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Latest Radio 4 Newsletter

Friday 20 Friday - 27 November 2009 Hello fellow listeners, This week sees the much anticipated return of The Now Show and you can hear the first episode on Friday 27th November at 6.30pm. Radio 4’s Food and Farming Awards are 10 years old and you can hear 2009’s winners on Friday at 9.00pm. Have a look at the finalists . Bookclub’s next guest author is Lynne Reid Banks. The book they're discussing is "The L- Shaped Room" - if you'd like to come and meet Lynne to talk about this ground breaking novel - tickets are free and available from the  Bookclub web page.  The recording's on Weds 10 February 2010 at 4.30pm-6.30pm at the BBC World Service studios in Central London, and the presenter is James Naughtie. This Sunday sees Phil Archer’s (Norman Painting’s) final scene in The Archers. Tune in to Sunday's epsiode at 7.00pm. For a comprehensive list of all our programmes, see our schedule pages. Don't forget that items and guests can and do change in the live topical programmes, and that some links in this newsletter will be live later today, or later in the week.
	Friday 20 November A Point of View, 8.50-9.00pm, repeated Sunday 8.50-9.00am Clive James reflects on the revelation of the identity of the blogger, Belle de Jour
	Saturday 21 November Money Box, 12.00-12.30pm, repeated Sunday 9.00-9.30pm Paul Lewis presents. Likely items: Will paying to flood proof your home will really get you a cheaper insurance quote? What does rising inflation mean for our finances? A report on how financial products are being marketed; a new scam concerning fraudulent house insurance  applications. The Saturday Play: The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial, 2.30-4.00pm In 1925 Tennessee had passed the Butler Act, making the teaching of evolution illegal. In acourtroom hung with banners proclaiming ‘Read your Bible Daily’, teacher John Scopesstood trial. Adapted from the original trial transcript. With Edward Asner and Stacy Keach. Loose Ends, 6.15-7.00pm Peter Curran is joined by actresses Alison Steadman and Meera Syal and the restaurateur and television chef Raymond Blanc. Allegra McEvedy talks to David Quantick about the dangerous period of a man's life: middle age! With music from singer-songwriter Pete Molinari and rock group Marillion From Fact to Fiction, 7.00-7.15pm, repeated Sunday 5.40-6.00pm In the week in which Transparency International published their Corruption Perceptions Index, citing the MPs' expenses scandal as a key factor in the UK's lowest placing yet, DJ Britton tells the story of one young politician hoping to land a safe seat in the next election Archive on 4: Radio Hollywood, 8.00-9.00pm, repeated Monday 3.00-3.45pm Jeffrey Richards discovers a time when Hollywood broadcast movies on radio from 1935 for 19 years. Big stars such as Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, and Spencer Tracey either reprised their screen roles or acted in productions when their screen stars were themselves unavailable.
	Sunday 22 November Radio 4 Appeal, 7.55am, repeated 9.26pm, and Thursday 3.27pm LiaTerry Wogan appeals on behalf of Children in Need. Desert Island Discs, 11.15-noon, repeated Friday 9.00-9.45am Kirsty Young's castaway is Sir Stuart Rose, executive chairman of Marks and Spencer. Classic Serial: Fair Stood France, 3.00-4.00pm, repeated Saturday 9.00-10.00pm Part 2/2. HE Bates’s tale set in wartime France, dramatised by Maddy Fredericks. John Franklin, a wounded British airman, is finally fit and planning his escape from France. He could go the fast way or the slow way. With Rory Kinnear. Americana, 7.15-7.45pm Matt Frei talks to George Stephanopoulos, political commentator and host of ABC TV's This Week. They’re joined by international human rights lawyer Arsalan Iftikhar and film-maker and novelist Kamran Pasha.
	Monday 23 November Start the Week, 9.00-9.30am, repeated 9.30-10.00pm TAndrew Marr talks to Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan about his personal faith and to historian  Jonathan Phillips about the relevance of the Crusades.  Book of the Week: Family Britain. 9.45-10.00am, repeated 12.30-12.45am Dominic West reads David Kynaston’s story of the country in the 1950’s, drawing on theletters, diaries and memories of well-known and ordinary people. The Festival of Britain heralds the beginning of the end of austerity. Woman's Hour, 10.00-10.45am Discussion about Margot Fonteyn with Anne Marie Duff; the history of the bra; global birth registration; the first hearing of the Chilcott Inquiry. 1989: The ’89 Generation, 11.00-11.30am Anne McElvoy meets British politicians to find out what impact the revolutions of 1989 had on them and on the worldview they use to govern us. With contributions from David Miliband and William Hague. You and Yours, 12.00-1.00pm Update on sale and rent back with Norman Lamb; rogue traders who are paying money back to victims; a look at the switch from black and white to colour TV. A Very Scottish Homecoming, 3.45-4.00pm New series. To celebrate Scotland's year of Homecoming, Aasmah Mir finds out if whisky is still as popular a drink among Scots as its contribution to the economy might suggest. Front Row, 7.15-7.45pm Mark Lawson reports on how writers and film-makers re-work the Nativity story; interview with writer Dave Eggers, who has turned Maurice Sendak's children's classic Where The Wild Things Are into a screenplay and a novel, and the verdict on the debut CD from singer Susan Boyle
	Tuesday 24 November Woman's Hour, 10.00-10.45am New biography of Gertrude Stein and Alice B Toklas; the death of the dinner party; children and chores; is a new Chlamydia screening programme a waste of money? 1989: Restitching the City,11.00-11.30am Rosie Goldsmith goes underground in Berlin, meeting the men and women involved in reunifying the city below street level, examining how the tubes, telephone, water and electricity systems of east and west were reconnected after the fall of the Wall. Fallout from the Shore,11.30-12.00pm Libby Purves considers the impact of On the Beach, Stanley Kramer's film which 50 years ago reduced cinema-goers to tears with its vision of a post-apocalyptic world. Call You and Yours, 12.00-1.00pm Today’s programme looks at youth unemployment Front Row,7.15-7.45pm Mark Lawson interviews the actor James Earl Jones; plus news of the shortlists for this year's Costa Book Awards, and a report on how far comedians can go before they cause offence, including the views of Ben Elton and Bill Bailey. Vent, 11.00-11.30pm New series. Ben makes the ambulance journey home to begin life in a wheelchair. On the way he remembers an argument about cheesecake, invents a panel game and meets Buzz Aldrin. With Neil Pearson and Josie Lawrence.
	Wednesday 25 November Woman's Hour, 10.00-10.45am Zadie Smith on her new book of essays; discussion on whether men should be at the birth of their child; a look at the increases in female prison inmates over the past ten years Ballylenon, 11.30-12.00pm New series. Comedy drama by Christopher Fitz-Simon, set in the 1950s in a Donegal town. It is 1959. When Muriel experiences a 'miraculous apparition' on pilgrimage to Lourdes, Phonsie Doherty is quick to seize on its business potential for Ballylenon. With Margaret D’Arcy. You and Yours, 12.00-1.00pm First in a week long series of special features looking at council spending cuts; interview with Princess Anne on riding for disabled people; Steve Punt on how to avoid drinking with your relatives at Christmas; how the debt management industry capitalises on the festive season. Money Box Live, Live, 3.00-3.30pm Diane Richardson and her guests; Simon Gordon, National Landlords Association; John  Gallagher, Principle Solicitor, Shelter; Tracy Bloom, Barrister at Doughty Street Chambers – specialist in housing law, take your calls and emails on renting and letting. Call 03700 100 444 from 1.30pm on Wednesday or email from now. Thinking Allowed, 4.00-4.30pm Barack Obama used new technology in his 2008 election campaign. Laurie Taylor discusses whether digital technology could have the same impact here. Front Row, 7.15-7.45pm Mark Lawson and Fay Weldon review a controversial newly-published novel from the late Vladimir Nabokov; and an interview with director Joseph Strick.
	Thursday 26 November In Our Time, 9.00-9.30am, repeated 9.30-10.00pm Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss James Joyce’s 1916 novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Woman's Hour, 10.00-10.45am Kate Humble, new president of RSPB; 40 years of the Open University and what it’s meant to women; the new Elizabethan age; new law for low level ‘domestic abuse’. Crossing Continents, 11.00-11.30am, repeated Monday 8.30-9.00pm New series. Peter Greste investigates suggestions that Rwandan rebels are taking orders from their political leaders who are living openly in France and Germany. It was a Dark and Stormy Night, 11.30-12.00pm Ian Peacock reveals the dark and gothic life of the Victorian writer Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who coined the archetypally gothic opening line, 'It was a dark and stormy night'. You and Yours, 12.00-1.00pm The programme looks at York University research on treatment centres handpicking patients; the rise of home testing kits; the Camelot selloff – what does it mean for the lottery franchise? Front Row, 7.15-7.45pm KiJohn Wilson discusses the art of playing Queen Elizabeth II with Samantha Bond, Diana Quick and Susan Jameson who all portray the monarch in forthcoming TV dramas. Plus a report on the refurbished Derry Playhouse, and news of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year. In Business, 8.30-9.00pm New series. In a world where banks and conventional companies have taken a big battering in the recession, perhaps there are better ways of running a business. Peter Day listens to some people who are trying to do things completely differently.
	Friday 27 November Woman's Hour, 10.00-10.45am Report on children of servicemen; Debbie Allen on her role in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; Manchester women empowering their communities; musician Lisa Hannigan. You and Yours, 12.00-1.00pm End of the Scottish Homecoming; the Ryan Air model of cruises; a report on the closure of old Music Halls; e-book piracy. The Now Show, 6.30-7.00pm New series. Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis present a satirical review of the week's news, with help from Mitch Benn, Laura Shavin, Jon Holmes and Shazia Mirza. Front Row, 7.15-7.45pm Kirsty Lang has news of the contenders for the BBC National Short Story Award, along the views of the judges, who include Tom Sutcliffe and Will Young. You can hear the shortlisted stories each afternoon on Radio 4 from 30 November.  If you want more, you can meet and chat to your fellow listeners on the Radio 4 messageboards. That's all for this week. Have a great week. Ellie and the Radio 4 interactive team. Read this newsletter on our website.
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