Programme Information

Martin Kemp, EastEnders actor and member of pop group Spandau Ballet, joins Ken Bruce this week to discuss his Tracks Of My Years. His choices include songs by David Bowie, Kraftwerk, Bon Jovi and Marvin Gaye.

Presenter/Ken Bruce, Producer/Gary Bones

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Clare Teal presents the second part of the BBC Big Band's Johnny Mercer tribute, with guest vocalist Peter Grant.

The programme features classic songs from Mercer's collaborations with songwriters including Harold Arlen (Blues In The Night), Henry Mancini (Moon River), Johnny Mandel (The Summer Wind), Jerome Kern (I'm Old Fashioned) and Duke Ellington (Satin Doll).

Presenter/Clare Teal, Producer/Bob McDowall

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Jools Holland presents an hour-long boogie-woogie special, featuring members of The ABC Of Boogie Woogie – pianist Axel Zwingenberger and Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts.

Also joining them is Albert Ammons's granddaughter, Lila Ammons, on vocals and Peter Silvester, writer of The Story Of Boogie Woogie – A Left Hand Like God.

Presenter/Jools Holland, Producer/Sarah Gaston

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Lead Belly – A Secret History Of Rock And Roll Ep 1/2

Monday 7 December

11.30pm-12.00midnight BBC RADIO 2 (Copy update 24 November)

The lead singer of The Animals, Eric Burdon, begins a two-part examination of the life, music and legacy of seminal American folk singer Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter, in the week of the 60th anniversary of his death. Lead Belly had a major influence on popular music on both sides of the Atlantic during the 20th century.

Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and Nirvana have all cited him as an inspiration, while many others, including Led Zeppelin, The Beach Boys and ABBA, have re-worked songs that he popularised.

The first part of the documentary traces Lead Belly's roots back to the American Deep South of the late 19th century, where he was born into a farming family on the borders of Louisiana and Texas. Picking cotton was the main trade of the time and Huddie soon found himself doing exactly that. It's while picking cotton that he became acquainted with some of the songs for which he eventually become famous.

This episode includes contributions from singer Arlo Guthrie – son of Lead Belly's close friend Woody Guthrie – who examines how Lead Belly's tough life influenced much of his early musical repertoire. Songs discussed in this episode include Black Betty, Pick A Bale of Cotton, Cotton Fields (which would later be popularised by The Beach Boys), CC Ryder, Gallis Pole and Midnight Special.

Presenter/Eric Burdon, Producer/Dan Manicolo

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Tomaso Albinoni is best known for the famous Adagio, a work he didn't actually compose, and, indeed, couldn't have done – as it sounds nothing like the rest of his music. So, armed with a healthy sense of scepticism, Donald Macleod sets out to explore the life and music of the real Tomaso Albinoni.

In Monday's programme, he examines the few recorded facts of Albinoni's life, most of which he spent in his native Venice. Despite the lack of biographical information, he's an interesting and rather anomalous figure. His father had inherited a business manufacturing playing cards, which Albinoni seems to have been lined up to take over.

In the event, he disengaged himself from commerce fairly early on, presumably to concentrate on his music. But he nonetheless continued to earn from the family business and, as a result, he enjoyed the status of dilettante – he wrote music because he wanted to, not because he had to.

Later in the week, Donald explores the composer's elusive operatic output, considers Albinoni's contribution to the concerto and reveals his patrons.

Presenter/Donald Macleod, Producer/Chris Barstow

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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BBC Radio 3 presenter Petroc Trelawny

Thierry Fischer conducts the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in three works from the heart of the Viennese tradition, crowned by the ageless classicism and passionately elegiac Symphony No. 4 by Brahms.

Mahler's youthful songs, Lieder eines fahrenden gesellen, bring alive the gentle folk poetry of the fields and woods, a young man's music of love and loss sung tonight by young British baritone Roderick Williams.

Rarely has the full kaleidoscopic brilliance of the modern symphony orchestra been better captured than in Schoenberg's Variations for Orchestra, ranging from its mysterious half-lights opening through to its emotional, exuberant helter-skelter close.

Presenter/Petroc Trelawny, Producer/Brian Jackson

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Jez Nelson presents a gig by the Helge Lien Trio, recorded during the 2009 London Jazz Festival. Fresh from the success of their award-winning album, Hello Troll, the Norwegian group, formed by pianist Helge Lien, bassist Frode Berg and drummer Knut Aalefjaer, bring the forests and fjords of home to their records with beguiling and expressive soundscapes.

In taking influence from Scandinavian landscapes, they inevitably share some traits with the late Esbjörn Svensson's Trio, with a similar atmospheric blend of powerful and peaceful moods and melodies. Helge Lien's musical prowess was rewarded earlier this year with a Norwegian Grammy for their empathic musicianship on Hello Troll.

Presenter/Jez Nelson, Producer/Peggy Sutton

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

Book Of The Week –
The Pantomime Life Of Joseph Grimaldi Ep 1/5

Monday 7 to Friday 11 December

9.45-10.00am BBC RADIO 4

This week's Book Of The Week presents Andrew McConnell Stott's fascinating account of the life of one of England's most famous clowns, Joseph Grimaldi.

Joseph Grimaldi was introduced to the stage at the age of two by his ballet-master father, a cruel disciplinarian. His unexpected death made Joseph the main breadwinner of the family, at the age of nine and, in spite of the dangers of life as a child on the stage, he worked his way up the theatrical rankings to become a superstar of Georgian pantomime.

An innovator, acrobat and comic genius, equally treasured by the fashionable set and the provincial public alike, his clowning brought national celebrity, enormous fees and a social circle that included Lord Byron.

Regardless of his fame, Grimaldi was a profound depressive, whose tragic life was marked by incapacitating bouts of insecurity and self-doubt. Poor business sense left him penniless. And, by his early forties, he was prematurely crippled by the leaps and pratfalls that had once so delighted his audience. Despite a successful benefit performance at Sadler's Wells to fund his retirement, Grimaldi ended his life as a depressive alcoholic in the slums of Islington.

Nevertheless, Grimaldi's legacy to popular culture is unique and lasting – the notion of the stereotypical sad clown, the funny man who, despite the laughter and adulation, cannot find happiness himself, is personified by many modern-day comedians.

Reader/Kenneth Cranham, Producer/Justine Willett

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Writing The Century –
All My Trials By Pat Cumper: 1963-1966 Ep 1/5

Monday 7 December

10.45-11.00am BBC RADIO 4

BBC Radio 4's major drama series, Writing The Century, returns to explore the 20th century through real correspondence from the great, the good and the ordinary.

Amy Barbour-James was born in Acton, in 1906, to Guyanese parents.

Her father, John Barbour-James, was a British civil servant on the Gold Coast and a founder member of the League of Coloured Peoples (1931). Amy lived in London and worked as a civil servant and concert singer. She died in 1988 with no living relatives. However, the Black Cultural Archive added her letters and papers to its collection. With the assistance of the Archive, Pat Cumper has been able to research Amy's life and dramatise her story for Writing The Century.

These letters tell the story of black migration to Britain. Amy and her sister, Muriel, both work as civil servants and share a home in London. They escape the "big freeze" of 1963 to visit friends in the Caribbean. However, once there, Muriel becomes ill and is diagnosed with dementia. Amy has to return to England and makes the heart-breaking decision to leave Muriel in the care of a number of friends in the hope that she will get better – she never does.

Following her sister's death, Amy visits Nigeria and the story concludes with her departure for the United States on a quest to contact friends and family to discover more about the rapidly changing world and her place in it.

The cast stars Janice Acquah as Amy Barbour-James, Ellen Thomas as Muriel Barbour-James and Mona Hammond and Audrey Jeffers.

Producer/Stefan Escreet

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Policing Britain – Police And The Public Ep 1/3

Monday 7 December

11.00-11.30am BBC RADIO 4

When Andy Hayman retired from the Metropolitan Police in 2008, he was the assistant commissioner in charge of the anti-terrorist team in Britain's capital. In his illustrious 30-year career, he tackled crime at every level and worked his way up from Essex Bobby on the beat to Chief Constable.

In this series, Andy examines the big challenges facing policing in Britain today. He looks at whether the police meet public expectations on issues like youth crime and anti-social behaviour; he tackles the question of community relations and fighting terrorism; he looks at criticism of the criminal justice system and how the police handle public order issues; and he ventures into the controversial area of the relationship between police and politicians.

To explore these issues, Andy travels round Britain meeting police officers on the front line and those in charge of the nation's forces. He talks to people who work with the police and those who have strong views about what is right and what is wrong with policing today.

His interviewees include: the Inspector of Constabulary who oversees all the forces in England and Wales; the last Director of Public Prosecutions; a former Home Secretary; and the head of the City's anti-fraud squad. Many of the contributors have not previously outlined their thoughts about whether the UK police get it right or wrong in public.

Next week's programme explores Policing For The 21st Century and the final programme in the series examines The Justice We Deserve.

Presenter/Andy Hayman, Producer/Richard Clemmow

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Three community writing groups – in The Isle of Mull, Ballycastle (Northern Ireland) and London – create and perform three short plays set in their communities for today's Afternoon Play.

The Isle of Mull writing group presents The Bank Van. Calum is just turning 21. Raised on a remote croft by his grandfather, Calum needs to grow up, find a life for himself and maybe find his mother, who he has not seen since she left the island when he was a toddler. In a desperate attempt to escape, he encounters some homespun wisdom when he arrives at the island's travelling bank with his grandfather's shotgun in a sack.

Ballycastle Writer's Group presents Crosswords. An outsider causes suspicion on New Year's Eve with his enquiries about local history at the town library. When he later reappears at the pub, Rosen, the librarian, and her twin brother, Malachie, the landlord, decide to find out exactly what he is after. They need to know – they have their own secrets to protect.

The Original Writer's Group in Battersea present Shame On You. When Becky is sacked from her highly paid job in a merchant bank, she steps out of her office into the thick of the G20 riots and encounters a homeless woman. These two unlikely allies help each other find a way out – and discover something about themselves.

Producer/Nick Russell Pavier

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

Arlo White presents all the day's sport news and is joined by John Motson and Steve Claridge for The Monday Night Club to discuss all the latest football news and issues.

From 9pm, Arlo is joined by Mark Clemmit for 5 Live Football League, with the latest news and reaction from the Championship and Football League.

Presenter/Arlo White

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Lauren Laverne invites Leicester lads Kasabian into the studio for an exclusive, live, session.

Tom, Serge and the boys come in to tell Lauren about the year they've had, which has included a successful UK tour and a Mercury Prize nomination for their third album, West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum.

Presenter/Lauren Laverne, Producer/Gary Bales

BBC 6 Music Publicity

Newly weds Shazia and Hassan are struggling to find time for each other due to their work commitments, in today's visit to Silver Street.

Elsewhere, Roopa makes the cafe look festive and Jodie tells Sway exactly what she wants for Christmas. Sway tells Jodie that he is going to speak to Kuljit today.

Later, Sway tries to pick the right moment to tell Kuljit about him and Jodie but keeps getting interrupted. Will Sway get a chance to come clean?

Shazia is played by Shobu Kapoor, Hassan by Youssef Kerkour, Roopa by Rakhee Thakrar, Jodie by Vineeta Rishi, Sway by Nicholas Bailey and Kuljit by Sartaj Garewal.

BBC Asian Network Publicity