby who face an uncertain future as the close friends prepare for their grown-up lives, and the Bath pub-crooner whose livelihood is threatened by heart disease... Alan Dein sets out to explore ten years of change as charted by one hundred editions of Lives in a Landscape. Producer: Simon Elmes First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015. Alan Dein tells the story of ten years of Radio 4's observational documentary series. Using the programme's archive, Alan Dein looks at what's changed - and unchanging - about Britain's social and physical landscape, from the lonely, depopulating island of Canna in Scotland, to the Cornish village that was about to be sold, lock, stock and barrel. |
| Lloyd George's Revolution | 20161203 | 20210725 (BBC7)
20210724 (BBC7)
20210720 (BBC7) | Drawing on sound archive of David Lloyd George and key contemporary witnesses, Peter Hennessy tells how Lloyd George revolutionised Britain's government when he became prime minister a century ago. In the darkest days of World War I, Lloyd George transformed an amateurish approach to government and galvanised a war weary country by radically reforming the Cabinet, bringing outsiders ('men of push and go') into Whitehall and creating new departments. As a radical politician, Lloyd George always saw government as a force for progress, and as war leader he ruthlessly replaced unprofessional informality with business-like efficiency. He began by setting up a five-man War Cabinet, a reform that he recommended again on the BBC in the early days of World War II. ‘I had for some time come to the conclusion, that to entrust the direction of the war to a Sanhedrin of some twenty ministers, chosen largely for party reasons, and all engaged in the administration of departments which demanded their whole attention, was worse than worthless.’ Lloyd George also created a Cabinet Secretariat (now the Cabinet Office), ensuring that a minute was taken of Cabinet meetings and that ministers' decisions were implemented. Yet Lloyd George was also a precursor of presidential-style politics. He brought his own advisers and press secretary into Number 10, and his mistress became one of the private secretaries (the first woman to hold this post). Although his presidential tendencies later contributed to his downfall, his revolution in government had laid the foundations for victory in 1918 and remains his legacy in Whitehall. Among those taking part in the programme are biographers Ffion Hague, Kenneth Morgan and Roy Hattersley, and historian, Hew Strachan. Producer: Rob Shepherd First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016. Peter Hennessy tells how Lloyd George galvanised Britain as war leader a century ago. Drawing on sound archive of David Lloyd George and key contemporary witnesses, Peter Hennessy tells how Lloyd George revolutionised Britain's government when he became prime minister a century ago. In the darkest days of World War I, Lloyd George transformed an amateurish approach to government and galvanised a war weary country by radically reforming the Cabinet, bringing outsiders ('men of push and go') into Whitehall and creating new departments. As a radical politician, Lloyd George always saw government as a force for progress, and as war leader he ruthlessly replaced unprofessional informality with business-like efficiency. He began by setting up a five-man War Cabinet, a reform that he recommended again on the BBC in the early days of World War II. ‘I had for some time come to the conclusion, that to entrust the direction of the war to a Sanhedrin of some twenty ministers, chosen largely for party reasons, and all engaged in the administration of departments which demanded their whole attention, was worse than worthless.’ Lloyd George also created a Cabinet Secretariat (now the Cabinet Office), ensuring that a minute was taken of Cabinet meetings and that ministers' decisions were implemented. Yet Lloyd George was also a precursor of presidential-style politics. He brought his own advisers and press secretary into Number 10, and his mistress became one of the private secretaries (the first woman to hold this post). Although his presidential tendencies later contributed to his downfall, his revolution in government had laid the foundations for victory in 1918 and remains his legacy in Whitehall. Among those taking part in the programme are biographers Ffion Hague, Kenneth Morgan and Roy Hattersley, and historian, Hew Strachan. Producer: Rob Shepherd First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016. Peter Hennessy tells how Lloyd George galvanised Britain as war leader a century ago. Drawing on sound archive of David Lloyd George and key contemporary witnesses, Peter Hennessy tells how Lloyd George revolutionised Britain's government when he became prime minister a century ago. In the darkest days of World War I, Lloyd George transformed an amateurish approach to government and galvanised a war weary country by radically reforming the Cabinet, bringing outsiders ('men of push and go') into Whitehall and creating new departments. As a radical politician, Lloyd George always saw government as a force for progress, and as war leader he ruthlessly replaced unprofessional informality with business-like efficiency. He began by setting up a five-man War Cabinet, a reform that he recommended again on the BBC in the early days of World War II. ‘I had for some time come to the conclusion, that to entrust the direction of the war to a Sanhedrin of some twenty ministers, chosen largely for party reasons, and all engaged in the administration of departments which demanded their whole attention, was worse than worthless.’ Lloyd George also created a Cabinet Secretariat (now the Cabinet Office), ensuring that a minute was taken of Cabinet meetings and that ministers' decisions were implemented. Yet Lloyd George was also a precursor of presidential-style politics. He brought his own advisers and press secretary into Number 10, and his mistress became one of the private secretaries (the first woman to hold this post). Although his presidential tendencies later contributed to his downfall, his revolution in government had laid the foundations for victory in 1918 and remains his legacy in Whitehall. Among those taking part in the programme are biographers Ffion Hague, Kenneth Morgan and Roy Hattersley, and historian, Hew Strachan. Producer: Rob Shepherd First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016. Peter Hennessy tells how Lloyd George galvanised Britain as war leader a century ago. 
Peter Hennessy tells how Lloyd George galvanized Britain as war leader a century ago. Drawing on sound archive of David Lloyd George and key contemporary witnesses, Peter Hennessy tells how Lloyd George revolutionised Britain's government when he became prime minister a century ago. In the darkest days of World War I, Lloyd George transformed an amateurish approach to government and galvanized a war weary country by radically reforming the Cabinet, bringing outsiders ('men of push and go') into Whitehall and creating new departments. As a radical politician, Lloyd George always saw government as a force for progress, and as war leader he ruthlessly replaced unprofessional informality with business-like efficiency. He began by setting up a five-man War Cabinet, a reform that he recommended again on the BBC in the early days of World War II. 'I had for some time come to the conclusion, that to entrust the direction of the war to a Sanhedrin of some twenty ministers, chosen largely for party reasons, and all engaged in the administration of departments which demanded their whole attention, was worse than worthless.' Lloyd George also created a Cabinet Secretariat (now the Cabinet Office), ensuring that a minute was taken of Cabinet meetings and that ministers' decisions were implemented. Yet Lloyd George was also a precursor of presidential-style politics. He brought his own advisers and press secretary into Number 10, and his mistress became one of the private secretaries (the first woman to hold this post). Although his presidential tendencies later contributed to his downfall, his revolution in government had laid the foundations for victory in 1918 and remains his legacy in Whitehall. Among those taking part in the programme are biographers Ffion Hague, Kenneth Morgan and Roy Hattersley, and historian, Hew Strachan. Producer: Rob Shepherd. |
| Logan's Run And Intergenerational War | 20161126 | 20200829 (R4) |  In 1967 the novel 'Logan's Run' proposed a dystopian solution to overpopulation and lack of resources- the (voluntary, willing) self-culling of those over twenty one years of age. 50 years on, the novel's themes of intergenerational war and the redundancy of the old have a particular poignancy. In this Archive on Four, Ed Howker looks at how the then futuristic themes of 'Logan's Run' have manifested themselves in the reality of 21st century society. Large swathes of the capitalist world seem to have adopted the novel's plot as policy, such as in Silicon Valley, for example, where hardly anyone is over the age of 30. At the same time there is a huge discrepancy in wealth and resources held by the young and old, often held up as the source of conflict in 'generational unfairness'. Ed Howker looks at the state of the young and the old and asks if implementing a 'Sleepshop', where the 21-year-olds of 'Logan's Run' fade out in a narcotic haze for the benefit of those younger, seems such a bad idea after all. Producer Mark Rickards Ed Howker looks at the world depicted in the science fiction novel Logan's Run. |
| Lols On Lps | 20200808 | | David Walliams was inspired to pursue a career in comedy from his experience as a teenager growing up in suburban Surrey, listening to albums like The Secret Policeman's Ball and Not The Nine O'clock News' Hedgehog Sandwich. In this programme, he explores the story of comedy albums, from the early George Martin-produced Peter Sellers records to the big-selling stand up albums that kickstarted the careers of Billy Connolly and Richard Pryor, and on to adolescent favourites like Monty Python and Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's unfiltered excesses as Derek and Clive. Now that comedy albums have largely disappeared, replaced by the streamed comedy special, David looks in detail at some of the iconic comedy records of the last 60 years, the influence they had on today's generations of performers, and the way their too-rude-for-radio content changed what became acceptable in comedy. Presenter: David Walliams A Trevor Dann Company production for BBC Radio 4 David Walliams remembers the comedy albums which inspired him to write and perform. |
| Long Road To Change | 20170408 | 20190419 (R4) |  In an age when technology has made organising protest movements easier than ever before, journalist Zoe Williams asks why we aren't seeing long-term results. She looks back on the global history of activism to discover the pre-conditions needed for concrete change. Recent years have seen an explosion of protest movements to secure equality, protect immigrants, and demand justice. But often these movements are doomed to short-term impact. Does today's activism overlook the benefits of doing things the hard way? By digging into the archives, Zoe looks back to the most impactful protest movements of the 20th century that permanently changed history. By analysing what key elements are needed for success, she will construct new rules of modern-day activism for future generations. Zoe speaks to former civil rights organiser Marshall Ganz, and considers whether social media can work with traditional methods of protesting by speaking with a co-founder of UK Uncut and digital activists who studied the unprecedented success of Euromaidan in Ukraine. Some activists believe the issue lies in how we measure the success of movements. Co-founder of the global Occupy protests, Micah White, explains how the failure of his movement showed him how activism needs to be redefined. Finally, Zoe investigates how to overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of any protest - from radicals that disrupt non-violent marches to handling media coverage - and how government bodies may manipulate protests to their own advantage. Produced by Anishka Sharma A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4. Zoe Williams asks what protests movements need to do to achieve long-term success. |
| Lord Clark - Seeing Through The Tweed | 20091128 | 20091214 | Kenneth Clark is remembered as a tweedy patrician who lectured on the arts from a position of immense privilege. But Richard Weight argues that Clark was in fact a toff with a democratic mission, and that the BBC's Civilisation, first broadcast in 1969, was the culmination of a career that reveals much about 20th-century Britain. Richard Weight reassesses Kenneth Clark and his landmark BBC TV series, Civilisation. Kenneth Clark is remembered as a tweedy patrician who lectured on the arts from a position of immense privilege. But Richard Weight argues that Clark was in fact a toff with a democratic mission, and that the BBC's Civilisation, first broadcast in 1969, was the culmination of a career that reveals much about 20th-century Britain. |
| Losing My Voice | 20190824 | | Jan Ravens has been doing Theresa May for five years - until, in July, she was succeeded by Boris Johnson. Inspired by this, Jan takes a personal look at the connection between an impersonator and their subjects, and what happens when their signature character retires form public life. The archive includes material from Mike Yarwood, Spitting Image and Dead Ringers, and there are new interviews with Rory Bremner and star of Comedy Central's The President Show, Anthony Atamanuik. Presented by Jan Ravens Produced by Ed Morrish A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4 Jan Ravens explores the fate of impressionists when their signature character retires. |
| Lunch Is For Wimps | 20120428 | 20130302
20150711 (BBC7)
20150712 (BBC7) |  Remember the lunch hour? You could leave your desk, meet friends in the pub, eat a three course meal, have a lunchtime affair even...That hour was your own: it didn't belong to your employer. No more. Now, one in five people in the UK never eat lunch. Only one in one hundred regularly take a full hour's break. How has such a huge social change happened? Why on earth did we let the lunch hour go so easily? Matthew Sweet draws on archive recordings to explore what we have lost, and what the hidden costs might be. Wall Street's Gordon Gekko once said "lunch is for wimps" - why do we seem to have accepted his conclusion? When Churchill enjoyed several courses, washed down with wine and brandy, at midday in Downing Street it was thought to help, rather than hinder, his leadership of the country. Matthew talks to social historian Juliet Gardiner, and to historian Sir David Cannadine about Churchill's heroic dining. Sociologist Harriet Bradley offers insights into the rise of presenteeism and the impact of recession on our lunch time habits. Writers Tim Parks implores us to take a break for the sake of our health. Matthew goes back to Hull, where he grew up, and remembers ham sandwiches at home with his mum, and factory whistles sounding out around the city, signalling the start of the lunch hour. He meets factory and office workers and asks why have we allowed ourselves to become so overwhelmed with the pressures of the working day that we don't have time to stop for a break? Includes archive recordings from 1937 describing workers flocking to corner houses for lunch, Ernest Bevin urging wartime factory owners to give their workers proper meals and revelations from the 1980s about liquid lunches and office affairs. Produced by Hannah Marshall A Loftus Production for BBC Radio 4. Matthew Sweet draws on archive recordings to explore what we have lost, and what the hidden costs might be. Wall Street's Gordon Gekko once said lunch is for wimps - why do we seem to have accepted his conclusion? When Churchill enjoyed several courses, washed down with wine and brandy, at midday in Downing Street it was thought to help, rather than hinder, his leadership of the country. Matthew talks to social historian Juliet Gardiner, and to historian Sir David Cannadine about Churchill's heroic dining. Sociologist Harriet Bradley offers insights into the rise of presenteeism and the impact of recession on our lunch time habits. Writers Tim Parks implores us to take a break for the sake of our health. Producer: Hannah Marshall A Loftus Audio Production for BBC Radio 4. When did you last take a lunch hour? Matthew Sweet explores the demise of the midday break |
| Lynne Truss - Did I Really Ask That? | 20090530 | 20090601
20170325 (BBC7) |  Lynne Truss shares her personal treasure trove of interviews with world famous writers. Between 1980 and 1990, Lynne was a part-time arts journalist, meeting and interviewing many giants of the theatre, including Arthur Miller, Tom Stoppard, Simon Gray, Athol Fugard and Anthony Minghella. For over 20 years these cassettes gathered dust in her garage, but now Lynne airs them and finds out, with horror and humour, what her younger self was like as an interviewer, and what she learnt from meeting these great talents. Between 1980 and 1990, Lynne was a part-time arts journalist, meeting and interviewing many giants of the theatre, including Arthur Miller, Tom Stoppard, Simon Gray, Athol Fugard and Anthony Minghella. |
| Mad Monks | 20200103 | 20201205 (R4)
20201220 (R4) | Dominic Cummings was the latest in a long line of top advisers to British prime ministers who have themselves become the story and distracted attention from the often critical aims that different premiers have set for them. James Naughtie, who has observed for decades the varied so-called mad monks who have been closeted in 10 Downing Street with their bosses, presents a history of these often colourful figures and the relationships which they have fostered - and broken. From Marcia Williams (later Falkender) to Steve Hilton and from Alan Walters to Bernard Donoughue, he considers why so many emerged from the shadows of power to became well-known - in some cases, even notorious - for what they sought to do in the name of their political masters. The programme reveals why these figures were appointed to their roles, what they achieved and what their legacies have been for their bosses, for the political parties and for effective government in Whitehall. A critical part of the story is that the appointees have all said as much about the prime ministers they served as they did about themselves. And in the programme James Naughtie assesses what aspects of their characters the mad monks revealed about their masters and explores episodes which showed the political - and emotional - strengths and weaknesses of the working relationships that were forged. He concludes by offering some sage advice to future prime ministers on how to handle these advisers and determine their role. Among those taking part: Robin Butler (former Cabinet Secretary); Bernard Donoughue (former head of the Number Ten Policy Unit); Sir Oliver Letwin (former Conservative Cabinet Office minister) and Stewart Wood (adviser to Gordon Brown). Producer Simon Coates James Naughtie probes the chequered history and impact of prime ministers' top advisers. |
| Maids And Mistresses | 20071201 | 20150131 (BBC7)
20150201 (BBC7) |  
Christina Hardyment looks at life below stairs in Britain between the wars. Christina Hardyment re-evaluates life below stairs in interwar Britain, particularly for maids in middle-class homes. From December 2007. |
| Making Obama | 20181103 | | Former President Barack Obama - along with friends, mentors, and rivals - reflects on the story of his climb from community leader in Chicago to the start of the long road to the presidency of the United States. Earlier this year, political reporter Jenn White analysed President Obama's rise in forensic detail for a six-part podcast series produced by Chicago public radio station WBEZ. For this edition of Archive on 4, she reflects on the experience, and presents this specially re-versioned programme. Jenn begins by charting Obama's roots in Chicago as a community leader, assessing the people and movements that honed his leadership skills. We hear how he overcame entrenched racism in Chicago politics, taking direct inspiration from then city mayor, Harold Washington. By the time Obama graduated from Harvard Law School, he had met Michelle Robinson and been offered jobs by all the big law firms. He also ran Project Vote, registering voters in Illinois, and started work on his autobiography. With a combination of skill, ambition, connections and luck, Obama finally emerged onto the national stage during his 2004 campaign for the US Senate. The implosion of two opponents' campaigns, along with Obama's powerful keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, helped put him on the eventual path to the presidency. Produced by Colin McNulty for WBEZ and David Prest A Whistledown production in association with WBEZ for BBC Radio 4 Jenn White tells the story of Barack Obama's rise to power. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Brilliant stories told using archive material from the BBC and beyond. |
| Malcolm Mclaren: Spectacular Failure | 20200425 | | Paul Gorman assesses the exceptional achievement of Malcolm McLaren, who died 10 years ago Malcolm McLaren's reputation was shaped by his mis-management of the Sex Pistols. But he was much more than the Svengali of punk. Cultural commentator Paul Gorman, who worked with Malcolm, gives a new spin on his achievement. He roots him in the art school movement of the 1960s when, less concerned with selling records, McLaren wanted to shake things up - the grip of authority , the power of the corporations, the risk aversion of the record companies, the complacency and dreariness of English life. Paul Gorman tells the punk story rather differently before launching into the years in which Malcolm, as a solo performer and music collaborator, stole a march on many in the industry. He scored a first with introducing the UK to what became known as world music, and on to hip hop, to scratching and to Voguing. He had a serious crack at becoming Speilberg's ideas man in Hollywood, at becoming London Mayor, and at staging a musical about Christain Dior. Not everything worked - but as Malcolm suggested - better to be a spectacular failure than a benign success. Presented by Paul Gorman Produced by Susan Marling A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4 |
| Malcolm X In Oxford | 20141206 | 20180217 (BBC7)
20180218 (BBC7) | Stephen Tuck discovers what brought Malcolm X to Oxford in 1964 just weeks before his assassination, and how the speech he made there was one of the most important of his life. For Malcolm X, Oxford was 'hot' - but why? What was it that attracted him there when he was turning down so many other invitations to speak abroad and when he was preparing to step up the struggle against racial inequality at home in the United States? These questions lead Stephen Tuck into the remarkable story of Malcolm X's last year of life when he travelled in Africa, the Middle East and Europe - a year during which this black nationalist American Nation of Islam advocate began evolving into a campaigner for international civil liberties. But what also emerges is an untold story of racial discrimination and protest in Oxford, and how we choose to remember the struggle for racial equality as happening elsewhere - in the Southern States of America, or South Africa - rather than in the Britain of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Tuck uses archive from the original debate and the personal testimonies of those who knew Malcolm X, as well as some of the people who were there at the Oxford Union or at the edge of Britain's own racial fault line fifty years ago, to reveal how Oxford affected Malcolm X and how Malcolm X changed Oxford. Produced by Adam Fowler An Overtone production for BBC Radio 4. Stephen Tuck asks why Malcolm X was so passionate about speaking at an Oxford Union debate An Overtone production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Malled: 60 Years Of Undercover Shopping | 20150221 | 20180113 (BBC7)
20180114 (BBC7) |  Will Self visits an out-of-town mall of the mind. Air conditioned, driveable, mild-mannered and secure, the mall was the perfect sheltered shopping emporium. There were faint echoes of the grand bazaars of the east, but filled with reassuring western brands. Some were so tailor-made for malls that they thrived there like tomatoes under glass - think Krispy Kreme and Gap. The seeming innocuity of these spaces created rich source material for Generation X talents like Douglas Coupland and director Kevin Smith, and what would 'Dawn of the Dead' be without the prerequisite shopping mall? Replaced by internet shopping - and yes - our long-forgotten high street, there's been a marked downturn in enclosed mall development in the west. These environments now feel as mid-century as motels and strip lighting. Yet, as quickly as we turn our backs on this brand of retail homogeneity, Asia and South America are embracing it with vigour. Of the 25 largest malls in the world, only three are now situated in North America. Will Self explores the early utopian ideals of these space and argues that despite their historic links to uniformity and submissiveness, malls now represent a space where rules can be broken and true self-expression can find a home. Will Self explores the appeal of the shopping mall. Will Self explores the early utopian ideals of these space and argues that despite their historic links to uniformity and submissiveness, malls now represent a space where rules can be broken and true self-expression can find a home. |
| Media And The Middle East | 20140913 | 20140918 | The rockets and missiles fly, from Israel into Gaza, from Gaza into Israel. It's the latest iteration of the conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbours which has flared since the very founding of the Jewish state in 1948. Accompanying the conflict has been an unprecedented level of media coverage. And almost nothing is uncontested. Every sentence, every word of a news report is parsed for signs of bias by individuals and organisations dedicated to ensuring a fair deal for their point of view. Coverage is measured in minutes and seconds of airtime. Media organisations stand accused, by both sides, of prejudice, systemic bias and deliberate distortion. Why does this particular conflict, above all others, attract the attention it does? And why does it create such strong emotion, even among those with no connection to the region? John Lloyd, a contributing editor at the Financial Times, examines the evolution of coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict from the founding of Israel to the present day. With contributions from journalists and those who monitor them, Lloyd asks why there is such focus both on the conflict itself and on those who report it. He traces the way reporting has developed from the early television age, through the introduction of 24-hour news channels to the inception of social media. And he examines the challenges of reporting fairly and accurately on a conflict in which every assertion is contested. Producer: Tim Mansel. |
| Metropolis | 20000527 | 20160123 (BBC7)
20160124 (BBC7)
20180929 (BBC7)
20180930 (BBC7)
20210202 (BBC7)
20210206 (BBC7)
20210207 (BBC7) | Paul Bailey takes a journey through the BBC sound archive in celebration of London. Novelist Paul Bailey takes an autobiographical journey through the BBC sound archive in celebration of London, as documented by the microphone from 1930 onwards. He recalls aspects of the city which have disappeared forever, from horse traffic to street markets, and looks at how radio has represented - and misrepresented - the average Londoner. Producer: Thomas Morris First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2000. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Novelist Paul Bailey takes an autobiographical journey through the BBC sound archive in celebration of London as documented by the microphone from 1930 onwards. He recalls aspects of the city that have disappeared for ever, such as horse traffic, and considers how the radio has represented the average Londoner. |
| Millions Like Us | 20210703 | | We're told the pandemic is our Second World War. Is it? With the help of leading historians, documentary-maker Phil Tinline explores what the shock of 1940 reveals about how crisis can transform politics - by changing how we see our recent past. In 1940, the shock of external attack forced the government to think the unthinkable. The size of the state, and the deficit, ballooned. All this cast the 1930s in a harsh new light. At the time, the suffering of millions of British people as a result of unemployment was seen by many people as a tragedy the government could do little to fix. Those who suggested the government intervene on a large scale were politely dismissed. But now, the government was borrowing and spending like there was no tomorrow, for fear of defeat by Hitler. And that meant mass unemployment now looked like a great wrong which could have been properly addressed. The generation of politicians who let it happen were utterly discredited. It became a given that mass unemployment must never be allowed to happen again - and this new taboo underpinned post-war British politics for decades. So - is anything like this happening as a result of the impact of Covid? And how does Brexit complicate the picture? Contributors include: Alan Allport, Matthew Brown, Diane Coyle, David Davis, David Edgerton, Steven Fielding, James Frayne, Maurice Glasman and Giles Wilkes Presenter/ Producer: Phil Tinline We're told Covid is our Second World War. If so, what does that mean for our politics? |
| Mind Your Pmqs | 20111022 | 20111024
20160625 (BBC7)
20160626 (BBC7) |  Dominic Sandbrook questions the political importance of Prime Minister's Questions. Prime Minister's Questions dominates our image of Parliament. It's one of the things foreign observers automatically associate with life in Britain, but far from being an indelible part of our political heritage, it was introduced only fifty years ago in 1961. Tony Blair once described it as the most challenging and terrifying experience of his life, but what really is the point of Prime Minister's Question Time? Does it really hold the Prime Minister to account? In this programme, historian Dominic Sandbrook traces its development to show how it has reflected the changing political culture. Throughout its short history, there have been constant calls for reform. Just last year The Speaker John Bercow described PMQs as 'scrutiny by screech' but has it always been like this? Harold Wilson's former private secretary reveals how the personal animosity between Heath and Wilson poisoned the atmosphere of PMQs. It was never to be the same again with successive party leaders calling for an end to Punch and Judy politics whilst simultaneously using Prime Minister's Questions for political point scoring. The programme features interviews with Lord Kinnock, Lord Ashdown, Commons Speaker John Bercow, former Speaker Betty Boothroyd, MPs John Whittingdale and Stephen Pound as well as Tony Blair's former Chief of Staff Jonathan Powell. Produced by Barney Rowntree A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4. It was never to be the same again with successive party leaders calling for an end to Punch & Judy politics whilst simultaneously using Prime Minister's Questions for political point scoring. Prime Minister's Questions dominates our image of Parliament. It's one of the things foreign observers automatically associate with life in Britain, but far from being an indelible part of our political heritage, it was introduced only fifty years ago in 1961. Throughout its short history, there have been constant calls for reform. Just last year The Speaker John Bercow described PMQs as 'scrutiny by screech' but has it always been like this? Harold Wilson's former private secretary reveals how the personal animosity between Heath and Wilson poisoned the atmosphere of PMQs. It was never to be the same again with successive party leaders calling for an end to Punch and Judy politics whilst simultaneously using Prime Minister's Questions for political point scoring. Harold Wilson's former private secretary reveals how the personal animosity between Heath and Wilson poisoned the atmosphere of PMQs. It was never to be the same again with successive party leaders calling for an end to Punch & Judy politics whilst simultaneously using Prime Minister's Questions for political point scoring. |
| Missing Isaiah Berlin | 20171104 | | Sir Isaiah Berlin was a rare beast. Educated in philosophy and the history of ideas, he could turn his generalist mind to most subjects and talk engagingly. Audiences loved him, his broadcast lectures and his appearances on discussion shows. This quintessential Oxford don was the benchmark public intellectual. Twenty years after Berlin's death, philosopher Jonathan Wolff goes in search of the Isaiah Berlins of today. Where is this particular kind of public intellectual? Does it matter If they are no longer around and what, if anything, has replaced them? Contributors include - Baroness Mary Warnock, crossbench life peer and moral philosopher; Professor Stefan Collini, author of Absent Minds: Intellectuals in Britain; Professor Timothy Garton Ash, author of Free Speech; Henry Hardy, literary executor of Isaiah Berlin; Claire Fox, director of the Institute of Ideas; and Professor Daniel Drezner, author of The Ideas Industry. Producer: Dom Byrne A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4. Sir Isaiah Berlin died 20 years ago. Where are the Berlins of today? Jonathan Wolff asks. A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Misunderstanding Japan | 20150808 | 20190216 (BBC7)
20190217 (BBC7) |  What images come into your head when you think of Japan? Dr Christopher Harding explores how Western media representations of Japan, from the very first Victorian travellers through to Alan Whicker and Clive James, have revisited the same themes. Often portrayed as workaholics driven by a group mentality, with submissive women and bizarre crazes, Dr Harding asks whether many of these stereotypes have led to the country being misunderstood by people in the West. Have the Japanese had a role in perpetuating some of these stereotypes in an effort to set themselves apart? What do our images, feelings, fears and fantasies about Japan tell us about ourselves? Producer: Keith Moore First broadcast on BBC Radio in 2015. What impact have western media representations had on our view of Japan and its people? Brilliant stories told using archive from the BBC and beyond |
| Mods! | 20100109 | |  ![]()
Phil Daniels presents a look back at the Mod movement, exploring its beginnings in the Soho underground of the late 1950s through to the seafront clashes with the Rockers in the 1960s, and examining the Mods' influence on music, film, fashion and popular culture. A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4. Phil Daniels presents a look back at the Mod movement of the 1960s. |
| Monkey Planet | 20131130 | | Will Self asks where apes end and human apes begin. Fifty years since Pierre Boulle wrote 'La Planete des Singes' (or 'Monkey Planet' as the English translation was known), Will Self considers where great apes end and human apes begin. Boulle's novel, which became the basis for the movie 'Planet of the Apes' is a playful inversion for a man whose faith in humanity had been erased by the experiences he described in 'Bridge Over the River Kwai', his other best-seller. Boulle genuinely wondered whether human beings were any better than apes, placing him in a long line of satirists from Swift onwards who drew parallels between the beast in man and the man in beast. In the modern era, experiments like Project Nim explored the idea that a chimpanzee infant raised like a human baby could be taught to communicate, and be 'civilized' by its contact with humans. The tragic end of Nim, shipped off to an animal experimentation camp when he, inevitably, became too violent to control in a domestic setting, did not entirely end the human fantasy (see Michael Jackson and Bubbles) that chimps are just like hairy children who will never answer back. Will Self, whose novel 'Great Apes' portrayed a world in which apes run the show and make as bad a job of it as humans, explores the connection between man and his closest living relative, from Darwin to Nim and King Kong to the PG Tips chimps. With Volker Sommer, Janet Browne, Kim Bard, Charlotte Macdonald and Frans de Waal. Producer: Caitlin Smith. |
| Monsieur Non | 20100612 | 20100614
20180317 (BBC7)
20180318 (BBC7) | ![]() Julian Jackson explores the contradictory and complex nature of the man who was happy to say 'yes' to making London his wartime HQ and rallying point, but 'Non' when twenty years later Britain was petitioning to join the Common Market. In fact it's not too far-fetched to suggest that De Gaulle's apparent perversity was at least partly responsible for Britain's long-standing ambivalent feelings towards Europe and the EU over the last fifty years... Speaking from a BBC studio on 18th June 1940, General Charles de Gaulle issued an extraordinary rallying cry to his countrymen who had just capitulated to Hitler and declared an armistice with the German Fuhrer. Attacking the actions of Marshal PÃ(c)tain, whatever happens," he intoned, "the flame of French resistance must not and shall not die." From London in a steady stream of eloquent and heartfelt broadcasts across the remaining years of the war, de Gaulle kept the spirit of defiance in the face of the Nazi occupier burning strongly. London was henceforth the headquarters of the Free French forces and the power base for de Gaulle. But the general had an uncanny knack of rubbing his hosts up the wrong way, and Churchill and he were often at loggerheads. But his time in London was the making of the statesman, one of Europe's greatest twentieth century figures. Julian Jackson, a specialist in modern French history and author of one of the best books on the French soldier-politician, traces the roots of the conundrum that was General Charles de Gaulle who died forty years ago this year. Producer: Simon Elmes. Julian Jackson on the inscrutable General de Gaulle and his fraught relations with Britain A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Julian Jackson explores the contradictory and complex nature of the man who was happy to say 'yes' to making London his wartime HQ and rallying point, but 'Non' when twenty years later Britain was petitioning to join the Common Market. In fact it's not too far-fetched to suggest that De Gaulle's apparent perversity was at least partly responsible for Britain's long-standing ambivalent feelings towards Europe and the EU over the last fifty years... Speaking from a BBC studio on 18th June 1940, General Charles de Gaulle issued an extraordinary rallying cry to his countrymen who had just capitulated to Hitler and declared an armistice with the German Fuhrer. Attacking the actions of Marshal Petain, whatever happens, he intoned, the flame of French resistance must not and shall not die. From London in a steady stream of eloquent and heartfelt broadcasts across the remaining years of the war, de Gaulle kept the spirit of defiance in the face of the Nazi occupier burning strongly. London was henceforth the headquarters of the Free French forces and the power base for de Gaulle. But the general had an uncanny knack of rubbing his hosts up the wrong way, and Churchill and he were often at loggerheads. But his time in London was the making of the statesman, one of Europe's greatest twentieth century figures. Julian Jackson, a specialist in modern French history and author of one of the best books on the French soldier-politician, traces the roots of the conundrum that was General Charles de Gaulle who died in 1970. Producer: Simon Elmes. Julian Jackson on the enigmatic General de Gaulle and his fraught relations with Britain. Speaking from a BBC studio on 18th June 1940, General Charles de Gaulle issued an extraordinary rallying cry to his countrymen who had just capitulated to Hitler and declared an armistice with the German Fuhrer. Attacking the actions of Marshal PÃ(c)tain, whatever happens, he intoned, the flame of French resistance must not and shall not die. From London in a steady stream of eloquent and heartfelt broadcasts across the remaining years of the war, de Gaulle kept the spirit of defiance in the face of the Nazi occupier burning strongly. London was henceforth the headquarters of the Free French forces and the power base for de Gaulle. But the general had an uncanny knack of rubbing his hosts up the wrong way, and Churchill and he were often at loggerheads. But his time in London was the making of the statesman, one of Europe's greatest twentieth century figures. |
| Monsieur Non | 20180317 | 20180318 | Julian Jackson explores the contradictory and complex nature of the man who was happy to say 'yes' to making London his wartime HQ and rallying point, but 'Non' when twenty years later Britain was petitioning to join the Common Market. In fact it's not too far-fetched to suggest that De Gaulle's apparent perversity was at least partly responsible for Britain's long-standing ambivalent feelings towards Europe and the EU over the last fifty years... Speaking from a BBC studio on 18th June 1940, General Charles de Gaulle issued an extraordinary rallying cry to his countrymen who had just capitulated to Hitler and declared an armistice with the German Fuhrer. Attacking the actions of Marshal Petain, whatever happens, he intoned, the flame of French resistance must not and shall not die. From London in a steady stream of eloquent and heartfelt broadcasts across the remaining years of the war, de Gaulle kept the spirit of defiance in the face of the Nazi occupier burning strongly. London was henceforth the headquarters of the Free French forces and the power base for de Gaulle. But the general had an uncanny knack of rubbing his hosts up the wrong way, and Churchill and he were often at loggerheads. But his time in London was the making of the statesman, one of Europe's greatest twentieth century figures. Julian Jackson, a specialist in modern French history and author of one of the best books on the French soldier-politician, traces the roots of the conundrum that was General Charles de Gaulle who died in 1970. Producer: Simon Elmes. Julian Jackson on the inscrutable General de Gaulle and his fraught relations with Britain A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Producer: Simon Elmes. |
| More Than Just Whale Music | 20120324 | 20150926 (BBC7)
20200724 (R4) |  Since Irving Teibel created his Environments label in the US in the late 1960s, recorded natural sound has been a commercial proposition, sought by city-dwellers to re-kindle elemental connections. And his recordings of rain falling in pine forests or sleepy lagoons, thunderstorms, waves crashing and birds singing were deemed significant enough for NASA to send into space on Voyager in 1977. A decade later in the UK, Duncan Macdonald launched WildSounds - initially to teach people to distinguish different birdsongs, but soon adding 'atmospheres' from the Amazon or the African veldt. Christine Finn explores the appeal of recorded natural sound and how it's been manipulated by musicians since the first live broadcast of birdsong in 1924, when the cellist Beatrice Harrison duetted with a nightingale in her garden. When sound engineer Quentin Howard was launching Classic FM in 1992, he used a loop of birdsong recorded in his garden. Radio Birdsong drew appreciative comments from listeners who claimed it relaxed them. Psychologist Eleanor Ratcliffe is investigating why natural sounds hold this appeal. Finn explores the boundaries between natural sound and ambient music, and hears from musician Kit Watkins how living in the mountains of Virginia caused him to use the natural sounds around him in his compositions; she meets Matthew Herbert, whose album One Pig uses natural sound of a different kind to trace the life of a pig, from birth to plate. Finn discovers there's a lot more to recorded natural sound than just whale music, but also finds that whale music, far from simply wafting among New Age crystals, played a major role in launching the conservation movement of the 70s. Christine Finn explores the world of recorded natural sound and those who relax to it. |
| Morecambe And Wise: The Garage Tapes | | 20100504 (BBC7)
20150103 (BBC7)
20150104 (BBC7) |  Jon Culshaw uncovers an audio archive of long-lost early Morecambe and Wise material. Jon Culshaw uncovers an extraordinary audio archive of early Morecambe and Wise material, including a number of long lost tapes. This is a genuine archive find of real importance. A few years ago, Doreen Wise, widow of Ernie, cleared the old family garage of piles of tapes and 78 recordings. At the end of last year, Independent radio company Whistledown were contacted by Eric and Ernie's agents, and producer David Prest offered to look at the material. It was an extraordinary sight - a couple of old fruit boxes full of reel to reel tapes and a musty old red suitcase brimming with 78 records," says producer David Prest. The most important finds are a number of long-lost episodes of Eric and Ernie's first radio show, "You're Only Young Once" which was made for the BBC between November 1953 and June 1954. These feature songs, sketches, their trade mark banter and guest cameo appearances from other well-known perfomers including Bob Monkhouse. The tapes in Ernie's garage are believed to be "run off" copies recorded at 33/4 ips by studio engineers immediately after the recordings, and probably never played since, as well as acetate copies which Doreen paid the studio engineer a few shillings for. Much of the value of the material is in what it shows about their comedy development. The early radio series are very naturalistic, and feature historical sketches and songs which precede the 1970s BBC TV shows by almost 15 years", says David. Other treats include: Andre Previn's speech to Eric and Ernie at a Variety Club lunch in 1974, rare recordings of their Great Yarmouth and Blackpool shows from the mid-late sixties. Also included are many original master tapes of songs, written for the duo, which show their skill in the recording studio. The producers are David Prest and Stewart Henderson, and this is a Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Morning Everyone | 20150613 | 20150802 (5L)
20150823 (5L) |  As England continue their Ashes battle against Australia, Rory Bremner looks back on the career of Richie Benaud - the Australian cricketer and commentator whose death earlier this year saw an extraordinary outpouring of love and affection from players, friends and fellow journalists and commentators. Former players talk about his remarkable abilities on the field - as Australia's leading leg spinner of the 50's and 60's, a dogged batsman, and a superb tactician and captain. At the end of his playing career, he turned to journalism and eventually to television presentation and commentary, where he became the undisputed master of understatement. He was once described as the 'Sir David Attenborough of Australia'. We hear his recollections, and his own commentaries, of some of the great moments of international cricket - from the 1960 Tied Test to Botham's Ashes and Edgbaston 2005 - and discuss his love of wine, France and his special role as President of the French Cricket Association. We also touch on his diffidence to those who mimicked his style and delivery - although he did once remark, "Rory Bremner I have no problem with; he is a satirist and a very funny one too". Produced by Will Yates and David Prest A Whistledown production, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4. As England prepare for another Ashes battle, Rory Bremner looks back on the career of Richie Benaud - the Australian cricketer and commentator whose death earlier this year saw an extraordinary outpouring of love and affection from players, friends and fellow journalists and commentators. We hear his recollections, and his own commentaries, of some of the great moments of international cricket - from the 1961 Tied Test to Botham's Ashes and Edgbaston 2005 - and discuss his love of wine, France and his special role as President of the French Cricket Association. A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Mp For Penrith And The Border | 20150912 | |  Rory Stewart is an MP with an unusual profile. By the time he was 30 he had worked for the Foreign Office in Indonesia and Montenegro; he had walked across Asia, ending his journey in war-torn Afghanistan; he had then helped to govern two provinces in Southern Iraq before taking up a position at Harvard. Many found it surprising that his next move was to get himself elected to Parliament. At a time when politicians are having to win back the trust of the people and find new ways of engaging the public, we follow Rory Stewart between Westminster and his constituency to hear his perspective on the role of a Cumbrian MP. He offers his views on the effectiveness of our democracy, the relationship between politicians and the media, and his hopes for the future of the UK. The rural constituency of Penrith and the Border is far removed from Westminster. Rory feels a deep sense of affinity for the countryside and the farmers who have lived in the region for generations. But he is also deeply engaged in foreign affairs and chaired the Defence Select Committee from 2014 until the election. Rory believes that an MP's job is unusual, that it demands sacrifices, and that family life must be fitted around these demands - but he also feels strongly that local people should be given much more power to resolve local issues. We hear Rory Stewart at work in his constituency, attending meetings, appearing on politics programmes, and finally campaigning for reelection in May 2015. We travel with him between Cumbria and Westminster and hear his reflections on politics along the way. Produced by Isabel Sutton A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Murdoch At 80 | 20110305 | 20110307 | There are two impressions of Rupert Murdoch. One: that he is an ruthless businessman with a rapacious personality and only interested in power. The other: that he is the champion of the free market that opened up British media from the stifling grip of unions. To mark the 80th birthday of the world's most controversial media baron, Steve Hewlett will attempt to get the inside story of the man behind the headlines, by talking to some of his harshest rivals, as well as his closest collaborators. Amongst those Steve speaks to are former Union leader Brenda Dean, Kelvin MacKenzie who edited Rupert Murdoch's Sun, Roy Greenslade who recalls the battle for Wapping, Asa Briggs who talks about his time at Oxford as Murdoch's tutor, and actor Barry Humphries who paints a fearsome picture of Murdoch's drive. In 1931, Murdoch was born to a wealthy media family in Melbourne, Australia. As a young man, his Oxford education was cut short with his father's death, upon which he became managing director of Australia's News Limited in 1953. Under his leadership, the company acquired newspaper after newspaper until Murdoch became the dominant force in Australian media. Murdoch then turned his gaze to Britain with the purchase of The News of the World and the launch of The Sun. In 1981, he gained significant prestige with his purchase of The Times and The Sunday Times, papers that had been unprofitable thanks to increased industrial action. Murdoch, ever the innovative businessman, began electronically automating his newspaper production, which resulted in a confrontation that climaxed at Fortress Wapping in 1986. Today, his News Corporation has significant media holdings around the globe. Producer: Colin McNulty A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4. As Rupert Murdoch turns 80, Steve Hewlett assesses his impact. There are two impressions of Rupert Murdoch. One: that he is an ruthless businessman with a rapacious personality and only interested in power. The other: that he is the champion of the free market that opened up British media from the stifling grip of unions. In 1931, Murdoch was born to a wealthy media family in Melbourne, Australia. As a young man, his Oxford education was cut short with his father's death, upon which he became managing director of Australia's News Limited in 1953. Under his leadership, the company acquired newspaper after newspaper until Murdoch became the dominant force in Australian media. Murdoch then turned his gaze to Britain with the purchase of The News of the World and the launch of The Sun. In 1981, he gained significant prestige with his purchase of The Times and The Sunday Times, papers that had been unprofitable thanks to increased industrial action. Murdoch, ever the innovative businessman, began electronically automating his newspaper production, which resulted in a confrontation that climaxed at Fortress Wapping in 1986. |
| Music Hall Reclaimed | 20031004 | 20150425 (BBC7)
20150426 (BBC7)
20181020 (BBC7)
20181021 (BBC7) |  Barry Cryer investigates the cottage industry of Music Hall recording restoration, as well as the lives and works of some of its stars. Thanks to modern computer technology we're now able to hear some of the rarer works of artists such as Mark Sheridan, Ernest Shand, Vesta Victoria and Albert Chevalier who originally recorded this material at the turn of the 19th century. Written by Glenn Mitchell Producer: Karl Phillips First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2013. Barry Cryer hears how recordings are restored so that music hall stars can be heard again. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Barry Cryer hears how recordings have been restored so that the work of music hall stars can be heard once again. From October 2003. |
| Mustn't Grumble: The Noble British Art Of Complaining | 20150117 | 20170902 (BBC7)
20170903 (BBC7)
20191207 (BBC7)
20191208 (BBC7)
20151204 (R4) |  Complaining is a vital component of British life, whether it's formal letters to a utility company, bank or broadband provider, or it's an ice-breaker at a bus stop, bemoaning the dreary weather. Writer and broadcaster Bidisha sets out to identify why complaining is so important to us, and also precisely how we go about it. She visits an international language school to hear how students learning English react to lessons in 'hedging' (the art of introducing a complaint with apology - I'm terribly sorry but.., Forgive me for mentioning it but..); she also meets literary professor Phil Davis to track complaint through the fictional pages of history, former comedian and classicist Natalie Haynes to found out how the Ancients did it, and journalist Lynne Truss to find out why we never complain to a hairdresser. Along the way she also meets a professional complainer, Jasper Griegson, who's sent thousands of letters of complaint over the years, sometimes in verse, sometimes in medieval script, to find out the best methods of complaining. Bidisha also wonders, finally, whether complaining is actually good for us - whether the occasional gains we may achieve are worth so much of our energy and spirit. The programme will make use of the ample archive of complaint, from Juvenal to 'Points of View', Samuel Pepys' diaries to Alf Garnett and Tom Wrigglesworth. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2015. Writer Bidisha explores how complaining has become such an important part of British life. Complaining is a vital component of British life, whether it's formal letters to a utility company, bank or broadband provider, or it's an ice-breaker at a bus stop, bemoaning the dreary weather. In 'Mustn't Grumble', writer and broadcaster Bidisha sets out to identify why complaining is so important to us, and also precisely how we go about it. She visits an international language school to hear how students learning English react to lessons in 'hedging' (the art of introducing a complaint with apology - "I'm terribly sorry but..", "Forgive me for mentioning it but.."); she also meets literary professor Phil Davis to track complaint through the fictional pages of history, former comedian and classicist Natalie Haynes to found out how the Ancients did it, and journalist Lynne Truss to find out why we never complain to a hairdresser. Along the way she also meets a professional complainer, Jasper Griegson, who's sent thousands of letters of complaint over the years, sometimes in verse, sometimes in medieval script, to find out the best methods of complaining. Bidisha also wonders, finally, whether complaining is actually good for us - whether the occasional gains we may achieve are worth so much of our energy and spirit. The programme will make use of the ample archive of complaint, from Juvenal to 'Points of View', Samuel Pepys' diaries to Alf Garnett and Tom Wrigglesworth. Complaining is a vital component of British life, whether it's formal letters to a utility company, bank or broadband provider, or it's an ice-breaker at a bus stop, bemoaning the dreary weather. In 'Mustn't Grumble', writer and broadcaster Bidisha sets out to identify why complaining is so important to us, and also precisely how we go about it. She visits an international language school to hear how students learning English react to lessons in 'hedging' (the art of introducing a complaint with apology - I'm terribly sorry but.., Forgive me for mentioning it but..); she also meets literary professor Phil Davis to track complaint through the fictional pages of history, former comedian and classicist Natalie Haynes to found out how the Ancients did it, and journalist Lynne Truss to find out why we never complain to a hairdresser. Along the way she also meets a professional complainer, Jasper Griegson, who's sent thousands of letters of complaint over the years, sometimes in verse, sometimes in medieval script, to find out the best methods of complaining. Bidisha also wonders, finally, whether complaining is actually good for us - whether the occasional gains we may achieve are worth so much of our energy and spirit. The programme will make use of the ample archive of complaint, from Juvenal to 'Points of View', Samuel Pepys' diaries to Alf Garnett and Tom Wrigglesworth. |
| Nations Of The Cross - 1 - Arrivals And Departures | 20090117 | 20090119 | The area was already changing before the bulldozers arrived. Alan Dein hears true stories from those who live around London's King's Cross station. Millions of us have passed through it but few of know anything about the turbulent lives and the history that is crammed in around London's King's Cross. Today it is being changed beyond recognition by massive redevelopment. For the past three years, Alan Dein and a team of oral historians have been capturing the voices of those who remember a King's Cross already receding before the bulldozers arrived. |
| Nations Of The Cross - 2 - End Of The Line | 20090124 | 20090126 | Once it became a transport hub, King's Cross attracted those with nowhere else to go. Alan Dein hears true stories from those who live around London's King's Cross station. Long before the railways, King's Cross was an area known for licentiousness, poverty and despair. But once it became one of the capital's transport hubs it increasingly attracted the lost, the lonely and those with nowhere else to go. |
| Nations Of The Cross, Arrivals And Departures - 1 | 20090117 | 20090119 | The area was already changing before the bulldozers arrived. Alan Dein hears true stories from those who live around London's King's Cross station. Millions of us have passed through it but few of know anything about the turbulent lives and the history that is crammed in around London's King's Cross. Today it is being changed beyond recognition by massive redevelopment. For the past three years, Alan Dein and a team of oral historians have been capturing the voices of those who remember a King's Cross already receding before the bulldozers arrived. |
| Nations Of The Cross, End Of The Line - 2 Last | 20090124 | 20090126 | Once it became a transport hub, King's Cross attracted those with nowhere else to go. Alan Dein hears true stories from those who live around London's King's Cross station. Long before the railways, King's Cross was an area known for licentiousness, poverty and despair. But once it became one of the capital's transport hubs it increasingly attracted the lost, the lonely and those with nowhere else to go. |
| New Orleans: The Crescent And The Shadow | 20150829 | |  Harry Shearer lives in New Orleans. In this Archive on Four he looks back at what has happened in the city during the ten years since the devastating floods of 2010. Harry reveals evidence which shows that the levees broke due to poor engineering and should have been able to withstand the rising waters caused by Hurricane Katrina. Rather than being solely a natural disaster, he looks at how man-made errors created a situation which quickly spiralled out of control. Harry also reveals what happened once the floodwaters had subsided. Did people come back to the city? Was the housing adequate for their needs? And have lessons been learned? Harry Shearer in the city of New Orleans, whose spirit and culture have successfully withstood almost three centuries of disasters. |
| Nixon At 100 | 20121215 | | Watching Richard Nixon's first inauguration ceremony in January 1969, and hearing the prayer of the Reverend Billy Graham who stood by him at that ceremony, it seemed that here was an honest man of integrity. Yet much detail has emerged since that time demonstrating that the 37th President of the United States was less than upstanding in his dealings with his Democrat opponents and the American people. But who was Nixon the man? What was he really like? Do all those allegations and solid facts alluding to his dirty tricks - the wire-tapping, the break-ins, the pay-offs, the "Commie" slurs, the Machiavellian manoeuvrings - add up to a thoroughly dishonest and dislikeable man? Many of the Nixon insiders, some of whom were jailed and several of whom were sacked by their boss after the Watergate scandal, were not critical of Nixon - and others, such as Bob Haldeman, while not admitting to a love of Nixon, still claimed to respect him after the event. Many observers and colleagues point to Nixon's awkwardness and aloofness, citing that he came across in this way because he was a diffident man who was not a natural politician. His speeches were often mawkishly sentimental and manipulative, simplistic in their appeal to an American down-home conservatism and a hatred of Communism. Yet he won two elections - the second a landslide despite the parlous state of a country being riven in two because of the Vietnam war. In this programme, the man who got close to Nixon when in 1977 he taped nearly 29 hours of interviews with Nixon, Sir David Frost, searches through the BBC archives and the White House tapes to try to discover just what kind of man Richard Nixon was. Producer: Neil Rosser A Ladbroke production for BBC Radio 4. |
| No Destination | 20140614 | 20190413 (BBC7)
20190414 (BBC7) |  In 1964, at the height of the Cold War and at the time of increasing tensions between East and West, Satish Kumar hit headlines around the world when he walked 8,000-miles from New Delhi to Moscow, Paris, London and Washington D.C. delivering packets of 'peace tea' to the leaders of the world's four nuclear powers. Satish Kumar relives his extraordinary journey - made without any money - that took him from the grave of Mahatma Gandhi to the grave of John. F. Kennedy. Along the way, he was thrown into jail and facved a loaded gun - as well as meeting some of the most remarkable people of the twentieth century. In 1973 he settled in England, taking on the editorship of Resurgence magazine, and becoming the guiding light behind a number of ecological spiritual and educational ventures. Poet Lemn Sissay reads extract from Kumar's autobography - described as One of the few life-changing books I have ever read. Presented by Satish Kumar Book Extracts read by Lemn Sissay Produced by Shelley Williams A Reel Soul Movies Production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2014. Satish Kumar walked 8,000 miles for world peace. Join him as he relives this journey. Fifty years ago, at the height of the Cold War and at the time of increasing tensions between East and West, Satish Kumar hit headlines around the world when he walked 8,000-miles from New Delhi to Moscow, Paris, London and Washington D.C. delivering packets of 'peace tea' to the leaders of the world's four nuclear powers. Satish Kumar relives his extraordinary journey - made without any money - that took him from the grave of Mahatma Gandhi to the grave of John. F. Kennedy. Along the way, he was thrown into jail and faced a loaded gun - as well as meeting some of the most remarkable people of the twentieth century. Poet Lemn Sissay reads extract from Kumar's autobiography - described as "One of the few life-changing books I have ever read". A Reel Soul Movies Production for BBC Radio 4. |
| No More Heroes | 20140906 | 20160514 (R4) |  
Angie Hobbs examines the changing nature of the hero, from the Iliad to the present day. The concept of the hero is an incredibly powerful one. But what are heroes, and why are we so drawn to them? Angie Hobbs examines the hero, and asks if we are in danger of devaluing the term. Stories of heroes resound through the ages, from Achilles in The Iliad, to Lawrence of Arabia. Tales of heroic exploits can be inspiring, but the reality of being a hero can be a lonely one, and many find it difficult to adjust to normal life. Is a hero someone who displays physical or moral courage? What is the relationship between heroism and recklessness? Have we confused heroism and celebrity? And how is the term used and misused by politicians, charities and the media? To find out what the hero means to us today, Angie speaks to Germaine Greer, Sir Max Hastings, Canon Vernon White, Rory Stewart MP, Colonel Tim Collins and Dame Ellen MacArthur Presenter: Angie Hobbs Producer: Jessica Treen. |
| No Platform | 20161112 | |  Andrew Hussey on the history of the 'no platform' debates raging on university campuses. The NUS policy of 'No Platform', which blocks members of six proscribed organisations speaking on university campuses, has been the subject of a huge amount of debate recently. Similarly, the related issue of establishing so-called 'safe spaces' within universities, which results in speakers being blocked because their opinions might offend or upset members of the student population, has been widely discussed, with many commentators suggesting the creation of a new generation gap opening up between middle-aged graduates concerned about free speech on campus and younger students who say this older group is out of touch with a politics more concerned with identity than class. As Professor Andrew Hussey explores in this programme, in fact both 'No Platform' and 'Safe Spaces' were created by that older generation, having been born out of the student politics movements of the 1970s and 1980s, and while they were primarily concerned with keeping the violent message of the far right away from campus, they also saw many other speakers either barred from talking or angrily shouted down. Hussey will hear how no platforming, made official NUS policy in 1974, took its inspiration from the disruptive methods of anti-fascist campaigners in the 1930s. Having examined this history, Hussey will set about (with help from contributors including David Aaronovitch, Kaite Welsh and Richard Brooks from the NUS) examining whether there has indeed been a shift in recent times, making the current incarnations of 'no platform' and 'safe spaces' a real danger, as many have suggested, to free speech on University campuses. Along the way he'll consider archive both recent and dating back to the 70s/80s, and examine what for him is one of the most troubling aspects of this whole debate - the use of 'safe spaces' as an excuse to barrack and intimidate speakers through the employment of the 'heckler's veto'. |
| Not Enough Hours In The Day | 20131019 | 20160716 (BBC7)
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Claudia Hammond looks back at 80 years ago of time use surveys, started by the BBC. In this Archive on Four Claudia Hammond traces the history of the time use survey.She explores how social change has transformed the way people use their time, with more women working outside the home and the rise of supposedly labour-saving devices. These days men have an average of 5 hours and 48 minutes spare and women have 5 hours and 23 minutes, far more time than most people realise. Going back to the BBC archives and others such as those at Sussex University Claudia compares now with the past. Eighty years ago the BBC conducted Britain's first ever survey of time use. Its aim was to discover whether anyone would have time to take up a brand new leisure activity - watching TV. In fact last year's time use survey in the US tells us that if people gain any unexpected spare time they spend it watching TV. But we are unreliable chroniclers of our time: even in the last fortnight we remember only between nine and fifteen things we have done. The programme will trace the history of the time-use surveys and why they are much harder to conduct than you might think. People hate filling them in. Lawyers have to account for every six minutes of their time in order to charge the right clients, so they're experts on time use, but they detest doing it because it reminds them how fast time goes. Using the BBC written archives and first-hand accounts of time-use from the Mass Observation Archive at Sussex University Claudia follows the changes in the way time-use has been measured. We'll also learn hear the idiosyncratic stories of the individuals who recorded their own time use. The Reverend Robert Shields has written what is thought to be the longest diary in the world. It's 30 times longer than Pepys' diary and it fills 91 cardboard boxes. Using six typewriters he noted down everything he did, describing everything from his dreams to his urination. He died in 2007 and won't allow most of it to be read until 2057, but a few pages are available. Then there's Gordon Bell who works for Microsoft and is chronicling every 20 seconds of his life with a photograph and employs people to scan every page he reads from books, so that there's a complete digital record of his life. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives We'll also learn hear the idiosyncratic stories of the individuals who recorded their own time use. The Reverend Robert Shields has written what is thought to be the longest diary in the world. It's 30 times longer than Pepys' diary and it fills 91 cardboard boxes. Using six typewriters he noted down everything he did, describing everything from his dreams to his urination. He died in 2007 and won't allow most of it to be read until 2057, but a few pages are available. Then there's Gordon Bell who works for Microsoft and is chronicling every 20 seconds of his life with a photograph and employs people to scan every page he reads from books, so that there's a complete digital record of his life. Old Year's Night James Naughtie investigates the history and traditions behind Hogmanay. Towards the end of every year, thousands of people head north of the border at a time when the days are bewilderingly short and the weather, at best, unpredictable. The reason? Hogmanay. In this archive hour, James Naughtie investigates the history and traditions behind this peculiarly Scottish celebration. Producer: Caroline Barbour First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2003.""
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| Old Year's Night | 20161231 | 20170101 |  Towards the end of every year, thousands of people head north of the border at a time when the days are bewilderingly short and the weather, at best, unpredictable. The reason? Hogmanay. In this archive hour, James Naughtie investigates the history and traditions behind this peculiarly Scottish celebration. Producer: Caroline Barbour First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2003. James Naughtie investigates the history and traditions behind Hogmanay. |
| On Northern Men | 20090725 | 20090727 | ![]() Kay Mellor explores northern male stereotypes in fiction. Kay Mellor explores the way that northern English masculinities have been portrayed in British film and television, reconciling issues of blatant sentimentality with the real-life social parallels that inform the canon of the past 50 years. She examines fictional portrayals that have changed and diversified, yet stayed much the same in many ways. From the crucial age of the Angry Young Man, marked out in This Sporting Life, she considers the contrasts and similarities between the trapped northern masculine identities portrayed in Kes and Billy Elliot. Kay discovers that the disintegration of traditional northern male stereotypes in fiction leads us also to more diverse explorations, for example, the weak men in Coronation Street, Last of the Summer Wine and Keeping Up Appearances, British-Asian northern masculinities in East is East, the dysfunctional and proud Frank Gallagher in Shameless, and interpretations of homosexual masculinities in Queer as Folk and Jimmy McGovern's The Street. The programme traces the relationship between changing variables of social class, heroism, 'northernness' and fictional portrayals of masculinity in film and television, using supporting material from the radio archive, and remembers some of the humour and creativity that emerges from struggle and the portrayal of difficult lives. She examines fictional portrayals that have changed and diversified, yet stayed much the same in many ways. From the crucial age of the Angry Young Man, marked out in This Sporting Life, she considers the contrasts and similarities between the trapped northern masculine identities portrayed in Kes and Billy Elliot. |
| One Way Ticket - The Beeching Cuts Revisited! | 20120505 | 20150815 (BBC7)
20150816 (BBC7) |  When Dr Richard Beeching unveiled his little book 'Reshaping Britain's Railways' in the early 1960s the nation was left in shock at the scale of the cutbacks he was suggesting. Britain's railways were losing millions every year. The rise of the car didn't help matters and the Government decided it was time to look afresh at the railways. The original plan was to close 5,000 miles of railway and 2,000 stations. Around 70,000 people would eventually lose their jobs. It's acknowledged that Dr Beeching's cuts were seismic but what impact did the decisions made in the early 60s have on future rail policy in the UK? And how much of Beeching's vision for the railways, including more focus on Inter City services, has been realised? Here Michael Portillo revisits the archives and the events of 1963, hears from some of those working in the industry at the time and looks at how some lines were eventually resurrected and revitalised while others weren't. As part of the programme Michael travels along the scenic Settle to Carlisle line which lost many of its stations during the Beeching cuts, he hears from rail expert Christian Wolmar and speaks to Richard Spendlove - writer and creator of TV series Oh Dr Beeching who at the time of the cuts was a Station Master in Cambridgeshire. He also hears from former Transport ministers and secretaries about how the Beeching cuts impacted on Government rail plans and policy over the past five decades. Finally given the recent huge rise in rail usage, the programme assesses what Dr Beeching would have made of the state of Britain's railways today. Produced by: Ashley Byrne A Made in Manchester Limited Production for BBC Radio 4. Michael Portillo assesses the lasting impact of the Beeching cuts on Britain's railways. |
| Open Sesame | 20100206 | 20100208
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Konnie Huq looks back at four decades of Sesame Street. Konnie Huq looks back at four decades of Sesame Street, the experimental American children's television show which mixed radical educational techniques with extraordinary subject matter and subversive humour. Konnie Huq looks back at 40 years of Sesame Street, the experimental children's TV show. |
| Open That Door: Gay Comedy In The Last 30 Years | 20100925 | 20100927 | It's 30 years since comedian Simon Fanshawe first stood up on stage to perform his style of comedy dealing openly with gay issues. Until the advent of Alternative Comedy, the subject of gay sexuality and lifestyles had been dealt with by veiled allusion, nudges and camp. To cross the boundary between innuendo and overt declaration was to court career suicide. Yet suddenly, comedians like Fanshawe and Julian Clary proclaimed their sexuality and made it the subject of their comedy performances. Since then, Gay Stand Up has evolved out of the margins into a staple of mainstream entertainment. In a single generation, gays have gone from being the stick with which the Right beat the loony Left to the sign of political modernity, the litmus test of liberality, the essential credential of change. Against the backdrop of sweeping legislative and social emancipation, gays have emerged from an underground counter-culture into mainstream public life. Simon revisits his roots in Stand Up comedy to chart this cultural journey with interviews and archive of performers old and new. He talks to leading comedians and writers about how they tackle gay themes. Julian Clary describes what it was like being out in the early days; Barry Cryer talks about writing material for performers such as Frankie Howerd and about the impact of Alternative Comedy in changing performance styles and audience attitude. Graham Norton and Rhona Cameron discuss the development of their careers into the mainstream via stage, radio and tv. He talks to performers of a younger generation like Paul Sinha, visits contemporary stand up venues to find out what's entertaining audiences and examines how straight comedians are once more dealing with gay themes. Producer: Mike Greenwood A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4 It's 30 years since comedian Simon Fanshawe first stood up on stage to perform his style of comedy dealing openly with gay issues. Until the advent of Alternative Comedy, the subject of gay sexuality and lifestyles had been dealt with by veiled allusion, nudges and camp. To cross the boundary between innuendo and overt declaration was to court career suicide. Yet suddenly, comedians like Fanshawe and Julian Clary proclaimed their sexuality and made it the subject of their comedy performances. Since then, Gay Stand Up has evolved out of the margins into a staple of mainstream entertainment. In a single generation, gays have gone from being the stick with which the Right beat the loony Left to the sign of political modernity, the litmus test of liberality, the essential credential of change. Against the backdrop of sweeping legislative and social emancipation, gays have emerged from an underground counter-culture into mainstream public life. Simon revisits his roots in Stand Up comedy to chart this cultural journey with interviews and archive of performers old and new. He talks to leading comedians and writers about how they tackle gay themes. Julian Clary describes what it was like being out in the early days; Barry Cryer talks about writing material for performers such as Frankie Howerd and about the impact of Alternative Comedy in changing performance styles and audience attitude. Graham Norton and Rhona Cameron discuss the development of their careers into the mainstream via stage, radio and tv. He talks to performers of a younger generation like Paul Sinha, visits contemporary stand up venues to find out what's entertaining audiences and examines how straight comedians are once more dealing with gay themes. Simon Fanshawe traces the progress of gay comedy from the margins to the mainstream. |
| Optimism - Our Enemy | 20160402 | 20180216
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20180216 (R4) |  Proud pessimist Bryan Appleyard investigates the contemporary cult of optimism. Journalist Bryan Appleyard presents a polemic that tilts at the current cult of optimism, of positive thinking and the relentlessly upbeat mantras of corporations. Optimism is trumpeted in books, from the walls of yoga studios, the podiums of leadership conferences and in political life, especially in the United States. The optimistic cast of mind is key, apparently, to marital success, health and progress at work. Pessimism is stigmatised. But if we could only dump our current and historical imperative to look on the bright side of life, Bryan argues, we'd all be a lot happier. We weren't always so positive. Bryan points to post-war Britain, when we embraced a pessimism, a philosophy of endurance and amiably black humour. This was reflected in our cinema which, contrary to many Hollywood movies, embarked on a dark celebration of the fragilities exposed by the war, with films such as Brief Encounter. We hear from the philosophers Roger Scruton and John Gray on the pleasures of pessimism. Writer Barbara Ehrenreich traces the origins of the American positive thinking industry from Norman Vincent Peale's sermons to multimillion-selling books such as Dale Carnegie's How To Win Friends and Influence People and Rhonda Byrne's The Secret. Psychologist Tali Sharot explains how optimism and pessimism drive our economy and Dragons' Den's Deborah Meaden reveals the dangers of blind optimism in business. Bryan, a committed pessimist, also considers how learning to be more optimistic could enhance his life. He meets sales, marketing and personal growth strategist Bruce King for a class in positive thinking. With archive including Noel Coward, Tony Blair, Peter Cook and Frank Muir. Producer: Paul Smith A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4. A Just Radio production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016. |
| Orson Welles And The War Of The Worlds - Myth Or Legend? | 20131026 | 20191116 (BBC7)
20191117 (BBC7) | This week marks the 75th anniversary of the most infamous hoax in the history of radio - Orson Welles' production of H G Wells' The War Of The Worlds. The drama, disguised as a dance music programme punctuated by a series of fake news broadcasts telling of a Martian invasion, played out at a time when the USA was in the grip of pre-WW2 invasion anxiety, fearing that Nazi Germany would make an attack on mainland America. Public reaction was seemingly extreme with widespread panic and isolated groups of people fleeing their homes. The police raided the Mercury Theatre Company offices after the broadcast and seized copies of the script. The scandal ensured that Welles became a household name and led to his famous Hollywood career. Adolf Hitler cited the crisis as evidence of 'the decadence and corrupt condition of democracy'. The event was reported all over the world and has become part of broadcasting legend. But just how real was the panic? Some now believe that the newspapers of the time, fearing the growing power of radio, exaggerated events in order to discredit the new medium. Nevertheless, when the War Of The Worlds dramatisation was repeated in Ecuador in 1949 it lead to a dramatic and tragic series of events when the radio station was burned to the ground. This programme also reveals how Welles and his collaborators may have been influenced by a lost 1926 BBC programme called Broadcasting From The Barricades, in which Ronald Knox caused a similar stir with a programme of music from the Savoy, interrupted by reports of revolution in the streets and the hotel being flattened by mortars. Presented by Christopher Frayling Producer: Nick Freand Jones A Hidden Flack production for BBC Radio 4. Christopher Frayling examines the true story behind the most notorious hoax in radio. Christopher Frayling explores the most notorious hoax in radio, broadcast in 1938 - Orson Welles' production of H G Wells' The War Of The Worlds. A Hidden Flack production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2013 The true story behind the most notorious hoax in radio - Orson Welles' War Of The Worlds. |
| Our Anniversary Obsession | 20191012 | | It's 50 years since the Moon landings, 30 years since the publication of The Satanic Verses, and 200 years since the Peterloo Massacre. Turn on the radio any day of the year and it won't be long before someone mentions an anniversary. Why are Radio 4 commissioners, news editors, book publishers and us, the audience, so obsessed with anniversaries? What impact does our preoccupation with round numbers have on the way we understand history? Historian Hannah Mawdsley wrote her thesis on the Spanish flu pandemic. It's an area of history that felt like a footnote to the First World War - until we reached its centenary in 2018. Suddenly there was an explosion of interest in Hannah's work. She was invited to speak on panels, to curate exhibitions and to discuss her research on the BBC. Hannah talks to fellow historians Elisabeth Shipton, Bill Niven and Chris Kempshall about the power of anniversaries and their potentially distorting impact on history. Does marking one day a year give us permission to forget difficult parts of history for the rest of the year? What about aspects of history that don't have easily marked anniversaries? Sociologist Professor Eviatar Zerubavel explains why we're all so drawn to pattern and repetition, and why time isn't always linear. And a group of nine-year-olds talk about why numbers with a zero at the end are so important. And just in case you were in any doubt how much anniversaries inform the Radio 4 schedule, this is all being broadcast on the 10th anniversary of another programme on exactly the same subject. Producer: Hannah Marshall Assistant Producer: Elly Lazarides A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4 From book publishers to Radio 4 commissioners, why are we so interested in anniversaries? |
| Our Bodies, Ourselves | 20210424 | | Five decades on, Laura Barton looks back at the creation of Our Bodies, Ourselves - a revolutionary text in the history of women's liberation. Written and published by a group of women who met in 1969 at a Women's Liberation Conference, and who later formed the Boston Women's Health Book Collective, it discussed sexual health, sexual orientation, birth control, abortion, pregnancy, childbirth, menopause, consent and abuse. Interweaving women's personal stories with practical, clearly written information, it encouraged women to not only get to know their own bodies but to enjoy their sexuality. It became one of the best-selling feminist texts of all time, updated repeatedly across the decades with the most recent edition coming out in 2011. In this Archive on 4, we hear new interviews with some of the Our Bodies, Ourselves founders - Miriam Hawley, Wendy Sanford, Norma Swenson, Jane Pincus, Judy Norsigian and Vilunya Diskin - alongside vivid recordings from the feminist movement at the time and archives from the project over the decades. We explore the freedom that can come from self-knowledge - the power in knowing how we work, on not having to defer to others for explanation of our pain or our pleasure and delve into how the text has been adapted across borders with current OBOS board member Diana Namumbejja Abwoye. We also hear from sex educators and writers inspired by Our Bodies, Ourselves, as Laura examines what factors can shape our access to information. With archive from the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, WDEE and WAMU Presented by Laura Barton Produced by Eleanor McDowall A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4 Five decades on, Laura Barton looks back at a revolutionary text for women's liberation. Five decades after its publication in 1970, Laura Barton looks back at the creation of Our Bodies, Ourselves - a revolutionary text in the history of women's liberation. Written and published by a group of women who met in 1969 at a Women's Liberation Conference, and who later formed the Boston Women's Health Book Collective, it discussed sexual health, sexual orientation, birth control, abortion, pregnancy, childbirth, menopause, consent and abuse. Interweaving women's personal stories with practical, clearly written information, it encouraged women to not only know their own bodies but to enjoy their sexuality. In this Archive on 4, we hear new interviews with some of the Our Bodies, Ourselves founders, alongside vivid recordings from the feminist movement at the time. The programme delves into the world of sex education films across the decades and explores how previous publications have illuminated (or not) an understanding of how our bodies work. We also hear from contemporary sex educators and writers inspired by Our Bodies, Ourselves, as Laura examines what governs our access to information and how the furious debate rages on around how to educate young minds on their own bodies. Five decades on, Laura Barton looks back at the revolutionary text for women's liberation. |
| Our Obsession With Weather | 20101106 | 20101108
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20141130 (BBC7) |  The author Iain Sinclair presents a timely illustrated essay on that uniquely British obsession - the weather. Why has the seemingly-mundane weather forecast been an obsession for listeners and viewers since the early days of broadcasting? What does it tell us about our national character and the role of broadcasting in our lives? The first weather forecasts lasted five minutes and resembled a military briefing. Today they last a couple of minutes but viewers barely pay any attention, they recall little of what the forecasters said. Weather forecasters call for more time but does anyone place too much faith in the BBC's weather forecast anymore? We'll hear from the forecasters - Michael Fish, Bill Giles and Sian Lloyd - what does it mean to be at the forefront of the British public's interaction with their favourite subject? Along the way we'll hear evocative archive of extreme weather events like: floods of '53, hard winter of 63, red rain in '68, summer of '76 and the gales of '87. Messing with the weather is a tricky business. The latest style of TV graphics, the infamous tilting map called the fly over, caused disapproval up and down the country. Why was our Pleasant Land coloured brown not green? Proud Scots protested that their country appeared diminished- surely another example of bias from the South East of England? Iain will ask what role the weather plays in our culture - any writer purposefully tuned to the language of the moment will be obliged to employ the weather as a moral sub-text, a framing device, a ceiling of depression - weather as prediction. Weather as a liquid mirror in which the writer, reads our future. A curious link develops between the great winds of 16 October 1987 and the collapsing financial markets on Black Monday. Producer: Barney Rowntree A Somethin Else production for BBC Radio 4. Iain Sinclair asks what the weather means to us? The author Iain Sinclair presents a timely illustrated essay on that uniquely British obsession - the weather. Why has the seemingly-mundane weather forecast been an obsession for listeners and viewers since the early days of broadcasting? What does it tell us about our national character and the role of broadcasting in our lives? The first weather forecasts lasted five minutes and resembled a military briefing. Today they last a couple of minutes but viewers barely pay any attention, they recall little of what the forecasters said. Weather forecasters call for more time but does anyone place too much faith in the BBC's weather forecast anymore? Messing with the weather is a tricky business. The latest style of TV graphics, the infamous tilting map called the fly over, caused disapproval up and down the country. Why was our Pleasant Land coloured brown not green? Proud Scots protested that their country appeared diminished- surely another example of bias from the South East of England? Iain will ask what role the weather plays in our culture - any writer purposefully tuned to the language of the moment will be obliged to employ the weather as a moral sub-text, a framing device, a ceiling of depression - weather as prediction. Weather as a liquid mirror in which the writer, reads our future. A curious link develops between the great winds of 16 October 1987 and the collapsing financial markets on "Black Monday. Iain Sinclair finds out why the weather forecast has always been a national obsession. Iain will ask what role the weather plays in our culture - any writer purposefully tuned to the language of the moment will be obliged to employ the weather as a moral sub-text, a framing device, a ceiling of depression - weather as prediction. Weather as a liquid mirror in which the writer, reads our future. A curious link develops between the great winds of 16 October 1987 and the collapsing financial markets on Black Monday. |
| Our Sacred Story | 20201107 | | Alec Ryrie argues that the Second World War is our modern sacred narrative, as well as underpinning our collective sense of what constitutes good and evil. Alec is Professor of the History of Christianity at Durham University, and in this programme he will blend news archive with fiction, film and serious works of history and commemoration, to chart the development of this new sacred narrative. He'll show how Adolf Hitler became the most potent moral figure in our culture and Nazism became the reference point for good and evil; how fictional portraits such as Sauron, Darth Vader and Voldermort echo the notion of Hitler; and why in a society where religious symbols have less potency than they once did, no visual image packs the same emotional punch as a swastika. Alec will hear from Simon McCallum, BFI National Archive Curator, about how wartime and post-war film handled WW2. Dr Debra Ramsay will explain the interplay between Cold War politics and portrayals of Germany. Daniel Truhitte, who played the most famous fictional Nazi of all time - Rolf in the Sound of Music - tells Alec how he prepared for, and improvised, the film's famous final scene. And Dr. Dimitra Fimi, co-director for Fantasy and the Fantastic at the University of Glasgow analyses how the evil in Tolkien's world was influenced by the Nazis. Alec also speaks to Michaela Kuchler, President of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, to Professor Gavriel Rosenfeld, about the way in which the Holocaust came to be a defining characteristic of the Second World War, to YouTuber Jackson Bird about evil in Harry Potter, and to Black Lives Matter activist Imarn Ayton about Churchill. Producers: Giles Edwards and Daniel Kraemer. Alec Ryrie argues that the Second World War is our modern sacred narrative. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives |
| Ovid In Changing Times | 20170204 | |  In the 2000 years since Ovid's final metamorphoses back into base matter, his masterpiece has inspired writers, composers, artists, doctors, scientists and all those who want change to pursue the idea of transformation both physical and metaphorical. In this Archive on Four, Tom Holland explores Ovid's pagan hymn to transformation and traces its echoes through our cultural and natural world. Producer Mark Rickards. Tom Holland explores Ovid's approach to change. |
| Pandora's Ballot Box | 20191116 | | Since the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke in the pages of The Observer, there has been an unprecedented level of attention paid to the possible influence of digital technology upon elections. The heads of social media platforms have been questioned repeatedly by Select Committees in the UK and Senate Committees in America, quizzed about funding, fake accounts and interference in politics by the Russian authorities, leading some to talk of the potential demise of functioning democracy. In ‘Pandora's Ballot Box', Professor Philip Cowley of Queen Mary College, University of London, will argue that while there are good reasons for us to be worried, in fact many of these same anxieties can be witnessed being provoked by the introduction of much earlier, non-digital technologies, such as radio, TV, polling and even political posters. All of these, as Philip will show, have been both exploited by tech-savvy party operatives and simultaneously accused of simplifying and coarsening political discourse. Archive includes phonograph recordings of Teddy Roosevelt and a secret TV screen test of Winston Churchill, and Philip talks with Martin Moore, Laura Beers, Stephanie Hare and Chris Burgess, to find out whether the issues we face in the digital age mark a significant and qualitative increase in the threat technology poses to the integrity of our elections. Produced by Geoff Bird Philip Cowley explores how technology influenced elections long before the digital age. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives |
| Panorama Broke My School | 20190921 | | The personal story of how a single TV documentary affected a London secondary, and had a role in creating today's school system. 1977 was the year of the Yorkshire Ripper, Star Wars, the Silver Jubilee and Roots. It was also the year the BBC came to Faraday High School, a large comprehensive in East Acton, to make a remarkable fly-on-the-wall documentary for Panorama, called ‘The Best Days?' It was a vision – or a nightmare – of everything critics thought was wrong with progressive, comprehensive multicultural education at its height. Viewers saw chaotic classrooms where teachers with few resources were out of their depth, working amidst an almost total lack of discipline. They also saw caring, sympathetic teaching - but this was largely forgotten. The school found its name in the national newspapers every day, as part of a rising concerns about what was going on in classrooms. This was only two years before Mrs Thatcher – a former education secretary – swept to power, promising a radical shakeup in British schooling. Her policies - a national curriculum, more testing, strengthened school inspections and league tables - were largely continued by subsequent Labour governments, especially in England and Wales. Shabnam Grewal was a Faraday student when the Panorama team filmed in her school and her very class. She later became a BBC journalist and herself produced episodes of Panorama. For Archive on 4, she tracks down and speaks to the film's director, teachers who featured in it, academics researching the changing nature of secondary education, experts in education policy and her fellow former pupils. Researcher: Eleanor Biggs How a 1977 TV documentary about one London school helped change education policy. How a single documentary both led to the closure of a London secondary, and had a role in creating today's school system. 1977 was the year of the Yorkshire Ripper, Star Wars, the Silver Jubilee and Roots. It was also the year the BBC came to Faraday High School, a large comprehensive in East Acton, to make a remarkable fly-on-the-wall documentary for Panorama, called ‘The Best Days ?' It was a vision – or a nightmare – of everything critics thought was wrong with progressive, comprehensive multicultural education at its height. Viewers saw chaotic classrooms where teachers with few resources were out of their depth, working amidst an almost total lack of discipline. The film was a disaster for the school. With its name in the national newspapers every day and its reputation in tatters, admissions fell fast. Within a few years it shut down. This was only two years before Mrs Thatcher – a former education secretary – swept to power, promising a radical shakeup in British classrooms. Her policies - a national curriculum, more testing, strengthened school inspections and league tables - were largely continued by subsequent Labour governments, especially in England and Wales. How a 1977 programme shut down a London school, and affected national education policy |
| Pe - A History Of Violence | 20190209 | | When Matthew Sweet was taking his daughter to secondary school open days, he noticed a pattern emerging - the PE teachers were intelligent and thoughtful people with clear and sophisticated ideas about the social and psychological benefits of their subject. What had happened to the PE teachers of old, who were represented in popular culture by bullies and drill sergeant types like Mr Sugden in Kes and Bullet Baxter in Grange Hill? He sent out a tweet - “Why was PE the only subject in which humiliation was considered part of the learning process?” Hours later, he had collected literally hundreds of traumatic anecdotes – a culture of bullying and sadism, described by students put off sport for life. In PE – A History of Violence, Matthew haunts the gyms, playing fields and communal changing rooms of PE's past, to interrogate former PE teachers. What's the point of PE? Did it once do more harm than good? “Team spirt?” says a young teacher from a Dagenham comprehensive school in a Panorama from the 1980s, “You mean the team spirit that managed to get so many thousands and millions of people killed in World War I? A decade earlier, in a series about physical education, Ron Pickering suggested that dance was “the most controversial element of physical education. Matthew finds followers of Rudolf Laban and PE pioneer Madame Österberg. He also meets a tortuous bully in Andrew Davies' 1970 play, Is That Your Body, Boy? Nearing retirement and struggling to come terms with the changing curriculum, Cracker Carstairs mourns the loss of the old PE lessons. “I am not afraid of pain. That is what life is all about.” With Dr Anne Elliott, sports scientist and senior lecturer at the London Sports Institute, Middlesex University and Margaret Whitehead, former physical education teacher, PE consultant and editor of Physical Literacy: Throughout the Lifecourse. A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4 Was there a time when physical education did more harm than good? He sent out a tweet - “Why was PE the only subject in which humiliation was considered part of the learning process? ? Hours later, he had collected literally hundreds of traumatic anecdotes – a culture of bullying and sadism, described by students put off sport for life. “Team spirt? ? says a young teacher from a Dagenham comprehensive school in a Panorama from the 1980s, “You mean the team spirit that managed to get so many thousands and millions of people killed in World War I? A decade earlier, in a series about physical education, Ron Pickering suggested that dance was “the most controversial element of physical education. Matthew finds followers of Rudolf Laban and PE pioneer Madame Österberg. He also meets a tortuous bully in Andrew Davies' 1970 play, Is That Your Body, Boy? Nearing retirement and struggling to come terms with the changing curriculum, Cracker Carstairs mourns the loss of the old PE lessons. “I am not afraid of pain. That is what life is all about. ? He sent out a tweet - Why was PE the only subject in which humiliation was considered part of the learning process? Hours later, he had collected literally hundreds of traumatic anecdotes a culture of bullying and sadism, described by students put off sport for life. In PE A History of Violence, Matthew haunts the gyms, playing fields and communal changing rooms of PEs past, to interrogate former PE teachers. Whats the point of PE? Did it once do more harm than good? Team spirt? says a young teacher from a Dagenham comprehensive school in a Panorama from the 1980s, You mean the team spirit that managed to get so many thousands and millions of people killed in World War I? A decade earlier, in a series about physical education, Ron Pickering suggested that dance was the most controversial element of physical education. Matthew finds followers of Rudolf Laban and PE pioneer Madame րsterberg. He also meets a tortuous bully in Andrew Davies 1970 play, Is That Your Body, Boy? Nearing retirement and struggling to come terms with the changing curriculum, Cracker Carstairs mourns the loss of the old PE lessons. I am not afraid of pain. That is what life is all about. |
| Peak Hype | 20191207 | 20191226 (R4) | Is it, the essential grease for the wheels of commerce, signifiers to the malaise of the modern age, or indispensable tool to make yourself heard? Hype or hyperbole is many things to many people and in one way or another it can be argued that it deeply affects us all. It played havoc with presenter Murray Lachlan Young. Once hyped as the million-pound poet, it all got out of control and he ended up seeking refuge in a wood - for three years! Murray has been interested in hype ever since. Where does it come from? Can it be controlled? Is it always bad, and what does it say about public discourse and ideas when, to be heard, it often seems you are compelled to shout loudest? In Peak Hype he explores the archive, reaching back to the First World War and the man who evolved the techniques which were used by others to persuade people to do almost anything - from fun things like buying more stuff than you need, to acquiescing in the murder or imprisonment of their friends and neighbours. Hype was at heart of governments' post-war reconstruction strategies and powered everything from Beatlemania, punk, the celebrity obsession and the sunny uplands of the consumer society, where brands nosily competed for our attention and our money. It may have been loud but it wasn't 'peak'. It has taken the invention of the smart phone to put a hype superhighway in our pockets. In this programme, Murray speaks to PR stars Lynne Franks, Mark Borkowski and Simon Evans and cultural commentators Richard Wharton and Darla Jane Gilroy and asks have we reached 'peak hype' and what does that mean? Murray Lachlan Young traces the rise of hyperbole and asks: Have we reached Peak Hype? Murray has been interested in hype ever since. Where does it comes from? Can it be controlled? Is it always bad, and what does it say about public discourse and ideas when, to be heard, it often seems you are compelled to shout loudest? Hype was at heart of governments post-war reconstruction strategies and powered everything from Beatlemania, punk, the celebrity obsession and the sunny uplands of the consumer society, where brands nosily competed for our attention and our money. |
| Per Ardua Ad Astra: Raf Voices | 20180331 | 20210427 (BBC7)
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20210502 (BBC7) | From top brass to gunners, pilots and ground crew, the voices of a much-respected service. When the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service merged on April 1st, 1918, Britain witnessed the creation of an extraordinary new armed service - one that the existing Army and Navy greeted with suspicion and distrust. Here was a fully-fledged force, complete with exotic flying machines and pilots who seemed to have stepped out of the pages of an adventure book for boys. Their devil-may-care attitude and sang froid in the face of the fledgling German Air Force, and the completely haphazard construction of the machines they flew, gained them a reputation and respect that the RAF still enjoys a hundred years later. The average speed of the canvas and wire machines of the First World War was 50mph, while jets today can fly at over 1500 mph, but there was something about the act of flying at speed over the heads of those on the ground that evoked a feeling of freedom. Of course, the WW1 pilots knew and felt this freedom and a mystique grew up around their exploits - a mystique mingled with the bitter-sweet and made even more poignant by the fact that the average life of a First World War pilot was just three weeks. In the Second World War, the lifespan of a fighter pilot was again short and often brutal. This programme features of the voices of some of the survivors of those conflicts, and from more recent theatres of war such as Desert Storm and Afghanistan. To listen in to the pilots is chilling as they fly through enemy fire and - certainly in the early days - in planes with engines that could fail at any time, where the navigation systems were so rudimentary that they little idea where they were or where they were heading. A Spools Out production First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2018. A Spools Out production for BBC Radio 4. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives A Spools Out production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Period Drama Politics | 20160910 | 20210718 (BBC7)
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20190915 (BBC7) | Steven Fielding, Professor of Political History at Nottingham University, asks whether the portrayal of class relations in period dramas - Downton Abbey, Upstairs Downstairs and Noël Coward's play Cavalcade - had any political effect. Steven sees striking parallels between the dramas; all three are set in the early decades of the twentieth century in wealthy households with servants; all three portray the relationship of the upper classes with their servants as essentially benevolent; all three appeared at times of national crisis (the 1930s, the 1970s and after the 2008 financial crash); and a Conservative government was voted in after each one. Steven investigates whether there is a pattern here. Are these dramas just comforting entertainment or could they have had a subtle effect on voting habits? And how accurate is the portrayal of relations between the ruling classes and their servants? Featuring a specially recorded interview with Downton creator Julian Fellowes, and an archive interview with the Script Editor of Upstairs Downstairs, Alfred Shaughnessy, that hasn't been broadcast before. With archive material from Noël Coward, Sheridan Morley, Jean Marsh, Eileen Atkins, and Sir John Gielgud, and contributions from Coward's biographer Philip Hoare, Upstairs Downstairs expert Richard Marson, and Selina Todd, Professor of Modern British History at Oxford University. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2016. Steven Fielding on relations between upstairs and downstairs in dramas like Downton Abbey. Steven Fielding, Professor of Political History at Nottingham University, asks whether the portrayal of class relations in period dramas - Downton Abbey, Upstairs Downstairs and Noël Coward's play Cavalcade - had any political effect. Steven sees striking parallels between the dramas; all three are set in the early decades of the twentieth century in wealthy households with servants; all three portray the relationship of the upper classes with their servants as essentially benevolent; all three appeared at times of national crisis (the 1930s, the 1970s and after the 2008 financial crash); and a Conservative government was voted in after each one. Steven investigates whether there is a pattern here. Are these dramas just comforting entertainment or could they have had a subtle effect on voting habits? And how accurate is the portrayal of relations between the ruling classes and their servants? Featuring a specially recorded interview with Downton creator Julian Fellowes, and an archive interview with the Script Editor of Upstairs Downstairs, Alfred Shaughnessy, that hasn't been broadcast before. With archive material from Noël Coward, Sheridan Morley, Jean Marsh, Eileen Atkins, and Sir John Gielgud, and contributions from Coward's biographer Philip Hoare, Upstairs Downstairs expert Richard Marson, and Selina Todd, Professor of Modern British History at Oxford University. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2016. Steven Fielding on relations between upstairs and downstairs in dramas like Downton Abbey. Steven Fielding, Professor of Political History at Nottingham University, asks whether the portrayal of class relations in period dramas - Downton Abbey, Upstairs Downstairs and Noël Coward's play Cavalcade - had any political effect. Steven sees striking parallels between the dramas; all three are set in the early decades of the twentieth century in wealthy households with servants; all three portray the relationship of the upper classes with their servants as essentially benevolent; all three appeared at times of national crisis (the 1930s, the 1970s and after the 2008 financial crash); and a Conservative government was voted in after each one. Steven investigates whether there is a pattern here. Are these dramas just comforting entertainment or could they have had a subtle effect on voting habits? And how accurate is the portrayal of relations between the ruling classes and their servants? Featuring a specially recorded interview with Downton creator Julian Fellowes, and an archive interview with the Script Editor of Upstairs Downstairs, Alfred Shaughnessy, that hasn't been broadcast before. With archive material from Noël Coward, Sheridan Morley, Jean Marsh, Eileen Atkins, and Sir John Gielgud, and contributions from Coward's biographer Philip Hoare, Upstairs Downstairs expert Richard Marson, and Selina Todd, Professor of Modern British History at Oxford University. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2016. Steven Fielding on relations between upstairs and downstairs in dramas like Downton Abbey. 
Steven Fielding on relations between upstairs and downstairs in dramas like Downton Abbey. Steven Fielding, Professor of Political History at Nottingham University, asks whether the portrayal of class relations in period dramas - Downton Abbey, Upstairs Downstairs and Noël Coward's play Cavalcade - had any political effect. Steven sees striking parallels between the dramas; all three are set in the early decades of the twentieth century in wealthy households with servants; all three portray the relationship of the upper classes with their servants as essentially benevolent; all three appeared at times of national crisis (the 1930s, the 1970s and after the 2008 financial crash); and a Conservative government was voted in after each one. Steven investigates whether there is a pattern here. Are these dramas just comforting entertainment or could they have had a subtle effect on voting habits? And how accurate is the portrayal of relations between the ruling classes and their servants? Featuring a specially recorded interview with Downton creator Julian Fellowes, and an archive interview with the Script Editor of Upstairs Downstairs, Alfred Shaughnessy, that hasn't been broadcast before. With archive material from Noël Coward, Sheridan Morley, Jean Marsh, Eileen Atkins, and Sir John Gielgud, and contributions from Coward's biographer Philip Hoare, Upstairs Downstairs expert Richard Marson, and Selina Todd, Professor of Modern British History at Oxford University. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2016. The programme features a specially recorded interview with Downton creator Julian Fellowes, and an archive interview with the Script Editor of Upstairs Downstairs, Alfred Shaughnessy, that hasn't been broadcast before. |
| Pete Seeger At 90 | 20090502 | 20090504 | Vincent Dowd celebrates the life and work of American folk singer and activist Pete Seeger Vincent Dowd celebrates the life and work of American folk singer and activist Pete Seeger, as he turns 90. Drawing on BBC archives and new interviews, Vincent explores Seeger's continuing efforts to improve the world through the power of song. He hears Seeger's views on a range of issues and his hopes for the future under the leadership of Barack Obama, at whose inauguration he performed. Featuring some of the musicians who have interpreted Seeger's songs, including Marlene Dietrich, Joan Baez and Bruce Springsteen, and an unplugged version of This Land is Your Land by Seeger himself. Vincent Dowd celebrates the life and work of American folk singer and activist Pete Seeger, as he turns 90. Drawing on BBC archives and new interviews, Vincent explores Seeger's continuing efforts to improve the world through the power of song. |
| Peter And The Wolf | 20141220 | 20170513 (BBC7)
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20141226 (R4) | Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf has been recorded more often than any other piece of classical music - over 400 times in more than a dozen languages. The narration has been spoken by everyone from David Bowie to Eleanor Roosevelt, Boris Karloff to Christopher Lee, Bill Clinton to Sting. The orchestras have been conducted by Leonard Bernstein, Leopold Stokowski, André Previn and countless others. It has helped introduce generations of children to the instruments of the orchestra and the concept of telling a story through music. But there have only been four recordings ever issued in the Russian language and none in any of the other Soviet languages. In Russia, Peter has a completely different reputation. Peter and the Wolf had its public premiere on 5th May 1936 at the Central Children's Theatre in Moscow, in front of an audience of 'Young Pioneers' dressed in their red ties. Performances were preceded by talks on topics such as civil defence, national unity and the responsibilities of children to the Soviet State. Peter and the Wolf has radically changed its meaning since 1936. It's a musical work which everyone has heard of and most people know, but which has never been closely examined with the seriousness it deserves. Christopher Frayling assesses the enduring appeal of this tale. Has it been ghettoised as 'children's music'? Why are celebrities queuing up to narrate it? Why does it have such a low reputation in Russia-and why does it have such a high reputation everywhere else? Produced by Barney Rowntree and Nick Jones A Hidden Flack production for BBC Radio 4. Christopher Frayling explores the untold story behind the creation of Prokofiev's classic. A Hidden Flack production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Pevsner: Through Outsider's Eyes | 20160625 | 20181208 (R4) |  Tom Dyckhoff goes in search of Nikolaus Pevsner. Tom Dyckhoff goes in search of Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the art historian and perennial outsider who did more than anyone else in recent memory to open our eyes to the art and architecture of Britain. Englishness is the purpose of my journey, Nikolaus Pevsner wrote to his wife in 1930 on his first trip to this country at the age of 28. It might stand as an emblem for the rest of his working life. Pevsner was an arch-classifier - rigorous and systematic - and when he turned his gaze towards architecture he saw not just buildings but a morality play – a story of identity, of imagined pasts and possible futures. Arguably his greatest achievement - and the one for which he's best remembered - is the Buildings of England series of guidebooks. For nearly thirty years Pevsner buckled up and took to the highways and by-ways on an obsessive architectural stock take that covered the whole of England, county by county. The 46 volumes he put together combine into a kind of an architectural Domesday Book – the most detailed inventory of British architecture ever published. The Buildings of Scotland and Wales would follow. The series is still on-going, still being revised and updated. Guidebooks, churches, country houses. Cosy stuff. But there are bigger things at stake when we look back at Pevsner's life and work. It provides a lens through which to view ourselves - and to think about how others see us. And Pevsner may seem like a nostalgic, tweedy figure from a distance, but up close we can see - and hear - someone much more interesting than that. Sir Nikolaus worked his way to the centre of British society, living through a testing of what it meant to be English and British, during the Second World War. But he never stopped being an outsider. Featuring writer and cultural historian Ian Buruma; Pevsner's biographer Susie Harries; writer and architect Charles Jencks; David Matless, geographer and author of Landscape and Englishness; media historian Jean Seaton; and Neil Stratford, one-time driver and assistant to Pevsner on three of his journeys for the Buildings of England. Producer: Martin Williams Englishness is the purpose of my journey," Nikolaus Pevsner wrote to his wife in 1930 on his first trip to this country at the age of 28. Pevsner was an arch-classifier - rigorous and systematic - and when he turned his gaze towards architecture he saw not just buildings but a morality play - a story of identity, of imagined pasts and possible futures. For nearly thirty years Pevsner buckled up and took to the highways and by-ways on an obsessive architectural stock take that covered the whole of England, county by county. The 46 volumes he put together combine into a kind of an architectural Domesday Book - the most detailed inventory of British architecture ever published. The Buildings of Scotland and Wales would follow. The series is still on-going, still being revised and updated. Brilliant stories told using archive from the BBC and beyond |
| Pinter On Air | 20090131 | 20090202 | Ian Smith, author of Pinter in the Theatre and a friend of the late playwright, rediscovers the vital role that a series of successful radio and television dramas played in making Harold Pinter's name. He draws on a recently released archive of letters written to Pinter by listeners and viewers of these plays. They strikingly reveal how audiences well beyond London's West End responded to the broadcasts, many of them written not for the stage but specially for radio or TV. Ian also uses Pinter's early revue sketches and a letter from Sid James to examine how Pinter's work was not just funny, but foreshadowed much mainstream British TV comedy, from Steptoe and Son to Smith and Jones. He explores the way in which BBC Radio's Third Programme nurtured the teenage Pinter's enthusiasm for culture and subsequently hired him as an actor and how, in the wake of the flop of his first major stage play at the end of the 1950s, it was BBC Radio that sustained him as a writer. Ian delves into the BBC archive to listen to the early Pinter classics which flowed from these commissions, such as A Slight Ache. He reunites some of the cast of one of Pinter's early hits, A Night Out, to find out what it was like working on one of the very first Pinter scripts. Finally, he examines how, in the 1960s, television repeatedly won Pinter an audience of millions for his work. He watches some of Pinter's original plays for TV, including Tea Party and The Basement, and hears from some of those most closely involved in making them. Ian discovers that these pieces allowed Pinter to push his highly original dramatic strategies to their limits, and how they were a vital part of his breakthrough as one of Britain's greatest dramatic writers. Featuring contributions from Sir Peter Hall, Barbara Bray, Michael Bakewell, Christopher Morahan, Dominic Sandbrook, Benedict Nightingale, Michael Rosen, Eileen Diss, Philip Saville, Auriol Smith, John Rye and Hugh Dickson. The role that radio and TV dramas played in making Harold Pinter's name. |
| Play For Today | 20201017 | | Alison Steadman celebrates 50 year since Play for Today was launched on BBC television. The series ran from 1970 until 1984 and offered the audience hundreds of plays, many of which tackled the thorny issues of the day - industrial relations, the rise of the far right, poverty and consumerism. The series also included classics such as Abigail's Party and Nuts in May - which starred Alison Steadman and shone a perceptive light on suburban pretentions and preoccupations. This archive-rich programme includes contributions from Mike Leigh and Ken Loach. We also talk to Margaret Matheson who produced Scum, the play about life in a borstal which was banned by the BBC; Paula Milne, one of the few women writers on the series; and Maureen Lipman, who was given an early acting role in Play for Today and whose late husband Jack Rosenthal was responsible for Bar Mitzvah Boy and Spend, Spend, Spend, the tragic story of pools winner Vivien Nicholson. The landscape of drama on the small screen has now expanded enormously with vast choice and an imperative to run any drama over several episodes. So is there still a place for the single-episode 'play'? Was there a beauty and a discipline in that which we have lost? We talk to today's very successful television dramatist Jack Thorne. Presented by Alison Steadman Produced by Michael Umney and Susan Marling A Just Radio production in collaboration with the BFI. Alison Steadman celebrates 50 years of BBC television's seminal drama series. |
| Playing Doctors And Nurses | 20120303 | 20141025 (BBC7)
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Mark Lawson on the rich history of medical programmes, fact and fiction, on radio and TV. Since the broadcasts of the Radio Doctor encouraged the British to open their bowels during the Second World War, the bowels of broadcasting organisations have filled up with factual and fictional series featuring doctors and nurses. Mark Lawson visits the BBC's written archives centre in Caversham and reads through programme files detailing reactions to some of the Radio Doctor scripts, worries about the accuracy of early documentary dramas and behind the scenes information about the making of well known series including Dr Finlay's Casebook, The Singing Detective and Angels. He meets the doctor turned writer Richard Gordon, whose name adorns the jackets of the Doctor in the House books, which have been adapted as film, tv and radio series. And he talks to the former medic Jed Mercurio, who created the TV series Cardiac Arrest, which is regularly voted the most realistic medical drama in polls of medical professionals. Actor Alan Alda explains how his role in Mash helped to save his life and we hear whether Hugh Laurie (star of House) and Helen Baxendale (star of Cardiac Arrest) believe doctors should be seen as heroic figures. Mal Young, the former head of continuing drama serials at the BBC, discusses having to answer complaints about realism, graphic footage and political bias in Casualty and Holby City. Programme makers' responsibilities are debated by Roger Graef, whose many documentaries about aspects of medicine include Inside Great Ormond Street, and who chairs the Mental Health Media Awards: honouring accurate depictions of psychiatric illness in medical fact and fiction. Dramas which have been condemned by the medical profession for giving patients false hopes of salvation or resuscitation are now used to train would be doctors - what does Richard Gordon think of this trend? Producer: Robyn Read. |
| Playing The Dane | 20101023 | 20101025 | In anticipation of his own Hamlet in 2011, Michael Sheen explores every actor's dream role In anticipation of his own stage Hamlet in 2011, Michael Sheen looks back at classic productions of the play and the many different interpretations of a young actor's most coveted role. The last few years have seen a glut of high-profile Hamlets in the British theatre, culminating recently with Rory Kinnear at the National Theatre in London and John Simm at Sheffield Crucible. Michael Sheen, who is due to play the role at the Young Vic in 2011, asks why Shakespeare's play remains very much the thing for 21st century audiences. He considers the rich archive of Hamlets from the theatre, cinema and radio archives, starting with Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree in 1908 and journeying to the present-day, taking in the interpretations of John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton, Jonathan Pryce, Kenneth Branagh and David Tennant, as well as female Hamlets, Sarah Bernhardt and Frances de la Tour. Michael explores the challenges of a role that has become a rite-of-passage for leading actors, arguing that Hamlet is the most dangerous play that exists, but that our culture has made it safe. He examines the changing political, social and psychological interpretations of the role that holds a mirror up to history, from the Edwardian stage through Freud, Modernism and two World Wars, to Thatcherism and New Labour. Michael is joined by other famous Hamlets, who reflect on the challenges of bringing something fresh and unexpected to some of the most famous lines in English literature. Produced by Emma Harding. |
| Please Give Generously | 20100220 | 20100222 | ![]() Fergal Keane looks at the relationship between charity and the media. Fergal Keane examines the history of charity appeals and the relationship between charity organisations and the media. Be it a malnourished child in Africa, a neglected dog or a day centre desperately in need of new equipment, it seems that there is no end to the number of people, animals or organisations that could benefit from a charitable donation. And if charities can harness the power of the media with a hard-hitting advert, a celebrity endorsement or an emergency appeal, then it is likely that their cause will reap far greater financial rewards. Fergal charts the history of the relationship between charity and the media, and considers the way the message is conveyed, the impact of celebrity endorsement, the quality of charity programmes and the responsibility and risks to the media in encouraging us to make a donation. The history of charity and the media goes back to the earliest days of broadcasting. The BBC's first charity appeal was in 1923, when it broadcast an appeal on radio for the Winter Distress League, a charity representing homeless veterans of the First World War. The appeal raised 26 pounds. In 1927 the BBC set up the Appeal Advisory Committee, whose role, to this day, is to decide on the BBC's choice of charity partners and to oversee campaigns including The Radio 4 Appeal, Comic Relief and Emergency Appeals such as the Haiti Earthquake Appeal, which was broadcast recently. Commercial broadcasters have also played their part in raising money for charity. In 1988 ITV launched its own all-night charity appeal, in the guise of the ITV Telethon. The 27-hour TV extravaganza saw all of its regional broadcasters come together to raise money for disability charities across the UK and the programme was repeated again in 1990 and 1992. In 2009, Sky Sports ran an interactive red button campaign during the Champions League final so that viewers could donate to a David Beckham-endorsed campaign to raise awareness of malaria. Programme contributors: Diane Reid, BBC Charity Appeals Advisor Lucy Polson, UK Representative for the charity SOS Sahel Caroline Diehl, chief executive of the Media Trust Jenni Murray, broadcaster John Grounds, director of Child Protection Consultancy. Be it a malnourished child in Africa, a neglected dog or a day centre desperately in need of new equipment, it seems that there is no end to the number of people, animals or organisations that could benefit from a charitable donation. And if charities can harness the power of the media with a hard-hitting advert, a celebrity endorsement or an emergency appeal, then it is likely that their cause will reap far greater financial rewards. The history of charity and the media goes back to the earliest days of broadcasting. The BBC's first charity appeal was in 1923, when it broadcast an appeal on radio for the Winter Distress League, a charity representing homeless veterans of the First World War. The appeal raised 26 pounds. In 1927 the BBC set up the Appeal Advisory Committee, whose role, to this day, is to decide on the BBC's choice of charity partners and to oversee campaigns including The Radio 4 Appeal, Comic Relief and Emergency Appeals such as the Haiti Earthquake Appeal, which was broadcast recently. Commercial broadcasters have also played their part in raising money for charity. In 1988 ITV launched its own all-night charity appeal, in the guise of the ITV Telethon. The 27-hour TV extravaganza saw all of its regional broadcasters come together to raise money for disability charities across the UK and the programme was repeated again in 1990 and 1992. In 2009, Sky Sports ran an interactive red button campaign during the Champions League final so that viewers could donate to a David Beckham-endorsed campaign to raise awareness of malaria. |
| Please Leave A Message After The Tone | 20190928 | | The voicemail is falling out of favour - and fast. It's increasingly seen as inefficient, impractical, even old-fashioned. Writer and broadcaster Olly Mann charts its rise, fall and strange afterlife. As our communications move ever more towards email, text, DMs and the rest, the etiquette, culture and unique characteristics of the voicemail and answerphone message are under threat. As a podcaster, Olly Mann is fascinated by the voicemail. Leaving a voicemail message is not about having a conversation, but it can be an imagined conversation. It can be a performance of sorts. While it may seem a relic of the late 20th Century, some of the biggest news events of this millennium have involved voicemails - including the phone hacking scandal where journalists broke into private messages and brought down the News of the World, and the ‘Sachsgate' affair which started with an answering machine message. There are also a few surviving voicemails sent by victims of the 9/11 attacks. Olly explores how voicemails have given life to, and fed the plots of, films and TV programmes and impacted on many genres of music, as well as documentary - and daily life. As more people ignore that red icon at the bottom corner of the phone screen, are these disembodied monologues worth saving? Featuring cognitive neuroscientist Professor Sophie Scott, audio producer Davia Nelson, film critic for the Observer Simran Hans, tech journalist for Guardian US Kari Paul, and trumpeter and music producer Keyon Harrold. A Voicemail Valentine extracts used with thanks to Phono Post Archive and Radio Diaries. Portrait of an Artist as an Answering Machine was produced by The Kitchen Sisters (Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva) with Valerie Velardi. Extracts from The Sonic Memorial Project were produced by The Kitchen Sisters (Nikki Silva and Davia Nelson). Producer: Richard Ward Archive Research: Thomas Rees Mixing Engineer: Mike Woolley Executive Producer: Russell Finch A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4 Are we hanging up on the voicemail? Olly Mann charts its rise, fall and strange afterlife. The voicemail is falling out of favour, and fast - it's increasingly seen as inefficient, impractical, even old-fashioned. For Archive on 4, writer and broadcaster Olly Mann charts its rise, fall and strange afterlife. As our communications have moved ever more towards email, text, DMs, WhatsApp and the rest, the subtle etiquette and culture of the voicemail is under threat. As a podcaster and tech writer, Olly Mann is fascinated by the ways in which we talk into the void and what this says about our interactions in a digital world. Leaving a voicemail message is not about having a conversation, but it can sometimes be an imagined conversation. It can be a performance of sorts. While it may seem a relic of the late 20th Century, some of the biggest news events of this millennium have involved voicemails. Memorably, the phone hacking scandal where journalists broke into private messages by exploiting the lax default security PIN settings and brought down the News of the World. The ‘Sachsgate' affair all started with an answering machine message and changed the careers of two of the UK's highest-paid stars. The final voicemails sent by victims of the September 11 Attack provided chilling insight into the terror of 9/11. Alongside this, Olly explores how voicemail's dramatic irony and other unique characteristics have given life to, and fed, the plots of films and TV programmes, as well as its impact on music, daily life and documentary. As more and more people ignore that red icon at the bottom-right-hand corner of our phone screens, are these disembodied monologues worth saving? Archival research: Thomas Rees |
| Poetry For Sale? | 20200627 | | Poet and copywriter Rishi Dastidar on the relationship between poetry and advertising. Why are so many brands using poets and poems to sell their products now? Does it work? And is it new? Through poems, interviews and archive material, poet and copywriter Rishi Dastidar explores the long relationship between poetry and advertising – from the poets who have worked in advertising and those writing new poems for brands; to the companies which have used classic poems in their marketing; to the language itself and how poetic techniques work on us, and why advertisers might want to use them. Rishi finds recordings of Clive James, WH Auden, Allen Ginsberg, Fay Weldon and George Orwell in programmes from the BBC Archives. And to bring things up to date, he speaks to: Portland-based Matthew Dickman, author of four collections of poetry and copywriter for some of the biggest ads of the last ten years, for brands such as Nike and Chrysler. To poet Jo Bell (Kith; How to be a Poet), who has written for Nationwide's advertising campaigns; and to Jim Thornton, Deputy Executive Creative Director of advertising agency VCCP, who commissions poets to write for Nationwide's ads. He also speaks to poets Will Harris (Rendang, Mixed-Race Superhero) and Clare Pollard (Incarnation; Editor of Modern Poetry in Translation) about why some poets don't feel comfortable writing for ads. As copywriter, Rishi Dastidar has written for a wide number of brands including O2 and Barclays. His second poetry collection, Saffron Jack, was published in the UK in 2020 by Nine Arches Press. Image Credit: Jeremy Deller - More Poetry Is Needed, 2014 St Mary's Car Park, Swansea - Commissioned by Locws International for Art Across The City, Swansea, 2014 Courtesy of The Artist and The Modern Institute/ Toby Webster Ltd., Glasgow Photo: Locws International Produced by Mair Bosworth |
| Political Patriarchs | 20101204 | 20101206 | The influence of the political father has long been a defining aspect of politics, but how has this relationship changed actual decisions made and what impact do these ghostly forebears have on the supposedly meritocratic Westminster scene today? David Cameron described his father, after his death this autumn, as one of the biggest influences on his politics. Ed Miliband's victory speech cited his Marxist father's influence on his thinking and determination - and David has quoted him repeatedly. In Political Patriarchs Westminster columnist Anne Mcelvoy charts some of the most influential relationships of leading politicians and their fathers, from the Chamberlain family business of Joe and Austen, to Winston Churchill shaping his ambitions according to his father Randolph - and the fathers who have shaped politics to the present day. In it, she uses the BBC archive, surprisingly rich in this subject, and does new interviews with people like Margaret Thatcher's biographer Charles Moore about the formative influence of her father Alderman Roberts, cut with her own recollections of her father as the guiding spirit of her beliefs. She also charts the Left's intriguing attachment to its own brand of heredity in dynasties like the Foots, Benns and the Milibands. The programme also explores the culture and psychological roots of the father-child inheritance and asks if political offspring consciously try to redress the failings of their fathers in a different context. Producer: Rebecca Stratford. Anne Mcelvoy assesses the influence of the political father. David Cameron described his father, after his death this autumn, as one of the biggest influences on his politics. Ed Miliband's victory speech cited his Marxist father's influence on his thinking and determination - and David has quoted him repeatedly. |
| Politics Between The Covers | 20091121 | 20091123 | ![]() Delving into the seamier side of politics to consider the line where fact meets fiction. From The West Wing to The Thick of It, politics lends itself to high drama. Politicians themselves often write thinly-disguised versions of their own experiences as fiction, and films and TV are awash with fictionalised versions of the political world. Does it really represent a truthful portrayal of the machinations of government, and to what extent can powerful fiction influence those in positions of power? Mark Lawson delves into the seamier side of politics to consider the fascinating line where fact meets fiction. From The West Wing to The Thick of It, politics lends itself to high drama. Politicians themselves often write thinly-disguised versions of their own experiences as fiction, and films and TV are awash with fictionalised versions of the political world. Does it really represent a truthful portrayal of the machinations of government, and to what extent can powerful fiction influence those in positions of power? |
| Polling Badly | 20190316 | | From the sounds of protest songs to clashes on the streets, the so-called Poll Tax is widely regarded as one of the big political missteps of the 20th century. Formally known as the Community Charge, the tax was one of Margaret Thatcher's flagship policies - and one which contributed to her downfall as Prime Minister. Now, 30 years on since the introduction of the tax in Scotland, Margaret Thatcher's successor John Major has warned that Universal Credit could cause the same sort of problems for Theresa May's Government. But is that really the case? Sarah Smith talks to: Lord William Waldegrave, an architect of the policy, who believes it had an intellectual beauty but was ultimately flawed Labour politicians Lord David Blunkett and Dame Margaret Hodge who fiercely campaigned against it Lord Michael Heseltine who brought down the policy and Margaret Thatcher with it. How do they look back on the policy and how it was implemented? Sarah also talks to campaigners and policy-makers about whether lessons have been learnt from the Poll Tax, or if Universal Credit is falling victim to the same mistakes. Producer: Ellie Clifford Executive Producer: Deborah Dudgeon A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4 Sarah Smith asks whether the mistakes of the Poll Tax are about to be repeated. |
| Pop Star Philosophy | 20180804 | | Broadcaster and comedian Steve Punt scours the archives to exhume the often pretentious and opinionated philosophical outpourings of pop stars through the ages. With the help of music journalists Paul Morley, Kate Mossman, DJ and record producer Ras Kwame and surprising soundbites from the archive, Steve explores the concept of the pop star as philosopher. From pop star hobbies, to politics and theories of aliens and the Illuminati, Steve explores the attempts of pop stars to make sense of a chaotic world. Presenter: Steve Punt Producer: Georgia Catt. Comedian Steve Punt exhumes the philosophical outpourings of pop stars through the ages. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives A journalist sent to interview Yes ended up with a 30-minute lecture on vegetarianism. Christianity will go, said John Lennon in 1965. It will vanish and shrink. Journalists, who knew good copy when they heard it, encouraged these outpourings, and the safer the stars felt, the more loquacious they became. With the help of music journalists Paul Morley and Kate Mossman, and surprising sound bites from the archive, Steve explores the concept of the pop star as philosopher. From pop star lifestyle advice on diet and self-help, to politics and theories of aliens and the Illuminati, Steve explores the attempts of pop stars to make sense of a chaotic world. Producer: Georgia Catt. |
| Portraying Real Lives | 20140329 | 20160514 (BBC7)
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Maxine Peake explores the challenges of playing factual characters. Actress Maxine Peake meets with actors and, in a series of one to one conversations, discusses the challenges of portraying the real-life character as opposed to the fictional. Maxine Peake has tackled many factual roles, including Tracey Temple in Confessions of a Diary Secretary, Joan le Mesurier in Hancock and Joan, the title role in The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister, Anne Scargill in Queens of the Coal Age, Stephen Hawking's secretary in the 2015 film The Theory of Everything, and her infamous portrayal of Myra Hindley in See No Evil. Most actors will only face a critical backlash if their portrayal of King Lear or Jimmy Porter does not meet expectation, but what happens if their subject is real? How does this change the actor's approach to the character research, is it better or worse to meet them, does this restrict the boundaries or increase the empathy? And what happens if that character is regarded as evil in the public psyche? In discussion with friends and colleagues such as Michael Sheen, Sally Hawkins, Patricia Hodge, Monica Dolan, Shaun Evans and Anne Scargill we discover how different the approach can and has to be. Producer: Elizabeth Foster. First broadcast as part of BBC Radio 4's Character Invasion. From 2014. As a part of Radio 4's Character Invasion, , actress Maxine Peake meets with actors and, in a series of one to one conversations, discusses the challenges of portraying the real-life character as opposed to the fictional. Brilliant stories told using archive from the BBC and beyond |
| Powers Of Persuasion: How Britain Learned To Sell | 20190126 | | Designer Wayne Hemingway examines 100 years of British advertising on film and television, with special behind-the-scenes access to the one of the world's largest advertising collection at the British Film Institute. Wayne follows advertisers' first hesitant steps into both the big and small screen. It was a time when America was the global player. Beginning with films as early as 1900, he discovers how Britain carefully set itself apart from global advertising trends, crafting a model perfectly fine-tuned for our nation – the subtle, soft sell. But it is this unique subtlety that took Britain to its most controversial moments in advertising – when entire series were banned for being duplicitous. Wayne draws parallels to modern day Britain, comparing how advertisers always try to break the rules in new mediums. The BFI collection also contains many of the cinematic, directorial debuts from the mad men who went to Hollywood. Wayne investigates their timeless ads that created the Golden Era of advertising, and how each of them drew on tropes of British identity and archetypes of British society to sell to us. Most theories on advertising suggest that it doesn't actually input ideas into society – rather that it reflects them back. Yet this archive points to the moments when advertisers fuelled certain movements and fortified idealistic notions, re-defining and re-directing our sense of self and what it means to be British. Produced by Anishka Sharma and Kate Holland A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4 Wayne Hemingway charts 100 years of British advertising examining how we learned to sell. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Designer Wayne Hemingway examines 100 years of British advertising on film and television, with special behind-the-scenes access to the one of the worlds largest advertising collection at the British Film Institute. Wayne follows advertisers first hesitant steps into both the big and small screen. It was a time when America was the global player. Beginning with films as early as 1900, he discovers how Britain carefully set itself apart from global advertising trends, crafting a model perfectly fine-tuned for our nation the subtle, soft sell. But it is this unique subtlety that took Britain to its most controversial moments in advertising when entire series were banned for being duplicitous. Wayne draws parallels to modern day Britain, comparing how advertisers always try to break the rules in new mediums. Most theories on advertising suggest that it doesnt actually input ideas into society rather that it reflects them back. Yet this archive points to the moments when advertisers fuelled certain movements and fortified idealistic notions, re-defining and re-directing our sense of self and what it means to be British. |
| Presenting The Past - How The Media Changes History | 20120915 | 20131109
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20161009 (BBC7) |  Juliet Gardiner on how directors, writers and producers achieve authenticity in their work Change has swept through the way history is presented to the public. Programmes, films and books dealing with the past used to emphasise authority and accuracy as their great strengths. While those elements are still valued, argues historian and broadcaster Juliet Gardiner, the over-riding aim now has become to present an authentic view of the past. But how is that achieved? And what happens when the desire for authenticity conflicts with the facts? Drawing on her role as an historical adviser on television programmes, feature films and to writers of historical fiction over the years, Juliet Gardiner shows how directors, writers and producers achieve authenticity in their work and how this affects the history we see, read and hear. She also lifts the veil on behind-the-scenes tensions and disagreements over how far the facts should be bent to achieve the precious authentic "feel". Taking her examples from documentaries, recent movies, dramas and books as well as children's programmes, Juliet Gardiner presents a lively and revealing personal essay on how the ways of presenting history have evolved - and how they have in turn shaped the way we, the public, see and think about the past. |
| Priestley's Postscripts | 20100522 | 20100524
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20140914 (BBC7) | ![]() Martin Wainwright explores the hugely popular WWII radio broadcasts of JB Priestley. Archive on Four marks the 70th anniversary of a broadcasting phenomenon - the story of how Yorkshire man J.B. Priestley became the voice of the nation during the darkest days of the Second World War. Using original broadcasts, information stored in BBC files and interviews with his son Tom Priestley and step son Nicolas Hawkes, Archive on Four revisits these extraordinary broadcasts and asks why, in spite of their astonishing popularity, Priestley was taken off air. Presented by Martin Wainwright. Producers: Catherine Plane and Phil Pegum. |
| Prisoners Of Conscience Revisited | 20131207 | | Twenty five years ago, the film-maker Rex Bloomstein began producing human rights appeals for BBC television. 'Prisoners of Conscience' ran for five years and Bloomstein asked many high profile figures, including James Callaghan, Judi Dench and Tom Stoppard, to tell the stories of prisoners of conscience from all over the world. More than sixty cases were featured - journalists, politicians, academics, writers, clerics as well as ordinary people - all imprisoned unjustly or for their beliefs. Now Bloomstein revisits some of those stories and discovers what has happened since. When were the prisoners released? How did they recover? And what have they done since? Malawian poet Jack Mapanje recalls being arrested by police officers who admitted even they didn't know why he was being detained. Mapanje spent three years in prison for a crime that has never been revealed to him. Bloomstein also hears from South Korean academic Professor Suh Sung who was arrested for being a North Korean spy. The torture to confess endured by Sung, drove him to attempt suicide by setting himself on fire. There's also the Palestinian scientist Dr. Jad Ishaq whose life was changed forever after being held in an Israeli detention centre; and Maryam al-Khawaja, niece of the Bahraini pro-democracy activist Salah al-Khawaja, who is in prison again in Bahrain after the Arab Spring. Other interviewees include the Vietnamese democracy campaigner Dr Nguyen Dan Que, the Cuban poet Ernesto Diaz Rodriguez and human rights lawyer Philippe Sands. Rex Bloomstein also investigates the current landscape for prisoners of conscience in a post 9/11, war-on-terror world and asks what has really changed. Producers: Simon Jacobs and Rex Bloomstein A Unique production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Prisoners Of Conscience Revisited | 20131214 | | |
| Profumo Confidential | 20130525 | | In 1963 Tom Mangold covered the Profumo Affair for the Daily Express. Minister of War John Profumo had admitted to an affair with Christine Keeler, who was allegedly also having an affair with a Russian Spy. The scandal led to the Minister's downfall, hastened the departure of the Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and led to the suicide of 'society osteopath' Stephen Ward, who had friendships with all the players and a louche life-style, and was hounded to trial on the flimsiest allegations of living on immoral earnings. Hours before that trial verdict was due, Tom Mangold visited Stephen Ward, only to find him writing suicide notes. Shortly after Mangold left, Ward killed himself. In Profumo Confidential, Tom Mangold stands back from the assignment of his life half a century ago, to explain and to reveal new facets of the event which more than any other etched the shape of a generation and changed the face of Britain for ever. A few weeks ago Mangold acquired some remarkable new documents - the private notes of the right hand man to Lord Denning whose report on the scandal was published fifty years ago. The notes offer an extraordinary insight behind the scenes of the Denning investigation - as well as containing a vivid snapshot of Britain in the early sixties, as one ageing generation fought desperately to keep the swinging sixties at bay. Mangold has also obtained the full manuscript of Ward's unpublished autobiography and, in this programme, Stephen Ward appears to speak from the grave - condemning the establishment hypocricies closing in on him. The programme also features a full and exclusive broadcast interview with Mandy Rice-Davis, Christine Keeler's erstwhile companion. Producer: Adam Fowler A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Pulped Fiction | 20140510 | 20160701 (R4) |  
What makes a literary reputation last? Who's 'in' and who's on the way 'out'? The writer DJ Taylor examines the question of literary reputations and how they rise and fall. Is talent alone enough to ensure survival? Taylor argues that what allows a writer's work to endure is not straightforward merit, but something far more complex: an immensely subtle calibration of talent with the preoccupations of the age that follows. Tone, taste, fashion and luck all play a part. Taylor speaks to the writers Louis de Bernieres, Tracy Chevalier and David Lodge as well as to Professor Dame Hermione Lee, the critic Peter Kemp and to Simon Winder, the Publishing Director of Penguin Press. Along the way he'll discuss writers whose reputation have waxed and waned. He'll ask which writers deserve to be brought back and which ones are on the slide... |
| Questioning The Political Interview | 20200111 | | The political interview is facing questions on many fronts. As is the case with every general election, journalists and broadcasters have come under intense scrutiny for the way they probe and challenge elected politicians. But something felt different for the December 2019 election. Prominent politicians refused to appear on certain programmes or face traditional one-to-one encounters that were the hallmark of previous elections. Many prefer to take to social media to deliver their key messages and soundbites rather than sit in a studio for an extended period. Politicians and interviewers sometimes seem increasingly unhappy with set-piece exchanges. Have broadcasters changed their approach? Do interviewers believe a more combative approach is more effective or has that strayed into unpleasant exchanges that put off audiences? In this programme Andrew Marr explores recent examples and discusses how the format should rise to the challenges it now faces, with the former chancellor George Osborne, Newsnight's editor Esme Wren, Sky News political editor Beth Rigby, the former Labour adviser James Mills, and the playwright James Graham. Producer: Peter Snowdon How can the political interview adapt to a changing political and media landscape? A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives |
| Racial Equality Enshrined | 20151205 | |  On the 50th anniversary this month of Britain's first Race Relations Act, Ritula Shah considers the role of legislation in ending racial discrimination. She is joined by Lord Lester of Herne Hill who helped draw up the original legislation in 1965. We hear how a handful of determined and passionate liberals gathered evidence of the need for anti-racist legislation in Britain, while the newly-arrived immigrant communities in London, Bristol and Birmingham campaigned unflinchingly for their equal rights, pressing leaders to take action. But for all the jubilation when the law was enshrined, it was, in Lester's words, 'pathetic'. The legislation applied only to certain public places and excluded housing and employment. Also, it was almost impossible to enforce. In 1968, the Act was refreshed and improved, and yet the Commonwealth Immigrants Act of the same year revealed the law's two faces-- repelling stateless East Africans with British passports on the one hand and pushing for racial equality on the other. In 1976, the Act was amended once again, addressing more subtle forms of 'indirect' discrimination, but it would take an inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993 before the law tackled its own enforcement- targeting racism within the police force. Over the course of 50 years, the law has been polished and refined to create a fairer and more equal society. But, Ritula asks, with fears about immigration on the rise, will the experience of the past half century help us navigate the challenges ahead? A Cast Iron Radio production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Radio Dada | 20161001 | | Alexei Sayle on the cultural impact of the Dada movement, 100 years since it was founded. Alexei Sayle explores the cultural impact of the Dada movement, 100 years since it was founded. On 5th of February 1916 a small group of poets, artists and musicians gathered in Zurich at the Cabaret Voltaire nightclub. The gathering would become recognised as the birth of Dada, a nihilistic movement that emerged in response to the trauma of The Great War. Dada was anti-art, anti-bourgeois, anti-establishment. anti-Dada. From the performance of nonsense poems with a backdrop of gigantic cucumbers, to vitriolic manifestos decrying bourgeois culture, the Dadaists forged a set of anarchic strategies, attitudes and philosophies that would sweep across Europe and America - 'the chaos from which a thousand orders rise', forever changing not only perceptions, but the very definitions of art. Comedian, writer and one-time art student Alexei Sayle explores the absurdist sounds of a movement that may have been fleeting, but has had a profound impact on the art, music and comedy of the 20th and 21st centuries - from the Goons to Lady Gaga via hay-eating pianos and conceptually rich tunafish sandwiches. With thanks to: filmmaker Helmut Herbst for excerpts from his Dada documentary, Trio EXVOCO for their recording of Karawane by Hugo Ball, KRAB FM for their interview recording with George Maciunas. Presenter: Alexei Sayle Producer: Chris Elcombe A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Radio Hollywood | 20091114 | 20091116
20100405 (R4) |  How the Lux Theatre brought the silver screen to the airwaves in an unlikely alliance. Sponsored by a well-known 'toilet soap', the Lux Theater brought the silver screen to the airwaves, with specially adapted versions of new Hollywood products including The Philadelphia Story, The African Queen and The Wizard of Oz. Professor Jeffrey Richards takes us back to the place where cinema and radio united and produced an unlikely lovechild. From its first production in 1935, The Legionnaire and The Lady with Clark Gable and Marlene Dietrich, The Lux Radio Theater strove to have the same stars as the films. Over its 19-year history, it boasted the biggest names in Hollywood - Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Frank Sinatra, Spencer Tracy and many more. Sometimes the original players were not available, so the Theater offered audiences a glimpse of an alternative universe, as listeners discovered what these films would have been like with different actors. On a few occasions the radio version boasted a more stellar cast, for instance when Cary Grant stood in for Montgomery Clift in I Confess. At the start of each show Cecil B De Mille offered 'greetings from Hollywood', gave a short introduction to the film and told listeners a little about the stars. Twenty-five minutes later, he would turn up in the interval for some 'movie news', which was a barely-concealed advertisement for Lux and its frothy lather, and would return at the end for an informal and, of course, unscripted chat with the actors, in which they would invariably reveal their preference for a well-known toilet soap. These productions were performed live with full orchestra, and the audience's reaction was often audible, which occasionally put the actors off their lines. They also had to be half an hour shorter, and were therefore much pacier than the originals, while retaining key dialogue - so phrases like 'this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship' and 'round up the usual suspects' are still present and correct in Casablanca. But being live presented its own problems, with stars sometimes falling ill the day before, or, on one occasion, arriving at the studio 10 minutes after transmission had begun. |
| Radio Hollywood | 20091114 | 20100405 | ![]() Sponsored by a well-known 'toilet soap', the Lux Theater brought the silver screen to the airwaves, with specially adapted versions of new Hollywood products including The Philadelphia Story, The African Queen and The Wizard of Oz. Professor Jeffrey Richards takes us back to the place where cinema and radio united and produced an unlikely lovechild. From its first production in 1935, The Legionnaire and The Lady with Clark Gable and Marlene Dietrich, The Lux Radio Theater strove to have the same stars as the films. Over its 19-year history, it boasted the biggest names in Hollywood - Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Frank Sinatra, Spencer Tracy and many more. Sometimes the original players were not available, so the Theater offered audiences a glimpse of an alternative universe, as listeners discovered what these films would have been like with different actors. On a few occasions the radio version boasted a more stellar cast, for instance when Cary Grant stood in for Montgomery Clift in I Confess. At the start of each show Cecil B De Mille offered 'greetings from Hollywood', gave a short introduction to the film and told listeners a little about the stars. Twenty-five minutes later, he would turn up in the interval for some 'movie news', which was a barely-concealed advertisement for Lux and its frothy lather, and would return at the end for an informal and, of course, unscripted chat with the actors, in which they would invariably reveal their preference for a well-known toilet soap. These productions were performed live with full orchestra, and the audience's reaction was often audible, which occasionally put the actors off their lines. They also had to be half an hour shorter, and were therefore much pacier than the originals, while retaining key dialogue - so phrases like 'this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship' and 'round up the usual suspects' are still present and correct in Casablanca. But being live presented its own problems, with stars sometimes falling ill the day before, or, on one occasion, arriving at the studio 10 minutes after transmission had begun. How the Lux Theatre brought the silver screen to the airwaves in an unlikely alliance. |
| Radio Sales | 20090314 | 20090316
20100111 (R4) | Radio presenter Brian Hayes examines the history of radio advertising in the UK. Radio presenter Brian Hayes examines some of the best and worst of independent radio - the adverts. He looks back over the last 80 years of advertising on radio in the UK, the rise and fall of the jingle, how ads have used humour and the changing voices of radio adverts. Brian also looks back to the earliest radio advertising in the UK - on Radio Luxembourg during the interwar period - which drew on expertise from the US and was remarkably sophisticated for its time. The programme features contributions from DJs who have relished their role of on-air salesmen, including Tony Blackburn. Brian Hayes looks back over 80 years of advertising on radio in the UK. Amid the changing fashions he finds some of the most finely-crafted, punchy, emotional and entertaining radio, as well as some of the most amateurish. |
| Radio Sales | 20090314 | 20100111
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Brian Hayes looks back over 80 years of advertising on radio in the UK. Amid the changing fashions he finds some of the most finely-crafted, punchy, emotional and entertaining radio, as well as some of the most amateurish. Radio presenter Brian Hayes examines some of the best and worst of independent radio - the adverts. He looks back over the last 80 years of advertising on radio in the UK, the rise and fall of the jingle, how ads have used humour and the changing voices of radio adverts. Brian also looks back to the earliest radio advertising in the UK - on Radio Luxembourg during the interwar period - which drew on expertise from the US and was remarkably sophisticated for its time. The programme features contributions from DJs who have relished their role of on-air salesmen, including Tony Blackburn. Radio presenter Brian Hayes examines the history of radio advertising in the UK. He looks back over the last 80 years of advertising on radio in the UK, the rise and fall of the jingle, how ads have used humour and the changing voices of radio adverts. Brian also looks back to the earliest radio advertising in the UK - on Radio Luxembourg during the interwar period - which drew on expertise from the US and was remarkably sophisticated for its time. |
| Radiolab | 20130413 | | , an American public radio programme, has been on the air for over ten years. Its co-creators, Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich (who are also the presenters), say it's somewhere inbetween science and the humanities. It certainly breaks down the conventions of science and, for that matter, most broadcast journalism. Made by WNYC, New York Public Radio, it has fans around the world - two million people download their podcasts each month. The show itself has won a prestigious Peabody award. Neither Jad nor Robert have a scientific background and they aren't afraid to demonstrate how they try to understand a scientific study or theory and sometimes can't get a handle on it. They engage in what appears to be effortless banter, deftly handling topics that might seem intimidating at first sight. Scientists taking part include Oliver Sacks and Richard Dawkins. They don't come over as authority figures and often reveal their personal stories. British neuropsychologist Paul Broks, who is a regular contributor, says "I like the idea that they leave things hanging. Popular science programmes usually wrap things up too tightly, but science isn't like that". Although they are a generation apart, Robert and Jad appear to be equals. They take on subjects like sperm, colour, the nature of numbers, stress, the afterlife, symmetry, the evolution of altruism and race. While respecting the science, they're not afraid to have fun and complain that 'there's not enough joy in public radio'. So their hour-long shows recreate experiments, employ radio drama, singing and occasionally, audience participation. Producer: Judith Kampfner A Corporation for Independent Media production for BBC Radio 4. Radiolab, an American public radio programme, has been on the air for over ten years. Its co-creators, Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich (who are also the presenters), say it's somewhere inbetween science and the humanities. It certainly breaks down the conventions of science and, for that matter, most broadcast journalism. Made by WNYC, New York Public Radio, it has fans around the world - two million people download their podcasts each month. The show itself has won a prestigious Peabody award. |
| Raise Your Game | 20200912 | | Jay-Ann Lopez is a serious gamer - first-person-shooters a speciality. But across the gaming landscape, she sees a dominant culture which is not geared towards her: male, white and macho, with games, characters and narratives to match. Despite some games being targeted at women since the 1980s and independent gaming companies challenging the status quo for decades, this culture has remained mainstream. She ask why that particular gaming culture has remained so resilient, and what shaped it. And what part it plays in the misogyny and racism facing many gamers today. Using the treasures of the BBC archive, she transports us back to defining moments in our relationship with video games. She watches Pong, Manic Miner, Lara Croft and Fortnite working their magic and climbing inside our minds. And watches the industry grow: today gaming is bigger than music and movies combined. Jay-Ann debates the tensions and opportunities in this vast landscape with sociologists, psychologists and gaming industry insiders. Produced by Melvin Rickarby for BBC Wales Jay-Ann Lopez asks if toxic gaming culture can change. |
| Raise Your Glasses - A History Of The After-dinner Speech | 20110813 | 20110815
20151010 (BBC7)
20151011 (BBC7) |  Arthur Smith scours the archives for the best and worst after-dinner speeches in history. He also tries to find out if there's a winning formula for the perfect speech. Arthur Smith searches for the best and worst after-dinner speeches in history. Arthur Smith scours the archives for the best and worst after-dinner speeches. Is there a winning formula? From August 2011. Arthur Smith scours the archives for the best and worst after-dinner speeches in history. He also tries to find out if there's a winning formula for the perfect speech. |
| Ray Gosling: Sum Total | 20140503 | |  Ray Gosling was a voice - a great voice to hear on the radio, or to read on the page, or to draw you into a TV screen. Until his death in 2013, he was also a contradiction. As a young man he stood up for the underdog, and challenged local council slum clearance plans in the St Annes district of his adopted home, Nottingham. And he was always a significant campaigner for gay rights in the UK. But in 1979 he voted for Margaret Thatcher, regretting it afterwards. He was eccentric and - for some - difficult to work with. But he remained popular in the street, and on the public transport he always used. It often seemed his broadcasting work might dry up, but he kept re-inventing himself. Never having cared about money, he went bankrupt after his partner died in the late 1990s, then lost his house, but made award-winning TV documentaries about his predicament. When his career finally imploded in 2010, after making false admissions of "mercy" killing on television, people far and wide wondered: why? While this programme cannot claim to know the real answer, it identifies the inner conflicts and flaws that made Ray Gosling's talent - his voice - so original in the first place. In this programme, writer and publisher of Ray's work, Mark Hodkinson, talks to people who knew Ray Gosling best, including his sister Juliet, his friends in Nottingham, London and Manchester, and people who worked with him, in the BBC and ITV. We hear about his bohemian and rackety life, starting as a teddy boy in the 1950s and a habitue of Soho in the 60s - and his relationships with, among others, Brian Epstein, T.S. Eliot, Joe Orton, Beryl Bainbridge, Francis Bacon and Colin MacInnes. And we rediscover Ray's voice in the words he spoke and wrote, from his earliest published work in books like Sum Total to the broadcast work in which he found the extraordinary in "ordinary" people and places, in programmes he made for BBC radio including Who Owns Britain, Gosling In The High Street, and Semi Detached From Reality, and television, including Two Town Mad, On Site, Bankrupt and Ray Gosling: OAP. |
| Read My Lips: Why Politicians Speak The Way They Do | 20150214 | | Tony Blair's former Chief of Staff Jonathan Powell explores the principles which underlie some of the most famous political speeches of the last century. Why do politicians reiterate things three times? Why do they never say "sorry"? How much work goes into the most innocuous phrase? Interviews include American pollster Frank Luntz, and impressionist Rory Bremner. |
| Rebel Rebel | 20140517 | 20180818 (BBC7)
20180819 (BBC7) |  Jonathan Agnew, the BBC's cricket correspondent and host of Test Match Special, looks back at the rebel cricket Tours to Apartheid era South Africa. Between 1981-1990 teams 'representing' England, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Australia all toured South Africa, despite a well established sporting boycott being in place. The Tours were often shrouded in secrecy and rumour with many of the cricketing authorities and players in South Africa unaware the tours were actually taking place until the teams landed. Those players that decided to tour were richly rewarded with rumours some of the more high profile names were offered as much as $250,000 to tour, but the decision to play came with consequences. The tours caused a public outcry with headlines on the front and back pages, questions and debates in parliaments, players were banned from cricket and some, especially the West Indian players, were totally ostracised by their communities and had to make a new life elsewhere. Rebel Rebel tells the story of these tours and finds out from those who decided to play was it, with the benefit of hindsight, worth the risks to their careers and reputations. Interviewees include Sir Vivian Richards, John Emburey, Clive Rice, Richard Ellison, Franklyn Stephenson, Nigel Felton and Andre Odendaal. Producer: Mark Sharman A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4. Jonathan Agnew looks back at the rebel cricket tours to South Africa between 1981-1990. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Rebuilding Britain For The Baby Boomers | 20111126 | 20130126
20160130 (BBC7)
20160131 (BBC7) |  
Maxwell Hutchinson on the architects who rebuilt Britain after the Second World War. Maxwell Hutchinson analyses the great push to re-build post war Britain. In the 1990's architect and broadcaster Maxwell Hutchinson began recording interviews with the men who re-built Britain after World War 2. These idealists - then in their eighties- told how they'd returned from war to a country ravaged by the Luftwaffe, determined to design a country fit for heroes. Many were graduates of the left-leaning Architectural Association and brought their radical ideas, influenced by le Corbusier and Walter Gropius, to building social housing for slum clearance families ; hospitals for the infant NHS; schools for the children of the Butler Education act; and bold new tower blocks that would transform the city skyline. Most of them worked for local authorities and saw their profession as a public service. These "duffle-coated pip-squeaks" as they were known, included Sir Phillip Powell ,Sir Andrew Derbyshire , Ivor Smith, Peter Smithson , the father of Brutalism; Lord Esher and Jim Cadbury Brown. Many have since died. Using these interviews, plus newsreel and contemporary archive , this programme captures that idealism and reflects the later disillusionment when modernism - and architects - fell out of fashion. 2011 was the fiftieth anniversary of Parkhill Flats, Sheffield. It was seen as the embodiment of the modernist movement - streets in the sky to replace the grim terraces bulldozed after the war to give families indoor lavatories, central heating and airy balconies. At first the families couldn't believe their luck - they loved their modern new homes. But as the building began to show cracks, and the community spirit failed to translate from slum-terrace to deck access, Parkhill Flats became a by-word for all that was rotten in the state of post war architecture. It wasn't long before residents starting chucking their rubbish over the balconies, and the flats became the new slums. Peter Smithson, once blamed the residents of his much criticised development, Robin Hood Gardens (a sister project to Parkhill) for letting the building go to rack and ruin; for "painting their doors purple" and not applying "the minor arts of occupation". Parkhill Flats - the largest listed building in Europe - is undergoing extensive renovation by the trendy developers Urban Splash; so the story of this emblematic building, which Sheffielders love and loathe in equal measure, is still a talking point. Maxwell Hutchinson goes back to Parkhill to see the renovation, talk to former residents and find out if the post-war dream of the young architects who designed this colossal building can be revived. Maxwell Hutchinson analyses the great push to re-build post war Britain on the fiftieth anniversary of the emblematic Parkhill Flats. These duffle-coated pip-squeaks as they were known, included Sir Phillip Powell ,Sir Andrew Derbyshire , Ivor Smith, Peter Smithson , the father of Brutalism; Lord Esher and Jim Cadbury Brown. 2011 is the fiftieth anniversary of Parkhill Flats, Sheffield. Peter Smithson, once blamed the residents of his much criticised development, Robin Hood Gardens (a sister project to Parkhill) for letting the building go to rack and ruin; for painting their doors purple and not applying the minor arts of occupation. It was seen as the embodiment of the modernist mArchive On 4 Redcar: Made Of Steel 20100731 20100802 As the last blast furnace on Teesside is mothballed, Felicity Finch - who plays Ruth in The Archers - returns to her home town of Redcar to mark the end of 170 years of steelmaking in the area. Iron and Steel fArchive On 4 Regulating The Press 20121117 Steve Hewlett explores the fraught history of attempts to regulate the British press. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives As the British press braces itself for the Leveson Report, Steve Hewlett explores past attempts to regulate it - or encourage it to regulate itself. Steve begins by discovering how offending publishers were treated in the seventeenth century, when if you were flogged down Fleet St to the pillory you were getting off relatively lightly. With the help of original documents from the period, he traces how, once licensing was lifted in 1695, the ideal of the free British press was born, only for real journalists and publishers to find themselves encumbered by taxes, libel laws and political influence. In the 1920s, the rising divorce rate gave journalists ample opportunity to report the salacious sexual details revealed in the consequent flurry of court cases. After a long period when governments had largely given up trying to regulate the press, the hardline Home Secretary, Sir William Joynson-Hicks moved a law to ban such unpleasantness. However, it was only after the Second World War that there was a new series of attempts not to regulate the press by law, but to find a way to avoid that - by fostering self-regulation. Steve finds out why the post-war period saw no less than three Royal Commissions on the Press - only for these to be followed by widespread objections in the 1980s that the press was out of control. Instances like the publication of a rape victim's photograph and some of the reporting of the Hillsborough disaster, along with political objections to the invasion of privacy, were followed by yet another Inquiry, led by Sir David Calcutt. And so, in 1990, the Government announced that the press was being given one final chance to make self-regulation work - or legal controls would follow. But that never happened. The Calcutt Report led to the setting up of the Press Complaints Commission, but was then shelved - a fact that has not gone unnoticed by Lord Justice Leveson. Producer: Phil Tinline. But that never happened. The Calcutt Report led to the setting up of the Press Complaints Commission, but was then shelved - a fact that has not gone unnotArchive On 4 In the 1990's architect and broadcaster Maxwell Hutchinson began recording interviews with the men who re-built Britain after World War 2. These idealists - then in their eighties- told how they'd returned from war to a country ravaged by the Luftwaffe, determined to design a country fit for heroes. Many were graduates of the left-leaning Architectural Association and brought their radical ideas, influenced by le Corbusier and Walter Gropius, to building social housing for slum clearance families ; hospitals for the infant NHS; schools for the children of the Butler Education act; and bold new tower blocks that would transform the city skyline. Most of them worked for local authorities and saw their profession as a public service. These duffle-coated pip-squeaks as they were known, included Sir Phillip Powell ,Sir Andrew Derbyshire , Ivor Smith, Peter Smithson , the father of Brutalism; Lord Esher and Jim Cadbury Brown. Many have since died. Using these interviews, plus newsreel and contemporary archive , this programme captures that idealism and reflects the later disillusionment when modernism - and architects - fell out of fashion. 2011 is the fiftieth anniversary of Parkhill Flats, Sheffield. It was seen as the embodiment of the modernist movement - streets in the sky to replace the grim terraces bulldozed after the war to give families indoor lavatories, central heating and airy balconies. At first the families couldn't believe their luck - they loved their modern new homes. But as the building began to show cracks, and the community spirit failed to translate from slum-terrace to deck access, Parkhill Flats became a by-word for all that was rotten in the state of post war architecture. It wasn't long before residents starting chucking their rubbish over the balconies, and the flats became the new slums. Peter Smithson, once blamed the residents of his much criticised development, Robin Hood Gardens (a sister project to Parkhill) for letting the building go to rack and ruin; for painting their doors purple and not applying the minor arts of occupation. |
| Redcar: Made Of Steel | 20100731 | 20100802 | ![]() As the last blast furnace on Teesside is mothballed, Felicity Finch - who plays Ruth in The Archers - returns to her home town of Redcar to mark the end of 170 years of steelmaking in the area. Iron and Steel from Teesside helped build the world - the name is stamped on structures from the Sydney Harbour Bridge to Canary Wharf. At one time there were more than a hundred blast furnaces lining the River Tees from Stockton to Redcar. Now, with the decommissioning of Redcar's Corus plant, it means the end of an industry which defined the region and defined it's people. It also means a bleak future for jobs on Teesside. It was the discovery of huge deposits of iron ore under the Cleveland Hills in the 1840's which prompted a mini-Klondyke and brought migrant workers from across the country and the continent to dig for rusty gold. Communities sprang up virtually over-night and Middlesbrough became known as Ironopolis , and was christened by Gladstone, An Infant Hercules. The deposits of iron ore ran out in the middle of the tewntieth century - but by then, the steel making industry was well established. The last of the Cleveland iron miners were recorded for posterity 20 years ago by a local film maker, Craig Hornby, who was curious to know more about his own history and heritage. The men - then in their 80's and 90's - told stories of life underground in an industry which had been over-shadowed by coal mining. Hornby was determined that their story should be heard - and released a film - about their lives and the way they'd helped build Teesside, which played to packed houses across the region. Archive of the old iron miners from Hornby's film A Century in Stone is included in the programme. Felicity Finch - who spent her childhood years in Redcar - revisits the region to see how much it's changed ; she climbs Eston Nab with Craig Hornby, visits the iron-rush settlement of California - named after the US gold rush city - and goes underground to see the old iron workings; she hears from workers at Corus who started - and finished - their careers at the Redcar blast furnace; and discovers how much identity is tied up with heavy industry in Teesside - a region often overshadowed by it's more assertive neighbours , Yorkshire to the south Durham and Newcastle to the north. Felicity Finch on the end of 170 years of steelmaking on Teesside. As the last blast furnace on Teesside is mothballed, Felicity Finch - who plays Ruth in The Archers - returns to her home town of Redcar to mark the end of 170 years of steelmaking in the area. Iron and Steel from Teesside helped build the world - the name is stamped on structures from the Sydney Harbour Bridge to Canary Wharf. At one time there were more than a hundred blast furnaces lining the River Tees from Stockton to Redcar. Now, with the decommissioning of Redcar's Corus plant, it means the end of an industry which defined the region and defined it's people. It also means a bleak future for jobs on Teesside. It was the discovery of huge deposits of iron ore under the Cleveland Hills in the 1840's which prompted a mini-Klondyke and brought migrant workers from across the country and the continent to dig for rusty gold. Communities sprang up virtually over-night and Middlesbrough became known as Ironopolis , and was christened by Gladstone, An Infant Hercules. The deposits of iron ore ran out in the middle of the tewntieth century - but by then, the steel making industry was well established. The last of the Cleveland iron miners were recorded for posterity 20 years ago by a local film maker, Craig Hornby, who was curious to know more about his own history and heritage. The men - then in their 80's and 90's - told stories of life underground in an industry which had been over-shadowed by coal mining. Hornby was determined that their story should be heard - and released a film - about their lives and the way they'd helped build Teesside, which played to packed houses across the region. Archive of the old iron miners from Hornby's film A Century in Stone is included in the programme. |
| Regulating The Press | 20121117 | 20180421 (BBC7)
20180422 (BBC7) | As the British press braces itself for the Leveson Report, Steve Hewlett explores past attempts to regulate it - or encourage it to regulate itself. Steve begins by discovering how offending publishers were treated in the seventeenth century, when if you were flogged down Fleet St to the pillory you were getting off relatively lightly. With the help of original documents from the period, he traces how, once licensing was lifted in 1695, the ideal of the free British press was born, only for real journalists and publishers to find themselves encumbered by taxes, libel laws and political influence. In the 1920s, the rising divorce rate gave journalists ample opportunity to report the salacious sexual details revealed in the consequent flurry of court cases. After a long period when governments had largely given up trying to regulate the press, the hardline Home Secretary, Sir William Joynson-Hicks moved a law to ban such unpleasantness. However, it was only after the Second World War that there was a new series of attempts not to regulate the press by law, but to find a way to avoid that - by fostering self-regulation. Steve finds out why the post-war period saw no less than three Royal Commissions on the Press - only for these to be followed by widespread objections in the 1980s that the press was out of control. Instances like the publication of a rape victim's photograph and some of the reporting of the Hillsborough disaster, along with political objections to the invasion of privacy, were followed by yet another Inquiry, led by Sir David Calcutt. And so, in 1990, the Government announced that the press was being given one final chance to make self-regulation work - or legal controls would follow. But that never happened. The Calcutt Report led to the setting up of the Press Complaints Commission, but was then shelved - a fact that has not gone unnoticed by Lord Justice Leveson. Producer: Phil Tinline. Steve Hewlett explores the fraught history of attempts to regulate the British press. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Producer: Phil Tinline. |
| Remembering Christopher Hitchens | 20190413 | | The life and times of Christopher Hitchens told through archive and interview. Presented by D D Guttenplan and featuring Martin Amis, Stephen Fry, Ian McEwan and Tony Blair. By the time of his death in December 2011, at the age of 62, Christopher Hitchens had become possibly the most famous journalist in the world. He started his career as a Trotskyist pamphleteer, writing on workers' self-management in Algeria for the journal International Socialist. He ended as the most eloquent propagandist for the Iraq war. Yet, far from damaging his reputation, this swerve to the right only added to his notoriety. Hitchens became a fixture on both British and American television, a feared debater, and the author of the atheist credo God is Not Great. He remains one of the most distinctive and influential voices of our era. D D Guttenplan, Editor at Large for The Nation magazine, speaks to some of Christopher Hitchens' friends and family in an effort to unwrap the enigma behind this most public of public men. Marking what would have been Hitchens' 70th birthday, Guttenplan looks behind the myth of the Hitch - a man who drank whiskey like water, smoked cigarettes as if his life depended on it, and wrote - so it was said - faster than most could read. Guttenplan examines how Hitchens stumbled out of Oxford with a third class degree and became the very model of a public intellectual, playing devil's advocate against the canonisation of Mother Theresa, pursuing Henry Kissinger, arguing about God with Tony Blair, and arguing against God with Daniel Dennett and Richard Dawkins - all while making himself a seemingly indispensible feature of the political landscape. An SPG production for BBC Radio 4 |
| Remembering Sue Townsend, Aged 68 And Three Quarters | 20150321 | 20191214 (BBC7)
20191215 (BBC7) |  Went out to feed the pig, and saw Townsend being driven along the lane, in her vulgar purple Rolls Royce. She waved, I didn't wave back. @AdrianMole, Jan 19, 2012 In 1970, Sue Townsend was a single mother of three with three jobs. While her children were asleep she secretly wrote semi-autobiographical prose and poetry, which she showed no-one. In 1980, a young actor asked Sue Townsend if she had anything he could use in an audition for 'Huckleberry Finn' – she gave him some handwritten entries of a diary of Nigel Mole By 1990 Sue Townsend had become the bestselling author of the 1980's in terms of individual books – out-stripping Jeffrey Archer, Jackie Collins and Barbara Taylor Bradford Sue Townsend died in 2014. Her legacy of one of the country's greatest comic writers is explored through her own interviews and through her many works (from her 1979 play 'Womberang' to her 2012 bestselling novel 'The Woman Who Went To Bed For A Year'). Excerpts include unpublished and previously unperformed TV soap, 'The Spinney' Also on hand are: her first and last publishers, Geoffrey Strachan and Louise Moore; theatre director and co-writer Carole Hayman; friend and agent Jane Villiers; and the man who since 1978 stood by her but consistently shunned her limelight, her husband – the normally silent Colin Broadway Presented by Pearce Quigley, the most recent Adrian Mole on the BBC – the representative voice from Middle England who in 2007 was commissioned to present a feature on Tony Blair's ten years as prime minister. Producer: Paul Kobrak First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2014. Adrian Mole's creator, Sue Townsend, is remembered by friends, family and in her own words Went out to feed the pig, and saw Townsend being driven along the lane, in her vulgar purple Rolls Royce. She waved, I didn't wave back." @AdrianMole, Jan 19, 2012 In 1980, a young actor asked Sue Townsend if she had anything he could use in an audition for 'Huckleberry Finn' - she gave him some handwritten entries of a diary of Nigel Mole By 1990 Sue Townsend had become the bestselling author of the 1980's in terms of individual books - out-stripping Jeffrey Archer, Jackie Collins and Barbara Taylor Bradford A year on from her death, the legacy of one of the country's greatest comic writers is explored through her own interviews and through her many works (from her 1979 play 'Womberang' to her 2012 bestselling novel 'The Woman Who Went To Bed For A Year'). Excerpts include unpublished and previously unperformed TV soap, 'The Spinney' Also on hand are: her first and last publishers, Geoffrey Strachan and Louise Moore; theatre director and co-writer Carole Hayman; friend and agent Jane Villiers; and the man who since 1978 stood by her but consistently shunned her limelight, her husband - the normally silent Colin Broadway Presented by Pearce Quigley, the most recent Adrian Mole on the BBC - the "representative voice from Middle England" who in 2007 was commissioned to present a feature on Tony Blair's ten years as prime minister. |
| Remembrance | 20111112 | 20151107 (BBC7)
20151108 (BBC7) | 
There are now no living survivors of the First World War, yet Remembrance Day has gained a new and powerful significance in the nation's life. Today we not only commemorate the war dead on Remembrance Sunday, we also mark the anniversary of the actual moment in 1918 when the guns stopped firing with a two minute silence. This custom, which ceased in 1939, was reinstated in 1995, meaning that today we remember the war dead more actively than any previous post war generation, and arguably more than at any time since the First World War itself. As Professor Jay Winter says, Remembrance is the spinal column that connects 1918 with 2011. While the ceremonial rituals of Remembrance have remained constant, their social and emotional meaning has changed over the years, mirroring the massive shifts in British society since their creation more than ninety years ago. Remembrance is now pivotal to British identity, as shaped by the collective memories of two great conflicts. The Second World War especially has infused our culture with feelings of pride, moral worth and British exceptionalism. The Remembrance ceremony has become a crucial moment to sustain this sense of ourselves, despite the more controversial legacy of modern wars. In this programme, Denys Blakeway explores the Act of Remembrance through recordings of the ceremony, and the debates surrounding it, and asks why Remembrance Day has become so important in the life of the modern British nation, despite the relatively few who have fallen in recent conflicts. With Professor David Cannadine, Professor Jay Winter, Dr. Adrian Gregory, Dr. Dan Todman, author Juliet Nicholson and forces chaplain, Padre Mark Christian. Producer: Melissa FitzGerald A Blakeway Production for BBC Radio 4. Denys Blakeway tells the story of the Act of Remembrance. There are now no living survivors of the First World War, yet Remembrance Day has gained a new and powerful significance in the nation's life. Today we not only commemorate the war dead on Remembrance Sunday, we also mark the anniversary of the actual moment in 1918 when the guns stopped firing with a two minute silence. This custom, which ceased in 1939, was reinstated in 1995, meaning that today we remember the war dead more actively than any previous post war generation, and arguably more than at any time since the First World War itself. As Professor Jay Winter says, Remembrance is "the spinal column that connects 1918 with 2011". While the ceremonial rituals of Remembrance have remained constant, their social and emotional meaning has changed over the years, mirroring the massive shifts in British society since their creation more than ninety years ago. Remembrance is now pivotal to British identity, as shaped by the collective memories of two great conflicts. The Second World War especially has infused our culture with feelings of pride, moral worth and British exceptionalism. The Remembrance ceremony has become a crucial moment to sustain this sense of ourselves, despite the more controversial legacy of modern wars. With Professor David Cannadine, Professor Jay Winter, Dr. Adrian Gregory, Dr. Dan Todman, author Juliet Nicholson and forces chaplain, Padre Mark Christian. This custom, which ceased in 1939, was reinstated in 1995, meaning that today we remember the war dead more actively than any previous post war generation, and arguably more than at any time since the First World War itself. As Professor Jay Winter says, Remembrance is the spinal column that connects 1918 with 2011. |
| Reporting Terror: 50 Years Behind The Headlines | 20170401 | |  Peter Taylor reflects on his 50 year career reporting terrorism. When Peter Taylor stepped nervously onto a plane in 1967, bound for the Middle East, he had no idea it was to be the start of a journalistic mission he would still be pursuing fifty years later. At the time terrorism was barely in our vocabulary. In the hundred or so documentaries he has made on the subject since then, Peter has tried to get behind the headlines to understand and explain a phenomenon which has grown to affect us all. Peter has reported the escalation of terrorism from the IRA and its Loyalist counterparts to Al Qaeda and the so called Islamic State. He has met the victims of terror, those involved in perpetrating terrorist acts and members of the intelligence services tasked with stopping them. Revisiting his own extraordinary archive has given Peter the chance to reflect on the evolution of terrorism and to recall some of his most memorable interviews. There are moments when the interviews are chilling, moments when they're shocking and at other points they provoked a sharp intake of breath - surprising me by how prophetic they were. (CORRECTION: The programme mistakenly stated that Billy Giles was released from prison under the Good Friday Agreement. Billy Giles was actually released in July 1997, the year before the agreement was signed). Producer: Joe Kent. At the time "terrorism" was barely in our vocabulary. In the hundred or so documentaries he has made on the subject since then, Peter has tried to get behind the headlines to understand and explain a phenomenon which has grown to affect us all. |
| Return Of The Anglosphere | 20171216 | | It used to be called The English Speaking World, comprising Canada, New Zealand, Australia, America and a collection of smaller nations. As Britain looks around for allies and trading partners post the EU is the Anglosphere set for a comeback? Is there a genuine cultural and political bond between Australians, Canadians, Americans and Brits, and a handful of Commonwealth nations, or are we looking at a complex world through glasses fogged with Empire nostalgia? Has Digital Culture created a world in which the English language is once again the dominant conduit of intellectual ideas and cultural exchange? Or in a world of China and Indian power is the Anglosphere a nostalgia kick for old white men? Jonathan Powell speaks to political and diplomatic figures to explore the power of the Anglosphere in a multi centred world. Post-Brexit, could the 'English-speaking world' work together? Jonathan Powell presents. Is there a genuine cultural and political bond between Australians, Canadians, Americans and Brits, and a handful of Commonwealth nations, or are we looking at a complex world through glasses fogged with Empire nostalgia? Has Digital Culture created a world in which the English language is once again the dominant conduit of intellectual ideas and cultural exchange? Or in a world of China and Indian power is the Anglosphere a nostalgia kick for old white men? Jonathan Powell speaks to political and diplomatic figures to explore the power of the Anglosphere in a multi centred world. |
| Return To Subtopia | 20160507 | 20200404 (BBC7)
20200405 (BBC7) |  Gillian Darley explores "Subtopia", the blurring of space between town and country The distinguished architectural writer Gillian Darley retraces the story of Subtopia, one of the most significant architectural debacles of the post-war era, and considers its long shadow. Her story starts with Ian Nairn, the maverick young architectural journalist, who invented the word Subtopia in the mid-1950s, when the Architectural Review ran a campaign against unsightly clutter and the blurring of distinctions between town and country. Nairn drew upon a recent road journey he had made, stating that the outcome of Subtopia would be that the end of Southampton will look like the beginning of Carlisle; the parts in between will look like the end of Carlisle or the beginning of Southampton. He continued uncompromisingly: The whole land surface is becoming covered by the creeping mildew that already circumscribes all of our towns. Subtopia is the annihilation of the site, the steamrollering of all individuality of place to one uniform and mediocre pattern. Gillian Darley brings together lively original archive featuring Nairn himself, Gilbert Harding, Sir Hugh Casson, Sir John Betjeman and others, to re-trace the story. She talks on location in Southampton with the architectural photographer Gareth Gardner about his new project to re-trace and photograph once more the locations which Nairn visited. In the studio, she explores the original and contemporary picture with the architect Janice Murphett, and the architectural writer, Gavin Stamp. And she wonders whether, if the short-lived and unhappy Ian Nairn were alive today, what would he feel about the British landscape? Producer: Beaty Rubens First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016. The distinguished architectural writer Gillian Darley retraces the story of "Subtopia", one of the most significant architectural debacles of the post-war era, and considers its long shadow. Her story starts with Ian Nairn, the maverick young architectural journalist, who invented the word "Subtopia" in the mid-1950s, when the Architectural Review ran a campaign against unsightly clutter and the blurring of distinctions between town and country. Nairn drew upon a recent road journey he had made, stating that the outcome of "Subtopia" would be that "the end of Southampton will look like the beginning of Carlisle; the parts in between will look like the end of Carlisle or the beginning of Southampton. He continued uncompromisingly: "The whole land surface is becoming covered by the creeping mildew that already circumscribes all of our towns. Subtopia is the annihilation of the site, the steamrollering of all individuality of place to one uniform and mediocre pattern. She talks on location in Southampton with the architectural photographer Gareth Gardner about his new project to re-trace and photograph once more the locations which Nairn visited. In studio, she explores the original and contemporary picture with the architect Janice Murphett, and the architectural writer, Gavin Stamp. |
| Riding Into Town | 20130406 | 20140809
20141011 (BBC7)
20141012 (BBC7) |  The excitement and romance of the wild west was a powerful force on the imaginations of the British from the 1930s until the '70s. Samira Ahmed reflects on the love of the Western. The American Film Institute defines western films as those "set in the American West that embody the spirit, the struggle and the demise of the new frontier". The term Western, used to describe a narrative film genre, appears to have originated with a July 1912 article in Motion Picture World Magazine. In this personal exploration, Samira Ahmed will see how Westerns nourished post-war British children and how they explored the politics and fears of their day. Samira says, "I remember sitting at an uncle's house in Hillingdon, possibly celebrating Eid, with lots of Hyderabadi relatives, and we were all - kids and adults alike - gathered round the TV watching the end of the original True Grit. The programme considers the central cast of characters in the western form. Samira explores her interest in the weird and wonderful women and their ranches full of outlaws, such as Marlene Dietrich in Rancho Notorious: "I especially loved the strong Indian and Mexican women - Katy Jurado in High Noon, as opposed to anaemic Grace Kelly. And there were always strong women in Westerns, holding their own in a deeply macho world. Then there were those secretly gay, camp, polysexual or just plain wacko Westerns - Johnny Guitar, the French critics' favourite, and The Singer Not the Song featuring Dirk Bogarde's highly unlikely Mexican bandido in black leather jeans and gloves. Producer: Kevin Dawson A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4. Samira Ahmed considers the British relationship with the western. |
| Riot Remembered | 20200404 | | The St Paul's Riot in Bristol in 1980 helped trigger subsequent serious unrest in Brixton and Toxteth. The riot was caused by a complex combination of racial tension, economic difficulty, class antagonism, and unwitting mistakes in local policing. Archive on Four recreates this overlooked moment in British history using the testimony of those who took part on all sides. The St Paul's Riots in Bristol in 1980 remembered by those who took part. |
| Rising Voices | 20160423 | |  Fergal Keane explores the cultural landscape of the 1916 Easter Rising. On Easter Monday 1916, the teacher and poet Patrick Pearse stood on the steps of the General Post Office in Dublin and delivered the Proclamation of the Irish Republic to a bemused public. It was a moment prepared for not just through military drills and revolutionary conspiracy. From late in the previous century a cultural revival was underway in Ireland. For Archive on 4, renowned journalist and broadcaster Fergal Keane explores the roots of a cultural revival which stoked the fires of revolutionary fervour among a small group of poets, musicians, and political activists, many of whom went on to lead and fight in the Rising. Using rarely broadcast archive of men and women who witnessed and fought in the Rising, Fergal examines the sources of their revolutionary ambitions. He discovers a Dublin bristling with ideas, where a new passion for Irish language, music and mythology sat alongside the literary revival of W.B Yeats and Lady Gregory. Fiery plays like Cathleen Ni Houlihan evoked emotions of noble sacrifice. The city crackled with debates on feminism, pacifism and equality. Fergal explores the work of the men known as the Rising's Poets - Pearse, Plunkett, MacDonagh - and uncovers themes of blood sacrifice, Celtic mythology and Catholic mysticism. He examines the seismic shift in Ireland after the Rising, immortalised in W.B Yeats' poem 'Easter 1916' and Sean O'Casey's play 'The Plough and the Stars', which challenged notions of romantic idealism and led to riots. With contributions from Prof Declan Kiberd, Dr Lucy Collins and Prof Roy Foster, and archive recordings from the BBC and the Irish National Bureau of Military History, Fergal demonstrates how language, poetry, drama and song helped to shape both the Rising and its legacy. |
| Roald Dahl: In His Own Words | 20160702 | |  Roald Dahl tells his own story in his own words with the help of his granddaughter Sophie. With the help of his granddaughter Sophie, Roald Dahl tells his own remarkable story in the style of one of his much-loved books. Illustrated with newly discovered archive recordings and songs and music exclusively recorded by the cast and musicians in the Royal Shakespeare Company's Matilda The Musical at the Cambridge Theatre in London, this Archive on 4 marks the centenary of the writer dubbed 'the best storyteller in the world'. The programme contains excerpts from interviews with Roald Dahl on NRK, Op Reis with Ivo Niehe, Desert Island Discs with Roy Plomley, Parkinson, Wogan, Saturday Matters With Sue Lawley, Pebble Mill at One, Saturday Superstore, Whicker's World, Start The Week, Bookmark, The World of Books, Meridian, The Friday Serial, The Many Lives of Roald Dahl, A Dose of Dahl's Magic Medicine, Treasure Islands, PM & BBC News. Producer: Dixi Stewart. The programme contains excerpts from interviews with Roald Dahl on NRK, Op Reis with Ivo Niehe, Desert Island Discs with Roy Plomley, Parkinson, Wogan, Saturday Matters With Sue Lawley, Pebble Mill at One, Saturday Superstore, Whicker's World, Start The Week, Bookmark, The World of Books, Meridian, The Friday Serial, The Many Lives of Roald Dahl, A Dose of Dahl's Magic Medicine, Treasure Islands, PM and BBC News. |
| Roots And Holocaust: When Tv Taught Us A History Lesson | 20170506 | 20190426 (R4) | Reflections on the extraordinary impact that two landmark TV series had on Britain forty years ago. Black journalist Gary Younge and his Jewish colleague Jonathan Freedland had two very different upbringings. Gary grew up in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, and Jonathan in suburban North London. But a strange coincidence binds them. At the age of 10, long before they would become colleagues and friends at The Guardian, their mothers sat them down and gave them a lesson in racism. But it didn't come from a book or documentary. It was the late 1970's and, in each case, the lesson came from a blockbuster TV mini-series. Jonathan sat and watched Roots. Gary was put in front of Holocaust - with the instruction that, this is your story too. This was a time when the National Front struck fear into both their homes. Now, forty years on, they recall the impact these landmark series had on them at the time, and what TV depictions of black and Jewish people looked like before those two programmes aired - populated with stereotypes from Love thy Neighbour and The Rag Trade to the Black and White Minstrel Show and Never Mind the Fabric, Feel the Width. Joined by Lenny Henry, Maureen Lipman, Michael Grade and the original Kunta Kinte, actor LeVar Burton, Gary and Jonathan discover how TV taught them - and Britain - about history. Producer: Sarah Peters Executive Producer: Iain Chambers An Open Audio and Tuning Fork production for BBC Radio 4. Gary Younge and Jonathan Freedland reflect on the impact of two landmark TV series. Gary Yonge and Jonathan Freedland reflect on the impact of two landmark TV series. An Open Audio and Tuning Fork production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Roy Jenkins - Father Of The Permissive Society? | 20170729 | | Roy Jenkins's reputation as the senior member of the 'Gang of Four' who quit the Labour Party and founded the SDP in the early 1980s now often eclipses his earlier and more enduring impact as a reforming Home Secretary in the 1960s. Despite spending under two years in charge of the Home Office, Jenkins transformed his department into an engine of social change and master-minded a raft of liberal measures. His reforms provoked condemnation by some for creating a 'permissive society' but he was praised by others for being the architect of a 'civilised society'. Richard Weight, the social historian, talks with key witnesses and explores the archives to explore Roy Jenkins's role in the liberal reforms of the 1960s. Jenkins championed liberal reform from his early days in politics. When he penned The Labour Case in a Penguin series for the 1959 election, his final chapter was entitled 'Is Britain Civilised?' Jenkins's basic ideas - that the state should do less to restrict personal freedom and that Labour should expand freedom in people's personal lives - were to become his guiding principles at the Home Office in the mid-1960s. He seized the moment to pursue far-reaching reforms, notably of the laws on homosexuality and abortion. On the explosive issues of immigration and race relations, he battled against ingrained prejudice. Today Jenkins's reforms are among the key lasting changes made during the Wilson Government in the 1960s. Producer: Rob Shepherd. Richard Weight explores the key role of Roy Jenkins in the liberal reforms of the 1960s. Producer: Rob Shepherd. |
| Royal Tours | 20060415 | 20160409 (BBC7)
20160410 (BBC7) |  Denys Blakeway looks at the history and purpose of the royal tour. Denys Blakeway looks at the history and purpose of the royal tour, exploring the travels of Queen Elizabeth II. From April 2006. |
| Rp Rip? | 20110806 | 20110808
20160723 (BBC7)
20160724 (BBC7) |  Melvyn Bragg observes the decline of RP alongside an increasing pride in regional accents. It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him." George Bernard Shaw. A hundred years ago, Shaw ridiculed the British obsession with class, recognising that its most powerful expression was not in what someone said, but how he or she said it. An imperative for anyone at public school or studying at Oxbridge, was speaking in RP, a 'non' accent which denoted all that was masterful in the British Empire. But changes are afoot. Cheryl Cole's push from American X Factor because of her Geordie accent has exasperated many Brits, who love her AND her accent and think the Yanks are missing out. Using a wealth of archive, we hear how the drive to hide linguistic, geographical roots often went hand in hand with a desire to be seen as part of the metropolitan set. The fear of being labelled as provincial, unfashionable or rustic would develop into "RP" - Received Pronunciation. With access to archives of soldiers during the First World War, Melvyn discusses the rarity of hearing different accents at the time. He points out that RP was the 'non' site-specific accent of the officer class while everyone else was identified by their regional accents. The BBC burst on the scene with Lord Reith who insisted that RP be used for BBC broadcasting, arguing that it had greater 'clarity' and was better suited for broadcasting. We hear about the post war levelling and the move away from RP. The popular music scene developed an accent of it's own - John Peel went to public school, but cultivated a soft scouse accent, instinctively recognizing this as an acceptable voice in popular music - adopting a non-standard UK accent - with 'Jafaican' as one of the burgeoning metropolitan accents - suggesting individual freedom Producer: Kate Bland A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4. It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him. George Bernard Shaw. The fear of being labelled as provincial, unfashionable or rustic would develop into RP - Received Pronunciation. Using a wealth of archive, we hear how the drive to hide linguistic, geographical roots often went hand in hand with a desire to be seen as part of the metropolitan set. The fear of being labelled as provincial, unfashionable or rustic would develop into RP - Received Pronunciation. |
| Rugby's Greatest Try | 20130119 | 20151031 (BBC7)
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Cerys Matthews tells the remarkable story of Gareth Edwards's famous try in January 1973 and explores what it says about the relationship between Wales and rugby. Gareth Edwards's try in January 1973 was the greatest ever scored. Cerys Matthews uses archive interviews and contemporary reports to tell the remarkable story of the try itself, and what it still tells us about the spirit and heart of Wales. Often referred to as simply 'that try', the world acknowledges it to be the greatest ever, and it's the standard against which every other great try is compared. New Zealand had just completed an unbeaten tour of the home nations, and their final challenge was against an invitational Barbarians side at Cardiff. The game was brought alive within 2 minutes as Gareth Edwards dramatically dived in the corner to complete an electrifying move of counter-attacking rugby. It sent the crowd into rugby heaven, and never fails to delight even now. But this try symbolised much more than the sport itself, for it was also a poetic expression of the Welsh identity. In a game of brute force, here was a glimpse of grace and beauty - something that was entirely in keeping with the lyricism that could be found at the heart of industrial Wales. In this programme, singer Cerys Matthews will reveal why this try is so celebrated to this day in Wales and will unearth the untold story behind it. With its origins in industrial south Wales, rugby was adopted in the 19th century as an integral part of the Welsh working-class culture, with workers from heavy industries well suited to the tougher aspects of the game. But Welsh rugby also prided itself on a certain 'Welsh way' of playing with an emphasis on attractive, innovative and free-flowing rugby. This poeticism on the field of play reflected a wider tradition within these communities of expressing oneself through poetry, song and literature. But to truly appreciate the importance of this try, we need to understand the role played by coach Carwyn James. A miner's son from socialist west Wales, Carwyn was a sensitive, politically active and cultured man, a revolutionary rugby coach, a lecturer and later a broadcaster. He had a passion for drama, literature and poetry and was even fluent in Russian. He drew extensively on this hinterland as a way better to understand a game which, in Wales, has its roots firmly established in its culture and tradition. He was, however, an outspoken outsider who never coached the national side. The All Blacks had lost their first ever test series against the British & Irish Lions in 1971, and were unexpectedly defeated by Llanelli in '72 - both teams coached by Carwyn James. Twelve Lions were playing for the Barbarians in Cardiff in '73 and Carwyn, the unofficial coach, managed to evoke the spirit of '71. The try was classic Carwyn James and archetypal of the 'Welsh way' - counter attacking and full of expression, and stirred them on to an historic win. Cerys Matthews tells the story behind what many believe to be the greatest try ever scored Cerys Matthews tells the story behind the greatest try ever scored. The All Blacks had lost their first ever test series against the British and Irish Lions in 1971, and were unexpectedly defeated by Llanelli in '72 - both teams coached by Carwyn James. Twelve Lions were playing for the Barbarians in Cardiff in '73 and Carwyn, the unofficial coach, managed to evoke the spirit of '71. The try was classic Carwyn James and archetypal of the 'Welsh way' - counter attacking and full of expression, and stirred them on to an historic win. The All Blacks had lost their first ever test series against the British and Irish Lions in 1971, and were unexpectedly defeated by Llanelli in '72 - both teams coached by Carwyn James. Twelve Lions were playing for the Barbarians in Cardiff in '73 and Carwyn, the unofficial coach, managed to evoke the spirit of '71. The try was classic Carwyn James and archetypal of the 'Welsh way' - counter attacking and full of expression, and stirred them on to an historic win. But this try symbolised much more than the sport itself, for it was also a poetic expression of the Welsh identity. In a game of brute force, here was a glimpse of grace and beauty - something that was entirely in keeping with the lyricism that could be found at tArchive On 4 20101113 Archive on Four marks the 70th anniversary of a broadcasting phenomenon - the story of how Yorkshire man J.B. Priestley became the voice of the nation during the darkest days of the Second World War. Using original broadcasts, information stored in BBC files and interviews with his son Tom Priestley and step son Nicolas Hawkes, Archive on Four revisits these extraordinary broadcasts and asks why, in spite of their astonishing popularity, Priestley was taken off air. Presented by Martin Wainwright. Producers: Catherine Plane and Phil Pegum. Archive on Four explores the hugely popular World War Two radio broadcasts of JB Priestley Archive on Four marks the 70th anniversary of a broadcasting phenomenon - the story of how Yorkshire man J.B. Priestley became the voice of the nation during the darkest days of the Second World War."" |
| Rural Rides | 20130112 | 20150411 (BBC7)
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Mark Steel's review of reporters' journeys round Britain, starting with William Cobbett, the great English journalist and radical campaigner who was born 250 years ago. Mark talks to veteran horseman Dylan Winter and analyses a classic radio and TV genre that owes more than it realises to Cobbett - the tradition of going out and taking a look at Britain. The formula is a simple one: a hired hack goes on a whistle-stop tour of a part of the country that's unfamiliar to him (it's usually a him) and then publishes his ill-informed impressions together with any wild generalisations he cares to base upon them. In print, it starts with Cobbett's 'Rural Rides' and ends with the likes of Bill Bryson, Beryl Bainbridge and of course Mark Steel, taking in along the way such scribblers as James Boswell, J.B.Priestley and George Orwell. In radio it's Tom Vernon ('Fat Man on a Bicycle'), Ray Gosling, the many incarnations of 'Down Your Way'... and Mark Steel (again). In TV it runs from Alan Whicker to Clare Balding and Griff Rhys Jones. When it's done well, Cobbettry can celebrate the differences between us. It can give us an insight into people and places we might be interested to know more about; it can illuminate the human condition by shining a light on particular examples. When it's done badly - as it often is - Cobbettry can be feeble, patronising and full of cliches. In his own prejudiced and over-simplified whistle-stop tour, Mark Steel demonstrates that Cobbett's legacy has been a mixed blessing. Producer: Peter Everett A Pennine production for BBC Radio 4. Mark Steel's review of reporters' journeys round Britain, starting with William Cobbett. A Pennine production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Satire: The Great British Tradition | 20100508 | 20100510
20120204 (R4) | ![]() "Co-creator of Spitting Image Roger Law celebrates the evolution of satire in Britain. Roger Law, co-creator of Spitting Image, looks at what the archives can teach us about the evolution of British satire. Do we really have more of a taste for it than other nations, and where did it all start? We'll look at the way in which British satire developed on television with great examples from the BBC archives. Roger revisits his early days at the Establishment Club set up by Peter Cook, and talks to Gerald Scarfe and others who helped form the satirical approach of the 1960s. Roger reveals some of the juicy details behind Spitting Image and its satirical forays. Roger describes one occasion when they depicted the Duke of York, then a bachelor about town, as a nude pin-up with 2lbs of glistening Cumberland sausages between his legs, The Queen consulted the Director of Prosecutions believing that they had simply gone too far. He replied, 'Ma'am if we prosecute;they will appear in court with the puppet...and the sausages.' It was the end of the issue. So just what is satirically possible today? Law will interview a wide variety of the awkward squad such as Steve Bell of the Guardian to see how far is too far. Where do they draw the line? From editors of newspapers to cartoonists and stand-up comedians, we'll find out how today compares with the inglorious past. Archive on Four on the evolution of satire in Britain presented by Roger Law. |
| Satire: The Great British Tradition | 20100508 | 20120204 |  Roger Law, co-creator of Spitting Image, looks at what the archives can teach us about the evolution of British satire. Do we really have more of a taste for it than other nations, and where did it all start? We'll look at the way in which British satire developed on television with great examples from the BBC archives. Roger revisits his early days at the Establishment Club set up by Peter Cook, and talks to Gerald Scarfe and others who helped form the satirical approach of the 1960s. Roger reveals some of the juicy details behind Spitting Image and its satirical forays. Roger describes one occasion when they depicted the Duke of York, then a bachelor about town, as a nude pin-up with 2lbs of glistening Cumberland sausages between his legs, The Queen consulted the Director of Prosecutions believing that they had simply gone too far. He replied, 'Ma'am if we prosecute;they will appear in court with the puppet...and the sausages.' It was the end of the issue. So just what is satirically possible today? Law will interview a wide variety of the awkward squad such as Steve Bell of the Guardian to see how far is too far. Where do they draw the line? From editors of newspapers to cartoonists and stand-up comedians, we'll find out how today compares with the inglorious past. Co-creator of Spitting Image Roger Law celebrates the evolution of satire in Britain. Archive on Four on the evolution of satire in Britain presented by Roger Law. |
| Schumacher's Big Society | 20110625 | 20110627 | David Cameron's Big Society? Well, actually, economist E. F. Schumacher thought of it first, forty years ago, and his daughters have recently been invited to No 10 to discuss their father's ideas. This summer marks the birth centenary of Fritz Schumacher, seminal author of the newly re-published Small is Beautiful - Economics as if people mattered. And a long-lost recording of one of his public lectures given at the Findhorn spiritual community in Scotland in October 1976, has just been lovingly restored. The recording, now broadcast for the first time, is a revelation. Quite simply, just months before his sudden death, Fritz is on fire! He is relaxed, inspirational, extraordinarily witty, and highly prescient. The economic party is over, he says, we're just left with the washing up. At the height of our achievements, we're bankrupt. Our civilisation is experiencing the second fall of man and must get up again. Jonathon Porritt examines how the philosophy of this German exile, described as one of the few original thinkers of the 20th Century, is now being taken seriously in British government circles, even to the extent of unwittingly helping today's Prime Minister shape his ideas for Big Society. It also reveals how Cameron's predecessor, Margaret Thatcher, was a Schumacher fan - but only up to a point - and how Schumacher championed the now fashionable concepts of well-being measurement, localism, and volunteerism Contributors include: Satish Kumar of the Schumacher College and George McRobie (with whom he pioneered the Intermediate Technology Development Group), Findhorn members who were present at his1976 talk, economist Wilfred Beckerman (author of Small is Stupid), and members of Schumacher's family. Producer: Chris Eldon Lee A Culture Wise production for BBC Radio 4. Did EF Schumacher's landmark book Small is Beautiful inspire David Cameron's big idea? David Cameron's Big Society? Well, actually, economist E. F. Schumacher thought of it first, forty years ago, and his daughters have recently been invited to No 10 to discuss their father's ideas. This summer marks the birth centenary of Fritz Schumacher, seminal author of the newly re-published Small is Beautiful - Economics as if people mattered. And a long-lost recording of one of his public lectures given at the Findhorn spiritual community in Scotland in October 1976, has just been lovingly restored. The recording, now broadcast for the first time, is a revelation. Quite simply, just months before his sudden death, Fritz is on fire! He is relaxed, inspirational, extraordinarily witty, and highly prescient. The economic party is over, he says, we're just left with the washing up. At the height of our achievements, we're bankrupt. Our civilisation is experiencing the second fall of man and must get up again. Jonathon Porritt examines how the philosophy of this German exile, described as one of the few original thinkers of the 20th Century, is now being taken seriously in British government circles, even to the extent of unwittingly helping today's Prime Minister shape his ideas for Big Society. It also reveals how Cameron's predecessor, Margaret Thatcher, was a Schumacher fan - but only up to a point - and how Schumacher championed the now fashionable concepts of well-being measurement, localism, and volunteerism |
| Scott Of Slimbridge | 20090919 | 20090921 | ![]() Frank Gardner reflects on the career of ornithologist and broadcaster Sir Peter Scott. From the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust centre in Gloucestershire, Frank Gardner reflects on the career of Sir Peter Scott - ornithologist, author, painter, sportsman, war hero and broadcaster, whose television programme Look ran for over 25 years. Born 100 years ago, the son of Scott of the Antarctic, he was dubbed the patron saint of conservation. He was the first to campaign for the preservation of endangered species and to warn against the destruction of natural habitats. A Ladbroke production for BBC Radio 4. Born 100 years ago, the son of Scott of the Antarctic, he was dubbed the patron saint of conservation. He was the first to campaign for the preservation of endangered species and to warn against the destruction of natural habitats. |
| Scrambled | 20130817 | 20160220 (BBC7)
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20180708 (BBC7) |  Allegra McEvedy reflects on our complex, even scrambled, relationship with the humble egg. The Egg: Hailed as a wonder food; condemned as dangerous; it's fattening; it's slimming; it's ethical; it's unethical. It's been a luxury and dirt cheap. Times change, the egg doesn't. In 1955 they cost the equivalent of £14.80 a dozen but then came the battery farms. The Go to work on an Egg campaign is a classic of TV advertising. In 1965 consumption peaked at five eggs per person per week and then fell as doctors warned of cholesterol. The press exposed battery farm conditions and a government minister said they were deadly. In the 00's the egg bounced back. Delia hailed it; the NHS said they were good for you after all- eat as many as you like! Scrambled is not a history of the egg rather it is about how the egg may be seen as symbolic of our attitude to food in general in the past half century as medical science, diet fads, changing lifestyle habits, and animal welfare issues have impacted on how we perceive and consume what on the face of it is as close to a perfect and unchanging food as we have. Presented by Allegra McEvedy. The Egg: Hailed as a wonder food; condemned as dangerous; it's fattening; it's slimming; it's ethical; it's unethical. It's been a luxury and dirt cheap. Times change, the egg doesn't. In 1955 they cost the equivalent of £14.80 a dozen but then came the battery farms. The "Go to work on an Egg" campaign is a classic of TV advertising. In 1965 consumption peaked at five eggs per person per week and then fell as doctors warned of cholesterol. The press exposed battery farm conditions and a government minister said they were deadly. In the 00's the egg bounced back. Delia hailed it; the NHS said they were good for you after all- eat as many as you like! Scrambled is not a history of the egg rather it is about how the egg may be seen as symbolic of our attitude to food in general in the past half century as medical science, diet fads, changing lifestyle habits, and animal welfare issues have impacted on how we perceive and consume what on the face of it is as close to a perfect and unchanging food as we have. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Presented by Allegra McEvedy. |
| Sculptress Of Sound: The Lost Works Of Delia Derbyshire | 20100327 | 20100329
20180324 (BBC7) | Broadcaster and Doctor Who fan Matthew Sweet travels to The University of Manchester - home of Delia Derbyshire's private collection of audio recordings - to learn more about the wider career and working methods of the woman who realised Ron Grainer's original theme to Doctor Who. Delia's collection of tapes had been in the safekeeping of Mark Ayres, archivist for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Matthew meets up at Manchester University with Mark, along with Delia's former colleagues from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Brian Hodgson and Dick Mills - plus former 'White Noise' band member David Vorhaus - to hear extracts from the archive, discuss their memories of Delia and the creative process behind some of her material. Her realisation of the Doctor Who theme is just one small example of her genius and we'll demonstrate how the music was originally created as well as hearing individual tracks from Delia's aborted 70s' version. We'll also feature the make up tapes for her celebrated piece 'Blue Veils and Golden Sands', and hear Delia being interviewed on a previously 'lost' BBC recording from the 1960s. Matthew's journey of discovery will take in work with the influential poet Barry Bermange, as well as her 1971 piece marking the centenary of the Institution of Electrical Engineers. This Archive on 4 is brought up to date with an individual track from 'The Dance' from the children's programme 'Noah'. Recorded in the late 1960s this remarkable tape sounds like a contemporary dance track which wouldn't be out of place in today's most 'happening' trance clubs. Producer: Phil Collinge. Matthew Sweet celebrates the life and work of composer Delia Derbyshire. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Producer: Phil Collinge. The broadcaster and Doctor Who fan Matthew Sweet travels to The University of Manchester - home of Delia Derbyshire's private collection of audio recordings - to learn more about the wider career and working methods of the woman who realised Ron Grainer's original theme to Doctor Who. Delia's collection of tapes was, until recently, in the safekeeping of MARK AYRES, archivist for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Her realisation of the Doctor Who theme is just one small example of her genius and we'll demonstrate how the music was originally created as well as hearing individual tracks from Delia's aborted 70's version. Delia's collection of tapes was, until recently, in the safekeeping of MARK AYRES, archivist for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Matthew meets up at Manchester University with Mark, along with Delia's former colleagues from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, BRIAN HODGSON and DICK MILLS - plus former 'White Noise' band member DAVID VORHAUS - to hear extracts from the archive, discuss their memories of Delia and the creative process behind some of her material. |
| Search For A Common Culture | 20210313 | | Author Lynsey Hanley and Mykaell Riley, founding member of the British roots reggae group Steel Pulse, tell the story of the search for a ‘common culture', following its permutations in the post-war era with the rise of ‘the common voice' and a new wave of documentary making, fiercely negotiated around issues of social class, race and the impact of multiculturalism, to the present. At a time of huge division and polarisation in civil society they ask if its time has come again in the digital age. Writing in post-war Britain, for critics like Raymond Williams, Richard Hoggart, Stuart Hall and others 'culture' meant two things: first, a whole way of life and the everyday, not just a series of great works accessed and curated by an elite; second, as a way of sharing the arts and learning with the whole of society, of open access for everyone in a properly civic space. Lynsey Hanley, who has written on the history of council estates and urban planning, explores how these two ideas were conjoined. 'Common culture' was for the first time inclusive, involving all the strands of everyday living from youth culture to the pub, the football terrace and the cinema. ‘Culture is ordinary' wrote Raymond Williams in 1958. The idea of a common culture meant the opening up of 'high' culture too, tied to mass literacy and learning as part of a wider sense of cultural outreach aimed at the British working class. This was boosted by the work of intellectuals like George Orwell and EP Thompson as well as Richard Hoggart's landmark book 'The Uses of Literacy' which argued for the democratisation of culture and cultivation of learning through what the author called, in a powerful phrase, ‘civic literacy'. Mykaell Riley builds on this story, of how ‘common culture' became deeply contested in the 1970s and ‘80s, forged from representations of working-class identity but weaponised around ideas of race. For the post-Windrush generation of Black British youth the idea of a ‘common culture' was wrapped around the British flag and harshly policed. Music, especially British reggae groups like Steel Pulse, became part of a cultural fightback - an expression of the new political multiculturalism and proliferation of sub-cultures. Perhaps there has never been a truly 'common' culture that belongs everyone – that the very idea has a deep ambivalence when used in public life, either championing inclusivity or excluding diversity. But does the first always have to mean the second, can we move beyond this stalemate? In our rancorous post-Brexit era and a wide sense of fatigue with division always seeming more important than what we could - and perhaps do - share in common, could the idea of common culture be thought again in new, de-toxifying and inventive ways? Or have we just become better at thinking about what separates us than what we have in common, more comfortable with difference than what we share in public space? Contributors include director Ken Loach, curator and writer Aliyah Hasinah, critic and author DJ Taylor, dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, director Terence Davies, literary journalist Suzi Feay, singer songwriter Peggy Seeger, political journalist Peter Obourne, illustrator and author Nick Hayes, urbanist Adam Greenfield, documentary historian John Corner, director at Byline TV Caolan Robertson and Farrukh Dhondy, a founding commissioning editor for Channel 4. Presented by Lynsey Hanley and Mykaell Riley Produced by Simon Hollis A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4 Did a common culture ever exist in the UK, what did it mean and is it needed now? A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives |
| Self On Ballard | | 20101127
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The writer Will Self, who came to know J.G. Ballard well in his final years, journeys upriver through the life and imagination of the seer of Shepperton. From his suburban anonymity, Ballard charted the realms of innerspace and the madness of the modern world with a cool eye and visionary prose. Written & presented by Will Self. With readings by Anna Massey. Producer: Mark Burman (repeat). Writer Will Self pays tribute to the extraordinary imagination of J.G. Ballard. The writer Will Self, who came to know J.G. Ballard well in his final years, journeys upriver through the life and imagination of the seer of Shepperton. From his suburban anonymity, Ballard charted the realms of innerspace and the madness of the modern world with a cool eye and visionary prose. Written and presented by Will Self. With readings by Anna Massey. Writer Will Self, explores the work of one of Britain's greatest literary talents. |
| Self On Ballard | 20090926 | 20090928
20140517 (BBC7)
20140518 (BBC7)
20101127 (R4)
20101129 (R4) | The writer Will Self, who came to know J.G. Ballard well in his final years, journeys upriver through the life and imagination of the seer of Shepperton. From his suburban anonymity, Ballard charted the realms of innerspace and the madness of the modern world with a cool eye and visionary prose. Written and presented by Will Self. With readings by Anna Massey. Producer: Mark Burman (repeat). Writer Will Self pays tribute to the extraordinary imagination of J G Ballard. Will Self explores the imagination and work of writer JG Ballard, who he came to know in his final years. Will draws on the many telling interviews that Ballard gave throughout his working life and on Self's own tapes of his encounters with him. From his life of suburban anonymity, Ballard charted the realms of innerspace and the madness of the modern world with a cool eye and visionary prose. Writer Will Self, explores the work of one of Britain's greatest literary talents. The writer Will Self, who came to know J.G. Ballard well in his final years, journeys upriver through the life and imagination of the seer of Shepperton. From his suburban anonymity, Ballard charted the realms of innerspace and the madness of the modern world with a cool eye and visionary prose. Written and presented by Will Self. With readings by Anna Massey. Written & presented by Will Self. Writer Will Self pays tribute to the extraordinary imagination of J.G. Ballard. Will Self explores the imagination and work of writer JG Ballard. |
| Self On Ballard | 20090926 | 20101129 | Will Self explores the imagination and work of writer JG Ballard, who he came to know in his final years. Will draws on the many telling interviews that Ballard gave throughout his working life and on Self's own tapes of his encounters with him. From his life of suburban anonymity, Ballard charted the realms of innerspace and the madness of the modern world with a cool eye and visionary prose. Will Self explores the imagination and work of writer JG Ballard. Writer Will Self pays tribute to the extraordinary imagination of J.G. Ballard. |
| Sellers In The Attic | 20100724 | 20100726
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Comedy writer and historian Glenn Mitchell examines exclusive and lesser known recordings of Peter Sellers and reveals a fascinating wealth of recently discovered recordings presenting a new insight into the life of this comic legend. After Peter Sellers died thirty years ago in July 1980, the initial rush of glowing eulogies swiftly made way for often highly condemnatory accounts of his personality and behaviour. Some of these are, admittedly, accurate, others take incidents in isolation without regard for the context of the events described, while in some instances the claims rely on inaccuracies and misassumptions. Fortunately there has been more perspective among recent chronicles but the trend has continued to portray Sellers's personal life as one with few, if any, redeeming features. As regards his work, many accounts have concentrated on the obvious aspects - the Panther films, Dr. Strangelove, perhaps also The Goon Show, but Peter Sellers left far more than that. Mitchell, the writer and presenter of this programme, was only 21 when the actor died but has been collecting Sellers material from an early age. In this personal take on the subject, Mitchell chronicles Sellers' career in parallel with his own lifelong interest in the actor's work. He will examine various recordings, explaining in each instance its place within the canon, and how it may have shaped - or been shaped by - Sellers' life and career. The programme also explores the softer, compassionate side to the legendary actor's nature, the aspect of the man which once led to him talking a complete stranger - who was perched on a high bridge - out of committing suicide. Among the recent finds is a personal recording Sellers made for a television producer whose daughter lost her sight. The never before broadcast recording includes readings of the poet William McGonagall with various comments throughout. Not only is it vintage Sellers but it reveals a remarkable and malleable side to his personality, catching him at a very relaxed moment in his life contrasting with his often cited volatile nature. Mitchell's own focus will be on the lesser-known Sellers material he has amassed, including home-movie prints, soundtracks, rare interviews and out-takes. The programme also profiles written archives from his first BBC TV and Radio auditions. Ultimately Sellers in the Attic will tell his remarkable story - on the 30th anniversary of his death - by revisiting the less obvious items from his vast legacy, including such gems from the BBC archives as his 1970 performance of the macabre music-hall monologue The Ballad of Sam Hall, recorded at Wilton's in East London. Glenn Mitchell examines exclusive and lesser-known recordings of Peter Sellers. After Peter Sellers died thirty years ago in July 1980, the initial rush of glowing eulogies swiftly made way for often highly condemnatory accounts of his personality and behaviour. Some of these are, admittedly, accurate, others take incidents in isolation without regard for the context of the events described, while in some instances the claims rely on inaccuracies and misassumptions. As regards his work, many accounts have concentrated on the obvious aspects - the Panther films, Dr. Strangelove, perhaps also The Goon Show, but Peter Sellers left far more than that. Mitchell, the writer and presenter of this programme, was only 21 when the actor died but has been collecting Sellers material from an early age. In this personal take on the subject, Mitchell chronicles Sellers' career in parallel with his own lifelong interest in the actor's work. He will examine various recordings, explaining in each instance its place within the canon, and how it may have shaped - or been shaped by - Sellers' life and career. Among the recent finds is a personal recording Sellers made for a television producer whose daughter lost her sight. The never before broadcast recording includes readings of the poet William McGonagall with various comments throughout. Not only is it vintage Sellers but it reveals a remarkable and malleable side to his personality, catching him at a very relaxed moment in his life contrasting with his often cited volatile nature. Mitchell's own focus will be on the lesser-known Sellers material he has amassed, including home-movie prints, soundtracks, rare interviews and out-takes. The programme also profiles written archives from his first BBC TV and Radio auditions. |
| Sentimental Journey | 20140531 | 20161210 (BBC7)
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Gyles Brandreth surveys the history of sentimentality, wondering whether to sneer or cheer Gyles Brandreth (who's related to George R. Sims, the author of 'Christmas Day in the Workhouse') surveys the history of sentimentality from Charles Dickens to Princess Diana and from Agincourt to the internet - and wonders whether to sneer or cheer. Tear-jerking contributors from the archives include Beverley Nichols, Godfrey Winn, Patience Strong and Hughie Greene. New readings are by Simon Russell Beale and Jenny Seagrove, who contribute their own opinions about the sentimentality of Shakespeare and Noel Coward. Producer: Peter Everett. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014. Gyles Brandreth (who's related to George R. Sims, the author of 'Christmas Day in the Workhouse') surveys the history of sentimentality from Charles Dickens to Princess Diana and from Agincourt to the internet - and wonders whether to sneer or cheer. Tear-jerking contributors from the archives include Beverley Nichols, Godfrey Winn, Patience Strong and Hughie Greene. New readings are by Simon Russell Beale and Jenny Seagrove, who contribute their own opinions about the sentimentality of Shakespeare and Noel Coward. |
| Seventy Years In The Planning | 20170325 | 20210209 (BBC7)
20210213 (BBC7)
20210214 (BBC7) |  Will Self walks the London green belt in search of the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act which optimistically tried to end the post-war British conflict between field and city. He retraces a countryside ramble he took with his father, the journalist, town planner and political scientist Peter Self - a leading exponent of the principles enshrined in the '47 Act. Will argues that the public consensus to build a New Jerusalem has been squandered in the past seventy years, leading to the present day housing crisis. He goes back to first principles and argues that the offer made in 1947 by the Minister of Town and Country Planning, Lewis Silkin to build a better Britain is as relevant today as it was then. Will says that if it was an opportunity missed, then the fault doesn't lie exclusively with the planning system, rather with our lack of desire to make the planning system work. Producer: Andrew Carter First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2017. Will Self walks the London green belt in search of the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act. Will Self walks the London green belt in search of the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act which optimistically tried to end the post-war British conflict between field and city. He retraces a countryside ramble he took with his father, the journalist, town planner and political scientist Peter Self - a leading exponent of the principles enshrined in the '47 Act. Will argues that the public consensus to build a New Jerusalem has been squandered in the past seventy years, leading to the present day housing crisis. He goes back to first principles and argues that the offer made in 1947 by the Minister of Town and Country Planning, Lewis Silkin to build a better Britain is as relevant today as it was then. Will says that if it was an opportunity missed, then the fault doesn't lie exclusively with the planning system, rather with our lack of desire to make the planning system work. |
| Sex In The Classroom | 20110101 | | During the First World War, when syphilis rates rocketed, the UK government had to take matters into their own hands seeking to educate the public about venereal disease in films that were shown around the country. The first of these 'Whatsover a Man Soweth,' was a moral tale to show men the dangers of consorting with loose women. The approach was that fear was the best prophylactic. Ever since, politicians have reluctantly found themselves at the centre of a debate and constantly reacting to events - the emergence of the teenager, the arrival of the pill, AIDS, gay rights, public health versus individual morality - what should we know about sex, who should teach us; when does innocence become ignorance? Sex education in the classroom was virtually unheard of before World War II but the impact of STD's on the country's young men forced the government into action. Early lessons focused on biology and information on birth control was deemed only appropriate for married people. The birth of the teenager and the sexual revolution of the 1960s brought discussion into the open and much time was spent debating what children should be taught and at what age. In the last 50 years there have been a series of controversial decisions and debates as the rates of teenage pregnancy in Britain have continued to rise. In this edition of Archive on 4 Mariella Frostrup, the mother of two young children and an advice columnist, looks at how we are coping in an age where a different threat is forcing the debate - the easy availability of information about sex outside the classroom including porn. Are we finally becoming more grown up about talking to our children about sex or is it still taboo? Producers Sara Conkey and Rachael Howorth. During the First World War, when syphilis rates rocketed, the UK government had to take matters into their own hands seeking to educate the public about venereal disease in films that were shown around the country. The first of these 'Whatsover a Man Soweth,' was a moral tale to show men the dangers of consorting with loose women. The approach was that fear was the best prophylactic. Ever since, politicians have reluctantly found themselves at the centre of a debate and constantly reacting to events - the emergence of the teenager, the arrival of the pill, AIDS, gay rights, public health versus individual morality - what should we know about sex, who should teach us; when does innocence become ignorance? Sex education in the classroom was virtually unheard of before World War II but the impact of STD's on the country's young men forced the government into action. Early lessons focused on biology and information on birth control was deemed only appropriate for married people. The birth of the teenager and the sexual revolution of the 1960s brought discussion into the open and much time was spent debating what children should be taught and at what age. In the last 50 years there have been a series of controversial decisions and debates as the rates of teenage pregnancy in Britain have continued to rise. In this edition of Archive on 4 Mariella Frostrup, the mother of two young children and an advice columnist, looks at how we are coping in an age where a different threat is forcing the debate - the easy availability of information about sex outside the classroom including porn. Are we finally becoming more grown up about talking to our children about sex or is it still taboo? Mariella Frostrup looks at changing attitudes towards sex education in the UK. |
| Shhhhhhh | 20150725 | 20190511 (BBC7)
20190512 (BBC7)
20151225 (R4) |  
Examining the nature of silence might not seem the most obvious thing to do on the radio, the medium most wholly given over to noise and which was in its day seen as a direct threat to the realm of silence in our personal and public lives. It might seem, too, that silence is a singular thing, an absence that offers little to any would-be investigation. But it's a subject that's fascinated Lucy Powell ever since she was set a koan by a Zen master, who asked her what the sound is before the bird sings. Now she sets out to answer that problem through an analysis of archive recordings from religious scholars, authors, comedians and poets, as well as conducting fresh interviews with the likes of conductor Edward Gardner, neuro-scientist Jan Schnupp and Buddhist nun Tenzin Palmo, who spent seven years on silent retreat in a Himalayan cave. Lucy hears a freshly composed improvisation on the theme of silence from the classical duo 'Folie a Deux Femmes' and argues that in fact silence is a rich, multiple property that can vary dramatically depending on the context within which it is placed. Producer: Geoff Bird Presenter: Lucy Powell First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015. Lucy Powell offers a quiet celebration of the rich and various virtues of silence. Examining the nature of silence might not seem the most obvious thing to do on the radio, the medium most wholly given over to noise and which was in its day seen as a direct threat to the realm of silence in our personal and public lives. It might seem, too, that silence is a singular thing, an absence that offers little to any would-be investigation. But it's a subject that's fascinated Lucy Powell ever since she was set a koan by a Zen master, who asked her what the sound is before the bird sings. Now she sets out to answer that problem through an analysis of archive recordings from religious scholars, authors, comedians and poets, as well as conducting fresh interviews with the likes of conductor Edward Gardner, neuro-scientist Jan Schnupp and Buddhist nun Tenzin Palmo, who spent seven years on silent retreat in a Himalayan cave. She hears a freshly composed improvisation on the theme of silence from the classical duo 'Folie a Deux Femmes' and argues that in fact silence is a rich, multiple property that can vary dramatically depending on the context within which it is placed. Presenter: Lucy Powell. |
| Sing Christmas | 20041225 | 20161224 (BBC7)
20161225 (BBC7) | Memories of those involved in the BBC's 1957 groundbreaking live Christmas Day broadcast. On Christmas Day 1957, the BBC made a ground-breaking hour-long live broadcast, transmitting Christmas songs from around the British Isles. Texan folklorist and broadcaster Alan Lomax was the host. The broadcast was a mixture of ancient carols, folk songs, calypso, West African music, dixieland, skiffle, children's carols and glees. Singers across the country contributed live performances, with Lomax sitting at the centre of the web in a Birmingham studio. It was thrilling, innovative and daring. This musical time capsule gathers the memories of those involved to recapture the flavour of this pioneering BBC broadcast. Producer: Jolyon Jenkins First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2004. The memories of those involved in the BBC's 1957 groundbreaking hour-long live Christmas Day broadcast from around the country. |
| Singing Together | 20141129 | 20190330 (BBC7)
20160827 (R4) |  Jarvis Cocker remembers the long-running BBC radio programme Singing Together. Jarvis Cocker sets out on a musical journey to trace the history of Singing Together, the long-running BBC Schools radio programme which got generations of children singing. He uncovers the stories of those who made the programme, listened as children, and used it in their classrooms. Together they remember Monday mornings at 11am, when pupils up and down the country opened their song books and gathered round as teachers wheeled out their classroom radios. He delves into the archive to uncover the origins of the programme, hearing the first presenter, Herbert Wiseman, describe how he started the series at the outbreak of the Second World War as a way of reaching out to children at a time when many had been evacuated. Wartime teacher Brenda Jenkins, who used Singing Together with her class of evacuees, remembers how 'singing always helped' Jarvis explores the power of singing to bringing people together. He also uncovers the origins of the folk songs used in the programme and traces how it changed though the 1960s and 70's, opening up to musical traditions from around the world. He reflects on the impact of the long running series - which gave many their first introduction to folk heritage- with award winning musician Eliza Carthy. And he asks why recordings of this hugely popular series were not preserved for posterity. Only a handful of episodes survive in the BBC archive but, with the help of a small community of collectors, he sets out to find some of the missing episodes. Producer: Ruth Evans Editor: David Ross. |
| Sir Anthony Eden | 20080503 | 20170107 (BBC7)
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20200315 (BBC7) | Former Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd uses the BBC Archives to explore the life of his predecessor Anthony Eden. Eden's reputation is forever associated with the 1956 Suez crisis, but Hurd begins his journey much earlier with rare recordings of his radio talks and speeches from the 1930s before becoming Foreign Secretary at the age of 38. He goes on to explore Eden's role in the front line of Churchill's government and his central role in settling the Indo-Chinese War in 1954. Producer: Phil Tinline First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2008. |
| Skill, Stamina And Luck | 20160227 | 20201128 (R4) |  In 1982, a publishing phenomenon began with the first appearance of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. It would be the first of a series that would sell some 17 million copies in 30 different languages. Which (JK Rowling notwithstanding) might sound unlikely for a set of children's books involving wizards, goblins and elves. What was it that set them apart? They were part of a much wider literary innovation known as interactive fiction. You don't merely read them, page by page, cover to cover. You were asked to make decisions all the way along about what would happen next, where you would go, who you would even fight, which page to turn to. And you often had to keep a notebook and pair of dice close to hand while doing so. You might fail along the way and have to start again (or more likely you'd keep your finger in the previous page until you were satisfied you'd made the right choice). Essentially, they were puzzle books. This sort of text based adventure would make its way very quickly into the digital realm as a very important early genre of computer game. And we have built an interactive version of this programme, over at BBC Taster, if you would like to try your SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK. Naomi Alderman charts the rise and rise of the interactive story, from its beginnings in obscure avant-guarde French literary groups through to the virtual worlds of modern video games, and the cult literary form today of Interactive Fiction. Naomi Alderman presents a history of interactive fiction in which YOU are the Listener! Naomi Alderman presents a history of interactive fiction. Naomi Alderman charts the rise and rise of the interactive story, from its beginnings in obscure avant-garde French literary groups through to the virtual worlds of modern video games, and the cult literary form today of Interactive Fiction. |
| So Bad It's Good? | 20200523 | | Steve Punt and guests share the joy of films, songs and books that are so bad they're good Steve Punt shares the joy of the films, songs and books that are so bad they're good, with guests Grace Dent, Robin Ince and Laura Snapes. Steve and panellists analyse why bad culture can be so enjoyable. Among their delights, the films of Michael Winner, the songs of Rick Astley and the poetry of Danielle Steele. Producer: Laurence Grissell |
| So Much Older Then | 20100123 | 20100125 |  ![]()
Veteran journalist Katharine Whitehorn reviews archive recordings that span her lifetime. Journalist Katharine Whitehorn, now in her 80s, reviews archive recordings that span her lifetime in order to arrive at some conclusions about old age. How long should we work and what should we do when we retire? Does age make us wise or merely boring? Should a woman fight the effects of age with facelifts and high heels? And when is it time to go? An All Out production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Soccer, Springboks And Segregation | 20100320 | 20100322 | ![]() Allan Little examines the role of sport in the politics of South Africa. As South Africa prepares to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Allan Little examines the role that sport has played in the republic's internal politics and in forming its international reputation. South Africa is a country often divided both within itself and from the rest of the world. For decades sport was tarnished by class and racial divides. Two sporting cultures existed - one for whites, one for blacks - each with its own pantheon of heroes, triumphs and tragedies. Archive on 4 explores the role of sport in South Africa's history, from the Gleneagles Agreement that saw the Republic banned from worldwide competition, to the rebel tours in cricket and rugby and the athletes who were forced to leave their homeland in order to compete on the world stage. Allan Little was there when South Africa won the Rugby World Cup; so too was Nelson Mandela, who was wearing Francois Pienaar's shirt - a highly significant gesture, symbolising the fact that he was not so much a white Afrikaner but the captain of a team the whole nation could support. Allan charts the events that put South African sport on the front pages and assesses how the end of apartheid, the introduction of the controversial race quota systems in sport and the hosting of international tournaments like the rugby and football World Cups have affected the country's sport and society. South Africa is a country often divided both within itself and from the rest of the world. For decades sport was tarnished by class and racial divides. Two sporting cultures existed - one for whites, one for blacks - each with its own pantheon of heroes, triumphs and tragedies. Archive on 4 explores the role of sport in South Africa's history, from the Gleneagles Agreement that saw the Republic banned from worldwide competition, to the rebel tours in cricket and rugby and the athletes who were forced to leave their homeland in order to compete on the world stage. |
| Soho! | 20090718 | 20090720
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The singer Suggs returns to London's Soho, where he spent much of his unconventional childhood and where his jazz singer mother still lives. He was introduced to the delights of the Colony Club as a six-year-old, and as a musician he continued to haunt the district. Recording on location and mining the BBC archive, Suggs investigates how this unique community, complete with red-light district and village school, functions today, and whether it is still, or indeed ever was, a source of inspiration or merely a creative vacuum. For decades, Soho was regarded as Britain's capital of sleaze and vice, but also a place where artists, writers, musicians and actors came to drink and philosophise. Tales of the area and its inhabitants abound, from painter Francis Bacon and George Melly at Muriel Belcher's infamous Colony Club to Jeffrey Bernard and Keith Waterhouse at the Coach and Horses and Dylan Thomas at The French House. Soho was the birthplace of British pop, with the skifflers, jazzers and early rock 'n' rollers all making their names in the coffee bars of the 1950s. It was also the home of refugees of every type, including political dissidents, foreigners and homosexuals, from Casanova to Karl Marx, and Quentin Crisp to George Melly. Yet in the 1950s, a new phrase was coined: 'Soho-itis'. It was said that if you enter Soho you will never get any work done, and you will never, ever leave. Many books, poems, songs and indeed careers were washed away with drink, but some artists, musicians and writers did survive the late nights, the fights and the booze, and took great inspiration from the place. Producer: Justine Willett. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2009. Suggs returns to Soho to find out how this unique community functions today. Tales of the area and its inhabitants abound, from painter Francis Bacon and George Melly at Muriel Belcher's infamous Colony Club to Jeffrey Bernard and Keith Waterhouse at the Coach and Horses and Dylan Thomas at The French House. It was also the home of refugees of every type, includng political dissidents, foreigners and homosexuals, from Casanova to Karl Marx, and Quentin Crisp to George Melly. The singer Suggs returns to London's Soho, where he spent much of his unconventional childhood and where his jazz singer mother still lives. He was introduced to the delights of the Colony Club as a six-year-old, and as a musician he continued to haunt the district. Recording on location and mining the BBC archive, Suggs investigates how this unique community, complete with red-light district and village school, functions today, and whether it is still, or indeed ever was, a source of inspiration or merely a creative vacuum. For decades, Soho was regarded as Britain's capital of sleaze and vice, but also a place where artists, writers, musicians and actors came to drink and philosophise. Tales of the area and its inhabitants abound, from painter Francis Bacon and George Melly at Muriel Belcher's infamous Colony Club to Jeffrey Bernard and Keith Waterhouse at the Coach and Horses and Dylan Thomas at The French House. Soho was the birthplace of British pop, with the skifflers, jazzers and early rock 'n' rollers all making their names in the coffee bars of the 1950s. It was also the home of refugees of every type, including political dissidents, foreigners and homosexuals, from Casanova to Karl Marx, and Quentin Crisp to George Melly. For decades, Soho was regarded as Britain's capital of sleaze and vice, but also a place where artists, writers, musicians and actors came to drink and philosophise. Tales of the area and its inhabitants abound, from painter Francis Bacon and George Melly at Muriel Belcher's infamous Colony Club to Jeffrey Bernard and Keith Waterhouse at the Coach and Horses and Dylan Thomas at The French House. Soho was the birthplace of British pop, with the skifflers, jazzers and early rock 'n' rollers all making their names in the coffee bars of the 1950s. It was also the home of refugees of every type, includng political dissidents, foreigners and homosexuals, from Casanova to Karl Marx, and Quentin Crisp to George Melly. |
| Some Like It Hot | 19991211 | 20150523 (BBC7)
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20190303 (BBC7) |  Cleo Laine revisits the golden age of the all-girl swing band in the UK and America. From Ivy Benson to the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, she explores the careers of professional women musicians in the 1940s in their own words. Cleo speaks to musicians Sheila Tracey, Gracie Cole, Elsie Ford, Helen Wood, Carline Ray, Maxine Kneper, Rosa Bellamy and Viola Smith - plus historians Sally Placksin and Sherrie Tucker. Producer: Virginia Crompton First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1999. Cleo Laine revisits the 1940s golden age of the all-girl swing band in the UK and America. Cleo Laine revisits the golden age of the all-girl swing band in the United States. From Ivy Benson to the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, she explores the careers of professional women musicians from the 1940s in their own words and music. |
| Song Of The Singer Sewing Machine | 20161015 | 20201201 (BBC7)
20170414 (R4) |  The song of the Singer has whirred its way through more than 160 years. There is not a town in the world where this machine has not made its presence felt. Maria Margaronis considers the might of the sewing machine to make empires and change lives for better or worse. Isaac Singer patented his machine in 1851. That bald fact alone doesn't even begin to describe the individual behind this perfection of technologies and processes. Impresario, inventor, actor and millionaire and father of 22 children with six wives, the last of whom was the model for the Statue of Liberty. There was skull duggery and power play at work in his ability to capture the market - the rise of the first multi-national. As the slogan goes 'Sewing made easy'. By the late nineteenth century Singer had 86,000 employees and 5,000 branch offices in 190 countries--a reach second only to the Catholic Church. But we begin on a busy North London road. The shop simply says SINGER, inside is a nest of sewing machines. It is here that Maria Margaronis has brought her mother's old machine and it is here she begins her story, unpicking the threads of time. This machine was one of millions made on Glasgow's Clyde Side. Singer's European heartland until 1980. A place that produced some 36 million machines. Maria Margaronis travels to both Glasgow and to the site of the vast American Singer factory in Elizabethport New Jersey to piece together the story of a once all powerful empire. From the Amazon river where they were traded for emeralds to St Petersburg where the Bolsheviks had the temerity to nationalize the Singer factory. Drawing on oral history, newly recorded interviews and rare gems Maria follows the many threads of Singers presence in the world. Producer: Mark Burman. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2016. The Singer sewing machine has whirred its way through history as Maria Margaronis unravels |
| Sontag's Radical Will | 20191228 | | Susan Sontag - writer, public intellectual and “empress of American culture” - may have died fifteen years ago, but she continues to shape how we think today, on subjects as diverse as photography, illness, sexuality, and violence. Susan Sontag - writer, public intellectual and “empress of American culture ? - may have died fifteen years ago, but she continues to shape how we think today, on subjects as diverse as photography, illness, sexuality, and violence. Novelist, poet, and playwright Deborah Levy charts Sontag's role as a lucid chronicler of major cultural moments, from the sexual revolution of the 1960s to the AIDS crisis and the Bosnian war. Sontag broke with traditional post-war criticism in America, articulating how the boundaries between high culture and popular culture were crumbling. She advocated a sensual approach to seeing and experiencing art, arguing that “interpretation is the revenge of the intellect upon art. ? She was concerned with what it means to make images out of reality and to pay attention to the suffering of others. A fearless, outspoken thinker, Sontag had a complex relationship with her own gender and sexuality. She was determined to hone a public persona that ensured people took her seriously. Levy examines her views on feminism and considers her attitudes in light of contemporary notions of identity politics and self-expression. Alongside biographer Benjamin Moser, writer and friend Sigrid Nunez, American essayist Leslie Jamison, and British writer Lisa Appignanesi, Deborah Levy considers Sontag's major works - including Against Interpretation, On Photography, and Illness as Metaphor - in the context of our current era, arguing that her rigorous voice and daring imagination are ever vital. Produced by Meara Sharma A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4 Novelist Deborah Levy assesses the life and work of American writer Susan Sontag. |
| Southern Journeys | 20020727 | 20160910 (BBC7)
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20190609 (BBC7) | Shirley Collins tells the story of Alan Lomax's historic 1959 trip to the southern states. The story of American traditional music is dominated by the father and son team John and Alan Lomax who discovered, recorded, and popularised the music of the poor, the dispossessed and voiceless. During Alan Lomax 's 1959 tour of the southern states, he was accompanied by his then lover, English folk singer Shirley Collins , and here she tells the story of how he recorded the sounds of a world that was fast disappearing, but which still influences popular music today. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2002. |
| Speaking As A Member Of The Public | 20141018 | 20151128 (BBC7)
20151129 (BBC7) |  Man on the Street. Tom, Dick and Harry. The Man on the Clapham Omnibus. The Voice of the People. For decades, "ordinary people" have been stopped in the street to give interviewers their opinions on diverse subjects in the ubiquitous format of the vox pop. Why? Comedian and writer Danny Wallace revisits decades of television and radio archives to listen again to the multitude who happened to be walking down the street when a reporter needed a random opinion about soap flakes or capital punishment. It all began in 1930s America, with the programme Vox Pop in Houston, Texas where a presenter literally ran a microphone cable out of the radio station window to interview people on the street. However, the technique didn't become a regular feature of British broadcasting until the 1960s. Now, it's impossible to turn on the news without hearing at least one neatly randomised set of opinions from members of the Great British Public. Danny considers why the vox pop is so omnipresent, what "the public" actually means and why we need the views of so many ordinary people on radio and TV. BBC voxing queen Esther Rantzen looks back on the thousands of people she buttonholed for That's Life. Comedian Charlie Higson considers why comedy ran away with the format. Deputy Director of BBC News Fran Unsworth makes a serious case for the use of seemingly random opinions in news programmes. Deputy Political Editor James Landale, tells Danny about a strange vox he conducted that recently went viral. We also hear from Greg Packer, native New Yorker who's been voxed so many times that the Associated Press had to ban him from being quoted. Produced by Colin McNulty A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4. Danny Wallace's history of the vox pop. Are the opinions of random people of any value? |
| Speaking In Public: Archive On 4 Goes Live! | 20161105 | |  David Bramwell sets out to prove that anyone can be a good public speaker. So you think you're bad at public speaking? Sir Isaac Newton was apparently so dull that no-one came to his lectures at all. Unperturbed, he gave them to an empty room. You can also be too interesting. American architect and inventor Buckminster Fuller once gave a talk called 'Everything I Know'. It lasted for 42 hours, with the first short break only coming after 24 hours. Lord Reith established his BBC lectures to 'enrich the intellectual and cultural life of the nation', which sounds old fashioned, but today public speaking is still a surprisingly big deal. Nightclubs may be closing but speaking events are thriving, and on-line lecturers get world-wide followings. So, can anyone be a good public speaker? Presenter David Bramwell thinks so. In front of a live audience, at the Catalyst Club in Brighton where he's been hosting speaking events for 12 years, he draws on guests - professional, experienced, novice and totally inexperienced - to prove his point, and provide some entertainment on the way. With advice from star of Ken Campbell's Road Show (oh, and Dr Who) Sylvester McCoy; the 'Head of TED' talks Chris Anderson; actor and comedy writer Graham Duff; coach for the Speakers Trust Sarah Steed, comedian and QI 'Elf' Dan Schreiber and Catalyst Club regular Charlotte Ellis. Also, Dr Gillian Forrester and Dr Catherine Loveday will explore stage fright. Last but by no means least, (ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together!) we hear 'first timer' Clare Mackie, whose maiden speech encompasses her passion for exotic African animal poo. What could possibly go wrong? Presenter: David Bramwell Producer: Sara Jane Hall Photo: Lewis Thomas. |
| Speaking Truth To Power | 20190608 | | |
| Speaking Truth To Power | 20190615 | | Mark D'Arcy examines how MPs' select committees are increasingly challenging the powerful. |
| Spilling The News | 20110416 | 20110418 | If you come to work in Washington, you'd better put your big boy pants on. This is Admiral Thad Allen's reflection on being caught in the middle of a political battle following the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Admiral Allen was the National Incident Commander overseeing a plan which was set up after the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989. This was the first time the plan had been used, and at its core was the idea that BP would carry out the clean up, overseen by the federal authorities. But BP's role quickly became a political challenge. British Petroleum - as many began to call it - were vilified by the media. The chief executive, Tony Hayward, became a deeply unpopular figure, particularly after he said - I would like my life back. In Spilling The News, Steve Hewlett examines the political and media response to the spill. He charts how a tragic industrial accident and serious environmental threat became a bitter war of words, often fought over national lines. Producer: Chris Ledgard. Steve Hewlett examines the response to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This is Admiral Thad Allen's reflection on being caught in the middle of a political battle following the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Admiral Allen was the National Incident Commander overseeing a plan which was set up after the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989. This was the first time the plan had been used, and at its core was the idea that BP would carry out the clean up, overseen by the federal authorities. But BP's role quickly became a political challenge. British Petroleum - as many began to call it - were vilified by the media. The chief executive, Tony Hayward, became a deeply unpopular figure, particularly after he said - I would like my life back. In Spilling The News, Steve Hewlett examines the political and media response to the spill. He charts how a tragic industrial accident and serious environmental threat became a bitter war of words, often fought over national lines. |
| Spitfire: From The Ashes | 20200905 | | In September 1940, in two factories in Southampton, one of the most iconic planes of the Second World War was being painstakingly assembled, piece by piece. This sleek and beautiful fighter, with record breaking top speeds and a deadly reputation for precision, was to be Britain's most notorious weapon against the Nazi air invasion. But, the factory making them was about to be destroyed by devastating German bombing raids. How could the Battle of Britain be fought without the Spitfire? With the factory a smoking ruin, a plan was hatched to keep the planes coming, against some pretty extraordinary odds. Reconstructed from letters, autobiographies, oral histories and contemporary interviews, historian Victoria Taylor pieces it all together. This isn't the usual story, about the plane that saved Britain. This is a story about the ordinary men and women, in church-halls, bus depots, laundries and garages, who saved the Spitfire. Produced by Emily Knight, for BBC Audio, in Bristol Historical Advisor: David Key How an icon was made, piece by piece, against all odds. With historian Victoria Taylor. In September 1940, in two factories in Southampton, one of the most iconic planes of the Second World War was being painstakingly assembled, piece by piece. This sleek and beautiful fighter, with record breaking top speeds and a deadly reputation for precision, was to be Britain's most notorious weapon against the Nazi air invasion. But, the factory making them was about to be completely destroyed in three devastating German bombing raids. Historian Victoria Taylor looks back at how an icon was made, piece by piece. The Spitfire |
| Spoken Like A Woman | 20130202 | 20150718 (BBC7)
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20180128 (BBC7) |  In the earliest days of radio, women commented on 'household matters', talked about their garden or their travels - writers Vita Sackville-West and Rebecca West were regulars - and became Children's Hour 'Aunts'; but certainly never read the news. On the other hand, the young BBC employed a number of brilliant young women behind the microphone who shaped the earliest days of programme-making. But when they finally broke into the male bastion of mainstream broadcasting, largely as a result of the second world war, women's particular affinity with the microphone was quickly recognised, notably on the World Service where the female voice was soon found to be more effective at reaching listeners at the other end of the Empire than that of their male counterparts. In this programme, Anne Karpf explores, with the help of the sound archive, the way women's voices have shaped the sound of British radio, from Auntie Kathleen of Children's Hour and those formal talks of the early BBC, via the forces' sweethearts like Jean Metcalfe and Marjorie Anderson, to today's topliners like Martha Kearney and Bridget Kendall. Producer Simon Elmes. Anne Karpf explores the way women have shaped the sound of British radio. Producer Simon Elmes. |
| Sport On Film | 20101120 | 20101122
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20141123 (BBC7) |  Colin Shindler is a film writer and passionate sports fan and he's still convinced that it's possible to marry the two obsessions on the big screen. However the archive is littered with gallant and some not so gallant failures amidst the few dazzling chariots of fire. Just this year we've had Invictus, recreating the success of the South African Rugby team and the relationship between their captain Francois Pienaar and President Mandela as well as The Damned United and the story of Brian Clough's fall from grace at the hands of the then mighty Leeds United. Colin has plans for a cricketing film but as he prepares his new screenplay Colin looks at some of the reasons sport gets tripped up by the requirements of film and he talks to people who've had some success as performers, producers and directors in taking what can be taken from sport and making it dramatic, compelling and yet never losing sight of the need to produce an engaging story and engaging characters. Lord Putnham, Hugh Hudson, Michael Sheen, Rachel Portman and the former England cricketer Mike Selvey offer up advice and help Colin make sense of the archival lessons about sport in film. Producer: Tom Alban. Colin Shindler looks back at what's been won and lost when sport hits the big screen. Colin Shindler is a film writer and passionate sports fan and he's still convinced that it's possible to marry the two obsessions on the big screen. However the archive is littered with gallant and some not so gallant failures amidst the few dazzling chariots of fire. Just this year we've had Invictus, recreating the success of the South African Rugby team and the relationship between their captain Francois Pienaar and President Mandela as well as The Damned United and the story of Brian Clough's fall from grace at the hands of the then mighty Leeds United. |
| Stadium Rock At 50 | 20150815 | 20170623
20170623 (R4) |  50 years after the Beatles played Shea Stadium, Kate Mossman plots a history of Arena rock On 15th August 1965, The Beatles played Shea Stadium in New York. It was a pioneering gig, the promoter counted record takings - and the fans had a terrible time. They were penned on a sports field, where the Fab Four seemed miles away and were largely inaudible. For The Beatles, the show turned into a joke, with John Lennon playing a keyboard with his elbows towards the end of the set. Half a century later, stadium rock is a very serious business. Tremendous advances in sound, lighting, design, video, choreography and computer technology have created a global musical experience unimaginable 50 years ago - the stadium or arena show. And it's become more vital for the balance sheet as recording revenues plummet. In this 'Archive on 4' music journalist Kate Mossman charts the journey from Shea Stadium to the present - with tales of get-lucky promoters, bands whose imaginations ran riot, the rise of the stadium anthem, and the art of reaching out to tens of thousands of fans. Producers: Melanie Brown and Paul Kobrak. Producers: Melanie Brown & Paul Kobrak. |
| Star Trek - The Undiscovered Future | 20160903 | 20201117 (BBC7)
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Kevin Fong boldly goes in search of Star Trek's 50-year-old vision of the future. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives The first episode of Star Trek aired half a century ago, on 8th September 1966. Space medic and broadcaster Kevin Fong asks what happened to the progressive and optimistic vision of future that the iconic television series promised him? In 1964, Star Trek producer Gene Roddenberry repeatedly failed to convince US television studios and networks to buy his idea for a new kind of science fiction series. Eventually he sold NBC the concept of a sci-fi story in which the human race explored space, united in racial harmony and with benign global purpose. This was the era of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the western world: mutual nuclear annihilation had almost happened in 1963. The US and USSR were engaged in the Space race. Yet in Star Trek, American captain James Kirk had a Russian, Pavel Chekov, in charge of the Enterprise's weapon systems. The battle for civil rights in the United States was also coming to ahead. Gene Roddenberry cast a black woman as fourth in command of the Enterprise - Lieutenant Uhura, the ship's communications officer. The Vietnam war was ramping up and relations between Mao's China and the United States were at a low. Yet another senior figure on the Enterprise's bridge was Mr Sulu, who Roddenberry wanted as a representative of Asia. How far have we voyaged towards Star Trek's vision of the future and what of it is likely to be fulfilled or remain undiscovered in the next 50 years? Kevin Fong presents archive material of the likes of Leonard Nimoy (Spock) and Nichelle Nichols (Lieutenant Uhura) talking about the inception and filming of the original Star Trek series, and their thoughts about Roddenberry's vision of the future and its impact in the United States at the time. For example, Nichols relates how she had a chance encounter with Martin Luther King the day after she had told Roddenberry that she intended to leave Star Trek after the first series. King told her he was her number fan and almost demanded that she didn't give up the role of Uhura, because she was an uniquely empowering role model on American television at the time. For a perspective from today, Kevin also talks to George Takei who played Mr Sulu. Takei laments the ethnically divisive politics of the United States in 2016. He meets Charles Bolden - the first African American to both command a shuttle mission and lead NASA as its chief administrator. In the age of the International Space Station, he compares himself to the 'Admiral of Star Fleet'. But the former astronaut also talks about the anger he first felt in 1994 when he was asked to fly the first Russian cosmonaut ever to board an American space shuttle. Kevin also talk to cultural broadcaster and Star Trek fan Samira Ahmed about the sexual and racial politics of the Original series. Rod Roddenberry, the television producer son of Gene Roddenberry, tells Kevin about his father, his father's politics and creative vision, and why Star Trek still endures, even though its future remains unattained. Producers: Andrew Luck-Baker and Jennifer Whyntie. Credits/copyright: Audio footage from 'Star Trek'' was courtesy of CBS Television Studios. Some segments of interview with Nichelle Nichols were courtesy of the Television Academy's Archives of American Television. For example, Nichols relates how she had a chance encounter with Martin Luther King the day after she had told Roddenberry that she intended to leave Star Trek after the first series. King told her he was her number one fan and almost demanded that she didn't give up the role of Uhura, because she was a uniquely empowering role model on American television at the time. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016. The first episode of Star Trek aired half a century ago, on 5th September 1966. Space medic and broadcaster Kevin Fong asks what happened to the progressive and optimistic vision of future that the iconic television series promised him? Producers: Andrew Luck-Baker and Jennifer Whyntie. For example, Nichols relates how she had a chance encounter with Martin Luther King the day after she had told Roddenberry that she intended to leave Star Trek after the first series. King told her he was her number fan and almost demanded that she didn't give up the role of Uhura, because she was an uniquely Army Of Me - Bjork Now [6 Music] Following on from Hear Her Day, another chance to hear a programme celebrating Bjork. Following on from Hear Her Day, another chance to hear a programme celebrating one of the most successful and iconic female musicians of our time, Bjork. The Icelandic singer has talked about female musician struggling to be given credit for their creative work. In this programme Miranda Sawyer speaks inArchive On 4 Star Trekthe Undiscovered Future 20160903 |
| Stephen Fry Does The Knowledge | 20110822 | 20111119 | Stephen Fry is of course a black cab driver, known for his prodigious knowledge. Taking the taxi journey as metaphor, Stephen tries to pin down what the knowledge is, with the help of cab drivers quiz contestants, quizmasters philosophers, memory champions and educationalists. And he looks at the idea of 'general' knowledge, as in general knowledge games and General Certificates of Education. There are excerpts from a variety of quiz shows, starting with the very first British example, less of a quiz and more of a spelling bee. Though quiz shows aren't the be-all and end-all of the subject they do show how our perception of knowledge has changed, from the deeply serious to the wilfully trivial. In an era when popular culture is taken very seriously, the question of 'what's worth knowing?' needs careful thought. Magnus Magnusson, for example argues for knowledge for its own sake. Technology - the way Knowledge is shared - is also a theme. Is The Knowledge, as famously earned by London cabbies, threatened by Satellite Navigation? What happens to how we value knowledge in an age when technology offers us such wide horizons? Stephen discovers fascinating pre-Google knowledge sharing systems including the much loved Daily Telegraph Information service and the nineteenth century Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. He argues that how we share knowledge doesn't alter its nature and that a study of the subject -epistemology, to give it its correct name - is ultimately a philosophical matter. The programme's nonetheless entertaining with apposite contributions from Alan Bennett, Magnus Magnusson, Nicholas Parsons, John Peel, Bertrand Russell, Fred Housego and the philosopher Mary Margaret McCabe. Producer: Nick Baker A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4. Stephen Fry's metaphorical taxi journey to discover what knowledge really means. Stephen Fry is of course a black cab driver, known for his prodigious knowledge. Taking the taxi journey as metaphor, Stephen tries to pin down what the knowledge is, with the help of cab drivers quiz contestants, quizmasters philosophers, memory champions and educationalists. And he looks at the idea of 'general' knowledge, as in general knowledge games and General Certificates of Education. There are excerpts from a variety of quiz shows, starting with the very first British example, less of a quiz and more of a spelling bee. Though quiz shows aren't the be-all and end-all of the subject they do show how our perception of knowledge has changed, from the deeply serious to the wilfully trivial. In an era when popular culture is taken very seriously, the question of 'what's worth knowing?' needs careful thought. Magnus Magnusson, for example argues for knowledge for its own sake. Technology - the way Knowledge is shared - is also a theme. Is The Knowledge, as famously earned by London cabbies, threatened by Satellite Navigation? What happens to how we value knowledge in an age when technology offers us such wide horizons? Stephen discovers fascinating pre-Google knowledge sharing systems including the much loved Daily Telegraph Information service and the nineteenth century Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. He argues that how we share knowledge doesn't alter its nature and that a study of the subject -epistemology, to give it its correct name - is ultimately a philosophical matter. |
| Stewart Lee: Unreliable Narrator | 20210612 | | Comedian and writer Stewart Lee draws on a lifetime of professional untruths to consider the disorienting and apparently all-encompassing world of the unreliable narrator. Why, if we appreciate truth, objectivity and authenticity so much, do we also love the distortions of almost all narrative art? Does the basic human desire to tell stories mean that none of us are ever really telling the truth? What happens when the idea of manipulating the narrative leaves the world of entertainment and enters the world of politics? From the British Library to the middle of a Victorian graveyard, in novels and poems, documentaries, the songs of Bob Dylan and stand-up comedy, Stewart picks through the archives and encounters a host of more or less reliable voices including Mediaevalist Dr Hetta Howes, writer and critic Jennifer Hodgson, political commentator Nesrine Malik, poets Emily Berry and Rob Auton, filmmaker Ben Rivers, Dylanologist Nish Kumar, comedian Russell Kane and one or two devious special guests. Be on your guard, expect the unexpected and suspend your disbelief as we head out in search for something to rely on. Presenter: Stewart Lee Producer: Michael Umney Executive Producer: Max O'Brien A Novel production for BBC Radio 4 Comedian Stewart Lee considers the problems and possibilities of unreliable narrators. |
| Studs Terkel - Back In The Wax Museum | | 20081129 (BBC7)
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20151115 (BBC7) |  Alan Dein looks back at the life of the late American oral historian Studs Terkel. Alan Dein looks back at the life of the American oral historian Studs Terkel, who died earlier this month. Includes unique archive material from Terkel's own collection of recordings covering almost 50 years of interviews and broadcasts. |
| Summer With Greta | 20200711 | | Campaigner Greta Thunberg describes the remarkable and tumultuous past year of her life. |
| Tears Of A Clown | 20141101 | 20160402 (BBC7)
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20160528 (R4) |  Robin Ince looks at the enduring cliche of the sad clown. Robin Ince looks at the enduring cliché of the Sad Clown. What is the relationship between stand-up comedy and mental health? A room filled with comedians standing in silence is rarity, especially after midnight during the Edinburgh Fringe, but this was a scene across the bars and venues when the news of Robin Williams' suicide broke. The death of a comedian resurrects the numerous images of the comedian surrounded by laughter they have created, yet miserable themselves. But how true is this image of the melancholy comedian? While the lives of Kenneth Williams, Tony Hancock and Spike Milligan are raked over with new books and documentaries appearing on a yearly basis, hundreds of comedians seemingly live and perform without facing anxiety that reaches clinical levels. Is the image of the sad comedian a comfort for an audience: they made us all laugh and brought so much joy, but don't worry, they were wracked with existential agony for the rest of their lives? Is pain required to create comedy, or would Spike Milligan have created as much, if not more, absurd and delightful comedy had he not been so frequently institutionalised? Do plays and documentaries on comedians focus so much on the bleak side of their existence that they create a false vision of perpetual despair? Is the act of being a comedian more of a cure than a burden? While others may have no valve to release their festering thoughts, the stand up can transform their ludicrousness or burdensome thoughts into jokes. They are able to laugh at, and with, themselves and even make money out of it too. Is comedy just like every other profession, or is there a need for some loss or pain in childhood to create the outsider who wishes to spend each night making themselves face one of the top three fears of human beings, public speaking? Romantic vision, bitter truth, debatable myth - can we really work out the formula that makes a comedian? Give me the child until they are seven, and I will show you the entertainer? -Robin Ince, Aged 45 and 3/4. Robin Ince looks at the enduring cliche of the Sad Clown. What is the relationship between stand-up comedy and mental health? Is the image of the sad comedian a comfort for an audience: "they made us all laugh and brought so much joy, but don't worry, they were wracked with existential agony for the rest of their lives"? A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Brilliant stories told using archive material from the BBC and beyond. |
| Ted Hughes: Memorial Tones | 20111210 | 20140621 (BBC7)
20140622 (BBC7) |  On the 6th December a memorial stone to the poet Ted Hughes will be unveiled in poet's corner at Westminster Abbey. To mark the occasion Melvyn Bragg presents a special edition of Archive on 4. With poets, writers and those who knew him well, Melvyn will look back over Ted Hughes' life and work to fashion a memorial in sound to accompany that of stone. The programme will centre on the many facets of Hughes' own voice; not only reading and discussing his work but in his many radio talks and his advocacy of other poets. It will make a critical appreciation of Hughes work; from his first poetry collection, A Hawk in the Rain, in 1957 to his last, Birthday Letters, in 1998. But Melvyn will also speak to those who saw at first hand a life touched by both great success and searing tragedy. Producer: James Cook. Melvyn Bragg celebrates the life and poetry of Ted Hughes. On the 6th December a memorial stone to the poet Ted Hughes will be unveiled in poet's corner at Westminster Abbey. To mark the occasion Melvyn Bragg presents a special edition of Archive on 4. With poets, writers and those who knew him well, Melvyn will look back over Ted Hughes' life and work to fashion a memorial in sound to accompany that of stone. The programme will centre on the many facets of Hughes' own voice; not only reading and discussing his work but in his many radio talks and his advocacy of other poets. It will make a critical appreciation of Hughes work; from his first poetry collection, A Hawk in the Rain, in 1957 to his last, Birthday Letters, in 1998. Melvyn Bragg celebrates the Yorkshire poet through a memorial at Westminster Abbey. |
| Tell Me A Storycorps | 20090321 | 20090323 |  Writer Simon Garfield tells the tale of StoryCorps, the project created in the US in 2003 by radio producer David Isay which has seen thousands of ordinary Americans enter Storybooths to record their responses to the simple question, 'Tell me about your life'.Simon compares StoryCorps with traditional oral history and asks if, that now we all possess the means to record our lives, those recordings are still of value and worth keeping. Writer Simon Garfield tells the tale of StoryCorps, the project created in the US in 2003 by radio producer David Isay which has seen thousands of ordinary Americans enter Storybooths to record their responses to the simple question, 'Tell me about your life'. Writer Simon Garfield tells the story of the American oral history project StoryCorps. |
| Tennant Looks Back At Osborne | 20160430 | 20210702 (R4) |  Sixty years ago, one small play shocked British theatre to its core and started a cultural revolution. John Osborne, a writer from an unfashionable Midlands city, put ordinary lives on stage and made them an extraordinary comment on post-war Britain. As he prepares to star in a new production for Radio 4, David Tennant explores John Osborne's own papers to uncover how he put his own life and relationships into Look Back in Anger. Along the way, we look back at the anger which greeted the play from many critics. The BBC's theatre critic Ivor Brown called it, unspeakably dirty and squalid. It is difficult to believe that a colonel's daughter, brought up with some standards, would have stayed in this sty for a day. He went on to fume, I felt angry because it wasted my time. He was one of many who hated the play. David Tennant hears interviews with John Osborne, reads his personal letters, as well as archive of critic Kenneth Tynan and director Tony Richardson. He also plays extracts from previous productions, including a classic with Richard Burton as Jimmy Porter. Contributors include playwright David Hare, critic Michael Billington, and actors Gary Raymond and George Devine. Producer: Jo Wheeler Executive Producer: David Morley A Bite Media production for BBC Radio 4 David Tennant explores the back story to Osborne's revolutionary play Look Back in Anger. David Tennant explores the autobiographical back story to Osborne's revolutionary play. Along the way, we look back at the anger which greeted the play from many critics. The BBC's theatre critic Ivor Brown called it, "unspeakably dirty and squalid. It is difficult to believe that a colonel's daughter, brought up with some standards, would have stayed in this sty for a day." He went on to fume, "I felt angry because it wasted my time." He was one of many who hated the play. A Bite Media production for BBC Radio 4. |
| Test Match Special: Ball By Ball | 20070526 | 20151003 (BBC7)
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20170528 (BBC7) |  Rory Bremner looks back at fifty years of BBC Radio coverage of test match cricket in this country. The programme has seen a rich variety of commentators, including the poetic elegance of John Arlott, the japes of Brian Johnston and the exuberance of Jonathan Agnew. For some the atmosphere has resembled that of an elite club, but for thousands of others the experience has been as vivid a depiction of summer as the smell of cut grass. First broadcast in 2007 to mark the 50th anniversary of Test Match Special. Rory Bremner looks back at fifty years of BBC Radio coverage of Test Match cricket. First broadcast in 2007 to mark the 50th anniversary of Test Match Special. The programme has seen a rich variety of commentators, including the poetic elegance of John Arlott, the japes of Brian Johnston and the exuberance of Jonathan Agnew. For some the atmosphere has resembled that of an elite club, but for thousands of others the experience has been as vivid a depiction of summer as the smell of cut grass. |
| Thank You And Goodbye | 20210710 | | Love or loathe it, once the News of the World bit the dust after 168 years in print — engulfed in phone-hacking scandals — it was clear that the British media would never be the same again. The paper's demise marked the end of big-budget, mega-selling tabloids that could demolish careers, ruin lives, or influence a nation. How did the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world suddenly lose the ability to claim that they represented the public? Was the News of the World - for so long the financial engine room of Rupert Murdoch's News UK - ultimately doomed by the advent of online journalism, tightening privacy laws, and changing attitudes to the stories it specialised in? And in the wake of the Leveson Inquiry, has tabloid journalism learned its lesson? Marking 10 years since the paper put out its final issue on 10th July 2011, The Guardian’s media editor Jim Waterson tells the inside story of the once mighty red top's final death throes. Speaking to those on the inside as well as those who brought the paper's illegal methods to light, Jim reveals how Britain's most scandalous tabloid was brought down and almost took part of the British establishment with it. Presenter: Jim Waterson Producer: Pippa Smith Associate Producer: Tom Latchem Executive Producers: Sean Glynn and Robbie MacInnes Produced by Novel for BBC Radio 4 Jim Waterson tells the inside story of the collapse of the News of the World. |
| That's Edutainment! | 20180721 | 20191129 (R4) | Are the values of education and entertainment truly compatible? Matthew Sweet asks if learning can or should be fun. When we watch a high-end TV documentary do we learn anything? Or do we simply think we have? With lessons from the archive, this is an hour long look at the links between education and fun. We attend Radio 4's King Street Junior for a historical re-enactment and go down Sesame Street, an early example of edutainment that worked. A 1970's adult education series called On the Move, with a young Bob Hoskins playing a removal man who has trouble reading and writing, helped enormous numbers of people with literacy problems. It accidentally became cult viewing in the process. The same cult status was accorded to the first late night Open University broadcasts, although the values of good television and undergraduate teaching initially clashed, sometimes about the appropriate colour of shirts. In his capacity as academic, Matthew talks to Dr Fern Riddell, whose PhD he supervised. Fern chose broadcasting and writing rather than lecturing or teaching as a career and she explains how injecting historical authenticity into TV dramas like Ripper Street might help us see past eras more clearly, if backed by the right research. And, with the help of Harvard Professor of Education Meira Levinson, Matthew wonders whether Homer Simpson is an appropriate vehicle for the study of philosophy. Meanwhile, are some of the ideals of Public Service Broadcasting changing in the digital age? Nowadays the strictly educational programmes like OU material and schools broadcasting are no longer part of the general broadcasting landscape, meaning we're less likely to stumble upon them. Put Public Service Broadcasting into a popular search engine and you might not end up learning about the BBC mission statement, but something completely different. A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4. Matthew Sweet on what links learning and pleasure, education and entertainment. A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4. |
| The 1981 Ashes Series | 20110723 | 20110725
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20180617 (BBC7) | In 1981 Mike Brearley - 39 years old, retired and greying - took over the England team in the middle of a six-match series, already one-nil down against the Australians. His predecessor as captain was still in the side, but the side had not won a game for a year and that captain's poor performances were partly to blame. On his first two days back Australia ran up another huge total and Brearley's own side collapsed. Amidst baying newspaper headlines England were 500 - 1 against winning the game. Yet Brearley's team achieved a victory to rival any in sport, which galvanised the nation and saw many who had never been interested in cricket before glued to the events on the pitch as Ian Botham led the team to the front pages. Brearley himself goes back to the archives to tell the inside story of what remains one of the most remarkable summers of sport there has ever been. As the Royal wedding, the rise of the SDP and the inner city riots all came and went, the cricket united the nation. We hear from the players of both sides including Botham, Border, Willis and Lillee, as well as the memories of Sam Mendes, Donald Trelford, Scyld Berry and Gideon Haigh. Mike Brearley tells the story of one of the most remarkable summers of cricket ever seen. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Brearley himself goes back to the archives to tell the inside story of what remains one of the most remarkable summers of sport there has ever been. As the Royal wedding, the rise of the SDP and the inner city riots all came and went, the cricket united the nation. We hear from the players of both sides including Botham, Border, Willis and Lillee, as well as the memories of Sam Mendes, Donald Trelford, Scyld Berry and Gideon Haigh. |
| The 90s: A Holiday From History | 20170422 | 20181127
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20180901 (R4) | Jonathan Freedland re-examines the 1990s from a new angle - recalling it as a rare period of peace and prosperity. But could it also be the decade which ultimately led to Trump and Brexit? Sandwiched between the end of the Cold War and the war on terror, the 1990s now look like an oasis of calm. The decade witnessed the end of apartheid in South Africa, the fall of the Soviet Union and peace in Northern Ireland. As a result, people became preoccupied by more domestic dramas. Just as the UK was gripped by the saga of Charles and Diana's marriage, the Americans were hooked on the OJ Simpson trial. Jonathan unearths a rich selection of archive and hears from MPs John Redwood and Harriet Harman about their perspectives on this most unusual decade. But he also argues that some of the forces unleashed in that decade would only start to manifest themselves in the middle of the 2010s - with the rise of Donald Trump and the UK's decision to leave the EU. Producer: Laurence Grissell. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2017. Jonathan Freedland re-examines the 1990s as a rare decade of peace and prosperity. Producer: Laurence Grissell. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives |
| The Advance Guard Of The Avant-garde | 20180310 | 20210511 (BBC7)
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20210516 (BBC7) | In the 1960s a group of writers set about shaking up the polite conventions of the British realist tradition through a whole range of experimental approaches. Sound poets created some of the strangest programmes ever broadcast by the BBC, while the likes of BS Johnson cut holes in the pages of his novels - and in the case of his book 'The Unfortunates' published the unbound chapters in a box for the reader to mix up and read in whatever order they wished. Johnson and similarly minded writers like Ann Quin, Bob Cobbing, Alan Burns and Christine Brooke-Rose were prominent in their day, appearing regularly on TV and radio programmes, but by now they've largely been forgotten. Using some of the rich archive these writers left behind, D.J. Taylor sets out to tell their story, with the help of Johnson's biographer Jonathan Coe, editor of a new Ann Quin collection Jennifer Hodgson, novelist Eimear McBride and poetry critic Jeremy Noel Tod. In a programme that borrows some of their techniques Taylor argues that while we may no longer talk about this group of determinedly experimental figures, many of today's most prominent writers, from David Mitchell to Alice Oswald, owe them a debt of gratitude. Presenter: DJ Taylor Producer: Geoff Bird First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014. DJ Taylor tells the story of an influential group of experimental 1960s British writers. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Producer: Geoff Bird. In a programme that borrows some of their techniques Taylor argues that while we may no longer talk about this group of determinedly experimental figures, many of today's most prominent writers, from David Mitchell to Alice Oswald, owe them a debt of gratitude. |
| The Age Of Emulsion: With Laurence Llewelyn Bowen | 20190622 | | Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen explores the social history of DIY home improvements, from Chintz to Changing Rooms and beyond. The Age of Emulsion is a story about our changing attitudes to housing, consumerism, national identity, sense of individuality, class, politics, and relationships between the sexes. Starting from the 1950s, Laurence draws on the rich TV and radio archive to show how DIY went from being a necessity after the Second World War, to a wholesome leisure activity, and a fully-blown national obsession. What's clear is that TV and radio played a pivotal role. Britain's first hardboard hero was Barry Bucknell whose Do It Yourself TV series launched in 1956, attracting 7 million viewers. Magazines like Practical Householder advertised tools but also a modern lifestyle to go with it. Over the next 50 years, TV and magazines would teach us practical skills and democratise interior design - from distressing, to rag rolling and stencilling. In the 90s, DIY became the new rock and roll, as reality makeover shows combined emotion AND emulsion. But what does our attitude say about us now? As DIY retailers struggle and millennials are blamed for their lack of skills, is this the end of the Age of Emulsion? Laurence also sets two of his favourite interior decorating challenges to novice DIYers Mae-Li Evans and Calum Lynn Producer: Victoria Ferran Exec Producer: Susan Marling A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4 Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen explores the social history of DIY home improvements. |
| The Alliance | 20210123 | | 40 years ago shots rang out in two separate assassination attempts. Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II were shot just six weeks apart. The events would reverberate through history, binding together two of the most prominent figures in the downfall of the Soviet Union. In June 1982 they met for the first time at the Vatican. They talked for nearly an hour and nothing of what they discussed has ever been officially released. Did this meeting mark the start of a secret collaboration to try to bring down the Soviet Union? Was it the beginning of a 'Holy Alliance' as it would later be claimed? Or was this simply a meeting of two world leaders who shared rare and painful common ground? Both men are credited with prominent roles in the downfall of the Soviet Union and the extent to which they worked together is a continued source of fascination three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall. AUDIO CREDITS: : CBS News: Reagan shooting Everyman: Rivals for Paradise, 1997: Clips of interviews with Richard Allen and Vernon Walters Ronald Reagan Presidential Library: Ronald Reagan's Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981 President Reagan's First Press Conference in Room 450 of the OEOB, January 29, 1981 President Reagan's and Pope John Paul II Remarks at their Arrival in Alaska on May 2, 1984 President Reagan's Remarks Following Discussions With Pope John Paul II on June 6, 1987 President Ronald Reagan's Speech at the Berlin Wall, June 12, 1987 MUSIC CREDITS: Bruce Springteen and Jackson Browne: Promised Land from Anti-Nuclear Disarmament Rally, Central Park, NYC '82, Label Rox Vox. Janusz Sikorski & George Borowski: Solidarity from Nobel Producers: Ben Robinson and Jane Andrews Reporter: Jane Little Editor: Gail Champion How close were Pope John Paul II and Ronald Reagan at the end of the Cold War? |
| The American Art Tapes | 20180602 | 20190920 (R4) | A unique insight into the vibrant art scene of mid-1960s America from an archive of recordings made then and broadcast now for the very first time. In 1965, the painter and teacher John Jones headed to the United States for a year, intending to record the most important and most influential artists he could find. His wife Gaby and their two young daughters went with him. One of those daughters, Nicolette Jones, is now a writer and critic, and she tells the story of how the family lodged in New York while her father grabbed interviews with Yoko Ono, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg and many more. This was the moment of happenings, pop art and abstract expressionism, while the long shadow of dadaism and surrealism, represented on the tapes by Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray, reached forward to Louise Bourgeois. Later, with nothing planned at all, the family set off on a three-month road trip in their old Ford station wagon, travelling across America from East to West Coast, turning up in little towns on the off chance of getting an interview with artists like Jasper Johns in Florida or a young Ed Ruscha in California. The unique archive of over 100 recordings, gathered by John Jones, lay in boxes in the family home for decades, waiting for him to write a book based on the tapes. He wasn't able to do this and so the family offered the whole set of recordings to the Tate Archive, which acquired them in 2015. In this programme, we hear a tantalising sample of this extraordinary material, airing a pivotal moment in 20th-century art and revealing John Jones to be on a par with some of the great audio collectors like Alan Lomax and Studs Terkel. The programme evokes the mood of the time by interweaving the artists' reflections with a soundscape of mid-60s American music, TV and location sound. Art historian and artistic director of the Royal Academy Tim Marlow gives a powerful sense of the artists' achievement as Nicolette Jones conjures up the feeling of a great American road trip through the eyes of the child she was. Extracts by kind permission of: The Easton Foundation/DACS, London/VAGA, NY 2018 Estate of Roy Lichtenstein/DACS 2018 May Ray Trust/ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2018 Produced by Emma-Louise Williams A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4. A unique insight into the vibrant art scene of mid-1960s America. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives This was the moment of Happenings, Pop Art and Abstract Expressionism, while the long shadow of Dada and Surrealism, represented on the tapes by Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray, reached forward to Louise Bourgeois. A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4. |
| The Anniversary Anniversary | 20091017 | 20091019
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Dominic Sandbrook scrutinises our obsession with anniversaries. Without any anniversary peg to speak of, Dominic Sandbrook sets out on a mission to understand the compelling appeal of the anniversary. Behind our obsession with remembering everything from battles, birthdays to pop albums, he finds a cultural hunger lurking behind the simple excuse for telling old stories. Producer Tom Alban Shortened rpt on Monday at 3pm ContributorsUnknown: Producer: Dominic Sandbrook ponders the compelling appeal of anniversaries. Dominic Sandbrook ponders the compelling appeal of anniversaries. How often is our attention enticed by them? From October 2009. Dominic Sandbrook explores the compelling appeal of the anniversary. How often on the radio, on television or in print is our attention enticed by the simple fact that an event, a birth or a death happened a year, or five or ten, fifty, even several hundred years ago? There is a huge category of archive material dedicated to particular happenings or personalities which would never have been produced without the prompt of an anniversary. Remembering war predates broadcasting, but in the past the remembering was cast in stone, unchanging even as the memories of those involved frayed and faded. In broadcasting, that increasing remoteness results in the memories being endlessly reworked with a different slant and attitude. Ten years after the end of Second World War, the response was limited but jovially triumphal. Sixty years on and there is a far greater energy in remembering and rediscovering, particularly of the details that didn't seem to matter at the time. A perfect example is The Radio Four series Coming Home. Dominic also looks at artistic, literary, sporting and musical anniversaries. In music there seems to be a constant stream of anniversary commemorations, fuelled by the recording industry. For example, there is the 200th anniversary of Mozart's death or the 250th anniversary of his birth; and, if that's not enough, then there are similar anniversaries for each of his operas. At the very heart of all this is the simple business of marking the turning of the years, best illustrated by the birthday, that most domestic of anniversaries. Dominic Sandbrook ponders the compelling appeal of anniversaries. How often is our attention enticed by them? From October 2009. Producer Tom Alban Shortened rpt on Monday at 3pm |
| The Anniversary Anniversary | 20091017 | 20091225
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Without any anniversary peg to speak of, Dominic Sandbrook sets out on a mission to understand the compelling appeal of the anniversary. Behind our obsession with remembering everything from battles, birthdays to pop albums, he finds a cultural hunger lurking behind the simple excuse for telling old stories. Producer Tom Alban Shortened rpt on Monday at 3pm ContributorsUnknown: Producer: Dominic Sandbrook scrutinises our obsession with anniversaries. Dominic Sandbrook explores the compelling appeal of the anniversary. How often on the radio, on television or in print is our attention enticed by the simple fact that an event, a birth or a death happened a year, or five or ten, fifty, even several hundred years ago? There is a huge category of archive material dedicated to particular happenings or personalities which would never have been produced without the prompt of an anniversary. Remembering war predates broadcasting, but in the past the remembering was cast in stone, unchanging even as the memories of those involved frayed and faded. In broadcasting, that increasing remoteness results in the memories being endlessly reworked with a different slant and attitude. Ten years after the end of Second World War, the response was limited but jovially triumphal. Sixty years on and there is a far greater energy in remembering and rediscovering, particularly of the details that didn't seem to matter at the time. A perfect example is The Radio Four series Coming Home. Dominic also looks at artistic, literary, sporting and musical anniversaries. In music there seems to be a constant stream of anniversary commemorations, fuelled by the recording industry. For example, there is the 200th anniversary of Mozart's death or the 250th anniversary of his birth; and, if that's not enough, then there are similar anniversaries for each of his operas. At the very heart of all this is the simple business of marking the turning of the years, best illustrated by the birthday, that most domestic of anniversaries. Dominic Sandbrook ponders the compelling appeal of anniversaries. Dominic Sandbrook ponders the compelling appeal of anniversaries. How often is our attention enticed by them? From October 2009. |
| The Art Of Filibustering | 20150103 | |  Girdles, saunas, catheters and running shoes. Historically these otherwise unrelated items have all played their part in the Filibuster, the tactic of frustration, obstruction and feat of stamina that can be traced back to Roman times Anne Treneman, political sketch writer of The Times, explores the art of the Filibuster and how in the USA where it is called 'The Soul of the Senate' it is under threat of extinction Ann, who was born in the USA, but lives and works here in the UK, explores its rich history, hears stories of the great Filibusters like Strom Thurmond the senator from South Carolina who spoke for 24 hours 18 minutes to filibuster the 1957 Civil Rights Act More recently Wendy Davis from Texas made headlines for her 13 hour Filibuster against changes to the states Abortion laws, she took the stand in pink running shoes, was fitted with a girdle mid-speech. It's considered to be the first social media filibuster Opponents of it in the US sense its time has come, Ann will hear from both sides of the debate Filibusters are never as heroic as James Stewart's in the 1939 film 'Mr Smith Goes to Washington'. They rarely have the rhetoric of Smith standing up for the people and the greater good, they are more likely to have the contents of the phone book or excerpts from children's stories. Ann spends much of her time peering from the press gallery into the commons chamber witnessing the best, and worst of British democracy in action, and although 24 hour Filibusters never happen, talking a bill out does. Using archive from here and the USA, Radio 4 will explore the Art of the Filibuster, along with its history, and of course its future. Presenter: Ann Treneman Producer: Richard McIlroy. |
| The Art Of The Lyricist | 20160326 | 20170520
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20170520 (R4) |  Clarke Peters explores the art of the musical theatre lyricist. Actor and singer Clarke Peters explores the career and legacy of 'My Fair Lady' lyricist Alan Jay Lerner. Alan Jay Lerner often said that he sweated for weeks to write a lyric for a song. His words highlighted the struggle that he and the other legendary wordsmiths of musical theatre had as they sought to hone the right words to fit their collaborator's music - words which would sometimes translate into the vernacular and speech of generations afterwards - expressions like Get me to the Church on Time (Lerner) or Everything's Coming Up Roses (Sondheim). Clarke explores the art of Alan Jay Lerner as well as other musical theatre lyricists which fill the BBC archives. Many of the songwriting greats are there - Yip Harburg, writer of Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?, Dorothy Fields (lyric writer of the hit show Sweet Charity) and the great Oscar Hammerstein. Also the artists who delivered both words and music - like Irving Berlin and Stephen Sondheim Plus surprises like P G Wodehouse who, as well as writing the famous Jeeves books, also wrote lyrics for musical theatre. Fresh interviews feature with lyricist Charles Hart (writer of words for Phantom of the Opera and more recently Bend it like Beckham), Millie Taylor, Professor of Musical Theatre at Winchester University and Alan Jay Lerner expert Dominic McHugh. Clarke Peters presents this journey of crafting the words for the perfect musical theatre song. Discover the pleasures and pitfalls of a lyricist's life as he takes us through from first thought to the opening night. Producer: Emma Kingsley. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2016 to mark the 60th anniversary of the musical My Fair Lady. In a programme first broadcast in 2016 to mark the 60th anniversary of the musical My Fair Lady, the actor and singer Clarke Peters explores the career and legacy of its lyricist Alan Jay Lerner and investigates the art of lyricists in general through the BBC archive. The programme explores the art of Alan Jay Lerner and the other musical theatre lyricists which fill the BBC archives. Many of the songwriting greats are there - Yip Harburg, writer of Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?, Dorothy Fields (lyric writer of the hit show Sweet Charity) and the great Oscar Hammerstein. There are there are the artists who delivered both words and music - including Irving Berlin and Stephen Sondheim. And there are the surprises- figures like PG. Wodehouse who, as well as writing the famous Jeeves books, also wrote lyrics for musical theatre. There are also new interviews with the lyricist Charles Hart (writer of words for Phantom of the Opera and more recently Bend it like Beckham), Millie Taylor, Professor of Musical Theatre at Winchester University and Alan Jay Lerner expert Dominic McHugh. Clarke Peters who's sung in many musicals and written the book for Five Guys Named Moe presents this journey of crafting the words for the perfect musical theatre song. He explores the pleasures and pitfalls of a lyricist's life and, in the company of Lerner and many others, takes the listener through from first thought to the opening night. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016. Producer: Emma Kingsley. As ""My Fair Lady"" marks its 60th anniversary with hit songs such as ""I Could Have Danced All Night"" and ""On the Street Where You Live"", Clarke Peters explores the career and legacy of its lyricist Alan Jay Lerner and investigates the art of lyricists in general through the BBC archive. Alan Jay Lerner often said that he sweated for weeks to write a lyric for a song. His words highlighted the struggle that he and the other legendary wordsmiths of musical theatre had as they sought to hone the right words to fit their collaborator's music - words which would sometimes translate into the vernacular and speech of generations afterwards - expressions like ""Get me to the Church on Time"" (Lerner) or ""Everything's Coming Up Roses"" (Sondheim). Using the anniversary of ""My Fair Lady"" as its basis, the programme explores the art of Alan Jay Lerner and the other musical theatre lyricists which fill the BBC archives. Many of the songwriting greats are there - Yip Harburg, writer of ""Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?"", Dorothy Fields (lyric writer of the hit show ""Sweet Charity"") and the great Oscar Hammerstein. There are there are the artists who delivered both words and music - including Irving Berlin and Stephen Sondheim. And there are the surprises- figures like PG. Wodehouse who, as well as writing the famous ""Jeeves"" books, also wrote lyrics for musical theatre. There are also new interviews with the lyricist Charles Hart (writer of words for ""Phantom of the Opera"" and more recently ""Bend it like Beckham""), Millie Taylor, Professor of Musical Theatre at Winchester University and Alan Jay Lerner expert Dominic McHugh. Clarke Peters who's sung in many musicals and written the book for ""Five Guys Named Moe"" presents this journey of crafting the words for the perfect musical theatre song. He explores the pleasures and pitfalls of a lyricist's life and, in the company of Lerner and many others, takes the listener through from first thought to the opening night. |
| The Art Of The Obit | 20160213 | 20200208 (BBC7)
20200209 (BBC7) |  Matthew Bannister celebrates the culture, style, purpose and panache of the obituary Matthew Bannister, presenter of BBC Radio 4's obituary programme, Last Word, celebrates the culture, style, purpose and panache of a media institution: the obituary. Matthew finds out about the delicate work of preparation, as he talks to leading obituary figures about how they choose which lives to cover. He examines some landmark obituaries, and reads from The Times full page obit on Hitler, an indicator of how the often delicate balance between honesty and sensitivity is achieved. Matthew also reveals some of his own behind-the-scenes stories – like the time he made uncomfortably close contact with the corpse. And a look at future developments, as some of the leaders in the obituary field reveal moves into the world of the pre-recorded farewell obituary video. Musician Dave Swarbrick recalls how it felt to see his premature obit in print, and Matthew explores why working in the world of the obit is always surprising and unexpectedly life-affirming. Producer: Neil George. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2016. Matthew Bannister, presenter of Radio 4's obituary programme, Last Word, celebrates the culture, style, purpose and panache of a media institution: the obituary. Matthew finds out about the delicate work of preparation, as he talks to leading obituary figures about how they choose which lives to cover. He examines some landmark obituaries, and reads from The Times full page obit on Hitler, an indicator of how the often delicate balance between honesty and sensitivity is achieved. Matthew also reveals some of his own behind-the-scenes stories – like the time he made uncomfortably close contact with the corpse. We find out about future developments, as some of the leaders in the obituary field reveal moves into the world of the pre-recorded farewell obituary video. Musician Dave Swarbrick recalls how it felt to see his premature obit in print, and Matthew explores why working in the world of the obit is always surprising and unexpectedly life-affirming. To mark the tenth anniversary of R4's obituary programme Last Word, Matthew Bannister presents an archive hour celebrating this stalwart of the newspaper and broadcasting world. Matthew finds out about the delicate work of preparation, as he talks to leading obituary figures about how they choose which lives to cover. He examines some landmark obituaries, and reads from The Times full page obit on Hitler, an indicator of how the often delicate balance between honesty and sensitivity is achieved. Matthew also reveals some of his own behind-the-scenes stories - like the time he made uncomfortably close contact with the corpse. |
| The Bailout | 20181006 | | For the first time, Radio 4 tells the thrilling story of the bank bailout from inside No 10, in a dramatic blow by blow account from then Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Along with Chancellor Alistair Darling at the Treasury, Governor Mervyn King at the Bank of England, and BBC Business Editor Robert Peston, we piece together the race against time to deliver a bold plan to stabilise the financial system before the banks go bust. Taking us inside incredible scenes: in the Oval Office where Gordon receives a fax saying Bradford and Bingley has gone bust whilst trying to persuade President Bush to recapitalise; bank Chief Executives being bundled in the back door of the Treasury for secret meetings that are immediately leaked; Alistair trying to keep a straight face at a boring Finance Ministers meeting in Luxembourg whilst RBS goes belly up; heretical invitations from President Sarkozy for Gordon to attend Euro Group meeting at the Elysee Palace when Britain isn't even in the Eurozone; phone calls from bankers saying they just need a bit of spare cash to tide them over, and their inevitable downfall. This is the story of what happened as the drama unfolded, without analysis, interpretation, or hindsight; because at the time nobody knew whether the biggest injection of cash into banks in British history would be enough to stave off Armageddon. Gordon Brown tells the inside story of the bank bailout. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives This is the story of what happened as the drama unfolded, without analysis, interpretation, or hindsight; because at the time nobody knew whether the biggest injection of cash into banks in British history would be enough to stave off Armageddon. |
| The Bald Truth | 20180224 | 20210330 (BBC7)
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20190102 (R4) | For thousands of years, bald men have been the subject of ridicule. As a result they've felt ashamed and have resorted to desperate measures to hide their condition. During the decades when hair style was a cultural battleground between youth and the establishment, the balding man was at the bottom of the heap. No prime minister since Clement Attlee has been bald. But increasingly, bald men are coming out of the closet and shaving their heads - and some women too. Research shows that bald men are perceived as less attractive but more dominant. Now that we are more relaxed about hair style, and more willing to tolerate tonsorial diversity, are bald men finally able to shed the stigma? And could the comb-over finally make a come back? Ian Marchant, who has shaved his head since the early 1980s, investigates. Producer: Jolyon Jenkins. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2018. Ian Marchant investigates hair loss and why so many men (and some women) care so much. Producer: Jolyon Jenkins. |
| The Ballads Of Emmett Till | 20180825 | 20200613 (R4) | Emmett Till was lynched in Mississippi in 1955. His death still haunts America. Emmett Till, 14 & black, was put on the train from Chicago by his mother Mamie in August 1955. She got him back in a pine box. His corpse mutilated & stinking. He had been beaten, shot and dumped in the Tallahatchie River for supposedly whistling at a white woman. His killers would forever escape justice. What Mamie did next helped galvanize the Civil Rights Movement & make Emmett the sacrificial lamb of the movement. From the very first Till's death was both a call to political action & the subject of songs, poetry & prose. Gwendolyn Brooks, Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell & many more have been drawn to tell his tale-his is the never ending ballad of a black life that mattered. His disfigured image from the legendary photograph in Jet magazine is seared into the memories of generations of Black Americans. And now Till has returned to haunt America. Taken up by the mothers and fathers of the slain in the Black Lives Matter movement, the subject of new documentaries, a trio of forthcoming Hollywood films & a new FBI investigation as the search for justice continues. His coffin lies at the heart of the Washington's new museum of African American history-a secular shrine & symbol of the enduring pain of American racism. Maria Margaronis draws on archive from Washington University St Louis, home to the interviews for the groundbreaking series Eyes on the Prize & rare recordings of the Till family conducted by filmmaker Keith Beauchamp. She travels through landscape & memory across Mississippi & Chicago, listening to historians, poets, writers & Till family members as she grapples with the many layers of meaning & the many, many ways Emmett's story has been told & retold. These are the Ballads of Emmett Till. Producer Mark Burman. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Emmett Till, 14 and black, was put on the train from Chicago by his mother Mamie in August 1955. She got him back in a pine box. His corpse mutilated and stinking. He had been beaten, shot and dumped in the Tallahatchie River for supposedly whistling at a white woman. His killers would forever escape justice. What Mamie did next helped galvanize the Civil Rights Movement and make Emmett the sacrificial lamb of the movement. From the very first Till's death was both a call to political action and the subject of songs, poetry and prose. Gwendolyn Brooks, Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and many more have been drawn to tell his tale-his is the never ending ballad of a black life that mattered. His disfigured image was seared into the memories of generations of Black Americans by a legendary photograph in Jet magazine-that image still resonates. And now Till has returned to haunt America. First taken up by the mothers and fathers of the slain in the Black Lives Matter movement, the subject of new documentaries, a trio of forthcoming Hollywood films and crucially a cold case recently reopened by the FBI as the search for justice continues. His coffin is enshrined at the heart of the nation in Washington's new museum of African American history-a secular shrine and symbol of the enduring pain of American racism. Maria Margaronis travels through landscape and memory across Mississippi and Chicago, listening to historians, poets, writers and Till family members as she grapples with the many layers of meaning and the many, many ways Emmett's story has been told and retold. Both by Black and White Americans. These are the Ballads of Emmett Till. Producer Mark Burman. What Mamie did next helped galvanise the Civil Rights Movement and make Emmett the sacrificial lamb of the movement. From the very first, Till's death was both a call to political action and the subject of songs, poetry and prose. Gwendolyn Brooks, Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and many more have been drawn to tell his tale - his is the never-ending ballad of a black life that mattered. His disfigured image from the legendary photograph in Jet magazine is seared into the memories of generations of Black Americans. And now Till has returned to haunt America. Taken up by the mothers and fathers of the slain in the Black Lives Matter movement, the subject of new documentaries, a trio of forthcoming Hollywood films and a new FBI investigation as the search for justice continues. His coffin lies at the heart of Washington's new museum of African-American history - a secular shrine and symbol of the enduring pain of American racism. Maria Margaronis draws on archive from Washington University St Louis, home to the interviews for the groundbreaking series Eyes on the Prize and rare recordings of the Till family conducted by filmmaker Keith Beauchamp. She travels through landscape and memory across Mississippi and Chicago, listening to historians, poets, writers and Till family members as she grapples with the many layers of meaning and the many, many ways Emmett's story has been told and retold. These are the Ballads of Emmett Till. |
| The Bathrooms Are Coming: An Internal History Of Corporate Comms | 20161231 | 20210724 (R4) | From in-house journals to industrial musicals, from opinion research to email cascades, the actor and communications expert Vincent Franklin explores the archive to chart the different ways in which companies have talked to their workers - and how staff have talked back. He investigates the first in-house journals from the Lowell Offering, written by American female mill workers in the 1840s, to the magazines for British Nylon Spinners a hundred years later. He hears how American corporations developed the Industrial Musical in the 1950s, getting top class songwriters to pen numbers extolling things like the virtues of tractors, in order to galvanise their workforce. Drawing on the contorted corporate language spoken around his character in the Olympic comedy Twenty Twelve, Vincent talks to its creator John Morton about the use of language in staff communication - when it works and when it doesn't. During the programme, he explores how workforces have been addressed by their managers, whether to tell them good news or bad. And he also hears about the new techniques in corporate comms being used today. With a profession numbering around 45,000 people, how have the demands of the job of doing internal communications changed? Along with the voices from the archive, we hear other new interviews with Tom Watson, Emeritus professor at Bournemouth University's Faculty of Media and Communication, Jennifer Sproul Chief Executive of the Institute of Internal Communication, Kathie Jones, archivist and former member of the British Association of Industrial Editors ,Steve Young who co-wrote the book Everything's Coming Up Profits about the age of the Industrial Musicals and Amol Rajan, former Editor of the Independent newspaper. Producer: Emma Kingsley In-house journals and industrial musicals, how firms have communicated to their workers. |
| The Benjamin Broadcasts | 20140524 | 20141101 (BBC7)
20141102 (BBC7) |  The German-Jewish philosopher Walter Benjamin is best known as the author of seminal texts such as "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" and for his influence on Theodor Adorno and the "Frankfurt School" of philosophy. But behind the much-mythologised figure of Benjamin the philosopher, there lies the little-known historical reality of Benjamin the broadcaster... When the Gestapo stormed Walter Benjamin's last apartment in 1940, they stumbled upon a cache of papers which the fleeing philosopher had abandoned in his hurry to escape Paris. Amongst these papers were the scripts for an extraordinary series of radio broadcasts for children covering everything from toy collecting to the politics of tenement housing, from the psychology of witch hunts to human responses to natural catastrophes. Designed to encourage young listeners to think critically, to question sources and to challenge clichés, Benjamin's broadcasts stand in stark contrast to the fascist propaganda which would come to take their place. Benjamin committed suicide in 1940, when his flight out of Europe was blocked at the Spanish border. He died believing that most - if not all - of his writings were lost. Here Radio4 listeners have an exclusive chance to discover them in this Archive on Four documentary presented by Michael Rosen, and with Henry Goodman as the voice of Walter Benjamin. It's the first ever English recreation of his pre-war broadcasts to children. Producer: Kate Schneider A Made in Manchester Production for BBC Radio 4. Michael Rosen discovers Walter Benjamin's radio works for children. Read by Henry Goodman. |
| The Black Footballer's Dilemma | 20181117 | 20191006 (BBC7) | Forty years ago this month, Viv Anderson made his debut for England against Czechoslovakia - the first black player to play for his country. Former footballer Clark Carlisle looks back at the challenges black players faced at a time when racist abuse from the terraces - often from their own fans - and insults within the dressing room were a regular occurrence. Some, like Cyrille Regis, chose to respond by ignoring the insults and death threats and by putting the ball in the back of the net”. But should he and others have done more to stand up against the abuse? Through archive and new interviews with those who lived through it - including former players like Garth Crooks, Paul Davis, Paul Mortimer and Paul Canoville - as well as his own personal experiences, Clark Carlisle examines the difficult choices black players faced and asks whether the issue of racism in football is really a thing of the past. A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4 First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2018. Former footballer Clark Carlisle tells story of British black players in the game. Some, like Cyrille Regis, chose to respond by ignoring the insults and death threats and by putting the ball in the back of the net ? But should he and others have done more to stand up against the abuse? Brilliant stories told using archive material from the BBC and beyond. |
| The Black Panthers | 20161008 | |  The rise and fall of the Black Panther Party and its legacy for American black insurgency. On the 50th anniversary of its foundation, Dorian Warren explores the rise and fall of the Black Panther Party and its legacy for more recent black insurgency in America. Founded in Oakland California in 1966, the Black Panther Party represented a revolutionary disavowal of mainstream Civil Rights. Its Ten Point Programme advanced a series of radical demands ranging from the right to armed resistance against police violence to universal healthcare, housing and education for the poorest sections of the black community. While Martin Luther King argued for tactical non-violence and full integration, the Panthers carried guns and were resolutely internationalist, drawing instead on the philosophy of Malcolm X, Karl Marx and the African liberation movement. The media image of the Panthers, of the glowering, gun toting, leather jacket-clad revolutionary, still dominates - it was highly stylised, coded to alarm white America, and members did indeed receive munitions and weapons training. Armed confrontation with the police and SWAT teams ensued. But a good deal of their work was dedicated to grass-roots and community outreach work - food programs, schooling and crèche support, raising funds for legal aid, prison welfare reform. The reasons for the Panthers' siege mentality and harrowing decline in the early 1970s are still contested: factional splits and trauma within the Party and internecine violence, but also huge pressure from without, police raids, FBI infiltration and the Nixon government pledging a platform of national law and order. Hearing from former Panthers (including Party founder Bobby Seale) critics and scholars, broadcaster and writer Dorian Warren explores the different dimensions of the Black Panther Party. Fifty years after its foundation the Black Panther Party still casts a long shadow - in 2016 The Black Lives Matter coalition released a Six Point Platform for Black Power, Freedom and Justice, explicitly evoking the Panthers' original 1966 Ten Point Programme. Presenter: Dorian Warren Producer: Simon Hollis A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4. |
| The Bomb That Made Manchester? | 20160611 | |  Michael Symmons Roberts examines the myth that the 1996 bomb heralded Manchester's rebirth The massive regeneration of Manchester has happened so rapidly - arguably outstripping that of any other British city in recent years - that it's only natural that its population looks for a reason to explain it. The simplest, and the one that's taken hold most profoundly, is that the 1996 IRA bomb that destroyed a large section of the city centre provided the essential catalyst for the renaissance that has subsequently taken place. Although nearly two hundred people were injured, there were no fatalities on the day; combined with the fact that much of the damage centred on the widely disliked Arndale Shopping Centre, people soon began to talk of this as an opportunity rather than a tragedy. Michael Symmons Roberts sets out to investigate whether it was in fact the bomb that did it, or whether the changes that have happened would have done so anyway, just at a slower rate - after all, bold projects were already underway in Manchester, most notably the successful bid to host the Commonwealth Games. Michael goes back over the archive, listening to not just reports from the day but also the debates around city planning more generally that were triggered by the devastation wreaked by the bomb - and finds out the extent to which Manchester's success offers a template for other cities, like Detroit and Christchurch, that have faced devastating blows. |
| The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band: Anarchy Must Be Organised | 20160312 | 20200118 (BBC7)
20200119 (BBC7)
20210305 (R4) |  
2016 saw the fiftieth anniversary of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band going “professional” – kick-starting the chaos with a performance on the bastion of psychedelia and avant-garde: Blue Peter. The legendary Neil Innes looks back at the influence and influences of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and the collision of art, humour, music, language and anarchy that permeated the band's career. Archive interviews and performances accompany new interviews with Legs Larry Smith, Rodney Slater, Vernon Dudley Bowhay Nowell, Sam Spoons, and Bob Kerr and contributions from friends and fans including Terry Gilliam, Adrian Edmondson, Kevin Eldon, Diane Morgan, Rick Wakeman and Stephen Fry. Neil Innes died in December 2019 at the age of 75. Producer: Laura Grimshaw First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2016. Neil Innes looks at the collision of art, humour, music and anarchy in the Bonzo Dog Band. 2016 saw the 50th anniversary of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band going “professional ? – kick-starting the chaos with a performance on the bastion of psychedelia and avant-garde: Blue Peter. Made for Radio 4 Extra 2016 saw the 50th anniversary of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band going “professional” – kick-starting the chaos with a performance on the bastion of psychedelia and avant-garde: Blue Peter. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra in March 2016. 2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band going "professional" - kick-starting the chaos with a performance on the bastion of psychedelia and avant-garde: Blue Peter. |
| The Book Burners | 20090207 | 20090209 | Reflections on the fatwa that was issued against Salman Rushdie in 1989. To mark 20 years since the fatwa was issued against Salman Rushdie over the publication of The Satanic Verses, Mike Wooldridge talks to those who took part in the protests and burned the book. When The Satanic Verses was published, one of the book burners, Inayat Bunglawala, was a second-year student at Queen Mary University in London. He, like many others, reasoned that the Thatcher government had banned Peter Wright's Spycatcher and had gone to court to prevent its distribution, so surely Rushdie's novel, which caused such offence to hundreds of millions of Muslims, deserved a similar fate? When, on the 14 February 1989, the Iranian Islamic leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie's death, the protestors were elated. London's Hyde Park saw 70,000 Muslims gather for what became one of the largest protests. Bradford was also the centre of much opposition. But 20 years on, do the young men who took part in the demonstrations and the book burning still believe that their actions were justified, and would they do it again? When The Satanic Verses was published, one of the book burners, Inayat Bunglawala, was a second-year student at Queen Mary University in London. He, like many others, reasoned that the Thatcher government had banned Peter Wright's Spycatcher and had gone to court to prevent its distribution, so surely Rushdie's novel, which caused such offence to hundreds of millions of Muslims, deserved a similar fate? When, on the 14 February 1989, the Iranian Islamic leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie's death, the protestors were elated. London's Hyde Park saw 70,000 Muslims gather for what became one of the largest protests. Bradford was also the centre of much opposition. |
| The Bradford Fire: A Day That Will Live With Me Forever | 20100501 | 20100503 | ![]() 25 years on, Gabby Logan remembers the day 56 people died in the Bradford City fire. May 11th 1985 is a day which will live with Gabby Logan forever. The third division trophy had just been paraded around Valley Parade by the triumphant Bradford City players and the game against Lincoln City was a formality the home side had to go through before they could really start celebrating. Gabby's dad, Terry Yorath, was assistant manager of Bradford City that season and aged 12, she attended the match with her family. The fire which later swept through one of the stands in just four minutes, started about four rows from where Gabby and her brother and sister would usually sit. 56 people died in the disaster while more than 260 were injured. The majority of those who perished were either young children or the elderly. In some cases, several generations of the same family were wiped out. The horrific TV images of the fire taking hold shocked a nation and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Prince Charles and Princess Diana all visited Bradford in the days following the tragedy. It was the worst fire disaster in British football history and In this Archive on 4, Gabby hears from survivors who were forced to make split second decisions to escape as well as the lengths people went to in order to save others. In the weeks and months following the fire, £3.5 million pounds was raised by The Bradford Disaster Appeal Fund - the highlight being a special version of the 1960s Gerry and The Pacemakers hit You'll Never Walk Alone"". The Crowd's cover version would later go to Number One. The disaster led to major changes in football safety as well as pioneering medical products for burns injuries and the establishment of the Bradford Burns Unit. Gabby reflects on how, 25 years on, lives are still being saved as a result of this often forgotten disaster. The producer is Ashley Byrne, and this is a Made in Manchester production for BBC Radio 4. Gabby's dad, Terry Yorath, was assistant manager of Bradford City that season and aged 12, she attended the match with her family. The fire which later swept through one of the stands in just four minutes, started about four rows from where Gabby and her brother and sister would usually sit. 56 people died in the disaster while more than 260 were injured. The majority of those who perished were either young children or the elderly. In some cases, several generations of the same family were wiped out. In the weeks and months following the fire, £3.5 million pounds was raised by The Bradford Disaster Appeal Fund - the highlight being a special version of the 1960s Gerry and The Pacemakers hit ""You'll Never Walk Alone"". The Crowd's cover version would later go to Number One. The disaster led to major changes in football safety as well as pioneering medical products for burns injuries and the establishment of the Bradford Burns Unit. Gabby reflects on how, 25 years on, lives are still being saved as a result of this often forgotten disaster. In the weeks and months following the fire, £3.5 million pounds was raised by The Bradford Disaster Appeal Fund - the highlight being a special version of the 1960s Gerry and The Pacemakers hit You'll Never Walk Alone. The Crowd's cover version would later go to Number One. |
| The British Black Panthers | 20190803 | | The untold story of the years when Black Power came to Britain and forever left its mark - the coming together, political ideas, leaders and legacy. Inspired by the American Black Panther Party, the British Black Panthers were founded in London's Notting Hill in 1968 – the first Panther organisation outside the United States. Their mission was to change the terms of engagement about race in Britain, promote self-determination and challenge the British state. Writer Kehinde Andrews, who launched the first UK Black Studies degree in Birmingham, meets key former Panthers and the generations that followed them, and – hearing from critics, artists and historians, drawing on a wealth of archive – explores their legacy. From the late 1960s, following Enoch Powell's Rivers of Blood speech, and throughout the early 1970s, the British Black Panthers drew on the example of their American counterparts. The politics of Black Power travelled across the Atlantic and took unique form on British soil, inspiring a generation of multi-racial Black British youth. Putting aside revolutionary rhetoric, the British Panthers focused on policing the police at street level and on educating their members in Saturday schools. They championed racial equality - better housing, legal aid, immigrants' rights and non-racist employment practice. They took on the criminal justice system and won. They agitated, argued, demonstrated, printed a weekly paper and marched under the flag of the same logo as their American counterparts - the leaping Panther. Special Branch responded to the movement with its own Black Power Desk, while the 1970 trial of the Mangrove Nine, following a clash between police and Black Panther demonstrators in Notting Hill, evoked Magna Carter and changed racial justice in Britain forever. Members included Darcus Howe, Altheia Jones-LeCointe, Farroukh Dhondy, the photographer Neil Kenclock and dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson. The movement was inclusive, embracing members from Asian as well as West Indian and African descent. The Panthers were the new, multi-racial Black youth of Britain - children of immigrants, educated in British schools and more radical and defiant than their parents. Contributors include poet Benjamin Zephaniah, former Panthers Farrukh Dhondy, Neil Kenlock and Beverley Bryan, historian David Olusoga and Mykaell Riley of Steel Pulse, US Black Panther leaders Bobby Seale and Elaine Brown, Ian Macdonald QC and British rapper and writer Akala. Presenter: Kehinde Andrews Producer: Simon Hollis A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4 The untold story of when Black Power came to Britain and forever left its mark. |
| The British On Top Of The World | | 20140802 (BBC7)
20140803 (BBC7) |  Climber Stephen Venables recalls Sir Chris Bonington's 1975 expedition to Everest. Fellow climber Stephen Venables recalls Sir Chris Bonington's fraught but successful 1975 expedition to Everest. From 2005. Mountaineering is a harsh, unforgiving but ultimately rewarding pursuit - Chris Bonington's 1975 excursion up the South West face of Everest was marred by two deaths, but captured the public's imagination. With significantly less technological advantages than present-day climbers, Chris Bonington's team were faced with numerous personal and environmental challenges. He kept an audio diary which helps piece together the team's progress. Also a writer, photographer and engineer, Sir Chris Bonington has written 17 books and finally reached the summit of Everest in 1985 with a Norwegian expedition. He has been mountaineering since 1951, when he was 16 years old, and continues to this day. |
| The Camera Never Lies | 20160521 | |  Bafta award-winning film-maker Molly Dineen examines the concept of truth in documentary. Does documentary ever really tell the truth? BAFTA award winning filmmaker Molly Dineen examines the concept of truth and the creation of narrative in documentary film making. Robert Flaherty's 'Nanook of the North' is considered the first documentary ever made, and much of it was specially set up for the cameras. We think that modern 'Scripted Reality' is a new phenomenon, but does it have its roots in the earliest days of documentary? We look at the making of a documentary, from idea, to casting, filming and editing to find out how documentary makers craft their story. Molly Dineen looks at nearly 100 years of documentary making from the archives, as well as looking back on her own career. Her first film 'Home from the Hill' followed retired Solider Hilary Hook returning to England after a career in Kenya, and she has also filmed the London Zoo in crisis, in her BAFTA award winning series 'The Ark', modern celebrity in her portrait of ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, and a Prime Minister in waiting in the 1997 Party Political Broadcast for the Labour Party. Molly's observational style sees her immersing herself in the worlds she shoots, but we also take a look at modern 'Fly on the Wall' programming, speaking to TV producer Jonathan Stadlen about his series 'GP's: Behind Closed Doors'. There's more factual programming around now than ever; but is this a good thing? Are the schedules clogged with cheap programming that sacrifices the truth for style, using fast cutting, music and voice over rather than allowing people to speak for themselves? We also hear from Kim Loginotto, whose films examine the lives of women worldwide, Radio Producer Simon Elmes and TV Critic AA Gill. Presenter: Molly Dineen Producer: Jessica Treen. |
| The Character Crunch | 20100619 | 20100621 | ![]() Rory Bremner laments the loss of big personalities and characters in British politics. Now the dust has settled on the election, Rory Bremner is looking at the new crop of politicians that have arrived in Westminster - and he's worried. He concerned about the loss of larger than life characters in British politics, and not just because he's the country's leading satirical impressionist. He's wondering why the instantly recognisable generation of Blair, Brown, Blunkett and Prescott has given way to the Milibands, Andy Burnham, Andrew Lansley and George Osborne. When he considers the new coalition partnership of Cameron and Clegg, he's wondering - what really is the difference between them? Rory is convinced that possessing too much character is now seen as a liability by the main parties, and this has led to a depersonalisation of politics - or a 'character crunch', as he calls it. He delves back into the archive to consider some of the great political characters of the past - Churchill, Bevan, Macmillan, Thatcher - and considers the shift from ideologically driven figures to a more managerial, professional class of politicians. Did things begin to change with a greater concentration on presentation and style in the 1980s? Or did the election of Tony Blair change the political world forever, as the other parties strove to find their equivalents? Rory wonders if satirists such as himself must take some of the blame - a point he puts to former Spitting Image producer John Lloyd. He also hears from historian Professor Peter Hennessy, journalists Julia Langdon, John Rentoul, Anthony Howard and Andrew Rawnsley as well as politicians Neil Kinnock, Tony Benn and new MP Rory Stewart who many believe could be one of our great political characters in the future. Producer: Simon Jacobs A Unique production for BBC Radio 4. He also hears from historian Professor Peter Hennessy, journalists Julia Langdon, John Rentoul, Anthony Howard and Andrew Rawnsley as well as politicians Neil Kinnock, Tony Benn & new MP Rory Stewart who many believe could be one of our great political characters in the future. Now the dust has settled on the election, Rory Bremner is looking at the new crop of politicians that have arrived in Westminster - and he's worried. He concerned about the loss of larger than life characters in British politics, and not just because he's the country's leading satirical impressionist. He's wondering why the instantly recognisable generation of Blair, Brown, Blunkett and Prescott has given way to the Milibands, Andy Burnham, Andrew Lansley and George Osborne. When he considers the new coalition partnership of Cameron and Clegg, he's wondering - what really is the difference between them? Rory is convinced that possessing too much character is now seen as a liability by the main parties, and this has led to a depersonalisation of politics - or a 'character crunch', as he calls it. He delves back into the archive to consider some of the great political characters of the past - Churchill, Bevan, Macmillan, Thatcher - and considers the shift from ideologically driven figures to a more managerial, professional class of politicians. Rory wonders if satirists such as himself must take some of the blame - a point he puts to former Spitting Image producer John Lloyd. He also hears from historian Professor Peter Hennessy, journalists Julia Langdon, John Rentoul, Anthony Howard and Andrew Rawnsley as well as politicians Neil Kinnock, Tony Benn & new MP Rory Stewart who many believe could be one of our great political characters in the future. |
| The Choke | 20150516 | 20160219 (R4) | 
Brains behaving badly: how talented people are fooled into failing. With Matthew Syed. The journalist, author and Olympian Matthew Syed blew it big time at the Sydney 2000. A GB medal prospect in table tennis he was thrashed by an opponent he had beaten many times before- he choked. He's been keen to understand ever since why sometimes the brain robs an individual of the ability to do routine tasks - in his case to hit a ping pong ball on the table. You don't have to be a world class sportsman to choke think of that job interview you fluffed or that wildly attractive person at a party that left you unable to do what you do everyday- speak coherently. In The Choke Matthew will explore the neurological and psychological trajectory of a choke illustrated with some dramatic examples where the pressure told at the worst possible time- musicians, politicians, businessmen, actors and sportsmen all feature in this examination of when we fail to do what comes naturally to us. |
| The Christiania Effect | 20110924 | 20110926 | Christiania celebrates its 40th birthday this year - quite an achievement for a place where an abrasive attitude to the Danish Government has meant it's always been about two weeks away from being shut down. The BBC has visited Christiania regularly over the past four decades and, in The Christiania Effect, writer and broadcaster David Goldblatt goes to the commune and examines some of those reports to tell the history of this bold experiment in free living. He has also gained access to a unique oral history of Christiania where long time members of the commune tell their own personal and sometimes surprising version of events. In the programme David hears how an abandoned barracks in the heart of Copenhagen became a centre for liberal drugs laws, hands-off parenting and free-form architecture. He learns how it evolved from a dark and dangerous area for social drop-outs to being a focus of Copenhagen's tourist industry and a place that many of the city's residents would fight hard to defend. And he hears how it became a magnet for promoters and performers like Bob Dylan, Beck and the Arctic Monkeys. As well as looking back at its history David assesses the future of this unique community and asks what mainstream society can learn from this unique counter-cultural experiment. David Goldblatt visits Christiania in Denmark known for drugs, anarchy and now turning 40. |
| The Cod Wars Revisited | 20180929 | | When a country unilaterally takes back control of its waters, the results are dramatic. This isn't a prediction about Brexit. It's a statement about our recent history. The modern cod wars were a series of disputes (starting in the late 1950s and ending in 1976) between Britain and Iceland over fishing rights in the waters surrounding North Atlantic island. Each started when Iceland extended its territorial waters, claiming more and more of the seas that had been traditionally fished by the British. The final cod war started in 1975 when Iceland extended its territorial waters to two hundred miles. It ended one year later with Britain capitulating to Iceland's demands. While they lasted, the cod wars were nightly news. British fishing boats and Icelandic coast guards clashed at sea. The Royal Navy were called in to protect the fishing fleet and take the brunt of the Icelandic aggression. Fishing lines were cut, sending vast trawler nets to the bottom of the North Sea. Their crews' fortunes sank with them. There were shots fired and arrests made. At the time, Hull and Grimsby on England's east coast were two of the biggest fishing ports in Europe. The local families who sent their men to sea went back generations. It was a way of life that formed the heart of a whole community. The cod wars put an end to all of it. Successive governments did try to negotiate with Iceland and in the mid 70s, Prime Minister Harold Wilson sent in the Royal Navy to protect the trawlers. But at the same time international treaties were being pushed that gave all countries the right to claim the amount of water Iceland wanted. By contrast the Icelandic government was prepared to do anything to assert its rights. In the end, Britain succumbed to international pressure and the tide of history and allowed Iceland all that it was asking. In this programme, Julia Langdon brings this history to life through archive and new interviews with key figures from both sides. The sounds of the trawlermen on their way to the fishing grounds mingles with debate from the time. In Hull and Grimsby, Julia hears from trawlermen and their families about what life was like when cod was king. The Cod Wars Revisited is a Made in Manchester Production for BBC Radio 4. Julia Langdon tells the story of the 'cod wars' between Britain and Iceland. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives The Cod Wars Revisited is a Made in Manchester Production for BBC Radio 4. |
| The Crime Of The Century | 20130713 | 20180505 (BBC7)
20180506 (BBC7) | In the early hours of August 8th 1963, the Royal Mail train from Glasgow to London was held up in the Buckinghamshire countryside by a gang of London thieves. After assaulting the train driver, the criminals stole over two and a half million pounds, something in the region of £40 million in today's money. The twists and turns of the case, and its main characters, ensured that the robbery stayed in the public eye for the decades that followed. There was the discovery of an abandoned hideout, the high-profile captures, escapes from maximum security prisons, bundles of cash left in phone boxes, and extradition battles that went on for years. Gang members Bruce Reynolds, Buster Edwards and Ronnie Biggs became celebrities. However, on the Great Train Robbery's 50th anniversary, novelist Jake Arnott takes a deeper look at the gang behind the headlines, and considers how the legacy of this crime has become a curse for the criminals. In his last recorded interview before his death this February, Bruce Reynolds describes his early life of crime and what it took to plan the audacious raid. From his care home in North London, Ronnie Biggs spells out how he randomly got involved in the heist and kept the story running for years as a fugitive in Brazil. Also taking part are criminologist Laurie Taylor, former head of Scotland Yard John O'Connor, Bruce's son Nick Reynolds, BBC reporter Reg Abbiss, Daily Express reporter Colin MacKenzie and former Buckinghamshire policeman John Woolley. Producer: Colin McNulty A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4. Jake Arnott examines the Great Train Robbery of 1963. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives In his last recorded interview before his death, Bruce Reynolds describes his early life of crime and what it took to plan the audacious raid. A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4. |
| The Crunch Convention | 20200801 | | Two rivals for the Presidency. Two visions for America. Built from archived editions of Letter from America, we revisit the 1980 Democratic Convention with Alistair Cooke. The clash between sitting President Jimmy Carter, and his rival for the Democrats' nomination Edward “Teddy” Kennedy, broke the Democratic Party and uncovered old wounds. At that moment, the party, as well as the United States, were at a turning point. Old loyalties were being broken as the Republican Party under Richard Nixon and later Ronald Reagan employed a southern strategy to peel away the Democrats' white base. Kennedy's liberal vision of America challenged his party to move from the centre ground, and further to the left. To speak more strongly for minorities, the poor and the dispossessed. Using archive, historians and eye-witnesses, this Archive on 4 tells how one election frames American politics in the years since. Produced by Glyn Tansley A US election like no other, presented by Alistair Cooke |
| The Day Before 9/11 | 20110910 | | Unease on the world markets, rumours that a key anti-Taliban leader had been assassinated and New York buzzing with its primary elections for city mayor, September 10th 2001 seems like a relatively normal news day. But looked at in hindsight it becomes freighted with meaning. Presented by Paddy O'Connell, who was in New York covering Wall Street at the time, the programme features television and radio output from the 24 hours before the attacks. A portrait of New York, America and the wider world as it was the day before the towers came down. Producers: Simon Hollis and Simon Finch A Brook Lapping and Borough co-production for BBC Radio 4. What was happening on the day before the Twin Towers fell and the world changed? Unease on the world markets, rumours that a key anti-Taliban leader had been assassinated and New York buzzing with its primary elections for city mayor, September 10th 2001 seems like a relatively normal news day. But looked at in hindsight it becomes freighted with meaning. Presented by Paddy O'Connell, who was in New York covering Wall Street at the time, the programme features television and radio output from the 24 hours before the attacks. A portrait of New York, America and the wider world as it was the day before the towers came down. |
| The Day Brexit Hit Boiling Point | 20200926 | | MPs weren't even supposed to be in Westminster. But when the Supreme Court ruled Boris Johnson's prorogation of Parliament to be unlawful, suddenly they were thrown back into the bear pit. Then, Brexit was in limbo, Boris Johnson could not get the election he sought and opposition MPs were passing laws against the government's wishes. And the court's ruling tipped MPs over the edge. Parliament was labelled ‘dead as dead can be', the prime minister was called a tin-pot dictator and MPs spoke of fears to their safety because of Boris Johnson's language. Carolyn Quinn looks back, one year on, at the vicious and vitriolic parliamentary exchanges of 25 September 2019 during one of the most bitter periods in British political history. We speak to former cabinet ministers and key players from the day and then Speaker John Bercow on their reflections and insight from behind the scenes. Producer: Laurence Sleator Carolyn Quinn recalls the intense and bitter Parliamentary confrontations over Brexit |
| The Death Of Illegitimacy | 20180203 | | Illegitimacy once meant you were a 'bastard'. The MP Caroline Flint wants to know what the word 'illegitimate' means now. Caroline has always been open about her unmarried Mum having her when she was 17 years old and that she had her first son before she got married. Caroline describes her own family's story as a Catherine Cookson novel. There are suspicions that her widowed great-grandmother had an illegitimate child. Her grandmother's older sister had an illegitimate child during WW1 with an American soldier who was brought up as though his mother was his sister. She explores the archives to find out if the stigma has died out with social historian Jane Robinson and discusses the issue with best-selling crime author Martina Cole and fellow MP Jess Phillips. Martina, who is also an ambassador for the single parent families' charity Gingerbread, became a single parent by choice when she was 18 and then again 20 years later. Jess conceived her son when she was 22 and had been with her boyfriend for barely a month. Is the biggest deal today not whether a child is illegitimate but whether she bears her father's surname? Has the cloak of illegitimacy really fallen because daddy is willing to say publicly: she's mine? Has the stigma of illegitimacy died out? Caroline Flint MP finds out. Is the biggest deal today not whether a child is illegitimate but whether she bears her father's surname? Has the cloak of illegitimacy really fallen because daddy is willing to say publicly: she's mine? |
| The Death Of The Battleaxe | 20101009 | 20101011 | Whatever happened to The Battleaxe? Theatre director Jude Kelly rallies to her defence. Theatre director Jude Kelly takes a personal look at the demise of the battleaxe, from her birth as a comic stereotype in the Victorian music-hall to her death from political correctness. With the help of some loud and familiar voices from the archives, she argues the case for the return of the battleaxe - a woman cruelly joked-about by men, but whose disappearance has left the world a duller place. With contributions from writers such as George Orwell, Jeanette Winterson and Stan Barstow, as well as actresses like Thora Hird, Kathy Staff, Peggy Mount and Patricia Routledge, Jude's history of the battleaxe is not just a parade of glorious comic characters; it sets out a thesis about the role of the Ena Sharples stereotype, both in drama and in real life. Kelly argues that the white, northern battleaxe disappeared from our comedy culture when her real life counterpart stopped being a threat to the male ego; but no sooner had she stumped off the stage than other domineering women took her place, such as the Asian mother or the bossy social-worker. In the end, Jude Kelly concludes, it's not about whether women can laugh at themselves - it's about who's writing the jokes. Producer: Peter Everett. Theatre director Jude Kelly takes a personal look at the demise of the battleaxe, from her birth as a comic stereotype in the Victorian music-hall to her death from political correctness. With the help of some loud and familiar voices from the archives, she argues the case for the return of the battleaxe - a woman cruelly joked-about by men, but whose disappearance has left the world a duller place. Kelly argues that the white, northern battleaxe disappeared from our comedy culture when her real life counterpart stopped being a threat to the male ego; but no sooner had she stumped off the stage than other domineering women took her place, such as the Asian mother or the bossy social-worker. In the end, Jude Kelly concludes, it's not about whether women can laugh at themselves - it's about who's writing the jokes. |
| The Death Of The Eccentric | 20190629 | | Will Self goes in search of a dying species - the eccentric. The relationship between true eccentricity and mainstream society is complex, dynamic and now in serious trouble. Will, who has always been obsessed with the strange and the bizarre, sets sail into the BBC archive to finally understand that elusive quality of eccentricity. From the cliché of the aristocratic English eccentric to the frontline of subversive art and comedy, this is a story of courageous oddballs whose resistance to social conformity holds lessons for us all. But the first time Will sees eccentricity clearly may also be the last - he argues that we are witnessing the death of the true eccentric, who is suffocating in the neo-liberal marketplace of difference. Journalist Yomi Adegoke explodes the cliché of the English eccentric and argues that a more inclusive model is needed. Will challenges psychologist Dr David Weeks and cultural historian Dr Aymes-Stokes to help him define eccentricity. Surrealist painter and zoologist Desmond Morris reveals the cynical calculations of Salvador Dali, and Will debates the value of insider/outsider art with Grayson Perry. Sociologist Laurie Taylor rails against the imitation of eccentricity by artists and other celebrities while, at the other end of the spectrum, former bank robber Noel Smith describes how the lines between normal behaviour and criminal behaviour mean nothing to some eccentrics. Comedian Elf Lyons impresses Will with her unique approach to life and performance, but he find psychedelic drug campaigner Countess Amanda Feilding disappointingly down-to-earth. Producer: Dave Anderson. A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4 Will Self goes in search of an endangered species - the eccentric. |
| The Death Of The Spiv | 20140222 | 20170114 (BBC7)
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The poet Paul Henry traces the slippery movements of The Spiv through the archives. When Paul was a young man he was captivated by the slick, smooth-talking Private Joe Walker in the TV sitcom 'Dad's Army'. A few years later, on his first trip to London, he was soon parted from his money by a man selling dodgy cutlery from a suitcase in Petticoat Lane. Ever since then, he's been fascinated by this tricksy stereotype, and so he has gone through the archives to find out where the factual and the fictional Spiv has gone. One of the spiv's earliest incarnations was a real life conman from the turn of the 20th century called Henry the Spiv Bagster, but the etymology of the word itself is nearly as evasive as a spiv. It's the protean quality of the spiv, the imagined and the real, that is really appealing. Paul follows him as he dips in between light and shade - from the comic representations in the form of his beloved Private Walker and Arthur English to the far murkier and occasionally psychotic characters in films like 'They Made Me a Fugitive'. Paul looks at the specific social and economic conditions of post-war Britain that arguably made a spiv of everyone, and tries to find out where he may have disappeared to now, in these days of relative plenty. With contributions from actor Alan Ford, crime historian Clive Emsley, critic Robert Hanks, columnist Owen Jones and amateur historian Rob Baker who tells Paul about the horrific murder of a real life spiv. Rich archive includes 'Hancock's Half Hour' where Sid hosts a celebration of the return of rationing, first hand testimony from a self-confessed former spiv, and an interview with George Cole. Producer: Sarah Langan. Poet Paul Henry traces the evasive spiv as he slips and slides through the archives. The poet Paul Henry traces the slippery movements of "The Spiv" through the archives. When Paul was a young man he was captivated by the slick, smooth-talking Private Joe Walker in the TV sitcom 'Dad's Army'. A few years later, on his first trip to London, he was soon parted from his money by a man selling dodgy cutlery from a suitcase in Petticoat Lane. Ever since then, he's been fascinated by this tricksy stereotype, and so he has gone through the archives to find out where the factual and the fictional Spiv has gone. The poet Paul Henry traces the evasive Spiv as he slips and slides through the archives. Brilliant stories told using archive from the BBC and beyond |
| The Debate Of Our Times | 20120922 | 20170218 (BBC7)
20170219 (BBC7) |  Giles Dilnot delves into the archives of Radio 4's Any Questions and other television and radio discussion programmes to find out if political debate has changed in this country. Walking the corridors of Westminster and Whitehall, he meets Kenneth Clarke, Shirley Williams, Diane Abbott, and Tony Benn, among others, and asks if they think debate has dumbed down? Tony Benn recalls key moments like the dropping of the little known 14 day rule, or the first broadcast of Parliament in 1975, When the transmitter was switched on, my voice was the first that was heard and I thought about it very carefully, what I would say, but did it impact on political debate outside the House of Commons? Conservative former Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke thinks the quality of debate is more to do with who is talking, Every generation has people who are superb at debating and every generation has people who can bore the hind leg off a donkey, but Labour's Diane Abbott believes debate is less than it once was because professional politicians have been managed to death which leads to the killing off of political discussion and public engagement. So Giles asks long standing presenter Jonathan Dimbleby and also the Independent's chief political columnist Steve Richards to compare different decades. And Giles is astonished, when he listens back over five decades of debate about the topics the public really care about such as education or health, to discover that the substance of what is being discussed has not really changed. So, is it possible to say whether debate has declined, or not? Producer: Kirsten Lass. Giles Dilnot searches the programme archives to see if political debate has changed. Giles Dilnot looks back over five decades of Radio 4's Any Questions and searches the archives of other discussion programmes to find out if political debate has changed in this country. Has it become more simplistic - 'dumbing down' - or has coalition politics made it more complicated? Or has what we think of as debate changed? He interviews long standing political presenters including Jonathan Dimbleby, and politicians like Tony Benn and asks them what are the key influences over the past 50 years that have influenced the way we debate politics, from dropping the 14 day rule to the introduction of rolling news which changed politics' relationship with the media forever. Giles Dilnot delves into the archives of Radio 4's Any Questions and other television and radio discussion programmes to find out if political debate has changed in this country. Walking the corridors of Westminster and Whitehall, he meets Kenneth Clarke, Shirley Williams, Diane Abbott, and Tony Benn, among others, and asks if they think debate has dumbed down? Tony Benn recalls key moments like the dropping of the little known 14 day rule, or the first broadcast of Parliament in 1975, ""When the transmitter was switched on, my voice was the first that was heard and I thought about it very carefully, what I would say"", but did it impact on political debate outside the House of Commons? Conservative former Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke thinks the quality of debate is more to do with who is talking, ""Every generation has people who are superb at debating and every generation has people who can bore the hind leg off a donkey"", but Labour's Diane Abbott believes debate is less than it once was because ""professional politicians have been managed to death"" which leads to the ""killing off of political discussion and public engagement"". So Giles asks long standing presenter Jonathan Dimbleby and also the Independent's chief political columnist Steve Richards to compare different decades. And Giles is astonished, when he listens back over five decades of debate about the topics the public really care about such as education or health, to discover that the substance of what is being discussed has not really changed. So, is it possible to say whether debate has declined, or not? |
| The Decade Of Distrust | 20200229 | | Major events in the first decade of this century raised fundamental doubts about public trust in rulers. Events like the Iraq War, the financial crisis and the MPs' expenses scandal disturbed people's faith in elites to do the right thing. Meanwhile in the background big economic, technological and demographic forces were changing the relationship between the politicians and the public. This documentary shows how the 2000s laid the foundations for the political convulsions the UK would see a decade later. The BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg uses archive and interviews to explore these themes. She talks to Gordon Brown and George Osborne about their competing accounts of those fractious weeks in 2008 when it felt like the UK financial system may entirely implode. Clare Short outlines why she felt misled by Tony Blair over Iraq. Rosa Prince explains what it was like as a Daily Telegraph journalist ringing up MPs before splashing their expenses on the front page. Producer: Joey D'Urso Laura Kuenssberg explores the foundations of the scandals that shook faith in elites. |
| The Devil's Horn | 20130223 | 20150704 (BBC7)
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20180121 (BBC7) |  The saxophone is the most important musical invention of the last 170 years. Lauded for its adventurous sound, its sensuality and seemingly never-ending versatility, the brass woodwind horn has become one of the most popular instruments in the world. Today, it's at home in classical music as it is in pop with hundreds of famous composers writing significant pieces for its shapely curves. Neither of these musical homes compare to its place in jazz, where its presence is so influential it's hard to think of another instrument more associated with the genre. But for some the sax produces a devilish sound, whether that's down to taste or decency. It's been shunned by polite society, banished from orchestras and even denounced by governments. Much worse, in recent times it has been accused of blandness and crowned the king of elevator music. British jazz musician Soweto Kinch examines the saxophone's place in history in Radio 4's Archive on 4. An alto player himself, Kinch investigates the instrument's captivating and somewhat turbulent journey through musical and spoken archive. Aiding Soweto with expert analysis are his friend and fellow sax player Courtney Pine, leading classical saxophonist Amy Dickson, historian Dr Paul Cohen, director of the 2012 World Saxophone Congress Richard Ingham and comedian David Quantick. British jazz musician Soweto Kinch examines the intriguing history of the saxophone. British jazz musician Soweto Kinch examines the saxophone's place in history in Radio 4's Archive on 4. An alto player himself, Kinch investigates the instrument's captivating and somewhat turbulent journey through musical and spoken archive. Aiding Soweto with expert analysis are his friend and fellow sax player Courtney Pine, leading classical saxophonist Amy Dickson, historian Dr Paul Cohen, director of the 2012 World Saxophone Congress Richard Ingham and comedian David Quantick. |
| The Dream Of World Government | 20180908 | 20190705 (R4) | 2018 marks the 100th anniversary since the end of World War 1, followed by the founding of the League of Nations the following year which offered a vision of peaceful world government and collaboration. History of course didn't turn out that way, and the fate of the League of Nations is often seen as symbolic of the dream of world government, fragile, utopian, and ultimately doomed to collapse in the face of resurgent and aggressive nationalism. But the dream of world government is surprisingly stubborn. In one form or another, battered and bruised, it underlies every transnational political body which has followed, from the Red Cross, to the UN itself. It holds out a vision of political authority which crosses borders, and which dares to dream that universal values can sustain in the face of local angers, anxieties and chauvinisms. In this archive hour the former Foreign Secretary David Milliband looks at the history of world government over the last century, with its successes and its failures. Historical Advisor Patricia Clavin Professor of International History Jesus College University of Oxford Producer Mark Rickards David Miliband looks at the ideas behind world government A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Producer Mark Rickards. |
| The Eccentric Entrepreneur | 20140830 | 20170318 (BBC7)
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Radio Normandy Calling! The Belles of Normandy sing the station ident; Roy Plomley (of Desert Island Discs fame) introduces the artistes from the Bradford Alhambra, and another melody-packed hour - sponsored by a patent medicine - begins on the commercial radio station that, back in the 1930s, was often more popular than the majestic BBC. The man behind it all was called, improbably, Captain Leonard Plugge. And in this programme, Dominic Sandbrook tells the story of this clever, enterprising and subversive man. Tory MP, passionate European and backroom boffin, Plugge created a string of brilliantly successful commercial stations in France and beyond that challenged Sir John Reith's radio monopoly with popular music and variety shows, sponsored by Bile Beans, Persil and Diploma cheddar cheese. So wealthy did his radio network make him that he owned two yachts, six cars (including two Rolls Royces), a Mayfair mansion, employed twelve staff, and lived a life that lay somewhere between The Great Gatsby and Citizen Kane. With Plugge's son Frank, Dominic leafs through his father's mountain of diaries and scrapbooks - news cuttings, photographs... memorabilia of a life that brought him the Legion d'Honneur, a medal from US broadcaster NBC and made him a worldwide celebrity. With a rich archive of contributions from Roy Plomley, Bob Danvers-Walker and many others who first made their names on Plugge's stations, plus recordings from the shows they broadcast, Dominic Sandbrook brings a forgotten mogul of a bygone era to life. And next time you approach a road junction with an elongated 'SLOW' painted on the tarmac, you can thank Captain Plugge for it, because that was his idea too... Producer Simon Elmes. Dominic Sandbrook explores the life of 1930s radio station magnate Leonard Plugge. Radio Normandy Calling!" The Belles of Normandy sing the station ident; Roy Plomley (of Desert Island Discs fame) introduces the artistes from the Bradford Alhambra, and another melody-packed hour - sponsored by a patent medicine - begins on the commercial radio station that, back in the 1930s, was often more popular than the majestic BBC. |
| The Edwards Archive | 20061209 | 20160604 (BBC7)
20160605 (BBC7) | John Edwards explores the story of the cinema newsreel and the people who filmed history. Twenty-five years ago, film-maker John Edwards interviewed 50 of the surviving cameramen who had worked for the cinema newsreel companies in America and Europe. His recordings were lost and recovered only recently. The story of the newsreel, from the Lindbergh take-off to the Apollo splash-downs, can now be told in the voices of the men who filmed history. |
| The Empire Strikes Back | 20200516 | | 40 years ago George Lucas risked everything on making The Empire Strikes Back. Here's how. 40 years ago George Lucas risked all on the creation of the first Star Wars sequel, The Empire Strikes Back. Or rather Episode V in what is now the middle trilogy of the Star Wars saga. On this the fate of the Star Wars universe rested. Having your first screen writer die on you whilst the ink had barely dried on the first draft was an inauspicious start. Then came fire and ice. Elstree studios endured conflagration as Stanley Kubrick's The Shining went up in smoke. The first weeks of filming in Norway (a.k.a. Hoth) were a white out and the film went over schedule & over budget,. But in May 1980 the world was treated to a space opera classic that for many remains the defining film of the Star Wars universe. Mark Burman returns to a snowbound Finse, Norway to hear from some of the veteran crew, draws on his own archive of key personnel from director Irvin Kershner to the hands and face behind Yoda. Stuart Freeborn. Listen to this you must. Featuring the voices of Dave Barclay,Christian Berrum, Jim Bloom, Leigh Brackett, Stuart Freeborn,Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Nilo Rodis Jamero,, Gary Kurtz, George Lucas ,Peter MacDonald, Frank Oz, Ken Ralston, Peter Suschitzsky, Phil Tippett, Robert Watts & John Williams. Producer: Mark Burman |
| The End Of Coming Out? | 20200815 | | The journey of coming out has long been a rite of passage for LGBTQ+ people. For some, it's an empowering opportunity to be true to oneself, friends and family. It also has a social purpose. With increased visibility of LGBTQ+ people, the argument goes, comes greater social acceptance. Coming out stories also help bind the community together. But some LGBTQ+ people are choosing alternatives to the public coming out announcement. They argue that a romanticisation of coming out within the LGBTQ+ community puts pressure on those for whom coming out remains difficult or even dangerous. Others question whether coming out publicly as LGBTQ+ is even necessary anymore. Dustin Lance Black, the screenwriter of Milk, charts the history of coming out as LGBTQ+, from the early gay demonstrations of the 60s and 70s to the watershed coming out moments of celebrities including Sir Ian McKellen, Ellen DeGeneres, and Caitlyn Jenner. Dustin also hears from a younger generation of LGBTQ+ people, to find out how social media has altered what it means to come out about their sexual orientation or gender identity. And he asks whether there will ever come a time when LGBTQ+ people no longer need to come out. With contributions from Travis Alabanza, Tom Daley, Shappi Khorsandi, Bisi Alimi, Lord Chris Smith, Christine Burns MBE, Maureen Duffy, Maxine Heron, Professor Rusi Jaspal, Anne Kronenberg, Professor Larry Gross, David Johns, and Sophia. Producer: Dan Hardoon Executive Producer: Anishka Sharma Diversity Consultant: Freddy McConnell A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4 Photo credit: Raul Romo Dustin Lance Black asks whether LGBTQ+ people still need to come out publicly. |
| The End Of The Thirty Year Itch | 20200328 | | With the Crash of 2008, the free market orthodoxy that had framed British politics for thirty years hit the rocks. As the 'thirty year itch' for new thinking set in, no single leader or big idea seemed capable of shaping a new normal. We were governed by coalitions and minority governments, with four general elections and three referendums inside a decade. Since 2008, there have been repeated attempts to reshape our politics, based on the idea of taking power away from both the free market and the centralised state, and re-empowering local communities. But these 'post-liberal' projects - the Big Society, Red Toryism and Blue Labour - failed to win the popular enthusiasm and the political leadership needed to establish a new political consensus. In the wake of Theresa May's failure to win a majority in the 2017 election, which broke yet another attempt at a new political settlement, BBC Radio documentary-maker Phil Tinline talked to those involved in this long process for an edition of Archive on 4 called The Thirty Year Itch. And he compared their experiences with the last time British politics had been through such a long period of turmoil: the 1970s. Then suddenly, last December, the general election delivered the first big majority for years. Was this the end of our decade of political flux? In The End of the Thirty Year Itch, Phil updates the story, asking whether Boris Johnson's new government, born in crisis, can really effect a radical redistribution of power to its new northern voters - and how the Covid-19 crisis might speed or slow that process. Speakers include: Jason Cowley, Maurice Glasman, Mark Harrison, Danny Kruger, Adrian Pabst, Steve Richards, Dominic Sandbrook, David Skelton, Rachel Wolf Producer: Phil Tinline Phil Tinline explores whether we are seeing the emergence of a new political orthodoxy. With the Crash of 2008, the liberal free market orthodoxy that had shaped British politics for thirty years hit the rocks. As the' thirty year itch' for new thinking set in, no single leader or big idea seemed capable of shaping a new normal. We were governed by coalitions and minority governments, with four general elections and three referendums inside a decade. In the wake of the 2017 general election, which crushed yet another attempt at this, led by Theresa May and her advisor Nick Timothy, BBC Radio documentary-maker Phil Tinline explored why this process was struggling to make a breakthrough. In The Thirty Year Itch, he talked to those involved - and compared their experiences with the last time British politics had been through such a long period of turmoil. In the 1970s, thirty years of post-war consensus began to break down, but it was only after a series of failed attempts at finding a new approach that Margaret Thatcher won the 1979 election and began to implement her once-unthinkable ideas. Suddenly, last December, the 2019 election delivered the first big majority for years - and for the first time in decades, the once rock-solid Labour constituencies in northern England became the swing seats everyone was watching. So now Phil returns to explore whether this is the end of the thirty year itch that began in 2008. He talks to those who argue that the new government has a coherent, radical programme that is bringing post-liberal ideas to fruition - moving power away from both corporations and national government, and handing it to local communities, not least across the north. He talks to some of those who have long been pushing for this kind of change - and finds that while some welcome it, others accuse the new government of a techno-utopian power-grab. And he asks whether the new focus on 'forgotten towns' can really deliver. If this is setting the tone for politics long-term, will it necessarily be dominated by any one party? Jason Cowley (Editor, New Statesman) Maurice Glasman (founder of Blue Labour) Professor Richard Jones (author of The Resurgence of the Regions) Danny Kruger (MP for Devizes; Johnson's ex-Political Secretary) Adrian Pabst (co-author of The Politics of Virtue) Dominic Sandbrook (author, Who Dares Wins: Britain 1979-1982) David Skelton (author, Little Platoons: How a Revived One Nation can empower England's forgotten towns and redraw the political map) Rachel Wolf (co-author, 2019 Conservative Party manifesto) Produced and presented by Phil Tinline |
| The Entomology Of Gregor Samsa | 20150509 | |  Gregor Samsa, as we all now know, woke up one morning to find himself transformed into an insect. But what kind of insect precisely? Franz Kafka does not give much help to readers of The Metamorphosis (100 years old in 2015). In German Samsa finds himself transformed into an "Ungezeifer" - "monstrous vermin." Early translations identify Samsa as an insect (and the fact that he crawls over the ceiling of the Samsa family home make it easy to imagine him as a kind of man sized cockroach) but literary critics have persisted in seeing Gregor's transformation as symbolic of his alienation. The reader though registers Samsa as very corporeal, and that body is leathery and insectoid. The hunt is deadly serious: much of the vertiginous pleasure of reading The Metamorphoses comes from the naturalistic, physical description of the creature which Samsa becomes. We are told on the first page that his carapace is hard, convex on both sides, and that his stomach is divided into rigid banded segments. But what kind of insect this denotes has concerned Kafka scholars since the book was published. David Baddiel travels to Prague to meet the experts at the world's largest insect fair, on the trail of the insect Gregor. Will he be able to pin the insect form down? |
| The Escape Factory | 20020309 | 20190309 (BBC7)
20190310 (BBC7) | During World War II British prisoners-of-war had a remarkable ally in the shape of Britain's other secret service, MI9. Its job was to smuggle information and ingenious devices into camps to ensure the success of some of the most daring escape stories ever. John Stephen Dalziel finds out more about the organisation which was to provide inspiration for Ian Fleming's Q in one of the most amazing untold stories of World War II. Produced by Pamela Rutherford. First broadcast on Radio 4 in March 2002. How Britain's other secret service, MI9, ensured daring escapes of WWII prisoners. |
| The European Dream | 20111217 | | As the Eurozone lurches from crisis to crisis, John Tusa takes us back to the very start of the journey to the single currency: to the vision, and the realpolitik, that made European union happen in the first place. In 1950, France and Germany, along with Italy, Belgium, Holland and Luxemburg, agreed to surrender national control over some of their most vital industries. Just six years after the Nazis had been driven out of Paris. John traces how a highly unusual mix of vision and canny national self-interest drove a handful of leading statesmen to take this decisive step. Robert Schuman was the French Foreign Minister - but had fought for the Germans in the First World War. Then, as a French politician and member of the Resistance, he narrowly avoided being sent by the Nazis to Dachau. Konrad Adenauer, West Germany's first Chancellor, was proposing a form of European unity as early as 1923. Having survived the Nazi era, he was intent on sacrificing power to bind his pariah nation into the West - and keep it safe from Stalin. More surprisingly, the idea of European union was also championed by Winston Churchill, in a rousing run of speeches across the Continent in the years after VE Day. The great patriot even advocated a European Army. But John also explores why - once Churchill was back in power in 1951 - he chose not to join the emergent union. Meanwhile, Churchill's wartime ally, America, was actively pushing the Europeans to unite - and was prepared to pay handsomely to ensure they wouldn't drag American troops into yet another war. And John finds out how the whole project came to the brink of collapse within weeks of its birth. In June 1950, the Communists invaded South Korea. Western capitals panicked: was West Germany next? Was this the start of World War 3? America demanded that West Germany be re-armed. But the French public were outraged, and took to the streets with large photos of Nazi atrocity victims held aloft. John explores how the project was rescued, and how its strange fusion of realism and idealism presages the crises of today. Producer: Phil Tinline. How the European Union was born in fear, hope and crisis in the decade after World War II. In 1950, France and Germany, along with Italy, Belgium, Holland and Luxemburg, agreed to surrender national control over some of their most vital industries. Just six years after the Nazis had been driven out of Paris. Robert Schuman was the French Foreign Minister - but had fought for the Germans in the First World War. Then, as a French politician and member of the Resistance, he narrowly avoided being sent by the Nazis to Dachau. Konrad Adenauer, West Germany's first Chancellor, was proposing a form of European unity as early as 1923. Having survived the Nazi era, he was intent on sacrificing power to bind his pariah nation into the West - and keep it safe from Stalin. More surprisingly, the idea of European union was also championed by Winston Churchill, in a rousing run of speeches across the Continent in the years after VE Day. The great patriot even advocated a European Army. And John finds out how the whole project came to the brink of collapse within weeks of its birth. In June 1950, the Communists invaded South Korea. Western capitals panicked: was West Germany next? Was this the start of World War 3? America demanded that West Germany be re-armed. But the French public were outraged, and took to the streets with large photos of Nazi atrocity victims held aloft. |
| The Feynman Variations | 20100918 | 20110321 | Following on from his archive portrait of Carl Sagan, Physicist Brian Cox presents a tribute to Richard Feynman. Widely regarded as the finest physicist of his generation and the most influential since Einstein, Feynman did much to popularise science, through lectures, books and television, not least his dramatic revelation before the world's media at a press conference in which he demonstrated the exact cause of the Challenger Shuttle explosion in 1986. Described as the 'Mozart of physics', Feynman's amazing life and career seemingly had no end of highlights. A student at MIT and then Princeton (where he obtained an unprecedented perfect score on the entrance exam for maths and physics), he was drafted onto the Manhattan Project as a junior scientist. There his energy and talents made a significant mark on two of the project's leaders, Robert Oppenheimer and Hans Bethe. The latter would become Feynman's lifelong mentor and friend. Bethe called his student a magician, setting him apart from other scientists as no ordinary genius. In 1965, Feynman shared a Nobel for his unique contribution to the field of Quantum Electrodynamics making him the most celebrated, influential and best known American Physicist of his generation. Something that would continue until his death from cancer in 1988. At the same time as his scientific reputation was building, Feynman's unconventional attitude and behaviour was helping to create his reputation for eccentricity. When bored of writing equations on chalk boards or lecturing in his lab, he would go off in search of inspiration down at the local strip club, watching the go-go girls and scribbling his calculations on napkins. He played bongos and cracked safes. He was multi-disciplined before the term was even invented, allowing his curiosity to stray into biology, psychology and computing. He was playful and imaginative because he saw the value in not being solely focused on applied research. His eccentricity would at times infuriate his colleagues but it was simply a natural consequence of how he thought. From a young age, as he explains in the programme, his father instilled in him an insatiable curiosity about the world, a desire to know at a fundamental level, how it operated. It simply wasn't enough to know the name of something. His father also taught him to carry a healthy disrespect for the natural hierarchy of things. Recounting a hilarious story about his Father's dislike of the Pope, Feynman saw status and honours as little more than ephemera: epaulets and uniforms and his father, a uniform salesman by trade, knew the difference between a man with the uniform on and the uniform off - it's the same man. Though few ever understood mathematics or physics like Feynman, he truly believed that science was simply too important to be left exclusively to scientists and his energy and humour was essential in getting the public interested and inspired to find out how the world works for themselves, something that is essential today as science plays an increasingly central role in world events and everyday life. Producer: Rami Tzabar. Brian Cox presents an archive tribute to the genius of physicist Richard Feynman. Brian Cox presents a tribute to the genius of physicist Richard Feynman. At the same time as his scientific reputation was building, Feynman's unconventional attitude and behaviour was helping to create his reputation for eccentricity. When boredArchive On 4 The Feynman Variations 20110321 |
| The Fight Of The Century | 20180616 | 20191206 | The story of the fight that gripped the world in 1938 between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Bonnie Greer tells the story of one of the most famous sporting contests of all time - a boxing match in June 1938 between the American Joe Louis and the German Max Schmeling. The fight took on massive international, social and cultural significance and millions of people around the globe listened to the contest on their radios, making it the largest radio event in history. Schmeling had shocked the world two years earlier when he defeated Louis and became the toast of Germany, with Hitler and Goebbels among his fans. A rematch was inevitable. For the first time, most of white America was behind a black fighter and Jews in the US and Europe, all too aware of the Nazi threat, were also cheering Louis. With the world on the brink of war, it was projected as a contest between different social and racial ideals, a showdown between democracy and totalitarianism. President Roosevelt told Louis, Joe we need muscles like yours to defeat Germany. Presenter: Bonnie Greer Producer: Jonathan Mayo A TBI production for BBC Radio 4. |
| The First A And R Man | 20090613 | 20090615 | Paul Gambaccini uncovers the story of Fred Gaisberg, who brought recording to Britain. Paul Gambaccini delves into EMI's Hayes archive to uncover the remarkable story of Fred Gaisberg, the music collector, technician and entrepreneur who brought recording to Britain over 100 years ago. Fred became the first man to record Caruso and the first to record the court music of the Chinese and Japanese Emperors. In a series of adventures in the early years of the 1900s, transporting his bulky apparatus - including an acid bath - across continents, he amassed hundreds of discs of indigenous music. Nearer home, he recorded the last ever castrato and made precious recordings of the great music hall and operatic stars. Fred became the first man to record Caruso and the first to record the court music of the Chinese and Japanese Emperors. In a series of adventures in the early years of the 1900s, transporting his bulky apparatus - including an acid bath - across continents, he amassed hundreds of discs of indigenous music. Nearer home, he recorded the last ever castrato and made precious recordings of the great music hall and operatic stars. |
| The First Generation X | 20140301 | |  They sleep together before they are married, don't believe in God as much, dislike the Queen, and don't respect parents. Meet the original Generation X - teenagers who in 1964 seemed to embody a new sense of rebellion, but also uncertainty and anxiety about their changing world. X stood for mystery - the unknowable future. 50 years on, oral historian Alan Dein tracks down some of the original Generation X'ers, to confront them with their teenage selves. Interviewed by the editor of Woman's Own magazine, a diverse group of young people answered a range of questions about their lives. Sex, drink, music and religion all featured - but so did bird-watching in rural Cumbria. The subsequent book was a landmark - a platform for teenagers to give their views, to the consternation of some of their elders. Most nights I sit in coffee bars with my friends talking about cars and girls.. Why are people in authority so stupid? You'd hate an adult to understand you... I'd marry anyone to spite my parents. Security is a killer, corrodes your mind but I wish I had it. So what happened to those teenagers, wonders Alan Dein, joined by teen experts Jon Savage and Melanie Tebbutt, and how did their hopes and dreams turn out? He tracks down some of the original speakers to find out. He also uncovers a wealth of atmospheric BBC archive from the 1930s onwards, exploring the changing perception of the teenager, such as "To Start You Talking" from 1943, which dramatised the fate of "Good Time Annie", to make up for the lack of guidance amongst young people - as fathers were away fighting, mothers at work, and VD on the rise. Producer: Sara Jane Hall. |
| The First Political Youthquake | 20190907 | | After years of young people in Britain demonstrating on everything from the Vietnam War to gay rights, in 1969 there was a political 'youthquake': those over 18 and under 21 got the vote. Politicians had to court a new constituency - and young people had an incentive to become politically involved. But, as Jo Coburn shows, the first political youthquake also saw new political figures emerge - such as Bernadette Devlin, first elected to Westminster in 1969. Devlin's outspoken approach was as important as her policies – and her gender. She wanted to be in Parliament because it was where things happen. Another outsider, Peter Hain, from South Africa transformed political protest not just with campaigns against visiting sports teams from apartheid South Africa but also, later in the 1970s, with the Anti-Nazi League which confronted the far-right extremism of the National Front. By then, a rejuvenated Conservatism under Margaret Thatcher was inspiring figures like the teenager William Hague - who would himself later lead the Tories. Jo Coburn talks to both men and considers how their experiences shaped politics into the 1980s and 90s when they both held office. Clive Lewis, MP for Norwich South and former NUS vice-president, recalls school debates during the 1984 miners' strike and the impact of Red Wedge, while Liz Truss - the queen of Instagram and a member of Boris Johnson's Cabinet - reflects on the unfinished business of the first youthquake. Labour MP and former student campaigner Wes Streeting recalls a hurt letter written to Ann Widdecombe, his revolutionary Facebook campaign and says that on issues which matter to young people today - like the environment - 1960s-style commitment needs to be harnessed to social media. Producer Simon Coates How did radical changes 50 years ago recast young people's engagement with UK politics? |
| The Forgotten Referendum | 20210320 | | Ask someone what they think of when they hear the word 'referendum' - and chances are it won't be the 2011 referendum on the Alternative Vote - the Forgotten Referendum. The only reporter still standing when the final count was announced, Any Questions presenter and Political Correspondent Chris Mason, takes a deep dive into the archive of a decade ago to tell the story of a campaign that arguably failed to capture the public's imagination but whose political impact was wide-ranging. Chris discovers how much the 2011 campaign can teach us about the EU referendum held five years later and uncovers what might have happened had the result gone the other way. Would Jeremy Corbyn be Prime Minister? Would Brexit have happened? Chris interviews key figures from the campaign - including, among others, Sir Nick Clegg, Lord Hague, Dame Margaret Beckett and Alan Johnson - and the people who made it all happen behind the scenes - including the director of the NotoAV campaign, Matthew Elliott, who later became the Chief Executive of Vote Leave, and the Chair of the YestoFairerVotes campaign Katie Ghose. Together, they use the wisdom of the intervening years to respond to archive from the campaign, analyse where the battle was won and lost, and consider how the fallout is still felt today. This is a story about political messaging, power and our collective memory. But it's also about a split Labour party, the politics of Coalition, and the influence of one of the last decade's most influential campaigners. Presenter: Chris Mason Producer: Camellia Sinclair for BBC Audio, Bristol Bust-ups, bums and Brexit's beginning? - Chris Mason tells the story of the AV referendum. |
| The Future Of The Bbc: A History | 20151024 | |  In advance of a special Media Show debate on the future of the BBC, Steve Hewlett explores the troubled past behind today's dilemmas - and traces them back to the Corporation's origins in the distant world of the 1920s. He explores how the BBC was forged in the paternalist culture of interwar Britain. And how its first Director-General, the forbidding six-foot-six titan John Reith, carved it into the form it still has today: a public monopoly. Reith's new British Broadcasting Corporation was not part of the government, but nor was it a commercial company. It occupied a public space somewhere in between. Reith's model was all very well in an age of deference, when the BBC had the airwaves to itself. It even managed, after initial hostility, to come to terms with competition, in the shape of ITV. But Steve explores how Reith's interwar Leviathan has fared since the 1970s, as it's been buffeted by hurricanes of change: the death of deference, the pressures of high inflation and political strife, and the tech-driven birth of a highly competitive global media market. What does the BBC's past tell us about its capacity to survive and thrive in this brave new world, and how it might need to change? With: Simon Heffer, David Hendy, Charlotte Higgins, Dominic Sandbrook, Jean Seaton Producer: Phil Tinline. |
| The Good Old Days: The Politics Of Nostalgia | 20181027 | 20190802 (R4) | Gazing back with misty eyes seems to have become a national past time. Why are we all so nostalgic? In this programme David Aaronovitch delves into the archives to examine how politicians have exploited our love affair with the past and encouraged the notion that it's possible to reclaim it and return to some kind of state of grace. A recent Demos poll found that a majority of us feel that life was better when we were growing up and that our communities have declined in our lifetimes. And that's not just in our country. As we stand at the end of a long period of de-industrialisation and on the cusp of huge technological change, people across the developed world seem to be feeling the same need to cling on to the past. David argues that there are policies on both left and right that seem to be backward looking, whether it's grammar schools for the Tories or renationalisation for Labour. Do policies like this – even if they never materialise – act as a brake on newer ideas? Our penchant for nostalgia is illustrated by our love of TV series like Dad's Army, Downton Abbey, Call the Midwife and The Crown. They often offer a rather comfortable version of the past, but what do they tell us about how we see ourselves and our history? Any discussion of nostalgia raises questions of identity and belonging. With the help – amongst others – of left wing singer/songwriter Billy Bragg and journalist and historian Simon Heffer and using recent film releases, David examines how much the Second World War has shaped our notions of Britishness and how those images were mobilised by politicians on both sides in the Brexit campaign. We also learn why other European countries can't look back at the Second World War quite so easily and why nostalgia is such a fundamental part of the human condition. David also talks to Barack Obama's former deputy national security advisor about Donald Trump and his promise to make America great again. Presenter: David Aaronovitch Producer: Philippa Goodrich A TBI production for BBC Radio 4 David Aaronovitch examines how politicians have exploited our love affair with the past. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives Brilliant stories told using archive material from the BBC and beyond. |
| The Great Listener | 20120512 | 20130104
20140705 (BBC7)
20140706 (BBC7) |  Tony Parker was a ground-breaking writer and oral historian - the master of the tape-recorded interview. Whether talking to convicted murderers, the homeless, impotent men or unmarried mothers, his enigmatic quiet empathy meant that people opened up to him with immense honesty and trust. He was the Great Listener. The result was a unique and expansive body of work, in which he shaped these real-life stories into compelling thematic narratives. By the time of his death in 1996, he had published scores of books, made documentaries for radio and television, and pioneered the genre of verbatim drama. Although his work was always based on real people in real places, Parker gave all his interviewees and their locations pseudonyms, and he scrupulously destroyed all traces of the interviews-the tapes and the transcripts-once the books were published. Alan Dein traces the story of Tony Parker through the archive that remains and along the way tries to get behind the pseudonyms and obfuscation and track down some of Tony Parker's interviewees to find out what it was like to open up to the Great Listener. Producer: Martin Williams. Alan Dein tells the story of pioneering oral historian Tony Parker. |
| The Haunted Apparatus | 20140201 | |  
When the phone was invented, people were astonished by the new technology. Proust described it as a 'supernatural instrument before whose miracles we used to stand amazed'. Thirty years after the invention of the mobile phone, Ian McMillan (in collaboration with sound artist Scanner) makes strange what we very quickly came to take for granted - the ability to send a disembodied voice down a line. Through a reverie on time and place Ian and guests, including Jackie Kay, Charlie Higson, Chuck Palahniuk, and David Toop will explore why hanging on to the 'uncanny' nature of phone calls, could help us understand what's happening to us - as we become deluged with new ways to communicate. Producer: Faith Lawrence Sound Design: Scanner Studio Manager: Paul Cargill Archive research: Christopher Wilson. |
| The Heath Enigma | 20160709 | |  On Edward Heath's centenary, Shaun Ley reassesses the enigmatic former prime minister. The conventional wisdom is that Sir Edward Heath was a one-shot prime minister. For good or ill, he transformed the United Kingdom by taking the country into the European Community in 1973. But otherwise his premiership is commonly remembered for its economic 'U-turn', its prices and incomes policy, the miners' strike and the three-day week, culminating in an early election and humiliating defeat. After Heath was ousted as Conservative leader by Margaret Thatcher, he famously devoted himself to the 'incredible sulk' while she became an election-winner and long-serving prime minister. Yet does this view present the full truth of the man and his career - a man who was an accomplished musician, and who also taught himself to sail before becoming a world class yachtsman? Was he also a more successful politician who made a greater impact than is often appreciated? On the centenary of his birth (9 July 1916), Shaun Ley presents a reappraisal of Heath, the man and the leader, drawing on archive recordings and interviews with those who knew him. This portrait explores the enigma of an intensely private man who reached the top in politics and inspired affection among those closest to him, despite his extraordinary social awkwardness and brusque dealings with many others. His contemporaries discuss the personal qualities and flaws that shaped him, and the drive and talent that enabled him to transform the Conservatives into a party of change. The programme also reveals the inside story of the eventual rapprochement between Sir Edward Heath and Baroness Thatcher in their later years. For the first time, a wider audience can hear Margaret Thatcher praising Edward Heath as one of Britain's greatest Prime Ministers. Producer: Rob Shepherd. |
| The Hills Are Alive | 20041211 | 20150228 (BBC7)
20150301 (BBC7) |  Fifty years after The Sound of Music, Mark Kermode hears from the team who made it happen. Fifty years after The Sound of Music hit the big screen, Mark Kermode hears from the creative team who made it happen. Includes Julie Andrews. From December 2004. |
| The House Of Assad | 20120915 | | Bashar al-Assad took over as President of Syria after his father, known to Syrians as the immortal one, died of a heart attack in 2000. The Assads have been in control of Syria for the last 42 years, since Bashar's father Hafez took over in a coup, which he referred to as a "Corrective Movement. So how has this family survived in power so long? And why has Bashar al-Assad been so determined to hold onto power while other states have seen their leaders swept away by the Arab Spring? Using archive and new interviews, Owen Bennett Jones examines the nature of the House of Assad and its grip over Syria. Now the regime faces its stiffest test yet. Bashar al-Assad had maintained that he had no interest in politics but he became heir-apparent when his elder brother died in a car crash in 1994. That cut short Bashar's ophthalmology training in London and he returned to Damascus. He married his British-born Syrian wife, Asma, shortly after taking over as President. Initially Bashar al-Assad signalled that his would be a more liberal regime than his father's, in a period known as the Damascus Spring. Those promises, however, were soon snuffed out. Now many regard his hardline stance against demonstrators, which has led to the violence now embroiling the country, is simply business as usual for the Assads. They point to the brutal put down of opposition in the town of Hama, in 1982, when Hafez al-Assad ruthlessly stamped out an uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood, at a cost of anything between ten to forty thousand lives. Owen Bennett Jones speaks to those who have known father and son and asks what is it about the Assads that has made them so durable? |
| The Hubble Legacy | 20200411 | | Astronaut and artist Nicole Stott celebrates the scientific and cultural legacy of the Hubble Space Telescope. 30 years after launch, it's a mission that's influenced art, music and science fiction. Launched on 24 April 1990 and built to last 15 years, the $1.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope was a disaster. Most serious among a catalogue of flaws was a fault with the primary mirror. Fortunately, the telescope had always been designed to be serviced in space and, after one of the most challenging and complex space walks in history, scientists downloaded the first new Hubble images. The results were astounding. Every week, Hubble delivers 140 gigabytes of science data back to Earth, transforming our view and knowledge of the universe. But what NASA didn't foresee when it launched the telescope was its cultural legacy. Images from Hubble have appeared on album covers, video games, in movies and on clothing and jewellery. In science fiction films and TV shows released before Hubble, space was black with scattered stars. Now, movies are alive with swirling colours. Pictures from the space telescope can be found on t-shirts, leggings and on desktop screensavers in almost every office across the world. U2, Pearl Jam and the Royal Philharmonic have used Hubble images to inspire their music. The programme includes new interviews with composer Eric Whitacre and one of the astronauts who launched Hubble, Kathy Sullivan. It also features archive interviews with astronauts and a wealth of newly remastered NASA archive. Hubble has changed how we think of ourselves and our place in the universe. The telescope has given humanity a sense of the vastness of the cosmos but, nevertheless, connected us to it like never before. A Boffin Media production for BBC Radio 4. Astronaut Nicole Stott celebrates the cultural legacy of the Hubble Space Telescope. A celebration of the scientific and cultural legacy of the Hubble Space Telescope, 30 years after launch on a mission that's influenced art, music, movies and literature. Every week, Hubble delivers 140 gigabytes of science data back to Earth, transforming our view and knowledge of the universe. It's shown us the size and age of the universe, the birth and death of stars, formation of galaxies and storms on Saturn and Jupiter. But what NASA didn't foresee when it launched the telescope was its cultural legacy. Images from Hubble have appeared on album covers, video games, in movies and on clothing and jewellery. Celebrating the scientific and cultural legacy of the Hubble Space Telescope. |
| The Hunger Strikes | 20210501 | | The IRA's weapon of last resort wasn't a gun or a bomb - it was the hunger strike. Forty years ago, seven prisoners began the first ever hunger strike in the H Blocks of the Maze prison. It ended after 53 days. They were protesting about conditions in the prison and the men wanted to be classified as political prisoners. Peter Taylor chronicled every step of the escalating drama for the BBC - from its beginning in 1980 to the climax in 1981 when ten Republican prisoners starved themselves to death. Bobby Sands died on the 66th day of his hunger strike and remains the best known of those died. It was seen as a confrontation between the Iron Lady, the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and the Iron Men, the hunger strikers themselves. It was not foreseen at the time , but Peter Taylor argues that the hunger strike was destined to be the turning point of the Troubles. Presenter: Peter Taylor Producer: Jim Frank Editor: Penny Murphy Peter Taylor revisits the 1981 IRA hunger strikes and assesses their legacy. |
| The Interviewer Stole The Show | 20140315 | 20170916 (BBC7)
20170917 (BBC7) |  It's often said these days that the interviewers have stolen the show - interviews are no longer read for their subject, but for the interviewer's personal ruminations, reflections, opinions and even judgements on the person in question. Lynn is probably one of the worst offenders. Known as Demon Barber for thirty years, she doesn't repent. The move of the interviewer from the wings to centre stage has happened in her lifetime and with her eager connivance. In this programme, she argues how her medium is all the better for the interviewers taking charge. When she started her career in the late 60s, there were no regular celebrity interviews in the newspapers. As a young writer she worked as Literary Editor on Penthouse Magazine and Bob Guccione, who founded the magazine, wanted to launch an American edition which meant she had to familiarise herself with American culture, spelling and interests. So she subscribed to all the great American magazines - Playboy, Esquire, The New Yorker, Andy Warhol's Interview Magazine and Rolling Stone - with writing from Lillian Ross, Norman Mailer, Tom Wolfe, Gay Talese, and Joan Didion. This writing became known as the New Journalism and included great interviews and profiles which, as she reveals, are great works of literature - brilliant studies of the writer's celebrity subject. They have defined how she and others approach their interviewing today. With Gay Talese and Camilla Long Producers: Kate Bland and Beth Clayton A Cast Iron Radio production for BBC Radio 4. Lynn Barber, doyenne of the print interview, traces how the interviewer has taken charge. A Cast Iron Radio production for BBC Radio 4. Producer: Kate Bland |
| The Itv Story | 20100116 | 20100118 |  ![]()
The history of independent television in the UK, told through the story of Yorkshire TV. This is the story of how Yorkshire seems to have disappeared. In fact, it is not a single county that has vanished from the map - the territory that has gone missing also stretched across Lincolnshire and into north Norfolk. Of course, if you look at any road atlas of the UK, there is still a sizeable piece of land between The Pennines and the North Sea. What has gone, in fact, is the regional ITV company, YTV, which began broadcasting from new studios in Leeds on July 29th, 1968. One of ITV's unique features in previous decades has been its regional structure, which was especially strong in the north of England where Granada, Yorkshire TV and Tyne Tees provided the backbone of national programmes made from around the nation. Today however, ITV is no longer a collection of regional companies; Mark Lawson examines why by taking a look at the history of Yorkshire Television. Initially, Granada served the whole of the north of England but for 40 years, YTV was Yorkshire's very own station and gave its region a prominent voice in millions of homes all over the country. Yorkshire Television was a station run by local people who 'talked right'. It made the likes of Richard Whiteley, Les Dawson, Annie Sugden and Hannah Hauxwell household names and it became part of a regional revolution that provided ITV with a significant part of its output, from soap opera (Emmerdale), and drama (Flambards and Heartbeat) to hard-hitting, award-winning documentaries including Johnny Go Home and Rampton: The Secret Hospital. Sir Paul Fox, a former managing director at YTV, says: 'You can tell a Yorkshire man but you can't tell him much.' And it was this refusal to compromise on its own particular provincial flavour that characterised the YTV style. For many years, Yorkshire Television demonstrated a regional approach to broadcasting that was successfully duplicated across the network by other many other ITV franchise holders. Mark Lawson grew up in Yorkshire and has a keen understanding of the workings of the British television industry. Those contributing include Sir Paul Fox, Jeremy Isaacs (Director of Programmes at Thames in the 1970s and Chief Executive at Channel 4 in the 1980s), John Whiston (former Director of Programmes at YTV and now Creative Director of ITV Studios UK), Alan Whicker and Austin Mitchell MP. This is the story of how Yorkshire seems to have disappeared. In fact, it is not a single county that has vanished from the map - the territory that has gone missing also stretched across Lincolnshire and into north Norfolk. Of course, if you look at any road atlas of the UK, there is still a sizeable piece of land between The Pennines and the North Sea. What has gone, in fact, is the regional ITV company, YTV, which began broadcasting from new studios in Leeds on July 29th, 1968. Initially, Granada served the whole of the north of England but for 40 years, YTV was Yorkshire's very own station and gave its region a prominent voice in millions of homes all over the country. Yorkshire Television was a station run by local people who 'talked right'. It made the likes of Richard Whiteley, Les Dawson, Annie Sugden and Hannah Hauxwell household names and it became part of a regional revolution that provided ITV with a significant part of its output, from soap opera (Emmerdale), and drama (Flambards and Heartbeat) to hard-hitting, award-winning documentaries including Johnny Go Home and Rampton: The Secret Hospital. Sir Paul Fox, a former managing director at YTV, says: 'You can tell a Yorkshire man but you can't tell him much.' And it was this refusal to compromise on its own particular provincial flavour that characterised the YTV style. For many years, Yorkshire Television demonstrated a regional approach to broadcasting that was successfully duplicated across the network by other many other ITV franchise holders. |
| The Jane Collective | 20200118 | | Pregnant? Don't want to be? Call Jane at 643-3844 Between 1969 and 1973, in the years before the US supreme court opened up access to abortion across the country, a group of women in Chicago built an underground service. The University of Chicago student Heather Booth had been asked for help in 1965, when a friend's sister with an unwanted pregnancy was distraught and nearly suicidal. Her friend wanted to know if there was anywhere to turn in a state where abortion was illegal and where there was little guarantee for a woman's health or safety if she did manage to secure one. In response, Booth found a connection to the civil rights leader and surgeon TRM. Howard, who performed the procedure. Word spread quickly that she was someone who could help women access safe abortions. Operating under the pseudonym Jane, Heather Booth began to receive calls from other women. As the years went on and the number of calls increased, she looked for others to help carry on her work - and Jane: The Abortion Counseling Service of Women's Liberation began in earnest. At first, the women sought out doctors for the procedure but, eventually, they found someone who trained them to carry out the abortions themselves. It's estimated that the women performed over 11,000 abortions during this time. In this documentary, we hear archive from the time, exploring the climate in the years running up to Roe v Wade, alongside an interview with a detective tasked with investigating Jane (originally recorded for the Radio Diaries podcast The Story of Jane), voices from the city and new interviews with Jane members. Presented by Laura Barton Produced by Eleanor McDowall A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4 A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives |
| The Kennedy Book Depository | 20131116 | 20161119 (BBC7)
20161120 (BBC7) |  
Mark Lawson explores the literary and cultural responses to JFK's assassination. To mark the 50th anniversary President Kennedy's death, Mark Lawson looks at how his death has been reflected in novels, film and television. We'll probably never know with absolute certainty exactly what happened on November 22nd 1963 in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, but that very imprecision allows creative artists full rein to exercise their narrative muscles. Oliver Stone's film 'JFK' suggested that the death was a complex conspiracy; Charles McCarry's 'The Tears of Autumn' put it down to revenge for the death of a Vietnamese General; and Don Delillo's 'Libra' conjures the backstory of the supposed assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. With archive recordings of Don Delillo and Oliver Stone and newly recorded contributions from veteran thriller writer and ex-CIA agent Charles McCarry and Richard North Patterson. |
| The King And Kennedy Assassinations: If The Dead Could Speak | 20180324 | | Exactly 50 years ago, two assassinations rocked America. The civil rights leader, Dr Martin Luther King and Senator Robert F Kennedy were murdered two months apart. Michael Goldfarb retells their story and asks their children, grandchildren and close friends about America in those terrible days and America now. Producer: Julia Hayball A Certain Height production for BBC Radio 4. In 1968, Martin Luther King and Robert F Kennedy were murdered. Michael Goldfarb reports. A look back at programmes and recordings from the BBC archives A Certain Height production for BBC Radio 4. |
| The Language Of Pain | 20150502 | |  Virginia Woolf lamented that the English language, so rich in words to describe the passions of love and tragedy, has no adequate words for 'the shiver and the headache'. Physical pains like these dominate our lives and yet our language is insufficient to describe them. Professor Joanna Bourke is fascinated by the way people talk about their pain. Looking back in history, she finds an abundant language through which people have expressed it. Only in recent times has scientific terminology taken over the language of pain, stripping it of its depth and variety. In this programme, Joanna explores archive from the 19th and 20th centuries to illustrate the metaphors that people have used. The obsession with railways in the mid-19th century entered the vocabulary of pain almost immediately, and so did electrical metaphors and comparisons with the telegraph. The way we talk about pain is a product of the times we're living in. Through interviews with clinical pain specialists, historians and artists, Joanna examines how far the language we use to talk about pain influences the way we feel it. Today, pain specialists are increasingly concentrating on the language of their patients. While medicine is now very effective at treating acute pain, chronic pain remains a problem. The experience of chronic pain patients needs to be managed differently and the language we use to talk about it may form part of the answer. Producer: Isabel Sutton A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4. |
| The Last Of The International Brigaders | 20110226 | 20110228
20110228 (R4) |  The Spanish Civil War began in 1936, for a civil war constrained entirely within the boundaries of one country, the monuments to the fallen are spread across a remarkably high number of nations. That's because of the International Brigade - whose volunteers travelled across the globe to join the fight against fascism. This programme recounts the events of that civil war through new interviews with the last remaining British Brigaders and archive interviews with many others. From the defence of Madrid to the Battle of Jarama and on to the Ebro River we hear from the men and women who were there. Jack Edwards served with the International Brigade from the beginning, he was wounded in the battle of Jarama. After a period of convalescence he carried on fighting until he and all the other Brigaders were ordered out of Spain in 1939. Paddy Cochrane, an ambulance driver with the International Brigade, ferried many a wounded soldier from the battle fields until wounded himself by a grenade. Both Jack and Paddy were politically active young men who believed that fighting Franco was the only way to stop the fascist movement from taking over Britain. Thomas Watters, of the Scottish Ambulance Unit, drove from Scotland with a unit of ambulances. As both a driver and a first aider Thomas's motives for volunteering were purely humanitarian. With these new interviews, and many archive interviews, we cover the events in Spain from the human, day to day perspective. Richard Baxell, historian and author talks us through the political side of events. And Professor Paul Preston, of the International History department at the LSE, gives us a perspective of events in Europe running up to the outbreak of the civil war and details of the motives of Franco. We also look at how the volunteers were regarded by others. Were they ter |