Authors
Throwing caution to the wind in 'I, Claudius'
Editor's note: this post by the lead in Radio 4's new Classic Serial, 'I, Claudius', starts with a clip from the drama - SB. I was eight when 'I, Claudius' first aired on the BBC in 1976. It remains burned on my brain as the first televisual event that I recall. Of course I was far too young to...
The funkiest documentary in Radio 4 history
In the first half of the 1970s Stevie Wonder released four landmark albums that changed the course of pop music. A combination of funk and synthesisers, this incredible collection of music includes many of Stevie's classic songs such as Superstition, Living for the City and You Are the Sunshine ...
Alvin Hall's top 12 Letters from America
Editor's note: Alvin Hall travelled the USA revisiting the places and events in his new series, In Alistair Cooke's Footsteps. Here, he talks about his 12 favourite editions of Alistair Cookes original programmes. You can listen, download and read transcripts of over 900 editions of Alistair C...
Feminine Mystiques: Theatre Six
Theatre Six is a new short story commissioned by BBC Radio 4 as part of the 50th anniversary of The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. Author Sarah Hall explains her rationale for writing about the controversial topic of abortion after Savita Halappanavar's death in October 2012.
All in the Mind: Take the BBC Stress Test
We all get stressed sometimes. It's inevitable. But for some people this tips over into depression and anxiety and for others it doesn't. The BBC Stress Test is a new online scientific experiment we're launching which is designed to find out why. There are so many different factors to tease ...
Rhyme and Reason: helping the nation fall in love with poetry
The Rhyme and Reason series is the first programme BBC 6 Music has produced for Radio 4. As it's a series that explores the musical nature of words as found in poetry, it seems only right that the BBC's radio station that digs deeper into the intellectual psyche of music should produce work for ...
More or Less: Debt - A European Odyssey
"...Like the blind cyclops casually touching the backs of his sheep, bondholders didn't pay close enough attention to the fact that the risks of default had not gone away." On More or Less, we're always looking for the perfect analogy to help clarify complicated things. And the European de...
The Art of Monarchy: Portraying royalty
Editor's note: To coincide with the Art of Monarchy, the Radio 4 blog is running a series of posts by the Royal Collection's curators on different aspects of the collection. In the first post Kate Heard discusses the task of portraying royalty - PM. Samuel William Reynolds: Portrait of Geo...
The Living World encounters the Great Bustard
At five years old Fergus is beginning to feel like a male, he spent the previous years looking like his mother, distinctly female. He's as tall as a man's waist and testosterone has deepened his voice and developed his brain in a way to give him a greater repertoire of noises. When sexually arou...
A year of anniversaries on Radio 4
So You and Yours is forty. Congratulations. The programme launched in October 1970 to give Radio 4 listeners advice five lunchtimes a week on 'everyday affairs from savings to sex, from holidays to health'. It swallowed-up older programmes such as Can I Help You, Listening Post, and You and Your...
Lenny Henry on Radio 4: What's So Great about Snooker?
Video: Lenny Henry being interviewed by John Parrott at the Crucible during the making of 'What's so Great about Snooker?' Editor's note: In this three-part series Lenny Henry explores the iconic status of people or things held dear by many. "Yeah, I'll blog about snooker", I said to Paul...
Richard Herring's Objective returns
Richard Herring returns to Radio 4 tonight with a new series of Richard Herring's Objective at 6.30pm. Examining and dissecting objects of scorn and controversy, in the first series the comedian investigated "The Hitler Moustache", "The Hoodie" and "The St. George's Flag". On his blog, part of ...
The Nailympics: Up to Scratch with Kit Hesketh-Harvey
Ed's note: You can hear Up to Scratch at 11am on Friday 21 October on Radio 4 and shortly afterwards on the website - PM. Kit Hesketh-Harvey and nail artist Kirsty Meakin Look, I'm a bloke. I live in the country. I dig the potatoes for dinner. I fetch coal. I am no stranger to a big...
June Spencer (Peggy Archer) shines at the 2014 BBC Audio Drama Awards
Alison Hindell, head of BBC Audio Drama pays tribute to June Spencer (Peggy Archer) and the many actors, writers and producers who won at the 2014 Audio Drama Awards.
Voices from the Old Bailey: Exploring the Old Bailey's online archive
Most people, when they go to the Old Bailey Online look for a name, a place, or perhaps a crime. As the largest collection of transcribed trial accounts on the web, the site is used by thousands of family and local historians searching for lost black sheep, and local villains. It has als...
Foreign Bodies - The Martin Beck Killings
Editors note: This week Radio 4 begins The Foreign Bodies series on Radio 4 and the dramatisation of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo's 10-book series featuring detective Martin Beck and his colleagues in the National Police Homicide Department in Stockholm starts on Saturday 27th October 2012. Here p...
More Weird Tales
Editor's note: Weird Tales is back. Three more uncanny stories inspired by the master of otherworldly horror H.P. Lovecraft. Stephen King called Lovecraft "the twentieth century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale." Tonight's first programme, by Melissa Murray, is called Connected...
The Trouble with adapting Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four
Writer Jonathan Holloway explains the difficulties of adapting George Orwell's classic dystopian novel 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'.
Alex Horne Presents The Horne Section: Made in a Hovel
Comedian Alex Horne reveals the creative process behind the second series of Alex Horne Presents the Horne Section.
The 20 Greatest Characters from Radio 4
Radio 4 introduces the 20 best characters for Character Invasion.
