#bbcradio4 — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #bbcradio4, aggregated by home.social.
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🙄
"China [is behind us in the technology] and so hasn't seen rogue AI swarms yet ..."
(paraphrase quote) some guy from Anthropic
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Medea #Medea #Euripedes
Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics
Series 12
Episode 7 of 7Natalie tells the story of Euripides' Medea, the sorceress who enacted the ultimate revenge on the husband who betrayed her, to a rapt audience at the Hay Festival.
'Rockstar mythologist' Natalie Haynes is the best-selling author of Divine Might, Stone Blind, A Thousand Ships and No Friend to This House as well as a reformed comedian who is a little bit obsessive about ancient Greece and Rome.
Producer Beth O'Dea
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27 days left to listen28 minutes
Last onFriday
21:00
BBC Radio 4#BBCRadio4
#NatalieHaynesStandsUpForTheClassics
#NatalieHaynes -
Crossing Continents
Ukraine: Fighting Russia, Fighting Russian
Crossing ContinentsRussian is the first language of millions of Ukrainians, including many of the country’s frontline troops. But it’s also the language of their enemy. And its public use is increasingly restricted by law, with ever more measures to enforce communication in Ukrainian. Ukrainians are allowed to speak Russian in private conversations. But they can be fined for playing a Russian language song in the street, if the singer or composer is a Russian citizen. The state says Russian must be policed because Russia uses the language as a weapon to spread its influence. But in primarily Russian-speaking places such as Odesa, Ukraine’s third-largest city, many are unhappy about the language laws. One popular entertainer says they’re beyond Kafkaesque. Tim Whewell reports on the arguments dividing a city under constant Russian bombardment, as one side calls the Russian language a colonial hangover, while the other says cultural diversity is what Ukraine should be fighting for.
Producer: Tim Whewell
Sound engineer: James Beard.
Assistant producer: Serhiy Solodko
Security adviser: Jack Bleach
Production coordinators: Gemma Ashman and Keshia Agyei
Editor: Penny MurphyShow less
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00:15
BBC Radio 4 -
Great Lives
Ellen E Jones nominates Florynce Kennedy
Great LivesOne dubbed "the biggest, loudest and indisputably the rudest mouth on the battleground", Florynce Kennedy was a force to be reckoned with.
She was a lawyer, a vocal figure in the American civil rights and feminist movements of the 1960s and '70s, and a champion of numerous other causes besides; from legalising abortion to campaigning for sex-worker rights - proving that it was possible to care about and campaign for causes even if they didn't affect her directly.
Flo was famous in her own time, not only for her passionate commitment to fighting injustice and her incredible talent as a phrase-maker - delivering punchy comments peppered with colourful language - but also for her flamboyant style, notably her trademark Australian hat. And yet today Flo's reputation has dwindled; she's arguably far less well-known than she should be according to her nominator Ellen E Jones, a journalist and broadcaster focusing on film and television who co-hosts the Radio 4 programme 'Screenshot'.
Joining the discussion remotely from the United States, is Sheri Randolph, author of the biography ‘Florynce "Flo" Kennedy: The Life of a Black Feminist Radical’; also an associate professor of history at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and founder of the Black Feminist Think Tank.
Matthew and his guests also hear from Flo's friend and fellow activist Gloria Steinem, who says: "Wherever we went, somehow she created a community of our own by her presence. She was effervescent and smart and outgoing and irresistable... Flo, in her jodhurs and her Aussie hat, was just a symbol of all the movements together."
Presented by Matthew Parris and produced for BBC Studios Audio by Lucy Taylor.
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BBC Radio 4 -
Great Lives
Ellen E Jones nominates Florynce Kennedy
Great LivesOne dubbed "the biggest, loudest and indisputably the rudest mouth on the battleground", Florynce Kennedy was a force to be reckoned with.
She was a lawyer, a vocal figure in the American civil rights and feminist movements of the 1960s and '70s, and a champion of numerous other causes besides; from legalising abortion to campaigning for sex-worker rights - proving that it was possible to care about and campaign for causes even if they didn't affect her directly.
Flo was famous in her own time, not only for her passionate commitment to fighting injustice and her incredible talent as a phrase-maker - delivering punchy comments peppered with colourful language - but also for her flamboyant style, notably her trademark Australian hat. And yet today Flo's reputation has dwindled; she's arguably far less well-known than she should be according to her nominator Ellen E Jones, a journalist and broadcaster focusing on film and television who co-hosts the Radio 4 programme 'Screenshot'.
Joining the discussion remotely from the United States, is Sheri Randolph, author of the biography ‘Florynce "Flo" Kennedy: The Life of a Black Feminist Radical’; also an associate professor of history at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and founder of the Black Feminist Think Tank.
Matthew and his guests also hear from Flo's friend and fellow activist Gloria Steinem, who says: "Wherever we went, somehow she created a community of our own by her presence. She was effervescent and smart and outgoing and irresistable... Flo, in her jodhurs and her Aussie hat, was just a symbol of all the movements together."
Presented by Matthew Parris and produced for BBC Studios Audio by Lucy Taylor.
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BBC Radio 4 -
Great Lives
Ellen E Jones nominates Florynce Kennedy
Great LivesOne dubbed "the biggest, loudest and indisputably the rudest mouth on the battleground", Florynce Kennedy was a force to be reckoned with.
She was a lawyer, a vocal figure in the American civil rights and feminist movements of the 1960s and '70s, and a champion of numerous other causes besides; from legalising abortion to campaigning for sex-worker rights - proving that it was possible to care about and campaign for causes even if they didn't affect her directly.
Flo was famous in her own time, not only for her passionate commitment to fighting injustice and her incredible talent as a phrase-maker - delivering punchy comments peppered with colourful language - but also for her flamboyant style, notably her trademark Australian hat. And yet today Flo's reputation has dwindled; she's arguably far less well-known than she should be according to her nominator Ellen E Jones, a journalist and broadcaster focusing on film and television who co-hosts the Radio 4 programme 'Screenshot'.
Joining the discussion remotely from the United States, is Sheri Randolph, author of the biography ‘Florynce "Flo" Kennedy: The Life of a Black Feminist Radical’; also an associate professor of history at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and founder of the Black Feminist Think Tank.
Matthew and his guests also hear from Flo's friend and fellow activist Gloria Steinem, who says: "Wherever we went, somehow she created a community of our own by her presence. She was effervescent and smart and outgoing and irresistable... Flo, in her jodhurs and her Aussie hat, was just a symbol of all the movements together."
Presented by Matthew Parris and produced for BBC Studios Audio by Lucy Taylor.
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BBC Radio 4 -
Great Lives
Ellen E Jones nominates Florynce Kennedy
Great LivesOne dubbed "the biggest, loudest and indisputably the rudest mouth on the battleground", Florynce Kennedy was a force to be reckoned with.
She was a lawyer, a vocal figure in the American civil rights and feminist movements of the 1960s and '70s, and a champion of numerous other causes besides; from legalising abortion to campaigning for sex-worker rights - proving that it was possible to care about and campaign for causes even if they didn't affect her directly.
Flo was famous in her own time, not only for her passionate commitment to fighting injustice and her incredible talent as a phrase-maker - delivering punchy comments peppered with colourful language - but also for her flamboyant style, notably her trademark Australian hat. And yet today Flo's reputation has dwindled; she's arguably far less well-known than she should be according to her nominator Ellen E Jones, a journalist and broadcaster focusing on film and television who co-hosts the Radio 4 programme 'Screenshot'.
Joining the discussion remotely from the United States, is Sheri Randolph, author of the biography ‘Florynce "Flo" Kennedy: The Life of a Black Feminist Radical’; also an associate professor of history at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and founder of the Black Feminist Think Tank.
Matthew and his guests also hear from Flo's friend and fellow activist Gloria Steinem, who says: "Wherever we went, somehow she created a community of our own by her presence. She was effervescent and smart and outgoing and irresistable... Flo, in her jodhurs and her Aussie hat, was just a symbol of all the movements together."
Presented by Matthew Parris and produced for BBC Studios Audio by Lucy Taylor.
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Last onToday
23:00
BBC Radio 4 -
Great Lives
Ellen E Jones nominates Florynce Kennedy
Great LivesOne dubbed "the biggest, loudest and indisputably the rudest mouth on the battleground", Florynce Kennedy was a force to be reckoned with.
She was a lawyer, a vocal figure in the American civil rights and feminist movements of the 1960s and '70s, and a champion of numerous other causes besides; from legalising abortion to campaigning for sex-worker rights - proving that it was possible to care about and campaign for causes even if they didn't affect her directly.
Flo was famous in her own time, not only for her passionate commitment to fighting injustice and her incredible talent as a phrase-maker - delivering punchy comments peppered with colourful language - but also for her flamboyant style, notably her trademark Australian hat. And yet today Flo's reputation has dwindled; she's arguably far less well-known than she should be according to her nominator Ellen E Jones, a journalist and broadcaster focusing on film and television who co-hosts the Radio 4 programme 'Screenshot'.
Joining the discussion remotely from the United States, is Sheri Randolph, author of the biography ‘Florynce "Flo" Kennedy: The Life of a Black Feminist Radical’; also an associate professor of history at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and founder of the Black Feminist Think Tank.
Matthew and his guests also hear from Flo's friend and fellow activist Gloria Steinem, who says: "Wherever we went, somehow she created a community of our own by her presence. She was effervescent and smart and outgoing and irresistable... Flo, in her jodhurs and her Aussie hat, was just a symbol of all the movements together."
Presented by Matthew Parris and produced for BBC Studios Audio by Lucy Taylor.
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BBC Radio 4 -
(Irvine swears throughout this then beats up Jim ...)
Irvine Welsh
BookclubThe award-winning Scottish writer Irvine Welsh speaks to Bookclub, presented by James Naughtie, about his era-defining 1993 debut, Trainspotting.
Following a non-linear plot and written in Scots and Scots English, the novel is more of a collection of interconnected stories told from multiple viewpoints, all centred around a group of friends, who have become household names - Renton, Sick Boy, Spud and Begbie - as they battle, among other things, heroin addiction, poverty, and a burgeoning HIV/AIDS crisis. The novel had sold well over a million copies in the UK by the year 2015 and has been translated into thirty languages. The novel was turned into a 1996 film, often described as a modern classic, directed by Danny Boyle and starring Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle, Ewen Bremner and Kelly Macdonald. This episode was recorded at the Edinburgh International Books Festival in August 2026.Producer: Dominic Howell
Editor: Gillian Wheelan
This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.Show less
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00:15
BBC Radio 4 -
(boils down to nuclear or renewables)
Can Britain’s Broken Energy System Be Fixed?
CurrentlyBritain has some of the highest electricity prices in the world. As of last year, nearly two and half million people live in fuel poverty, and it’s crippling our industries too. How did we get here?
In 2024, a record 50.4% of our electricity came from renewable sources. We don’t need to pay for the wind to blow and the sun to shine, and solar panels have been getting less expensive every year. But creating an electricity grid that can cope with the challenges of renewable energy isn’t cheap – and it’s certainly not straightforward either.
Yet as we emerge from another summer of record temperatures, wild fires and global fossil fuel price shocks, the question of how we manage our transition to clean energy has never been more important or more complicated.
Journalist Jonathan Ford speaks to economists, policy makers and industry leaders who shed light on the past, present and potential future of the UK’s electricity system, and finds out what can be done.
Presenter: Jonathan Ford
Producer: Artemis Irvine
Executive Producer: Robert Nicholson
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4Show less
28 minutes
On airToday
13:30
BBC Radio 4 -
(i'm not (yet) a fan of this show but the last 6 maybe 8 minutes of this episode are good)
2. Something for Everyone
Unspeakable
Series 4 Episode 2 of 6In this episode we hear Jenny Eclair’s word for pride-induced highs, Charlie Higson's description for the sense of relief when your personal trainer cancels your class, and Ria Lina’s newly invented word for throwing someone under the bus.
Ever struggled to find the right word for a feeling or sensation? Unspeakable sees comedian Phil Wang and lexicographer Susie Dent invite celebrity guests to invent new linguistic creations, to solve those all too relatable moments when we're lost for words.
Hosts: Phil Wang and Susie Dent
Guests: Jenny Eclair, Charlie Higson and Ria Lina
Created by Joe Varley
Writers: Matt Crosby and Katie Storey
Recorded by Jerry Peal
Producer: Jon Harvey
Executive Producers: Joe Varley and Akash LockmunA Brown Bred production for BBC Radio 4
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Ray Winstone
This Cultural LifeActor Ray Winstone talks to John Wilson about his formative cultural influences and inspirations. A schoolboy boxing champion, he built a reputation playing tough, working class characters after being cast in the borstal drama Scum at the age of 17. Winstone won huge acclaim for his performance as an alcoholic abusive husband in the film Nil By Mouth, directed by Gary Oldman, and Jonathan Glazer’s Sexy Beast in which he played a bank robber forced out of retirement. Other big screen roles include the Martin Scorsese gangland drama The Departed, and Anthony Mingehella’s American civil war film Cold Mountain. On television, he’s played Henry the Eighth, Magwitch in Great Expectations and most recently, an imprisoned crime boss in the Netflix series The Gentlemen.
Producer: Edwina Pitman
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Available now43 minutes
Last onYesterday
19:15
BBC Radio 4 -
Ray Winstone
This Cultural LifeActor Ray Winstone talks to John Wilson about his formative cultural influences and inspirations. A schoolboy boxing champion, he built a reputation playing tough, working class characters after being cast in the borstal drama Scum at the age of 17. Winstone won huge acclaim for his performance as an alcoholic abusive husband in the film Nil By Mouth, directed by Gary Oldman, and Jonathan Glazer’s Sexy Beast in which he played a bank robber forced out of retirement. Other big screen roles include the Martin Scorsese gangland drama The Departed, and Anthony Mingehella’s American civil war film Cold Mountain. On television, he’s played Henry the Eighth, Magwitch in Great Expectations and most recently, an imprisoned crime boss in the Netflix series The Gentlemen.
Producer: Edwina Pitman
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Available now43 minutes
Last onYesterday
19:15
BBC Radio 4 -
Ray Winstone
This Cultural LifeActor Ray Winstone talks to John Wilson about his formative cultural influences and inspirations. A schoolboy boxing champion, he built a reputation playing tough, working class characters after being cast in the borstal drama Scum at the age of 17. Winstone won huge acclaim for his performance as an alcoholic abusive husband in the film Nil By Mouth, directed by Gary Oldman, and Jonathan Glazer’s Sexy Beast in which he played a bank robber forced out of retirement. Other big screen roles include the Martin Scorsese gangland drama The Departed, and Anthony Mingehella’s American civil war film Cold Mountain. On television, he’s played Henry the Eighth, Magwitch in Great Expectations and most recently, an imprisoned crime boss in the Netflix series The Gentlemen.
Producer: Edwina Pitman
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Available now43 minutes
Last onYesterday
19:15
BBC Radio 4 -
Ray Winstone
This Cultural LifeActor Ray Winstone talks to John Wilson about his formative cultural influences and inspirations. A schoolboy boxing champion, he built a reputation playing tough, working class characters after being cast in the borstal drama Scum at the age of 17. Winstone won huge acclaim for his performance as an alcoholic abusive husband in the film Nil By Mouth, directed by Gary Oldman, and Jonathan Glazer’s Sexy Beast in which he played a bank robber forced out of retirement. Other big screen roles include the Martin Scorsese gangland drama The Departed, and Anthony Mingehella’s American civil war film Cold Mountain. On television, he’s played Henry the Eighth, Magwitch in Great Expectations and most recently, an imprisoned crime boss in the Netflix series The Gentlemen.
Producer: Edwina Pitman
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Available now43 minutes
Last onYesterday
19:15
BBC Radio 4 -
Ray Winstone
This Cultural LifeActor Ray Winstone talks to John Wilson about his formative cultural influences and inspirations. A schoolboy boxing champion, he built a reputation playing tough, working class characters after being cast in the borstal drama Scum at the age of 17. Winstone won huge acclaim for his performance as an alcoholic abusive husband in the film Nil By Mouth, directed by Gary Oldman, and Jonathan Glazer’s Sexy Beast in which he played a bank robber forced out of retirement. Other big screen roles include the Martin Scorsese gangland drama The Departed, and Anthony Mingehella’s American civil war film Cold Mountain. On television, he’s played Henry the Eighth, Magwitch in Great Expectations and most recently, an imprisoned crime boss in the Netflix series The Gentlemen.
Producer: Edwina Pitman
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Available now43 minutes
Last onYesterday
19:15
BBC Radio 4 -
First Contact
Archive on 4Horatio Clare explores the idea of First Contact.
It begins with a news item.
A group of indigenous people living around the border between Brazil and Peru emerge from the depths of the forest, cross a river and make what is described as first contact with the outside world.
The film of this encounter is fascinating and uncanny.
Within it we can discern a dim shadow of encounters that stretch back through history. James Cook in Botany Bay, Hernan Cortez in Mexico, Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean. Centuries of history seem to show us first contact as conquest – a prelude to catastrophe for the contacted people.
But what do we mean by “first contact” anyway? Can there really still be uncontacted people in this day and age? Uncontacted by whom?
The news clip that fascinates Horatio Clare cuts off as the indigenous people seemingly return back across the river to the edge of the forest – a border of sorts, between one world and another.
But what happened next? And what should happen next?
Is there always a winner and a loser when we make first contact?
Featuring Mark Anstice, Julia Blackburn, Wade Davis, Felipe Milanez and Sarah Shenker.
Readings by Sagar Arya and Sumaiya Chaudhary.
Producer: Martin Williams
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Available now57 minutes
Last onYesterday
20:00
BBC Radio 4 -
Kemi's team are going to have to listen to this interview and explain why she is such a massive gobshite.
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Now listening: Crossing Continents - Getting Gaza back online
How amid the tents and the rubble Gaza is developing once again as an unlikely tech hub.
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Intimacy (Radio Version)
1. Did You Just Dribble on Me?
2. I Like Being NakedEpisode 1 of 4
Intimacy coordinator Liza lands a major film on a Greek island, but old tensions resurface. As she meets the cast, setting boundaries proves harder than expected.
Lena Headey as Liza
Tia Bannon as Ruby
Hannah Waddingham as Lou
Alison Steadman as Mum
Simon Kassianides as Rob
Thaddea Graham as Kate
Tom Goodman-Hill as Gary
Maisie Williams as Bunny
Matthew Broome as AlexAdditional Voices:
Dempsey Bovell, Tom Glenister, Mark Kilcawley, James Nicolaou, Paul Panting, Finlay Paul, Nigel Pilkington, Josh Singh Sian, Sam Stafford, Sarah WhitehouseBased on an original idea by Erika Lust
Executive Producers: Sharon Horgan, Faye Dorn
Executive Producer for the BBC: Dylan Haskins
Assistant Commissioner for BBC: Lorraine Okuefuna
Written, created and directed by Lena Headey
Constultant Audio Director: Celia De Wolff
Series Producer: Emma Morgan
Story Producer: Maddie Beautyman and Megan Heverin
Production Manager: Archan Mohile
Production Coordinator: Marlene Beauquis Smith
Production Runner: Tobias Davies
Script Assistants: Liis Miik and Jo Troy
Casting Director: Lauren Evans
Intimacy Coordinator: Robbie Taylor Hunt
Recorded at Sound Node
Sound Designer: Martin Schulz
Supervising Sound Editor and Mixer: Daniel Jaramillo
Recording Engineers: David Crane and Giancarlo Granata
Music and Score composed by Max Perryment
Merman Television Managing Director: Rebecca Parkinson
Merman Finance Director: Jackie Sidey
Merman Television Head of Production: Amanda Wasey
Merman Television Finance Manager: Gemma Wilson
Legal and Business Affairs: Mark Rogers and Georges Villeneau
Artwork Photography: Stevan Keane
Behind the Scenes: Michas VanniA Merman Television Scotland production for BBC Radio 4
28 minutes
On airToday
23:00
BBC Radio 4#LenaHeadey #BBCRadio4 #BBCDeama
#BBCIntimacy
#AlisonSteadman #MaisieWilliams -
(Justin Webb is upto shit again ...)
Americast
The anti DEI MAGA activist Christopher Rufo
We’ve been speaking to perhaps the most prominent anti DEI MAGA activist, Christopher Rufo. He’s widely credited for convincing Donald Trump to dismantle Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programmes within the government, and led the campaign which saw Harvard President Claudine Gay resign from her post in 2024.
He's a controversial figure who has who has spearheaded the right-wing movement against what he describes as "gender ideology" and "woke" institutional policies. He’s also concerned about the future direction of the movement he helped to create and worries about splits within MAGA that have seen influencers like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens split with Donald Trump.
In today’s podcast, Justin and Rufo sit down to discuss how successful he thinks the second Trump administration has been, and why Richard Nixon is enjoying a revival among Gen Z Republicans.
HOSTS:
• Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenterGUEST:
• Christopher Rufo, Senior Fellow at the Manhattan InstituteGET IN TOUCH:
• Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB
• Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480
• Email [email protected]
• Or use #AmericastThis episode was made by George Dabby and Alix Pickles. The technical producer was Rohan Madison. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app.
You can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Americast”. It works on most smart speakers.
US Election Unspun: Sign up for Anthony’s BBC newsletter: https:// www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68093155
Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including Newscast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below.
Newscast: https:// www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p05299nl
Top Comment: https:// www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m001mssm
Radical: https:// www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0gg4k6r
The Global Story: https:/ /www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvsdDownload
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Last Word obit programme
Brenda Fricker: The first Irish woman to win an Oscar
Brenda Fricker became the first Irish woman to win an Academy Award for her performance in the film “My Left Foot”. She began her career with parts in Ireland’s first soap opera Tolka Row, ITV’s Coronation Street, and became a household name as the nurse Megan Roach in Casualty on the BBC. Her friend and fellow actress Anna Friel pays tribute.
The BBC’s long-serving correspondent David Willey was a renowned authority on the Vatican, covering the lives and deaths of five popes. Before he settled in Rome, David had travelled widely for the BBC, reporting from Algeria, the Vietnam War and China just after the communist revolution. Two of his colleagues, former Chief News Correspondent Kate Adie and International Editor Jeremy Bowen, share their memories of working with him.
The name David Austin is forever indelibly associated with the rose growing business. He created some of the most sought after roses, naming new varieties after fictional or real-life people, including Gabriel Oak from Far From the Madding Crowd, the actress Dame Judi Dench and ceramicist Emma Bridgewater - who pays tribute to him alongside Gardeners' World presenter Sue Kent.
Wally Funk broke records as the oldest person to go to space onboard Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin Rocket in 2021. In the early 1960s she was part of a group of women known as the Mercury 13 who were tested to see if they could compete with male astronauts for a place in the American space programme. But the project was abandoned and her hopes dashed. Loretta Hall, who co-wrote her memoir, tells us her story.
( ... also featuring The Pink Panther saxophone guy ...)
Producer: Ben Mitchell
Assistant Producer: Catherine Powell
Researcher: Jesse Edwards
Editor: Andrea KennedyArchive:
"My Left Foot", Ferndale Films, Granada Film, RTÉ, Hell's Kitchen Films; BBC One, Wogan, 16/02/1990; 62nd Academy Awards, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 26/03/1990; BBC Radio 4, Woman's Hour, 05/03/1997; BBC One, Wogan, 15/02/1991; BBC Radio 4, Sunday, 10/03/2013; BBC Radio 4, Archive on 4, From our Rome Correspondent, 07/04/2012; BBC One, RHS Chelsea Flower Show, 21/05/2007; BBC One, Football Focus, 06/10/2018; BBC Radio 4, Woman's Hour, 19/06/2019; BBC News, 19/06/1983; Blue Origin, YouTube, 20/07/2021; Other audio courtesy of Loretta Hall -
audio essays by Rebecca Stott
Episode 4: Mud and War
A Meditation on Mud by Rebecca Stott
Episode 4 of 5Award-winning writer Rebecca Stott likes to unearth the overlooked and the forgotten.
While taking a long walk in Sussex to mark the first anniversary of her mother’s death, Rebecca’s focus shifts to the mud all around her. Noticing it for the first time in detail, she sets off on a journey to discover its hidden depths and meanings. She finds herself peeling back layers of literature, culture, science and geology; she discovers the rich literary history of marsh monsters, dips her toes into Darwin’s mud experiments, treads in the footsteps of soldiers in the trenches during World War One and finds out how mud cores extracted from the seabed can shed light on the planet’s past and future.
In Episode 4, Rebecca traces her own tragic family history: two newly discovered letters reveal that two of her family members lost their lives on mud-drenched battlefields, one in Mesopotamia and the other in France.
Written and narrated by Rebecca Stott
Producer, Lisa Lipman
Editor, Kirsten Lass
Sound engineer and mix, Jon Calver
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4Show less
29 days left to listen14 minutes
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Tom Whipple has Beaver Anal Glands.
Testing Testosterone Testing
BBC Inside ScienceSecretary of Defence Pete Hegseth has announced that the US military will be screening military personnel aged 30 and older for testosterone deficiency. Those found with low testosterone levels will be offered voluntary hormone replacement therapy. The secretary says this is to ensure “a healthy, capable, and decisively dominant fighting force”. Tom Whipple is joined by Professor Joe Herbert from the University of Cambridge to discuss why jacking soldiers up with testosterone may be the best idea. [NS1.1]
Marine Biologist Kathryn Ayres, from the non-profit organisation Beneath the Waves, describes a newly observed behaviour in orcas in which they collaboratively swim so hard into a dead sunfish it explodes. Is it a teachable moment for their young or is it just for fun?
Finally, we have Kit Yates, our resident mathematician, to reassure Tom that although AI might one day actually kill [NS2.1]us all, at least it can disprove an 87-year-old mathematics conjecture[NS3.1].
Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producer: Dan Welsh, Alex Mansfield, Imy Harper, Tabitha Taylor Buck
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth2026-07-23 1630-1700
( ... would actually pay #BBCLicenceFee for this content ... maybe ...)
#Hegseth #Orca
#TomWhipple #InsideScience #BBCInsideScience #BBCRadio4 -
Ten Years After Brexit: Omnibus 1
PoliticallyIt is 10 years since the Brexit referendum. Alex Forsyth, a BBC correspondent who’s covered Brexit from both Brussels and Westminster, looks at what impact the decision to leave the EU has had on various aspects of public and political life.
In the first of two programmes, Alex and guests discuss Brexit's effect on the UK economy and trade and immigration, and how the referendum result impacted Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Producers: Ben Carter and Mhairi MacKenzie
Editor: Richard Vadon
Sound mix: James Beard
Production Coordinator: Tim Fernley57 minutes
Last on
Yesterday
21:00
BBC Radio 42026-07-11 2100-2200
#BBCPolitically
#TenYearsAfterBrexit
#BBCTenYearsAfterBrexitOmnibus
#BBCRadio4 -
Gianni Infantino
ProfileThe FIFA president grew up in Switzerland as part of an Italian migrant family, and fell in love with football and its administration when he was just a teenager.
Having qualified as a football lawyer and making a name for himself at the European football federation UEFA, Infantino ended up perfectly positioned to take over the presidency of the world body FIFA after the organisation was mired in corruption charges. His promise to give the member associations double the money sealed his bid.
He’s now been president for over 10 years and has overseen FIFA’s expansion, with World Cups in Qatar, Russia and now North America; the growth of the women’s game; more competitions; more controversy - and of course more money.
This week, his love affair with Donald Trump has been thrust into the spotlight after US player Folarin Balogun’s red card was suspended following Trump's appeal to Infantino. Will this latest controversy prove his undoing, or is it just another chapter in a new brazen age?
Production:
Presenter: Mark Coles
Producers: Tom Gillett, Eleanor Harrison-Dengate
Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele, Siobhan Reed
Sound: Neil Churchill
Editor: Justine LangARCHIVE:
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Justin:
What's your appeal to the peoplr of Clacton?Count Bin Face:
I'm not Nigel Farage. -
Mr Jefferson's Library (5 part series)
Michael Goldfarb visits the Library of Congress and Thomas Jefferson's home at Monticello in Virginia to see how Jefferson's reading shaped the beginnings of American history.
#MichaelGoldfarb
#LibraryOfCongress
#ThomasJefferson
#Monticello#BBCRadio4 #BookOfTheWeek #BBCBOTW #BBCBookOfTheWeek
(15 minute episodes) (very fast reading presentation style)
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Interesting episode of More or Less this week, particularly factchecking the greenwash around the “carbon capture” from restoring whale populations (which we should do because it is good to do regardless, not for bullshit financial/monetised benefits).
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The end of a broadcasting era. #BBCRadio4 #LW #LongWave says toodle-pip,pip,pip,pip,pip,peep for the very last time tonight.
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Ah, the alternate universe of the Today programme presenters! 👍
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Last Word (BBCRadio4 Obit Show)
Roy Hattersley
Daphne Hamilton-Fairley
Roger Cook
Sterling BetancourtLast Word
Lord Roy Hattersley, the former Deputy Leader of the Labour party. He was born and brought up in Sheffield. In his book A Yorkshire Boyhood, he confessed to being passionate about three things: Sheffield Wednesday Football Club, Yorkshire County Cricket and socialist politics. His friend and colleague, Lord Kinnock, pays tribute.
Daphne Hamilton-Fairley, spoke out for tolerance after her husband was killed by an IRA bomb. He had inspired her to become a speech therapist and after his death she set up one of the first specialist schools for dyslexia and other special educational needs. She named it Fairley House, after her husband. Her daughter Diana Hamilton-Fairley shares her memories.
Roger Cook was the intrepid investigative journalist who pioneered the technique known as “doorstepping” - challenging those he suspected of wrongdoing face to face with the camera or tape recorder running. First on Radio 4’s consumer affairs programme Checkpoint and then on ITV’s The Cook Report he took on criminals and fraudsters on behalf of listeners and viewers. Matthew talks to his colleague Tim Tate.
Sterling Betancourt was a pioneer of steel pan music from Trinidad and Tobago. He was one of the first to bring the instrument to Britain in the 1950s and went on to play a big role in the early days of the Notting Hill Carnival. Sterling’s wife Beatrice Elokbi tells his story.
Presenter: Matthew Bannister
Producer: Ribika Moktan
Assistant Producer: Catherine Powell
Researcher: Jesse Edwards
Editor: Andrea Kennedydownloadable to keep in mp3 format
#BBCTheLastWord #BBCLastWord #BBCRadio4
#RoyHattersley
#DaphneHamiltonFairley
#RogerCook
#SterlingBetancourt(Steelpan is West Indian #Gamelan 👍)
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Catching a bit of longwave while I still can, as I have a rest before driving the last hour to Halsway, this is on now & worth a listen.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p09hbsqb
#198Longwave #Radio4Longwave #BBCR4 #BBCRadio4 #Radio4 #Radio #RadioDrama
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The BBC have said they will stop transmitting BBC Radio 4 on Long Wave, LW, on Sunday 21st June 2026 😭☹️🤬☹️😭
#Radio #BBC #BBCRadio #BBCRadio4 #LW #LongWave #SaveLongWave #SaveRadio #Radio4
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Fellow humans, this episode of Naturebang is worth a listen (I mean they all are, but definitely this one).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002vyh4
#NatureBang #Radio4 #BBCRadio4 #BBCR4 #Radio #Nature #HumanNature
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BBCNews BBCRadio4 BBCTodayProgramme
2026-05-06 0810 to 0820
Beloved Environmental Leader gives barnstorming interview on the Empire's premier News show putting to shame William Joyce style quisling!
Truly no one can stop Beloved Environmental Leader's inevitable ascendancy to the throne!
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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
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Kemi on BBCTodayProgramme 0750 to 0758
#BBCRadio4 #BBCTodayProgramme #KemiBadenoch
(a truly impressive performance)
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"... don't let accumulating money and fame get in the way of you loving golf ..."
interviewee Dr Bob on sport section BBCToday at 0830ish
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THIS IS NOT AVAILABLE AS A DOWNLOAD YET FOR SOME REASON
#BBCRadio4 #BBCProfile #BenjaminNetanyahu
Who is Benjamin Netanyahu?
ProfileBenjamin Netanyahu was born in Tel Aviv in 1949, the year after the State of Israel was founded. One of three brothers, Netanyahu spent much of his early years in the United States pursuing his education.
But following his older brother’s death, Netanyahu found himself drawn into a career in the public eye. Using his military experience to advise on security matters, in 1984 Netanyahu became Israel’s Ambassador to the UN and established himself as a champion of Israel on the international stage. But soon, his attention was drawn closer to home.
He returned to Israel and entered the world of politics; in 1993, he became the leader of the Likud party, and was elected prime minister in 1996, a position he's held for much of the following decades.
During his time in power Netanyahu has tried to portray himself as Israel’s protector. However, in recent years, allegations of corruption and lapses in national security have damaged his reputation and polarised Israelis' views about him. His handling of the conflict in Gaza following Hamas’ October 7th attacks has drawn criticism at home and abroad.
Now, Netanyahu has joined forces with the US president Donald Trump to conduct what they termed as ‘major combat operations’ against Iran. But will this war restore Netanyahu’s reputation as ‘Mr Security’, or draw Israel into another intractable conflict?
Mark Coles profiles the longest-serving Israeli prime minister.
Production details:
Presenter: Mark Coles
Producers: Nick Holland and Mhairi MacKenzie
Production Coordinator: Sabine Schereck
Sound: Morgan Roberts
Editor: Justine LangShow less
28 minutes
On airToday
13:30
BBC Radio 4
More episodes
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Ed Miliband
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28/03/2026 -
Pete Hegseth
Profile2026-03-07 1900-1915
It’s been a busy first year for the US Defense Secretary. From signal chat controversies to Operation Epic Fury, Pete Hegseth has been making headlines.
Born in Minneapolis in 1980, Hegseth had what could be described as an ‘All-American’ upbringing. A basketball player at school he continued playing during his University career at Princeton where he majored in Politics. He also enrolled in the ROTC (reserve officers’ training corps) which turned out to be a career defining decision.
After stints in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hegseth returned home and began his career on the political side lines - heading up two veterans charities. But his campaigning job dried up after a whistle blower report alleged he was drunk and abusive at work. Next he moved to Fox News where he caught the eye of President Trump, a notorious consumer of the right wing network. This was the beginning of Hegseth’s meteoric rise to power.
His confirmation for Defense Secretary hearing saw him answer questions about sexual assault allegations and claims he didn’t have enough experience for the job. But Hegseth successfully defended himself and was soon installed at the Pentagon.
Mark Coles explores how he got there.
Production Team:
Presenter: Mark Coles
Producers: Annabel Deas and Katie Solleveld
Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Gemma Ashman
Sound: Neil Churchill
Editor: Justine LangArchive:
BBC
Fox
US Army
Christ ChurchShow less
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On radioTomorrow
12:15
BBC Radio 4 -
For those of you based in the UK who are early risers (ugh), I should be on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in about half an hour to talk about this 😬👇
Yes, you try explaining the changes to the Artemis lunar landing timeline, & also all the things that *weren’t* said during yesterday’s NASA presser, in just five minutes.
I’ve spent all night thinking about it & am none the clearer 😱
#Space #SpaceExploration #SpaceFlight #BBCRadio4 #BBCTodayProgramme #Artemis
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Tiny interview with Zac at about 0735 then Reform guy (or was it Labour?) and then onto ThoughtForTheDay at 0750ish.
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(Yea tho ye olde Mon Key Charge hath been most unjustly deaded, the young InSouciance (despite great mi6 evil) came out with an almost facsimile #TIMC quality panel-show episode on Thursday 2026-02-19 (even though Marnie is annoying).)
BBC Inside Science
Wood, Smoke and Science: Cooking over fire
BBC Inside ScienceFor this special festival recording of BBC Radio 4’s Inside Science, the fire pit is our science lab. Marnie Chesterton brings a sprinkling of chemistry and just a squeeze of paleoanthropology as we invite you to explore the science and human history of cooking over fire.
Recorded at Abergavenny Food festival 2025 with chef Sam Evans of Hangfire BBQ, archaeobotanical scientist Dr Ceren Kabukcu and Dr Joanna Buckley from the Royal Society of Chemistry
For more fascinating science content, you can head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton.
Producers: Tim Dodd and Clare Salisbury.
Programme Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
Editor: Martin Smith(... The Material World was much better than either .)
#WomenWillBeGirls #CookingTips #InsideScience #BBCRadio4 #BBCInsideScience
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(ex-non-religious but very religious nutcase Giles Frasier now very religious nutcase Reverend Doctor Giles Fraser does a ThoughtForTheDay about monarchical prerogatives and christianity)
Rev Dr Giles Fraser
Thought for the Day2025-01-07 0744ish
transcript
The Bible doesn’t call them kings, nor that there were three of them. But tradition has come to call them kings, with their famous three gifts - gold for wealth, frankincense for divinity, myrrh for death. And there are other kings in the story.
Herod is the tyrant king, the might is right king, the king who will do anything to retain power. And Bethlehem, where all the action takes place, is the City of King David, the harking back to the glory days king. And then there is the child in a stable king, the one who will be crowned with thorns, the one to whom the so-called three kings bow down. Epiphany is a reflection on what makes for a good king.
It’s an interesting coincidence that the feast of the Epiphany, on the 6th January, is also the date of that attempted insurrection in Washington DC, where thousands stormed the Capital building to try and overturn the results of the 2020 election. And last year the No Kings demonstrations brought millions of people out onto the streets in protest. American independence was gained by throwing off the authority of George III, which is why someone behaving like a king can feel like a threat to American identity.
Back in Bethlehem two thousand years ago, a weak and pathetic baby gurgles in an out-house, surrounded by cattle. For Christians, this child is the presence of God Almighty, the king of kings. But he doesn’t look like a king. “Mild he lays his glory by” we sing. Power and wealth, typically defining qualities of kingly rule, seem to have been set aside by this strange monarch. In adult life he will come to speak about a kingdom, but one quite unlike the kingdoms of the earth. Here the first shall be last, the poor will be robed in ermine, here peace will have more effect than violence, where human love is the battle cry and strength is made perfect in weakness. It is a curious programme of political action – except that over the centuries billions have pledged their allegiance to it. And whilst some have argued that kings have some God given right to rule, others have referenced the kingdom Jesus spoke about as one to whom all, even monarchs, should pay homage. “No King but Jesus” was the revolutionary cry of the Parliamentarians as they sought to bring down the regime of Charles 1st.
In that stable in Bethlehem, those three kings cast their crowns before the Christ child. This is the template for genuine Christian rule, an acknowledgement that all are subject to that other kingdom, however glamourous and mighty they might think of themselves. And as for that last gift of myrrh for death, it is a reminder that no kingly rule can last forever. In the end, Christians believe that we will all have to give an account of ourselves. And the mighty of this world will be judged accordingly.
downloadable
#RevDrGilesFraser #ReligIon
#ThoughtForTheDay #BBCRadio4 #BBCTodayProgramme -
BBCTodayProgramme 0740ish
segment on techbro bullshit capability
(Good bit about techbro companies not actually having product or delivery capability at the time when they sell a project to government/business/public. (I may edit this with details later.))
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🇬🇧 Online Hospital! 🧐