Best of Today

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All episodes (25)

• The man who put the 'i' into iPod

  Tue, 29 May 12

  Duration:
  3 mins
  
  Available:
  7 days remaining

  Ken Segall, former creative director at Apple, speaks to Simon Jack about his time at the company and Steve Jobs' legacy.

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• 'Pirate inspiration' for flotilla music

  Tue, 29 May 12

  Duration:
  5 mins
  
  Available:
  7 days remaining

  On Sunday, ten film composers are collaborating on a special piece of music inspired by Handel's Water Music which will be performed at a flotilla as part of the Diamond Jubilee Pageant. Writer and musician Michael Bywater and film composer Debbie Wiseman discuss what historical precedents there are for composers writing new music for royal occasions.

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• Clarke: 'The alternative is silence'

  Tue, 29 May 12

  Duration:
  11 mins
  
  Available:
  7 days remaining

  The government has scaled back plans to hold more court cases in private. Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke explains why he has brought in the changes.

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• Business news with Simon Jack

  Tue, 29 May 12

  Duration:
  12 mins
  
  Available:
  7 days remaining

  Spain's stock market fell to a nine year low yesterday as government borrowing costs soared again. And former chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover Professor Baback Yazdani on the news that JLR is expected to report another year of record results in another sign of a revival of the car industry in the UK.

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• Tony Blair 'chased every headline'

  Mon, 28 May 12

  Duration:
  5 mins
  
  Available:
  6 days remaining

  Lance Price, former Labour party Director of Communications, talks about the attitude towards New International in the Downing Street press office during Blair's time at Number 10.

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• Syria: 'A country convulsed by war'

  Mon, 28 May 12

  Duration:
  11 mins
  
  Available:
  6 days remaining

  The Independent's Patrick Cockburn in Damascus and former British ambassador to the UN Sir Jeremy Greenstock give their analysis of the deteriorating situation in Syria.

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• Harry Belafonte on the power of song

  Mon, 28 May 12

  Duration:
  10 mins
  
  Available:
  6 days remaining

  The King of Calypso on music, politics and his struggle against racism.

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• Business news with Simon Jack

  Mon, 28 May 12

  Duration:
  12 mins
  
  Available:
  6 days remaining

  Today is the deadline for submissions to the European Commission over the issue of women on company boards. Baroness Margaret Prosser, deputy chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, give her view on how to get more women in the boardroom. And John Cridland, Director General of the CBI, on how to revive Britain's infrastructure.

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• Syria: 'Grave' killings 'must be investigated'

  Sat, 26 May 12

  Duration:
  4 mins
  
  Available:
  4 days remaining

  Syrian opposition groups say President Assad's forces have killed as many as 90 people in a town near Homs. Nadim Houry, director of Human Rights Watch in Syria, explain why the Syrian opposition is calling for the UN to intervene.

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• Spain: 'We were living in a dream'

  Sat, 26 May 12

  Duration:
  5 mins
  
  Available:
  4 days remaining

  The BBC's Tom Burridge reports from Madrid where the board of the country's fourth-biggest bank, Bankia, will hold a news conference this morning explaining why they need a 19 billion euro lifeline from the Spanish government.

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• Egypt: 'The road ahead is bumpy'

  Sat, 26 May 12

  Duration:
  4 mins
  
  Available:
  4 days remaining

  Mona Makram-Ebeid, a member of the advisory council to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces which has been running Egypt, gives her analysis of the presidential elections so far.

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• Scottish independence 'not about breaking up'

  Fri, 25 May 12

  Duration:
  11 mins
  
  Available:
  3 days remaining

  The official campaign encouraging people to back Scottish independence in a referendum is being launched in Edinburgh. The SNP's Nicola Sturgeon, Deputy First Minister of Scotland, said that independence was not about "breaking up". "We can continue to share things where that makes sense," she told Justin Webb.

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• Plan B: 'There are idiots everywhere'

  Fri, 25 May 12

  Duration:
  5 mins
  
  Available:
  3 days remaining

  Actor, director and award winning rapper Plan B has said that "classism" should be as unacceptable in the UK as sexism and racism. Speaking to Evan Davis, he said that a "class war is perpetuated in the media".

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• Syria rebels 'The regime is collapsing'

  Fri, 25 May 12

  Duration:
  7 mins
  
  Available:
  3 days remaining

  The six week old United Nations ceasefire in Syria, although officially recognised by both sides, is not being observed. BBC correspondent Paul Wood went to the Syrian town of Rastan to find out whether the rebel Free Syrian Army has been weakened by army attacks.

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• Business news with Simon Jack

  Fri, 25 May 12

  Duration:
  12 mins
  
  Available:
  3 days remaining

  Is China's economy in trouble? China expert and Head of Research at NSBO Miranda Carr discusses the country's slowest growth rate for three years. And this week's Friday boss is Phil Smith from CISCO, one of the world's biggest networking companies.

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• Dame Judi Dench reads Shakespeare

  Thu, 24 May 12

  Duration:
  1 min
  
  Available:
  2 days remaining

  Listen to Dame Judi Dench read Shakespeare's Sonnet 116

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• Apple's Jonathan Ive: 'Beauty works'

  Thu, 24 May 12

  Duration:
  7 mins
  
  Available:
  2 days remaining

  Jonathan Ive, the British designer behind Apple's iPod, iPhone and iPad was knighted yesterday. He also attended last night's celebration of the arts for the Diamond Jubilee and he spoke to James Naughtie about his success.

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• Greek exit: What is the worst outcome?

  Thu, 24 May 12

  Duration:
  9 mins
  
  Available:
  2 days remaining

  European leaders met last night in Brussels. Linda Yueh, Bloomberg's economics editor, and Stefanie Bolzen of German paper Die Welt, debate what comes next for the eurozone.

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• Jim O'Neill: 'Lack of leadership' over eurozone crisis

  Thu, 24 May 12

  Duration:
  4 mins
  
  Available:
  2 days remaining

  Jim O'Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, gives his reaction to last night's eurozone summit.

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• Business news with Simon Jack

  Thu, 24 May 12

  Duration:
  12 mins
  
  Available:
  2 days remaining

  business news

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• Could Dutch childcare model work for UK?

  Wed, 23 May 12

  Duration:
  5 mins
  
  Available:
  1 day remaining

  The average family in Britain spends more than a quarter of their income on childcare, more than almost any other country in the world. The Today programme's Sanchia Berg reports from the Netherlands on their recent childcare reforms compare to childcare regulations in the UK.

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• Tributes to 'extraordinary' remote control inventor

  Wed, 23 May 12

  Duration:
  6 mins
  
  Available:
  1 day remaining

  The inventor of the first TV remote control, Eugene Polley, died yesterday at the age of 96, That was back in 1955 but it took another two or three decades to arrive into our homes. Inventor Trevor Baylis and Guardian columnist Zoe Williams reflect on the power of invention and the gadget which created the couch potato.

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• Does consciousness continue after death?

  Wed, 23 May 12

  Duration:
  5 mins
  
  Available:
  1 day remaining

  A new adaptation of American neuroscientist David Eagleman's book Sum opens today at the Royal Opera House. The BBC's Tom Bateman reports on the production's idea that consciousness continues after death.

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• Lagarde: Greece 'inconsistent' over euro position

  Wed, 23 May 12

  Duration:
  7 mins
  
  Available:
  1 day remaining

  Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund who was in London yesterday, speaks to John Humphrys about the eurozone crisis and the threat of a Greek exit

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• Business news with Simon Jack

  Wed, 23 May 12

  Duration:
  13 mins
  
  Available:
  1 day remaining

  Investors in Italy are increasingly heading towards the exit sign. And the US trade ambassador Ron Kirk, who has been visiting the UK, gives his view on the eurozone crisis and its impact on a recovering US economy.

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