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Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #bbcradio4, aggregated by home.social.

  1. Loose Ends

    Liam Ó Maonlaí, Michael Fry, Emma Southon, Olivia McVeigh, Dónal O'Connor, Neil Martin, Clare Sands

    Loose Ends

    Stuart Maconie finds himself "i lár an aonaigh" - at the heart of craic, ceol, and much more at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann (All-Ireland Fleadh), as Belfast hosts the festival celebrating Irish music and culture for the very first time.

    The Fleadh comes second nature to frontman and lead singer of Hothouse Flowers Liam Ó Maonlaí, who was brought up in a household full of traditional Irish music and song. As the band prepares for their "Greatest Hits" tour later this year, Liam reflects on the poignant story behind their hit single "Don't Go", and the time he was left behind by the band's tour bus.

    Olivia McVeigh mightn't be in a band, but alongside her fellow podcasters of The Girls Groupchat she's taking the show onstage, alongside Irish girl group legends B*witched and even to ABBA Voyage. She tells Stuart about how her diagnosis of alopecia changed her entire career trajectory, into a world of advocacy and empowering others with the condition.

    Emma Southon may have had a very different career as historian if she hadn't hated history so much at school. She talks about her new book Servus: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire, which sets out to give readers a full picture of the reality of enslaved people in Ancient Rome.

    And Michael Fry muses on how a period of pure boredom pushed him towards comedy, and why he thinks the medium of radio is ripe for laughs, ahead of his third series of Lunchtime with Michael Fry on BBC Radio Ulster.

    Plus, musicians Dónal O'Connor, Neil Martin and Clare Sands give us just a "blaiseadh beag" - a very small taste of the great music coming out of the Fleadh.

    Presenter: Stuart Maconie
    Producer: Anthony McKee
    Technical Producer: Davy Neill
    Production Co-ordinators: Sylvie Conway and Caoilfhinn McFadden

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    42 minutes


    Last on

    Thu 13 Aug 2026
    21:00
    BBC Radio 4

    #BBCRadio4 #BBCLooseEnds #Fleadh
    #StuartMaconie #EmmaSouthon

    bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00300dc

  2. Loose Ends

    Liam Ó Maonlaí, Michael Fry, Emma Southon, Olivia McVeigh, Dónal O'Connor, Neil Martin, Clare Sands

    Loose Ends

    Stuart Maconie finds himself "i lár an aonaigh" - at the heart of craic, ceol, and much more at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann (All-Ireland Fleadh), as Belfast hosts the festival celebrating Irish music and culture for the very first time.

    The Fleadh comes second nature to frontman and lead singer of Hothouse Flowers Liam Ó Maonlaí, who was brought up in a household full of traditional Irish music and song. As the band prepares for their "Greatest Hits" tour later this year, Liam reflects on the poignant story behind their hit single "Don't Go", and the time he was left behind by the band's tour bus.

    Olivia McVeigh mightn't be in a band, but alongside her fellow podcasters of The Girls Groupchat she's taking the show onstage, alongside Irish girl group legends B*witched and even to ABBA Voyage. She tells Stuart about how her diagnosis of alopecia changed her entire career trajectory, into a world of advocacy and empowering others with the condition.

    Emma Southon may have had a very different career as historian if she hadn't hated history so much at school. She talks about her new book Servus: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire, which sets out to give readers a full picture of the reality of enslaved people in Ancient Rome.

    And Michael Fry muses on how a period of pure boredom pushed him towards comedy, and why he thinks the medium of radio is ripe for laughs, ahead of his third series of Lunchtime with Michael Fry on BBC Radio Ulster.

    Plus, musicians Dónal O'Connor, Neil Martin and Clare Sands give us just a "blaiseadh beag" - a very small taste of the great music coming out of the Fleadh.

    Presenter: Stuart Maconie
    Producer: Anthony McKee
    Technical Producer: Davy Neill
    Production Co-ordinators: Sylvie Conway and Caoilfhinn McFadden

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    42 minutes


    Last on

    Thu 13 Aug 2026
    21:00
    BBC Radio 4

    #BBCRadio4 #BBCLooseEnds #Fleadh
    #StuartMaconie #EmmaSouthon

    bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00300dc

  3. Loose Ends

    Liam Ó Maonlaí, Michael Fry, Emma Southon, Olivia McVeigh, Dónal O'Connor, Neil Martin, Clare Sands

    Loose Ends

    Stuart Maconie finds himself "i lár an aonaigh" - at the heart of craic, ceol, and much more at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann (All-Ireland Fleadh), as Belfast hosts the festival celebrating Irish music and culture for the very first time.

    The Fleadh comes second nature to frontman and lead singer of Hothouse Flowers Liam Ó Maonlaí, who was brought up in a household full of traditional Irish music and song. As the band prepares for their "Greatest Hits" tour later this year, Liam reflects on the poignant story behind their hit single "Don't Go", and the time he was left behind by the band's tour bus.

    Olivia McVeigh mightn't be in a band, but alongside her fellow podcasters of The Girls Groupchat she's taking the show onstage, alongside Irish girl group legends B*witched and even to ABBA Voyage. She tells Stuart about how her diagnosis of alopecia changed her entire career trajectory, into a world of advocacy and empowering others with the condition.

    Emma Southon may have had a very different career as historian if she hadn't hated history so much at school. She talks about her new book Servus: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire, which sets out to give readers a full picture of the reality of enslaved people in Ancient Rome.

    And Michael Fry muses on how a period of pure boredom pushed him towards comedy, and why he thinks the medium of radio is ripe for laughs, ahead of his third series of Lunchtime with Michael Fry on BBC Radio Ulster.

    Plus, musicians Dónal O'Connor, Neil Martin and Clare Sands give us just a "blaiseadh beag" - a very small taste of the great music coming out of the Fleadh.

    Presenter: Stuart Maconie
    Producer: Anthony McKee
    Technical Producer: Davy Neill
    Production Co-ordinators: Sylvie Conway and Caoilfhinn McFadden

    Show less
    Download
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    42 minutes


    Last on

    Thu 13 Aug 2026
    21:00
    BBC Radio 4

    #BBCRadio4 #BBCLooseEnds #Fleadh
    #StuartMaconie #EmmaSouthon

    bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00300dc

  4. Loose Ends

    Liam Ó Maonlaí, Michael Fry, Emma Southon, Olivia McVeigh, Dónal O'Connor, Neil Martin, Clare Sands

    Loose Ends

    Stuart Maconie finds himself "i lár an aonaigh" - at the heart of craic, ceol, and much more at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann (All-Ireland Fleadh), as Belfast hosts the festival celebrating Irish music and culture for the very first time.

    The Fleadh comes second nature to frontman and lead singer of Hothouse Flowers Liam Ó Maonlaí, who was brought up in a household full of traditional Irish music and song. As the band prepares for their "Greatest Hits" tour later this year, Liam reflects on the poignant story behind their hit single "Don't Go", and the time he was left behind by the band's tour bus.

    Olivia McVeigh mightn't be in a band, but alongside her fellow podcasters of The Girls Groupchat she's taking the show onstage, alongside Irish girl group legends B*witched and even to ABBA Voyage. She tells Stuart about how her diagnosis of alopecia changed her entire career trajectory, into a world of advocacy and empowering others with the condition.

    Emma Southon may have had a very different career as historian if she hadn't hated history so much at school. She talks about her new book Servus: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire, which sets out to give readers a full picture of the reality of enslaved people in Ancient Rome.

    And Michael Fry muses on how a period of pure boredom pushed him towards comedy, and why he thinks the medium of radio is ripe for laughs, ahead of his third series of Lunchtime with Michael Fry on BBC Radio Ulster.

    Plus, musicians Dónal O'Connor, Neil Martin and Clare Sands give us just a "blaiseadh beag" - a very small taste of the great music coming out of the Fleadh.

    Presenter: Stuart Maconie
    Producer: Anthony McKee
    Technical Producer: Davy Neill
    Production Co-ordinators: Sylvie Conway and Caoilfhinn McFadden

    Show less
    Download
    Choose your file
    Higher quality (128kbps)
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    42 minutes


    Last on

    Thu 13 Aug 2026
    21:00
    BBC Radio 4

    #BBCRadio4 #BBCLooseEnds #Fleadh
    #StuartMaconie #EmmaSouthon

    bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00300dc

  5. Loose Ends

    Liam Ó Maonlaí, Michael Fry, Emma Southon, Olivia McVeigh, Dónal O'Connor, Neil Martin, Clare Sands

    Loose Ends

    Stuart Maconie finds himself "i lár an aonaigh" - at the heart of craic, ceol, and much more at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann (All-Ireland Fleadh), as Belfast hosts the festival celebrating Irish music and culture for the very first time.

    The Fleadh comes second nature to frontman and lead singer of Hothouse Flowers Liam Ó Maonlaí, who was brought up in a household full of traditional Irish music and song. As the band prepares for their "Greatest Hits" tour later this year, Liam reflects on the poignant story behind their hit single "Don't Go", and the time he was left behind by the band's tour bus.

    Olivia McVeigh mightn't be in a band, but alongside her fellow podcasters of The Girls Groupchat she's taking the show onstage, alongside Irish girl group legends B*witched and even to ABBA Voyage. She tells Stuart about how her diagnosis of alopecia changed her entire career trajectory, into a world of advocacy and empowering others with the condition.

    Emma Southon may have had a very different career as historian if she hadn't hated history so much at school. She talks about her new book Servus: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire, which sets out to give readers a full picture of the reality of enslaved people in Ancient Rome.

    And Michael Fry muses on how a period of pure boredom pushed him towards comedy, and why he thinks the medium of radio is ripe for laughs, ahead of his third series of Lunchtime with Michael Fry on BBC Radio Ulster.

    Plus, musicians Dónal O'Connor, Neil Martin and Clare Sands give us just a "blaiseadh beag" - a very small taste of the great music coming out of the Fleadh.

    Presenter: Stuart Maconie
    Producer: Anthony McKee
    Technical Producer: Davy Neill
    Production Co-ordinators: Sylvie Conway and Caoilfhinn McFadden

    Show less
    Download
    Choose your file
    Higher quality (128kbps)
    Lower quality (64kbps)

    Available now

    42 minutes


    Last on

    Thu 13 Aug 2026
    21:00
    BBC Radio 4

    #BBCRadio4 #BBCLooseEnds #Fleadh
    #StuartMaconie #EmmaSouthon

    bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00300dc

  6. Judging from the words of various Radio 4 announcers and newsreaders today, the following are all on loan from France to the UK:

    • the Bayeux tapestry
    • the Bayeau tapestry
    • the Bayou tapestry

    For me, this grates horribly. I find it painful and a bit embarrassing. Especially since discovering that the BBC Pronunciation Unit apparently still exists—it suggests they don't even know that the #pronunciation might need checking.

    #BBCRadio4 #words #French #BayeuxTapestry

  7. Judging from the words of various Radio 4 announcers and newsreaders today, the following are all on loan from France to the UK:

    • the Bayeux tapestry
    • the Bayeau tapestry
    • the Bayou tapestry

    For me, this grates horribly. I find it painful and a bit embarrassing. Especially since discovering that the BBC Pronunciation Unit apparently still exists—it suggests they don't even know that the #pronunciation might need checking.

    #BBCRadio4 #words #French #BayeuxTapestry

  8. Judging from the words of various Radio 4 announcers and newsreaders today, the following are all on loan from France to the UK:

    • the Bayeux tapestry
    • the Bayeau tapestry
    • the Bayou tapestry

    For me, this grates horribly. I find it painful and a bit embarrassing. Especially since discovering that the BBC Pronunciation Unit apparently still exists—it suggests they don't even know that the #pronunciation might need checking.

    #BBCRadio4 #words #French #BayeuxTapestry

  9. Judging from the words of various Radio 4 announcers and newsreaders today, the following are all on loan from France to the UK:

    • the Bayeux tapestry
    • the Bayeau tapestry
    • the Bayou tapestry

    For me, this grates horribly. I find it painful and a bit embarrassing. Especially since discovering that the BBC Pronunciation Unit apparently still exists—it suggests they don't even know that the #pronunciation might need checking.

    #BBCRadio4 #words #French #BayeuxTapestry

  10. Andy Burnham praises UK-EU ties in meeting with Emmanuel Macron

    Prime Minister Andy Burnham has praised the UK-EU relationship as he holds talks with French President Emmanuel Macron…
    #Europe #EU #andyburnham #BBCRadio4's #Burnham #DowningStreet #EuropeanUnion #French #macron
    europesays.com/europe/129690/

  11. Writing Our Mothers
    Archive on 4

    ‘Mothers have such a weight of idealisation and expectation landed upon their bodies and their minds and what women writers can do is to take that apart and explore
    its underbelly,’ says feminist writer Jacqueline Rose.

    Whether worshipped or vilified, treated as lifetime confidantes or rarely trusted, the mothers we meet when we write them are re-inventions. Some may be closer to the
    truth than others. Many of them will have roots in the life experiences of the daughter-writer. Virginia Woolf, who lost her mother at the age of 13, said she was obsessed with writing her mother. Eventually she also argued that it was ‘the occupation of the woman writer to kill’ what she called ‘The Angel in the House’ – the perfect, self-sacrificing mother – who may well have been her own maternal influence.

    Drawing on interviews with Maya Angelou, we hear how for her to write her mother was to ‘write about a hurricane in its perfect power’. She describes how the influence of a mother who ‘abandoned’ her as a child forced her most urgent examinations of class, race and, importantly love. In another frank interview with Marguerite Duras from 1968, she describes writing as a search for connection with her raging and ‘mad’ mother. For Sylvia Plath, the process of writing about becoming a mother herself in the 1950s produced work of a psychic intensity rarely seen before.

    What the archive ultimately reveals is that a mother, whether present or absent, loving or cruel, might be as formative an influence on a writer’s work, as in life. ‘When I read about motherhood, I want to be shaken loose from whatever limitations I have when I think about what that means,’ says the writer Siri Hustvedt.

    With contributions from Susie Orbach, Jacqueline Rose, Kit de Waal and Siri Hustvedt, and narration from Amaka Okafor.

    Produced by Sarah Cuddon
    A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

    Archive sources:
    Desert Island Discs with Arundhati Roy (2017)
    A Chance to Meet ... Edna O'Brien (1971)
    Sylvia Plath, Peter Orr interview (1962)
    Audre Lorde, Pacifica Radio Archives and Academy of American Poets www.poets.org
    Maya Angelou, BBC News (1985)
    Jeannette Winterson, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (BBC, 1990) and Face To Face (BBC, 1994)
    Marguerite Duras, Worn Out With Desire To Write (1985)
    Toni Morrison, Brief Encounters (BBC, 2001)
    Jackie Kay, Book of the Week (The Waters Company for BBC R4, 2015)
    Elena Ferrante, Lying Lives of Adults (BBC, 2020)


    Available now

    57 minutes

    #BBCRadio4 #BBCArchiveOn4

    #ArundhatiRoy #EdnaOBrien
    #SylviaPlath #AudreLorde
    #MayaAngelou #JeannetteWinterson
    #MargueriteDuras #ToniMorrison
    #JackieKay #ElenaFerrante

    bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001k7s1

  12. Episode 1
    Drama on 4
    Libra Episode 1 of 2

    Don DeLillo’s fictionalised reimagining of the events surrounding the 1963 assassination of John F Kennedy, adapted for audio by Ben Lewis.
    Starring Fisher Stevens and Tucker St. Ivany.

    A CIA analyst is tasked with pulling together all the facts, theories and suppositions surrounding this founding moment in recent American history. Drawing them together, he tries to imagine how and why JFK was killed. Cutting between the story of Lee Harvey Oswald’s life and two men conspiring to assassinate the president, it builds a picture of a fractured America during the cold war era.

    This is a work of fiction inspired by fact. Don DeLillo’s novel - and this adaptation - draw on real events and on some real people. But characters, incidents and dialogue are predominantly works of fiction. Real people have been placed in imagined situations whilst other characters have been created entirely for the purposes of storytelling.

    Part of Radio 4’s Story of America - a major collection of dramatisations of milestone American titles marking 250 years since the Declaration of Independence and the foundation of the United States.

    Cast:
    The Analyst… Fisher Stevens
    Lee Harvey Oswald…Tucker St. Ivany
    The conspirators…Tyler Collins and Michael Nardone
    Marguerite Oswald…Nicole Cooper
    The Marine…Michael Guest
    Bobby Dupard…Reuben Joseph
    Marina Oswald…Holly Howden Gilchrist
    George de Mohrenschildt…Grant O’Rourke
    David Ferrie…Robin Laing

    All other parts were played by the company

    BBC Audio Scotland Production
    Production Co-ordinators: Bethany Woodhead and Minnie Harrop
    Studio Production and sound editing: Andrew Hay and Gav Murchie
    Sound Design and original scoring: Danny Krass

    Adapted by Ben Lewis
    Directed by Kirsty Williams

    Archive: CBS Evening News, November 22nd 1963

    Show less

    Release date:09 August 2026
    57 minutes


    On radio

    Today
    15:00
    BBC Radio 4

    #DonDeLillo #BBCDrama #BBCIssues #BBCOpeningLines #BBCRadio4 #BBCDramaOn4

    bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00301w1

  13. Libra - Episode One

    Opening Lines

    For the 100th title to be explored in Opening Lines, John Yorke picks up the 1998 novel Libra by the heavyweight American writer, Don DeLillo. The book centres around the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the event DeLillo says marked ‘a turning point in consciousness’ for Americans. He presents a fragmented portrait of the country at the height of the Cold War, following the misfortunes of disaffected loner Lee Harvey Oswald - as well as the large cast of rogue operators planning to use him to bring the President down.

    In the first of two-parts, John looks to find what makes this widely acclaimed novel stand out from the hundreds of other books and films spawned by the world-shaking events in Dealey Plaza back in November 1963. He speaks with, among others, Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Jennifer Egan, a self-proclaimed DeLillo acolyte, who says of Libra that the “sense of the chaos and the noise of contemporary life invading the narrative I was very drawn to, and, you know, have tried to emulate, frankly.”

    John Yorke has worked in television and radio for over 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes of the books, plays and stories dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. He created the BBC Writers Academy and trained a generation of screenwriters - now with thousands of hours of television to their names. His acclaimed books Into the Woods and Trip to the Moon explore the structure and power of narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of storytelling, including many podcasts for R4.

    Libra by Don de Lillo is the 100th title covered by Opening Lines. The series began in January 2023 with Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Since then John Yorke has explored novels from Anna Karenina to Gone with the Wind, plays from Shakespeare to Eugene O’Neill and ground-breaking non-fiction like John Hersey’s Hiroshima. Each episode provides background, context and some expert discussion in advance of Radio 4’s Sunday afternoon drama, and all 100 titles can be heard on BBC Sounds.

    Contributors: Pullitzer Prize winning author Jennifer Egan & Professor Jesse Kavadlo.
    Sound:
    Researcher: Henry Tydeman
    Production Hub Coordinator: Dawn Williams
    Producer: Geoff Bird
    Executive Producer: Sara Davies

    A Pier production for BBC Radio 4

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    14 minutes


    On air

    Today
    14:45
    BBC Radio 4

    #DonDeLillo #BBCDrama #BBCIssues #BBCOpeningLines #BBCRadio4

    bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00300kp

  14. Bombing of the Minab School

    [ languge use ]
    2026-04-29 0710-0720ish
    Reporter says Centcom/Pentagon is saying "a review" is underway prior to there being "an investigation" or "further probe".

    [ QuangoNote: i figured out a couple of weeks ago that the military-security class have started using the word "review" instead of "investigation" -- "reviews" can last as long as you want them to and so are technically compliant with laws/regulation ]

    wiki -- 2026 Minab school attack
    ... the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' elementary school of the Shahrak-e Al-Mahdi neighbourhood in Minab, Hormozgan province in southern Iran was destroyed by a missile ...

    #BBCRadio4 #BBCTodayProgramme #2026MinabSchoolAttack #MinabSchoolAttack #MinabSchool

  15. 'We cannot have chaos': Emily Thornberry on the law of war and Labour's struggles

    2926-03-07 1730-1755

    Political Thinking with Nick Robinson

    The Foreign Affairs Committee Chair on Iran, Trump's 'asteroid of awfulness' and the 'grief' she felt after being dropped by Starmer.

    Emily Thornberry tells Nick about how her father's career as a UN peacekeeper helped shape her commitment to the ideals of international law.

    She also has frank views about what her party needs to do to stem the rise of the Green Party.

    Senior Producer: Daniel Kraemer
    Producer: Flora Murray
    Sound: Jack Wilfan
    Editor: Giles Edwards

    42 min extended versiob available for download

    #BBCRadio4 #Iran #BBCPoliticalThinkingWithNickRobinson
    #PoliticalThinkingWithNickRobinson
    #NickRobinson #EmilyThornberry

    bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002scrc

  16. BBC Radio4 "Today" programme.

    2025-07-25 0815-0825

    #NickRobinson

    #BBCRadio4 #BBCTodayProgramme
    #Israel

    interview of spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister David Mencer

  17. **There are warnings of gales**

    There are warnings of gales
    Depending on where you are in relation to the steep white cliffs or the brown dirt hillsides
    Depending on the lush green valleys filled with cows and sheep and goats and pigs
    Looking out across the wheat fields in the late summer filled with the sway of the long stemmed grasses wishing they were oceans free of human intent for their impending death
    Somewhere out in the world
    There are warnings of gales
    Inner turmoils or extra terrestrial battles
    Or arguments in the corner shop over who could have the last packet of plain chocolate digestives
    It is all relevant. Everything has its own equivalency. Each strike of potential catastrophe is equivalent to the next.
    I recall the storm of 1987, which I slept through like a soft baby in a warm blanket. My mother called the following morning and I had no idea what she was talking about. The gales had swirled around me and might have caused total destruction, yet, I was safe in my swaddling clothes of care and love and a good bedsitter in Earls Court.
    But, be aware of warnings of gales. In the end they will get us all.

    A poem in celebration of the Shipping forecast. (bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qfvv)

    #bbc #bbcradio4 #shippingforecast #newyearsday

  18. Broadcasting

    The BBC's radio Shipping Forecast celebrates it's 100th year in 2025. As a commemoration on New Years' Day, BBC Radio 4 is transmitting programmes themed on the Shipping Forecast , from the serious to the sublime.

    One example (which may or may not be included) can be heard here. It includes the line "COW in sea area Shannon, moving eastwards. Sorry, that should be LOW."

    youtube.com/watch?v=s2noiJKiUX

    #shippingforecast
    #bbcradio4