Programmes 2006

 

BBC Radio 4 - Churchill Confidential

New Years Day 5pm

With exclusive access to secret material veteran broadcaster Sir Charles Wheeler guides us through important government papers on the first day of their release. Three dusty civil service notebooks written by the cabinet undersecretary Norman Brook contain detailed notes of who said what at the meetings of Churchill’s wartime cabinet. For the first time, the real tensions and debates within the small group of people who led the country through some of its darkest days are revealed. David Ryall plays Winston Churchill, with Hugh Dickson as Clement Attlee and Tim Pigott-Smith as Herbert Morrison

 

BBC Radio 4 - The Reunion: Gulf War Generals

Sunday, 2nd of April 11:15am

On August 2nd 1990, 100, 000 Iraqi troops and 300 tanks rolled into the small oil-rich state of Kuwait. Saddam Hussein claimed that the invasion was a response to the overproduction of oil in Kuwait, which had cost the Iraqi economy huge sums of money. But by January 1991 there was still no withdrawal and operation Desert Storm was unleashed - a devastating and sustained aerial bombardment. This revelatory Reunion programme brings together some of the leading members of the allied coalition. Tom King, now Lord King, was Margaret Thatcher's defence secretary at that time; Air Chief Marshal Sir Patrick Hine was overall Commander of the British Forces in the Gulf; General Sir Patrick Cordingley was Commander of the 7th Armoured Brigade, the Desert Rats; John Simpson, the BBC's World Affairs editor spent many weeks in Baghdad during the conflict; and the man who was Commander in Chief of Allied Forces in the Gulf, General of the US Army Norman Schwarzkopf

 

BBC Radio 4 -The Reunion: The Serious Fraud Office

Sunday, 9th of April 11:15am

In early 1988 an elite group of policemen, investigative lawyers and accountants were brought together in a small office off Oxford Street in London. Back then, fraud in the City of London was so bad as to be considered a serious threat to the economy and a new government department, The Serious Fraud Office was set up to sort it out. In the decades that followed they took on some of the richest and most resourceful people in the country. The Guinness affair, the Maxwell brothers, Roger Levitt, Peter Clowes, George Walker, Nick Leeson, SFO investigations were constantly in the headlines. In the second programme in the series those pioneering investigators are brought together once again.

 

BBC Radio 4 - The Reunion: The Family

Sunday, 16th of April 11:15am

On television today, the number of reality series that grace our screens seems endless, covering ever more intimate parts of our daily life. But back in 1974, the genre was a just a twinkle in a television executive’s eye. The new “reality” phenomenon back then was a revolutionary “fly on the wall” series which broke the divide between drama and documentary and showed the members of an extended working class family living cheek by jowl with each other. The brainchild of budding new Producer, Paul Watson, ‘The Family’ followed the day-to-day lives of The Wilkins family from Reading. For the first time in 32 years, Sue MacGregor re-unites Paul Watson, his cameraman Philip Bonham-Carter together with the Wilkins family to discuss the impact the series had on their lives.

 

BBC Radio 4 - The Reunion: World Cup 1966

Sunday, 23rd of April 11:15am

There was Nobby’s jig, a baffled Russian linesman, little Alan running his heart out, Geoff’s heroics and Bobby wiping his hands on the velvet tablecloth. As we work our self up to fever pitch over the 2006 World Cup in Germany some of the boys from 1966 are the guests of Sue MacGregor. They’ll be recalling how we lost the Jules Rimet trophy and found it again, how the players wrestled with the responsibility of carrying the expectations of a nation, and what its like to live the rest of your life as a football legend. Sir Geoff Hurst, George Cohen and Martin Peters join Alec Weeks and Alan Leather for a Reunion on the 1966 World Cup.

 

BBC Radio 4 - The Reunion: Royal Wedding 1981

Sunday, 30th of April 11.15am

25 years ago in the summer of 1981 St Paul’s Cathedral in London was the venue for the wedding of the century, when the heir to the throne Prince Charles Windsor married the nineteen-year old Lady Diana Spencer in a ceremony that was watched by 700 million people around the globe. Inside the church, the congregation: two and a half thousand of the couples family, friends and acquaintances. Outside, over half a million people took to the streets to cheer the couple on. We bring together some of those key figures in the organisation of Charles and Diana’s wedding, along with the Dean of St Paul's who, together with the Archbishop of Canterbury, conducted the marriage, Elizabeth Emmanuel who designed the dress, and photographer Arthur Edwards who captured some of the most memorable images of the day.

 

BBC Radio 4 - Centre Stage: NYT at 50

Saturday, 8th of April 10.30am

When she was just 18, Helen Mirren's career was launched when she hit national headlines for her performance as Cleopatra for the National Youth Theatre. At about the same age, Matt Lucas and David Walliams met at the NYT, forging a friendship, which would eventually produce Little Britain. The National Youth Theatre celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2006: former member Jessica Stevenson traces the company's inspiring and celeb-strewn history and asks whether the scheme was just an after-school club for artistic social climbers and if it has become nothing more than a glorified Sylvia Young school for show-biz wannabes?

 

BBC Radio 4 - The Young Governors

Monday, 10th, 17th and 24th of April 11:00am

A groundbreaking series following new recruits to the Prison Service fast-track governor training programme, from their initial induction to the final graduation day. The Intensive Development Scheme (IDS) is an ambitious attempt to propel prospective leaders up the ranks and fill the gap left by the retiring baby-boom generation of governors. But it’s controversial. The trainees spend only a short time on the wings, learning their “jailcraft” before going on to manage staff twice their age. The prisoners in their charge are some of society’s most complex outcasts. The final programme focuses on the skills needed to govern as we follow two junior governors, both in their twenties and in charge of whole sections of a prison. A dramatically engaging and challenging programme; Clare English presents.

 

BBC Radio 4 - Shake it Baby

Tuesday, 27th of June 11:30am

Mention the word ‘burlesque’ and you might well think of names such as Gypsy Rose Lee, concluding that the form died out long ago. But over recent years a new breed of ‘burlesquers’ have gained popularity both in the UK and abroad. Combining titillation and humour with spectacularly eccentric costumes, these performers have breathed life into burlesque once again. In ‘Shake It, Baby’, Libby Purves meets today’s sequin-covered performers, even trying her luck at the tricky art of nipple tassel twirling! She gains exclusive access to the extraordinary wardrobe of one of the UK’s top performers, Miss Gwendoline Lamour. And she visits a burlesque night in London’s East End, marvelling at some of the staggering acts she sees.

 

BBC Radio 4 - Generating Genius

Monday, 10th of July 11am

Black and mixed race boys of African Caribbean origin are among the very lowest achieving groups in the British school system. No one really knows why. Is it institutional racism, is it an identity crisis brought on by trying to reconcile being both black and British in an unsympathetic system? Whatever the reason, in 2005 just 33.3% of these boys achieved 5 A-C grades at GCSE – compared with 57% of the population as a whole. Dr Tony Sewell has spent years studying academic performance and in 2005 he decided that something must be done. He combed the country for 10 of the brightest black and mixed race boys and took them to the University of the West Indies to study degree-level science. Kate Taylor follows the group from the emotional farewell at Heathrow out to Jamaica; the reality behind a radical new scheme to break the cycle of chronic underachievement among young people today.

 

BBC Radio 4 - Wriggling with Eels

Saturday, 22nd of July 8pm

Lee Hurst presents his unique take on the humour of East End London. From loveable Cockney chirpiness to Max Miller's bawdiness via the Yiddish comedy theatres of the 1920's and Richard Digance and Derek Brimstone. We chart how the changing face of the East End has been reflected in its comedy.

 

BBC Radio 4 - Star City

Friday 4th of August 11am

April 12th 1961: the official news agency in Moscow - TASS, proudly announces in a radio broadcast to the people of the Soviet Union that Yuri Gagarin is the first man in space, much to President John F Kennedy's chagrin. Few details are given because few details are known – all that is certain is that Gagarin is training at a secret space centre called Zvezdny Gorodok, Star City. This is the fascinating story of Star City from its birth right up to the present day; presented by Jonathan Charles a narrative woven from eyewitness accounts of those who worked and lived in this technological hothouse, and the sweeping political changes that affected the centre, and our own impressions of Star City in its current state.

 

BBC Radio 4 – C.P. Cavafy: Reaching Ithaka

Sunday, 20th of August 4:30pm

Constantine Cavafy (1863 - 1933) was a Greek poet who lived in the bustling port of Alexandria for most of his life. His work has recently been gathered together and published for the first time in Egypt, and has been an unlikely hit, giving inspiration on the issues facing the Middle East. Hailed as one of the great poets of the 20th century, but unpublished in his lifetime, the work of Constantine Cavafy is undergoing a revival. This programme journeys to Alexandria to uncover the 'poet of the souks' and why his work has lessons for modern times.

 

BBC Radio 4 - Border Blaster

Tuesday, 22nd of August 11am

The story of the medical charlatan Dr JR Brinkley, whose bizarre medical technique to cure impotence led to the creation of the first pirate radio station - the "border blaster" - on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande. Using rare archive and by tracking down listeners, friends and fellow broadcasters, Nick Barraclough traces the extraordinary story of the quack doctor who unwittingly gave birth to American pirate radio.

 

BBC Radio 4 - The Gibbon Test

Sunday, 27th of August & 3rd, 10th of September 10:45pm

Gibbon in 'The Decline and Fall of the Holy Roman Empire' suggests five reasons for the collapse of one of the greatest civilizations the world has ever known. Using this as our framework, Matthew Parris scrutinises our society today and the impact modern politics has on our lives and the health of Britain in the 21st century.

 

BBC Radio 4 - Hungary 56

Monday 23rd of October 9am & 9:30pm

“I remember as if it was a nightmare. We helped to spread the word that the old order was being pushed out. People were suspicious, some got out, others stayed. It was as if our world had stopped, and we had to choose to jump off or cling back on" (Bela Salgo). The 1956 Hungarian Revolution, also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a popular revolt against Soviet influence and control in Hungary. The revolt was brutally suppressed by Soviet troops, 25-50,000 Hungarian insurgents and 7,000 Soviet troops were killed, thousands more were wounded, and nearly a quarter million left the country as refugees. In a large scale oral history project Charles Wheeler speaks to some of the former refugees and surviving members of the uprising; moving, insightful, profound.

 

BBC Radio 4 - Living with Aids: Britain's Battle

Saturday, 4th & 11th of November 10:30am

Twenty-five years ago, in April of 1981, the first deaths from a mystery virus were reported and in November 1981, the US Center for Disease Control first identified a form of pneumonia that had become prevalent among gay men in San Francisco. Within a few months, the term AIDS was identified. Marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the discovery virus, Radio 4 presents a landmark series about AIDS in this country. Based on the testimony of ordinary people and those at the heart of the fight against the disease.

 

BBC Radio 4 - Down at the Docks

Saturday 25th of November 8pm

As Harland and Woolf, the last great name in Belfast ship-building enters its final breaking up stage, Ulster broadcaster and writer Gerry Anderson paints a fabulous picture of the Belfast glory days, and muses on a future without big ships. He hears never before transmitted archive material from the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum's collection, and sees what lessons they now tell us about what happened to such a huge and thriving industry.