Programme Information

BBC Radio 2 presenter Mark Radcliffe

Mark Radcliffe presents an hour of highlights from the Cambridge Folk Festival 2009.

The Zutons, Booker T, Adrian Edmondson And The Bad Shepherds and Martin Simpson are among the performers at this year's Cambridge Folk Festival, one of the highlights of the summer for fans of live music.

Another "cool as folk" line-up features the best in contemporary roots music. The festival bill this year also includes rare performances from legendary performers such as The Waterson Family and Buffy Sainte-Marie, as well as some of the trailblazers of the current folk revival, including Bellowhead, Cara Dillon and Jim Moray.

BBC Radio 2's coverage continues on Wednesday evening at 7pm when Mike Harding presents highlights from the festival in his weekly show.

Extensive online coverage of the festival can be found at bbc.co.uk/radio2.

Presenter/Mark Radcliffe, Producer/Viv Atkinson

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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New Orleans guitar virtuoso and "king of slydeco" Sonny Landreth plays a live session in Bob Harris's show this week.

Sonny talks about his recent releases and tours, his inspirational friends and collaborators Bonnie Raitt and John Hiatt as well as the influence he takes from Jimi Hendrix.

Presenter/Bob Harris, Producer/Mark Simpson

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Catherine Bott introduces highlights of a concert by recorder ensemble La Ciaccona, recorded in the Castle in Grandson, Switzerland, with Italian baroque music by Vivaldi, Merula, Albinoni and Veracini.

The programme also includes a feature showcasing some of the finalists in the Young Artists' Competition at the York Early Music Festival 2009.

Presenter/Catherine Bott, Producer/Rebecca Bean

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Guitarist Joe Pass recovered from narcotics addiction to launch a stellar international career as one of the finest exponents of his instrument in jazz history. Alyn Shipton is joined by guitarist John Etheridge to select highlights from Pass's voluminous catalogue, including his work with Oscar Peterson and his multi-volume series, aptly titled Virtuoso.

Joe Pass's first recordings were made in 1962, with a group of recovering addicts, at the Synanon centre in California. Hailed by critics as the brightest new star on the guitar to have emerged for 20 years, Pass began recording for Pacific Jazz in the Sixties.

His career almost floundered in the early Seventies but, impresario Norman Granz recognised his exceptional talent and began featuring him on record and in concert, with his stable of artists, including Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington and Count Basie. Granz also launched the remarkable series of "virtuoso" albums on which Pass's reputation as jazz's finest unaccompanied solo guitarist was built.

Presenter and Producer/Alyn Shipton

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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BBC PROMS 2009
Prom 22 – A Celebration Of MGM Film Musicals

Saturday 1 August

7.30-9.45pm BBC RADIO 3

• www.bbc.co.uk/proms
• Press pack

Conductor and arranger John Wilson

John Wilson and his hand-picked orchestra celebrate 75 years of MGM musicals, live, from the Royal Albert Hall, with songs from unforgettable movie classics, including The Wizard Of Oz, Meet Me In St Louis, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, High Society, Gigi and Singin' In The Rain.

Kim Criswell, Curtis Stigers and Sir Thomas Allen are among the performers. This Prom is also broadcast, live, on BBC Two.

Presenter/Petroc Trelawny, Producer/Brian Jackson

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

The Money Grab Ep 1/2

Saturday 1 August

12.00noon-12.30pm on BBC RADIO 4 (Schedule Addition 22 July)

Alvin Hall charts the boom in executive pay, both in the UK and the United States.

He speaks to traders, lawyers and the head hunters who hire the top talent, to pick apart the reasoning that has justified the rise in multi-million pound pay packets. Are the world's top CEOs really worth the eight-figure sums paid to them?

He also meets some of the other beneficiaries of these mega-salaries, who have also found themselves "in the money" as CEOs splash the cash in high-end restaurants, or on holiday homes in exclusive resorts. But how long can it last? Will the world's ongoing economic woes curtail corporate compensation packages, and is this the dawn of a new age of frugality?

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Last Night, Another Soldier..., written by Andy McNab, is based on the lives of four soldiers and told mainly from the perspective of 18-year-old new-boy David Briggs.

Briggsy is just three weeks into his first posting in Afghanistan as part of an eight-man rifle section.

His battalion is already half-way through their six-month tour in Helmand Province and, to date, has suffered 13 casualties. Their key mission is to take control of the highly valuable poppy fields. The last few months have taken their toll and the young men are in terrible state – with scruffy beards, peeling noses and lips burnt by the Afghan sun. In addition, the Taliban are proving highly competent adversaries. However, despite the hardships, the men are enjoying their time. These lads now have experience, alongside their skills, and are fast becoming the best soldiers the army has ever had.

When Briggsy is injured during his first contact with the Taliban, he struggles to persuade Sergeant Mackenzie that he is physically and mentally ready to go back into the field. Through his encounters with seasoned medic Emma Rankin and his discussions with the soldiers in his rifle section, Briggsy begins to understand something of the lasting effects of war. This knowledge leads him to attempt to contact his absent father for the first time.

The story cuts between high-octane battle scenes and the everyday reality of life on a British Army Forward Operating Base.

Rifleman David Briggs is played by Russell Tovey, Corporal Toki Vunibaka by Damian Lynch, Paul Rider plays Rifleman "Flash" Harris, Lloyd Thomas plays Rifleman Si Preston, Stephen Hogan plays Sergeant Mackenzie, Caroline Guthrie plays Corporal Emma Rankin and Briggsy's mum is played by Janice Acquah.

Producer/Vernee Samuel

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

5 Live Sport

Saturday 1 August

12.00noon-7.30pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Mark Pougatch presents 5 Live Sport, live, from Edgbaston, Birmingham, with coverage of the third day of the third Ashes Test between England and Australia. Pat Murphy, Jason Gillespie and Dominic Cork provide expert analysis.

There is also racing commentary from glorious Goodwood with Cornelius Lysaght and John Hunt.

At 6.30pm, there is live coverage of the World Swimming Championships in Rome, with Bob Ballard, Steve Parry and Karen Pickering.

Producer/Ben North

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Test Match Special

Saturday 1 August

10.45am-6.30pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

The Test Match Special team, led by Jonathan Agnew present live, uninterrupted coverage of the third day's play of the third Ashes Test between England and Australia from Edgbaston.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity