Programme Information

Two Englishmen In New York – Johnnie Walker Meets Sting Ep 1/2

Monday 14 November

10.00-11.00pm BBC RADIO 2

Johnnie Walker travels to New York to interview Sting at the age of 60 – an Englishman who penned an ode to staying true to one's identity in the world's most iconic city.

The musical superstar is in a philosophical mood, talking about 40 years in the music business, focusing largely on his solo career following the break-up of The Police in 1984. As a solo artist he's had 21 UK Top 40 hits, received 11 Grammy Awards and released 10 studio albums. He's experimented with styles and sounds from jazz to bossa nova and from country to gospel, and recorded successful collaborations with the likes of Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Bryan Adams and Mary J Blige.

To a soundtrack of his often very personal solo tracks, Sting talks about his family life, his long-lasting relationship with wife Trudie Styler and his passion for his charity work, from The Rainforest Foundation to Amnesty International.

Presenter/Johnnie Walker, Producer/Rebecca Maxted for the BBC

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Rob Cowan and Sarah Walker share great music and performances in this week's Essential Classics.

From 9am, Sarah presents the Essential CD of the week: a recording entitled Vivaldi Concert For The Prince Of Poland featuring the Academy of Ancient Music. From 9.30am, Anne Sofie von Otter, the Swedish mezzo soprano equally acclaimed as an opera singer and as a recitalist, is this week's Artist Of The Week.

At 10.30am, Sarah's guest is children's novelist, broadcaster, poet and former Children's Laureate, Michael Rosen. And at 11am, listeners can hear major works of the classical music repertoire including Faure's Nocturnes, Sibelius's Nightride and Sunrise, Debussy's Nocturnes, Mozart's Serenade in D and Dvorak's Symphony No. 6.

Presenters/Rob Cowan and Sarah Walker, Producer/Classic Arts Productions Ltd

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Penny Gore continues BBC Radio 3's month of programmes complementing the BBC Four series Symphony – including every note of every symphony featured in the television series.

On Monday Penny welcomes actor Simon Russell Beale as a live studio guest to talk about this week's symphony menu – with lashings of Beethoven, Schubert, Berlioz and Liszt – and about his experience of presenting the BBC Four television series on the history of the symphony.

On Tuesday, Afternoon On 3 and In Tune join forces to recreate Beethoven's notorious concert in Vienna in 1808 featuring the premières of his Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, his Fourth Piano Concerto – and a few other things besides. Both the BBC Philharmonic and BBC National Orchestra of Wales perform live this afternoon – with Beethoven's Sixth Symphony in Salford and the Fifth in Cardiff.

On Wednesday, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales play Schumann and Beethoven as the Beethoven symphony cycle reaches No. 7.

On Thursday, the BBC Concert Orchestra join in the fun of the Beethoven symphony cycle with the famous performance of his bombastic Battle Symphony, the music celebrating Wellington's victory in battle in 1813. The programme ends with Hector Berlioz's revolutionary Dramatic Symphony, inspired by Shakespeare.

On Friday, Penny reaches the climax of Afternoon On 3's Beethoven symphony cycle with the work that changed the symphony for ever: his Ninth and last symphony, transcending the orchestra with the human voice in its final Ode To Joy. She also features two pieces – a symphony and a symphonic poem – by Liszt, who continued the "humanisation" of the symphony by popularising the idea that it could depict character.

Presenter/Penny Gore, Producer/David Gallagher

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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This week listeners can hear more programmes recorded at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking festival of ideas recorded at The Sage Gateshead between 4-6 November.

Highlights this week include, on Tuesday, a talk chaired by Night Waves' Anne McElvoy entitled The Moral Obligation To Improve in which Julian Savulescu argues that it is time to enhance humans by altering their genes. Professor of Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford and Editor of the Journal of Medical Ethics, Julian has some controversial opinions that challenge assumptions, including that we should harness technologies such as genetic manipulation and selection to improve our lives.

On Wednesday, in a talk chaired by Night Waves' Matthew Sweet entitled The Magnificent Seven And The Crisis Of Commitment, Giles Fraser, Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral and this year's Thinker-in-Residence at the Free Thinking festival, argues that society is gripped by a crisis of commitment. Giles claims people have become addicted to the detached, uncommitted lifestyle embodied in those wandering gunslingers from Western movies, who never want to be tied down. He asks whether individualism is pushing out all other values and leaving people rootless.

Presenters/Anne McElvoy and Matthew Sweet, Producer/Tim Prosser

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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The Essay marks 50 years since the publication in 1961 of What Is History? by historian EH Carr. Five academics consider the connection between Carr's work and their own work today.

EH Carr, a historian of Russia and a well-regarded writer on international relations, was born in 1892 and died in 1982. What Is History? remains his most famous work.

In the first essay, Richard Evans, Regius Professor of History at the University of Cambridge, gives a crucial overview of the major theories of What Is History? and the circumstances of Carr's life which contributed to the book's style.

In the second essay, on Tuesday, Dr Elizabeth Buettner, Senior Lecturer in Modern British and Imperial History at the University of York, places What Is History? in the context of decolonisation and the decline of the British Empire, as a historical document of this time.

In Wednesday's essay, Amanda Foreman, author of bestselling biography Georgiana, Duchess Of Devonshire and the American Civil War history A World On Fire – An Epic History Of Two Nations Divided, explores her personal feelings about the historian's role.

On Thursday, in the fourth essay, Niall Ferguson, bestselling author of histories including Civilisation – The West And The Rest, and editor of Virtual History – Alternatives And Counterfactuals, discusses the importance of asking "what if?" questions of history.

In the final essay, on Friday, Michael Cox, Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics, discusses EH Carr's influential theories on international relations and how they can be applied today.

Presenters/Richard Evans, Elizabeth Buettner, Amanda Foreman, Niall Ferguson and Michael Cox, Producer/Katherine Godfrey for Whistledown Productions

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Jez Nelson presents electric bassist Steve Swallow and his new quintet at the London Jazz Festival.

Swallow first emerged in the Sixties on the double bass, playing with Art Farmer and beginning a long-standing association with vibraphonist Gary Burton. Since the Seventies his work as a leader and sideman has been entirely on the electric bass, working extensively with guitarist John Scofield and pianist Carla Bley, among others. His quintet has been active in various guises for 15 years, and appears here with Bley on Hammond organ, along with saxophonist Chris Cheek, guitarist Steve Cardenas and Jorge Rossy on drums.

Presenter/Jez Nelson, Producer/Russell Finch

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

Book Of The Week – The West End Front Ep 1/5

Monday 14 to Friday 18 November

9.45-10.00am BBC RADIO 4

The West End Front is Matthew Sweet's dark history of scandalous life above and below stairs in London's grand hotels during the Second World War.

In the first episode, as rationing hits, London's well-heeled diners sample the delights of acorns, turnips and eels.

Producer/Justine Willett for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Woman's Hour Drama – Journey To Starlight Mountain Ep 1/5

Monday 14 to Friday 18 November

10.45-11.00am BBC RADIO 4

Journey To Starlight Mountain is Sarah Daniels's heart-warming new drama inspired by one of the BBC Children in Need projects.

Nine-year-old Mia (Sydney Wade) has a vivid imagination, loves eavesdropping and wants to be a writer when she grows up, despite her very bad spelling.

She is desperate to go on the rollercoaster ride of her dreams, Starlight Mountain, with her 13-year-old sister Emma and her mum, Lucy (Gaynor Faye). She'd really like her dad Steve (John Godber) to come too but he's busy with his new wife and baby son.

Steve refuses to let them go. He knows the truth that Lucy refuses to face, that Emma is too ill to make the trip.

The drama was inspired by the Siblings Project at Bluebell Wood Hospice for Children near Sheffield, which supports the siblings of children with life-limiting conditions and is funded by BBC Children in Need.

Producer/Mary Ward-Lowery for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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BBC Radio 4's season of programmes about the human brain continues with the final week of Dr Geoff Bunn's 10-part series, A History Of The Brain.

On Monday in The Beast Within, Geoff shows the influence of evolutionary theory, phrenology and a hole in Phineas Gage's head.

In Mind The Gap, on Tuesday, Geoff discusses the synapse and the part Freud almost played in the history of the brain.

In Wednesday's episode, The Agony And The Ecstasy, Geoff talks about how chemical transmission became a fundamental concept in neuroscience.

The penultimate episode, All Or Nothing, looks at the invention of the EEG and its role in people's understanding of the brain.

For the final episode, Einstein's Brain, Geoff focuses on how advances in neurology have influenced the understanding of humans as "neurochemical selves". In the concluding programme he asks whether people are more than their brains.

Presenter/Dr Geoff Bunn, Producer/Marya Burgess for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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This exclusive interview with Al Pacino reveals his passion for Oscar Wilde.

Having played the part of Herod on stage in Oscar Wilde's Salome, Pacino tells Mark Rickards how this inspired his drama documentary on the play.

Al Pacino became fascinated by the play and describes the inspiration he has found in Wilde's work. He first saw Salome performed by Steven Berkoff, and says that he was "bitten by the rub of love". He made the decision to stage it for a theatre in Los Angeles, and to film the process of putting it on stage. The end result is the extraordinary Wilde Salome, a blend of drama and documentary directed by Al Pacino himself.

The programme features an exclusive contribution from Pacino on his interpretation of Oscar Wilde's work, extracts from the film, and contributions from producer Barry Navidi and Wilde's grandson, Merlin Holland.

Presenter and Producer/Mark Rickards for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue Ep 1/6

Monday 14 November

6.30-7.00pm BBC RADIO 4

BBC Radio 4's antidote to panel games returns for its 56th series with regulars Tim Brooke-Taylor, Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden, plus Jeremy Hardy on the panel and its reluctant chairman Jack Dee.

The series starts its run at Guildford's brand new venue, G-Live. Regular listeners will know to expect inspired nonsense, pointless revelry and Colin Sell at the piano.

Presenter/Jack Dee, Producer/Jon Naismith for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

Shaun Keaveny's guests this week include comedian Andy Parsons and Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan.

On Monday, Shaun's guest is Andy Parsons, star of BBC Two's Mock The Week. Andy has enjoyed huge success as a writer and performer on television and radio as well as on stage. He was a main writer on the original Spitting Image, is a regular on Mock The Week and has made appearances on QI, The Politics Show, Newsnight, Saturday Live and Live At The Apollo.

On Tuesday, Shaun welcomes Duff McKagan into the studio to talk about his new book, It's So Easy (And Other Lies). Duff was a founding member of Guns N' Roses with a 13-year tenure on bass, as part of the classic line-up (Slash on guitar, Steven Adler on drums, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin and vocalist Axl Rose). Duff was the unofficial musical director of the band and the most experienced musician, playing bass, drums and guitar as well as co-writing many of the songs.

Presenter/Shaun Keaveny, Producer/Lisa Kenlock

BBC Radio 6 Music Publicity

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Gideon Coe delves deep into the BBC's wondrous archive to present another week brimming with live music gems.

On Monday, The Peel On 6 session comes from Saloon and Jethro Tull are in concert from 1977. Archive session tracks come from Young Husband, Brilliant Corners, The Mekons and Brakes.

Tuesday sees Gideon present Ride in concert from 1991 and the Peel On 6 session comes from The Blue Orchids from 1982. Also featured are session tracks from BIS, Timber Timbre, Devon Sproule and Karat Soul.

Wednesday's gems include a vintage Peel session from Altered Images, plus The Wooden Tops are in concert. There are also session tracks from The Funkees, Sound Of Rum, Holly Golightly and Vice Squad.

To finish the week, Thursday's archive choices come courtesy of Answering Machine, Boo Radleys, Serious Drinking and King Adora. The Peel On 6 session band is The Cravats and At The Drive fill tonight's In Concert slot.

Presenter/Gideon Coe, Producer/Henry Lopez-Real

BBC Radio 6 Music Publicity