Programme Information

A performance of chamber music by Haydn, one of BBC Radio 3's featured Composers Of The Year, by the ensemble Florilegium, can be heard in tonight's Performance On 3.

The programme includes arrangements for six players of Haydn's "London" Symphonies, made by the impresario Salomon, who first launched Haydn in London.

The full programme features Haydn Symphony No. 98 in B flat (arr Salomon), Haydn String Quartet in C minor Op 17 No. 4, Haydn Flute Trio in G Op 38 No. 4 and Haydn Symphony No. 103 in E flat "Drumroll" (arr Salomon).

Listeners can then hear John Mark Ainsley singing High On The Giddy Bending Mast, as well as other songs by Haydn.

Presenter/Ian Skelly, Producer/Anthony Sellors

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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There aren't many leading British writers so closely associated with recent European political history as writer and academic Timothy Garton Ash, who talks to Philip Dodd tonight about a career spent taking Europe's pulse.

In the Eighties, he was living on the other side of the Berlin Wall – researching the lives of ordinary Germans – and went on to write one of the earliest books in English on the Solidarity Protests against Communist Poland. In 1989, as the Berlin Wall came down, he was in Prague with Vaclav Havel for the Velvet Revolution. When Margaret Thatcher called together experts for an infamous meeting to decide on whether a reunified Germany was a threat to Britain, Garton Ash was there.

As Europe's fortune has been transformed over the last 20 years, from divided continent to an enlarged European Union sweeping to the edge of Russia, Garton Ash has been one of the most informed and influential commentators on its fate – not only in London but in Berlin, Warsaw and beyond.

Today, much of former Communist Europe is mired in painful capitalist recession. Reunited Germany has a more self-interested air to its international outlook. And, after recent elections, many voters in even the most federalist of European nations have taken on a sceptical – or even extremist – attitude.

Philip asks Timothy how he sees the world 20 years after that fateful year of 1989.

Presenter/Philip Dodd, Producer/Eliane Glaser

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Verity Sharp's musical selections in tonight's edition of Late Junction include Mexican accordion pioneer Narciso Martínez, Valentin Silvestrov's homage to Tchaikovsky for piano and violin, Portuguese fado singer António Zambujo and the ambience of Murcof alongside a viol fantasy by John Jenkins.

Presenter/Verity Sharp, Producer/Elizabeth Arno

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

Art historian and surfer Michael Bird uncovers the universal and local significance of the painting The Wreck Of The Alba, by Alfred Wallis, the most popular picture in the Tate, St Ives.

Alfred Wallis, an old fisherman and sailor, began painting in his seventies using left-over boat paint and bits of cardboard. In the auction room, one painting recently sold for £50,000.

The Alba, which was wrecked on Porthmeor on 31 January 1938, lives on in the imagination because it caught the historic moment. She was carrying coal, dug by Welsh miners, to fascist Italy – part of Chamberlain's attempt to keep Mussolini and Hitler sweet. The courageous rescue of the steamer's Hungarian crew is still remembered by locals.

Alfred, whose work is also popular in Japan, painted the shipwreck obsessively, and his Alba paintings are among his last.

Michael tells the story of Alfred's great painting and reveals its wider political, as well as local, historical resonances using new material that he has discovered. He also interviews people in St Ives who remember the disaster and has access to many recordings of people who knew Alfred, made in the Sixties.

Presenter/Michael Bird, Producer/Julian May

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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The Night Horse, written by Catrin Clarke, is today's Afternoon Play offering.

Thirteen-year-old Dee is waiting for her 18-year-old brother, Marcus, who has just been posted to Afghanistan, to come home.

Her mum, Sian, is apprehensive – something is not quite right. Dee is stealing things and hiding in her room and has started to hang out with another girl at the nearby stables. Sian's attempts to talk to Dee, however, are angrily rebuffed.

As Marcus's return approaches, things come to a head. Dee has smashed up her computer and disappeared. Her friend from the stables has no idea where she is but knows a horse has been stolen.

Sian immediately knows where her daughter is and goes to the house where she finds Dee, with the horse. For the first time, mother and daughter sit down and talk properly to one another.

The cast is to be confirmed.

Producer/Polly Thomas

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Shappi Talk Ep 1/4

Thursday 9 July

6.30-7.00pm BBC RADIO 4

Iranian Shappi Khorsandi, together with guests, explores what it was like being brought up in the UK within a non-British family, in this new, four-part comedy series.

The series looks at four different aspects of Shappi's life – unconventional parents, religion, growing up and, in tonight's opener, racism.

Shappi performs stand-up around her memories of racism growing up in the UK and is joined by fellow comic Felix Dexter, who was brought up in St Kitts in the West Indies before moving to the UK at the age of seven.

Each week, Shappi talks to another guest "on location", who has experiences in this area and, this week, she chats to actress Meera Syal about her memories of being brought up in the north of England.

Shappi also interacts with the audience, who share some of their experiences of each week's subject.

Other guests featured include John Gordillo, who was brought up in an unconventional Italian family; Stewart Francis, who was brought up in Canada; and Paul Sinha, who was brought up in a strong Bengali family. Shappi also chats to Lenny Henry, Ken Livingstone and Ben Okri.

Presenter/Shappi Khorsandi, Producer/Paul Russell

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

Mark Pougatch and Russell Fuller bring listeners all the day's sports news in tonight's edition of 5 Live Sport.

From 7pm, Mark reviews the second day's play of opening Test of the Ashes series between England and Australia, in Cardiff.

Tuffers, meanwhile, is joined by special guests to discuss all the latest from the world of cricket on The Phil Tufnell Cricket Show, from 8pm.

From 9pm, 5 Live Sport continues its series looking at some of the nation's most popular sports with The State Of Darts, with Phil "The Power" Taylor and Matthew Syed of The Times.

Presenters/Mark Pougatch and Russell Fuller, Producer/John Southall

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Test Match Special

Thursday 9 July

10.45am-6.30pm BBC 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Uninterrupted coverage of the second day of the first Ashes Test between England and Australia comes live from Cardiff.

Jonathan Agnew leads the Test Match Special commentary team, alongside Christopher Martin-Jenkins and Henry Blofeld, with expert summarisers Geoffrey Boycott, Vic Marks and Ian Chappell.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

Texan trio White Denim perform live for George Lamb in the BBC 6 Music Hub today, bringing the ferocious drive of their live shows, where songs merge into each other and the playing guides the direction of the performance.

Their album, Workout Holiday, was one of Marc Riley's top albums of 2008 and Fits, their new album, will undoubtedly be among his favourites for 2009. The band's new single, I Start To Run, is released at the beginning of July.

White Denim are James Petralli (guitar/vocals), Steve Terebecki (bass) and Josh Block (drums).

Presenter/George Lamb, Producer/Alicia Brown

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Marc Riley finishes this week's eclectic offering of live music with Lord Cut-Glass, the solo incarnation of ex-Delgados Alun Woodward. He has just released his first album through record label Chemikal Underground.

Lord Cut-Glass's debut was recorded at the label's own studio, Chem 19, with former Delgados drummer Paul Savage on the skins, and Woodward himself writing and arranging the parts for an integral band of classical musicians from across Glasgow.

Presenter/Marc Riley, Producer/Michelle Choudhry

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Gideon Coe's concert choices this week are The Undertones from 1981 and a solo Stephen Malkmus, from ULU, in 2001.

Session tracks come courtesy of Icelandic siren Emiliana Torrini; Brendan Benson, before he teamed up with Jack White; and the influential and underground Shellac. Spizz Energi make an appearance as Gideon's session artists.

Presenter/Gideon Coe, Producer/Mark Sheldon

BBC 6 Music Publicity

Looking after Rajan is putting a strain on Rita and she eventually breaks down in tears, as the drama continues. Later, Rajan announces he is ready to move into the shared-ownership home, but what has changed his mind?

Elsewhere, Arun checks up on Roopa to make sure she isn't helping Aidan, while Debbie from the home arrives to collect Rajan and do the paperwork. Rajan seems cheerful enough about going, but is he just putting on a brave face?

Rajan is played by Aftab Sachak, Rita by Bharti Patel, Arun by Naithan Ariane, Roopa by Rakhee Thakrar, Aidan by Arkie Reece and Debbie by Lorna Laidlaw.

BBC Asian Network Publicity