2004

THE SUNDAY FEATURE:
THE ART OF LAZINESS BBC Radio 3, 45 minutes

Sunday 29 February 2004, 10.00 p.m - 10.45 p.m.

Patrick McGuinness examines the varieties of laziness, sloth, quietism and passive resistance as manifested in art, philosophy and politics. Do the idle put the stops on revolutionary change or do they point the way towards a more subversive way of being? Historically, who gets called lazy, and why? Who does such labelling serve?

'Best listened to in bed and after an indulgently idle day...One odd thing, though. No women seem to have penned love letters to laziness. Maybe they have been too busy working on another art instead - that of muti-tasking' - Elizabeth Mahoney - The Guardian

Presenter: Patrick McGuinness
Producer: Paul Quinn

THE DERBY TAPE CLUB BBC Radio 4, 28 minutes

Monday 1 March 2004, 8.30 pm

A few years ago sound artist and student Mark Vernon bought a hoard of old reel-to-reel audio tapes in a car boot sale near Derby, as a job lot with an elderly and very heavy tape recorder. Coaxing the old machine back to life, he realised he had rescued the jettisoned archive of the Derby Tape Club - a group of amateurs who made, played and swapped recordings in the 1960s and 70s, when domestic tape-recording was in its infancy and before the audio cassette had conquered the world. A radiophonic elegy to an anonymous group of people and their forgotten enthusiasm: domestic tape recording and amateur radio in the 1960s and 70s.

Producer: Mark Vernon

BOOK OF THE WEEK:

THE HERBALIST BBC Radio 4, 5 x 15 minutes

Monday - Friday, 1-5 March 2004 at 9.45am

One of the most enduring books in the English Language is 'Culpeper's Herbal', in print continuously for 350 years. This Book of the Week tells the story of Nicholas Culpeper - who learnt the secrets of herbs as a boy from the village 'gossips' and wise women, who railed against the secretive College of Physicians, and who loved women almost as much as sweet Virginian Tobacco.

Reader: Hannah Gordon
Producer: Matt Thompson

IT'S MY STORY:

SHE'S ALL RIGHT, MY MUM IS BBC Radio 4, 28 minutes

Thursday 22 April 2004 at 8.00 p.m.

GOLD PRIZE: "Third Coast Festival Award", Chicago 2004

Three young carers talk about the challenges they face as they take on the role of looking after a disabled parent. They describe how they adapted to the parent's condition, and what helps them to cope.

'From time to time you'll hear a radio programme that makes you feel utterly humble: this is one of them.'' - Jane Anderson, Radio Times

'Heart-tugger of the week' - Chris Campling, The Times

'this moving documentary...despite the loss of their childhood, these carers show such amazing humour and stoicism it's humbling to be in their presence.' - Fiona Sturges, The Independent

Extracts played on Radio 4's Pick of the Week

Producers: Kim Normanton & Nigel Acheson

THE MUSIC MACHINE BBC Radio 4, 1 x 28 mins

Monday 24 May 2004 at 8.30 p.m.

Lying silent in the corner of a tiny Paris flat is an ondioline, one of the first electronic synthesisers. This feature breathes life into the old machine, re-lives its glory days and discovers why the instrument is so important to its eccentric owner.

'A treat ...the music's odd and thrilling, the accents are as entertaining as the anecdotes and, as the French say, you will go to bed less stupid.'' - Phil Daoust, The Guardian

Extracts played on Radio 4's Pick of the Week

Producer: Dinah Nuttall

BOOK OF THE WEEK:

KANDAHAR COCKNEY by James Fergusson

Monday - Friday 7 - 11 June 2004 at 9.45 am

REPEATED at 12.30 a.m.

In 1997 James Fergusson, a journalist on assignment in rebel-controlled Afghanistan, hires a young Pashtun interpreter called Mir. It's the start of a personal journey of discovery, beginning in the world of Afghan politics and culture but leading him ultimately through the unfamiliar territory of his own home town: London.

'Yet another terrific Book of the Week!' - listener

'I cheered when I listening to Mir's Indefinite Leave To Remain being granted.... Well done' - listener

Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Reader James Fergusson
Producer Nigel Acheson

BETWEEN THE EARS: ZOOM BBC Radio 3, 1 x 30 minutes

Saturday 26 June 2004 10.15 p.m.

The audio equivalent of a children's book which starts off with a highly detailed drawing of a scene; then we turn the page and we zoom out to reveal that the detailed picture we had just been looking at was only one element of a much larger picture. The effect is startling, like dolls within dolls - or Arabian Nights tales within tales.

Producer: Matt Thompson

THE END OF THE ROAD FOR RATTY BBC Radio 4, 1 x 28 minutes

Tuesday 27 July 2004 at 11.00 am

Wildlife experts predict that the snub-nose vole, immortalised as Ratty in children's classic The Wind In The Willows, could have vanished from our riverbanks as early as 2005. But in real life, ratty is not under threat from stoats and weasels but their American cousin - the mink. Jo Morris goes in search of the loveable and elusive rodent and meets the characters that assisted in its demise and the characters that are trying to save it.

Reporter: Jo Morris
Producer: Matt Thompson

IT'S MY STORY:

IT'S ALL DOWN TO BEN BBC Radio 4, 28 minutes

Thursday 22 July 2004 at 8.00 p.m.

BEST FOREIGN RADIO PROGRAMME, PREMIOS ONDAS, BARCELONA 2004

The life and times of Ben, a young heroin addict - told by his mother, stepfather and by Ben himself.

Producers: Kim Normanton & Nigel Acheson

We are sorry to announce that Ben died of a heart attack in 2008.

CLASSICAL CUTS BBC Radio 4, 5 x 14 minutes

Thursdays at 9.30 a.m. beginning 5 August 2004

5 August 2004

12 August 2004

19 August 2004

26 August 2004

2 September 2004

A series of musicalised features that trace the journey certain pieces of classical music have taken into the aural landscape of the 21st century - from TV commercials to pop songs and railway station muzak.

Presenter: Tom Robinson
Producer: Alan Hall

THE SUNDAY FEATURE:

WALDEN REVISITED BBC Radio 3, 45 minutes

Sunday 29 August 2004 at 5.45pm

At a time when environmental questions are at the forefront of political debate, we make a return journey to Walden pond, a wilderness which, 150 years ago, inspired Henry David Thoreau's classic work, Walden - a book that has had enormous impact on writers, philosophers, politicians, ecologists, survivalists, and even terrorists.

Presenter: Geoffrey Ward
Producer: Paul Quinn

A NIGHT ON THE TOWN WITH... BBC Radio 4, 14 minutes

Monday - Friday, 20-24 September 2004 at 3.45 p.m.

A sound palimpsest of what went into an almost-imaginary great night out for five contrasting characters, each making their own brand of contemporary whoopee in (for them) an alien city. Beardy, balding and boring Karl Marx doesn't spring to mind as convivial company - but after a hard day's scribbling Das Kapital in the British Museum, there was nothing he enjoyed more than good argumentative company, conviviality and generally chilling out in uproariously bohemian Soho.

1. Charles Darwin in Edinburgh
2. Karl Marx in Soho
3. Friedrich Nietzsche in Turin
4. Sigmund Freud in Manchester
5. Simone de Beauvoir in New York

Presenter Julian Putkowski
Producer Matt Thompson

BLYTON IN BOMBAY BBC Radio 4, 28 minutes

Saturday 30 October 2004 at 3.30 p.m.

British children's writer Enid Blyton was such a phenomenon in India that the sound of her name alone is enough to provoke an Indian of a certain age into a fervent display of nostalgia. Shebana Coelho attempts to fathom the enduring appeal of her adventure stories to Indians, and the penetration of the post-colonial psyche by a bunch of fictional, quintessentially middle-class English children (and their dog).

Extracts played on Radio 4's Pick of the Week

Producer: Shebana Coelho

THE RETURN OF THE BUDDHA BBC Radio 4, 1 x 28 mins

Wednesday 3 November 2004 at 11.00 a.m.

On the centenary of the British invasion of Tibet, Celia Haddow travels to northern India to give back a Tibetan statue of Buddha to the Dalai Lama which was looted by her grandfather a hundred years ago.

Presenter John Nightingale
Producer Tim Malyon

BLACK, MUSLIM AND GAY BBC Radio 4, 1 x 28 mins

Thursday 11 November 2004 at 8.00 p.m.

Even in the relatively liberal climate of twenty-first-century Britain, homosexuals are still sometimes seen as outsiders. Imagine how much more of an outsider you might feel if you were not only homosexual, but also black and Muslim.

'Powerful documentary...not at all voyeuristic, but honest, intimate and moving." Gillian Reynolds - The Daily Telegraph

"Brilliantly put together, informative and unbiased." - Listener

"I don't think the BBC should have broadcast this programme. I felt that it set a bad example to young people and was almost encouraging homosexuality." - Listener

"As a gay catholic priest, I thoroughly enjoyed the show..." - Listener

Producers: Kim Normanton & Nigel Acheson

IF THE SLIPPER FITS BBC Radio 4, 1 x 28 mins

Monday 27 December 2004 at 8.30 p.m.
Repeated Tuesday 28 December at 11.30pm

An intriguing radio patchwork quilt featuring global variations of the world's best love fairy tale: Cinderella.

Extracts played on Radio 4's Pick of the Week

Music: Joe Acheson
Producers: Kim Normanton & Nigel Acheson

THE CASE OF THE MISSING BURBOT BBC Radio 4, 1 x 28 mins

Friday 31 December 2004 at 11.00 a.m.

A wry piscatorial detective story in which Chris Yates sets out in search of the elusive burbot.

"This is the kind of story no other radio network would cover." - Martin Kelner, The Daily Mail

Presenter Chris Yates
Producer Dan Shepherd