BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. 
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STUDIO GUEST :: BILLY BRAGG
Billy Bragg, musician, songwriter and activist, gave voice to the British left in the 1980s. 'Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions' features Woody Guthrie's lyrics set to Billy Bragg and Wilco's music. It's out on 21st April, which is also Record Store Day.
Record Store Day -
KINDER SCOUT CHILD :: PROF HARRY ROTHMAN
The Mass Trespass 80 years ago on Kinder Scout - the highest gritstone peak in the Peak District - is widely credited with winning successive generations' right to roam. Professor Harry Rothman is the son of Benny Rothman, leader of that mass trespass. Benny's book The Battle for Kinder Scout is available from Willow Publishing and the Kinder 80 Festival launches on 24th April.
Kinder 80 -
BLIND RUNNER :: SIMON WHEATCROFT
Simon’s an ultra-marathon runner, an achievement all the more spectacular because he's blind. Not only that, he runs unaided. On the eve of the 2012 London Marathon, Simon tells Richard what his kind of running involves.
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LONG LOST FATHER :: JACQUELINE REDMAN
Listener Jacqueline Redman emailed to share her story of meeting her father for the first and only time when she was 50. She told JP Devlin how that meeting affected her thinking about the nature/nurture debate.
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MY STREET CAT BOB :: JAMES BOWEN
Homeless musician James Bowen was in a bad way. But after being adopted by a persistent stray cat - who now rarely leaves his shoulder - James began to turn his life around. His book, 'A Street Cat Named Bob' is published by Hodder & Stoughton.
James Bowen -
INHERITANCE TRACKS :: SUE TOWNSEND
Adrian Mole's creator chooses Billie Holliday's version of 'All Of Me', and Ben E King's 'Stand By Me'.
Sue Townsend -
POET :: MURRAY LACHLAN YOUNG
Murray Lachlan Young is one of the UK’s most dynamic and best-known exponents of spoken-word and stand up poetry.
Murray Lachlan Young -
Billy Bragg, Richard and Murray Lachlan Young
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POEM :: The Rambler’s poem (Oi! Get off my land!)
The ramblers are coming
The ramblers are coming
The ramblers are coming
All ‘Ruckedy sack’
Bringing the beard and the Bobbly hat
Chatty, chirping, babbling bunch
Packing the flask and a Tupperware lunch
(Most likely vegetarians or smug egalitarians and
And even Rosicrucian’s or Lady Unitarians)
Stopping at pubs, parking their rear
Taking up space, not drinking much beer
Somebody please fetch the police
The ramblers are here, disturbing the peace
* * *
But follow on little while
Across the field and o’er the style
And watch the Nordic poles mutate
And see the ice age tribes migrate
The nomad’s spear and hunters feast
Then shift to sounds of plough and beast
The Romans come the Romans go
The ancient kings ascend the thrown
Enclosure of the common grass
The change from tribe to social class
The city boom, the turbine sigh
The mills and looms, the smog filled sky
The ceaseless humming factory floor
The trenches and the stench of war
The sacrifices to be free
To sit beneath the spreading tree
In sunlit, softened wooded days
Through canopied and ancient bye-ways
On to our defining worth
Through hill and glen and curving earth
To find our selves:
Home again and newly born
(Eating tasty egg and cress sandwich, with a lovely cup of tea)
There, upon on Madonna’s lawn
So happy with our little lot
And thankful that we’ve not been shot
* * *
So when you see a rambler,
A rambling past your country home
See there a child of ancient line
Recalling what it is to roam
Beyond his ken, the modern farm
But Tis clear he means no hurt or harm
And (through his wooly bobble hat)
He will not understand
(In the depths of bipedal, meditative state)
The cry of:
“Oi! GET OFF MY LAND!” -
POEM :: In April
In April.
Solar Tornados and battleship skies
Raw winds and cruel rain and-
Thick hailstones fly
Beating Blossoms
(Wind buffeted)
Washing down stream
Wicked winter plays peek-a-boo!
Goosing the dreams
Of the spring that would spring
If it weren’t for the sleet
Yes in April it’s best
To be quick on you feet
Broadcasts
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BBC Radio 4Sat 21 Apr 2012 09:00 BBC Radio 4
Free downloads
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Inheritance Tracks
Celebrating the music that special guests cherish and would like to bestow to future generations.
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Inheritance Tracks 2008-2011
Celebrating the music that special guests cherish and would like to bestow to future generations.
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Saturday Live
Real life but not as you know it. Radio 4's Saturday morning show is full of the stuff that matters,...
