On-Air Now/Next...

• Century of Cinema - BBC R2

• Tuesday 19th Jan - 16th Feb 10.30pm

• Repeat & update of our 1999 landmark series presented by Lord Puttnam and Brian Sibley.

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• The Elvis Trail - BBC R2

• Friday 8th Jan - Fri 12th Feb 2010 7pm

• Following his journey along the trails of Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Judy Garland, Michael Freedland takes to the road again to mark the 75th anniversary of Elvis Presley's birth. First stop is the town where Elvis was born, shortly before dawn, on 8 January 1935 - Tupelo in Mississippi. Michael visits the birthplace museum where director, Dick Guyton, guides us around the two-room shack built the year before Elvis' birth, by his father Vernon and grandfather Jesse. Whilst here, Michael chats to some of the visitors and marvels at their loyalty and devotion to the King, as many of them return year after year like pilgrims to a shrine. The religious imagery recurs throughout this trip.

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• On the iPlayer...

• The Elvis Trail - BBC R2

• Episode 3

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  • Recent Programmes

  • Deep Cut (Friday Play) - BBC R4

  • Friday 15th January 2010 9pm

  • In November 1995 Private Cheryl James was found shot dead at Deepcut barracks. Her death and that of three other Deepcut recruits led to a judicial review in 2006. This award-winning stage production has been adapted for radio by its writer Philip Ralph, who drew his play from public documents and verbatim records. The words and memories of Cheryl’s parents, and those associated with her, are interwoven with those of Nicholas Blake QC who led the review, and some of the people who independently investigated her death.

    Des James – PIP DONAGHY
    Doreen James – JANICE CRAMER
    Nicholas Blake QC – SIMON MOLLOY
    Brian Cathcart – DEREK HUTCHINSON
    Frank Swann – ROBERT WILLOX
    Jonesy – AMY MORGAN
    Colonel Josling – ADAM JAMES
    Bruce George – RHYDIAN JONES

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  • Protected By Faith - BBC R4

  • Thursday 17th December 2009 11.30am

  • John Waite investigates the restoration & conservation work undertaken by the Vatican Secret Archives laboratory, one of the worlds’s most technologically advanced conservation labs.  John visits the lab and asks how cutting-edge science and religion sit side-by-side, why the Vatican undertakes this task, what types of documents are hidden away in the Archive and who has access to them?  Away from the Vatican he discovers how the work of the Secret Archives compares to other conservation and preservation teams.

  • Birds & The Battlefield - BBC R4

  • Monday 30th November 2009 3pm

  • BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner, himself a bird watcher, looks at the sometimes surprising links between soldiers and birds and the comfort soldiers get from such an interest in times of extreme stress.  It’s a thread that can be traced from those who served in the trenches of the Western Front in the First World War, through other twentieth century engagements, to those now serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Interviews with today’s servicemen and women are combined with letters from the Front, poetry, music and birdsong.

  • Hidden Composers - BBC R3

  • Saturday 31st October 2009 12:15pm

  • Two French women composers fought against the prejudice and pressures of their time to write their music. Both lived at the turn of the 20th century, and after their deaths their music was either lost or ignored. Now their reputations are being revived. Lowri Blake talks to those who are bringing the wealth of music by Louise Heritte-Viardot and Mel Bonis back into the public domain, and to the writer on music Richard Langham-Smith for whom this was a rewarding voyage of discovery.

  • Metaphor For Healing - BBC R4

  • Tuesday 27th October 2009

  • Dr Phil Hammond finds out how the use of metaphorical language in health care is increasingly accepted as a powerful aid to healing. The power of the right metaphor, long exploited in poetry, politics and marketing, is increasingly recognised in health care, coaching and therapy, engaging the unconscious to activate self-healing.  Dr Phil talks to patients, doctors and therapists, and discovers why doctors should pay closer attention to the answer to their routine question: ‘And what does it feel like?’ 

  • Home Grown - BBC R4

  • Wednesday 14th October 2009 11am

  • Yasmeen Khan investigates the growing trend amongst 2nd generation British Asian men to bypass British Asian women and instead marry women from their parents’ native countries, often leading to culture shock, unhappiness and divorce...and a generation of unmarried British Asian women!

  • The Lady Vanishes - BBC R2

  • 18th September - 23rd October 2009 9:15pm

  • Ethel Lina White's classic tale "The Wheel Spins" is brought to life in a newly abridged radio reading performed by Brenda Blethyn. Repeated from 2006.

  • Inside The Bermuda Triangle - The Mysteries Solved - BBC R4

  • 14th-25th September 2009 3:45pm

  • For half a century the mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle have remained largely unsolved and unexplained. Scores of ships and planes have vanished without trace in the half million square mile ocean between Bermuda, Miami and Puerto Rico. Dozens of books have been written, films made and explanations offered to account for the strange events inside this famous piece of wet geometry. Now, award winning investigative reporter Tom Mangold has completed a personal journey inside the Bermuda Triangle to make a uniquely original series of documentaries.

  • Scott of Slimbridge - BBC R4

  • Sat 19th September 2009 8pm

  • From the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust centre in Gloucestershire,  Frank Gardner reflects on the career of Sir Peter Scott, ornithologist, author, painter, sportsman, war hero and broadcaster - his television programme ‘Look’ ran for over 25 years. Born 100 years ago, the son of Scott of the Antarctic, he was dubbed the patron saint of conservation, and was the first to campaign for the preservation of endangered species and to warn against the destruction of natural habitats.

  • Tea & Biscuits - BBC R4

  • Mon 17th-Fri 21st Aug 2009 3.45pm

  • Tea and biscuits underpin British culture. Hardeep Singh Kohli visits people and places, where a cup-of-tea, and a biscuit, smooth the way, offer a welcome, lead to an important conversation and make the peace. Hardeep prepares to shed his blood for this series, as he rolls up his sleeves at a Blood Donation centre. His other encounters don’t require such a sacrifice and could be an elderly couple for whom the ritual is a daily comfort; a pre-marriage encounter between Indian bride and prospective groom; a vicar and his parishioner; or a counsellor and confidante; a respite and reminder of home for serving soldiers; or a break in the long day of a lorry driver.

  • Blondin Of Niagara Falls And Ealing - BBC R4

  • Until Friday 31st July 11am

  • Tightrope walking hit the big time 150 years ago when Blondin made 16 crossings over the Niagara River. His career lasted till he was 73 when he retired to Niagara House in Ealing, West London. Hardeep Singh Kohli puts his feet on the slender wire, even if only two feet off the ground, and discovers the continuing appeal of defying gravity from the experiences of circus acrobat Chico, the celebrated ‘man on wire’ Philippe Petit, and the slack-liner Jon Ritson.

  • Three Rivers - The Liffey - BBC R4

  • Friday 10th July

  • The final river in Hardeep Singh Kohli’s series on how major rivers are being regenerated for the 21st Century, is The Liffey. It’s a river that is beloved of Irish writers, particularly James Joyce, as it winds its way from the Wicklow Mountains into the heart of Dublin and the 14 bridges that cross over it. But it has also provided power and clean water for those along its path, and at its outer edges encouraged trade with the wider world beyond.

  • The Donna Summer Story - BBC R2

  • Saturday 4th July

  • Nile Rogers reveals the life and music of the legendary female artist and Queen of Disco, Donna Summer. Featuring new interviews with Donna, Gloria Gaynor, Pete Waterman & Barry Manilow.

  • Three Rivers - The Mersey - BBC R4

  • Friday 3rd July

  • For years major rivers were dumping-grounds. Now their beauties and their uses are being recognised and restored. In the second of his river trips Hardeep Singh Kohli travels alongside the Mersey from one of its tributaries in the Goyt Valley through to the bustling city of Liverpool. Along the way he meets those who have worked to regenerate it, and in Liverpool itself sees how the transformation of the dock areas have brought visitors and residents into the heart of the city.

  • Three Rivers - The Clyde - BBC R4

  • Friday 26th June 11am

  • For years major rivers were dumping-grounds. Now their beauties and their uses are being recognised and restored. Hardeep Singh Kohli travels from, source to sea of three rivers, beginning beside a stream in Lanarkshire which swells to become the mighty Clyde, dividing Glasgow into north and south, and defining Glasgow’s industry, heritage and character.

  • Who's My Half-Brother? - BBC R4

  • Wednesday 24th June

  • Kati Whitaker investigates the lives and tales of the children of sperm-donors, and how they are reaching out to find their half-siblings, in the UK and US.

  • My Word Is My Bond - BBC R2

  • Sir Roger Moore reads a newly abridged 6-part adaptation of his best-selling autobiogrpahy exclusively for BBC Radio 2.

  • Afternoon Play: On Ego - BBC R4

  • Alex is convinced that people are just a bundle of neurons. When his wife falls ill he finds he has basic questions to answer about what it really means to be a person. But that’s just part of an unfolding experience that questions not only his identity but his very existence.  Written by Mick Gordon and Paul Broks.

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