Programme Information

Jamie Cullum kicks off BBC Radio 2's Jazz Night, an evening of jazz programming on the network.

This week, Jamie is backstage at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, which concluded on Monday evening with a performance by Paloma Faith, having featured a range of current and established jazz artists including John Scofield, Dave Holland, Polar Bear, Elaine Paige and Carla Bley.

As guest director of the event, Jamie talks to some of the artists and shares the best anecdotes from the festival.

Jazz Night also includes another opportunity to hear the BBC Radio 2 documentaries Miles Plugs In and, at 10pm, the Sony Award-nominated Angel Of Harlem – The Billie Holiday Story.

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British singer-songwriter Paloma Faith

Jazz Night continues on BBC Radio 2 with a special one-off performance by Paloma Faith with The Guy Barker Orchestra, which closed the Cheltenham Jazz Festival last night.

The East End singer, whose hits include Stone Cold Sober and New York, is an actress and former magician's assistant whose retro-soul sound has been compared to that of Amy Winehouse.

Paloma first performed on Radio 2 in Dermot O'Leary's show last June and was part of the station's live line-up at the 2009 Blackpool Illuminations.

In this exclusive concert, she performs tracks from her album alongside the music of some of her idols, such as Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.

Producer/Anthony Cherry

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Garrick Ohlsson, one of the leading modern interpreters of Chopin and a past winner of the Chopin International Piano Competition, gives a recital celebrating the 200th anniversary of the composer's birth, recorded at the Philharmonic Concert Hall in Warsaw earlier this year.

The main focus of the programme is the complete Preludes, a cycle demanding high virtuosity, in which Chopin captures a universe of feeling and mood. Before these, sit some of his grandest works – the demanding F sharp major Impromptu, the intensely dramatic Fantasy and one of the epic Scherzos.

Presenter/Ian Skelly, Producer/Janet Tuppen

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

Legendary British comedy duo Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise

Jon Culshaw uncovers an extraordinary audio archive of early Morecambe and Wise material, including a number of long lost tapes.

A few years ago, Ernie’s widow, Doreen Wise, discovered piles of tapes and 78 recordings while clearing an old family garage. At the end of last year, Eric and Ernie’s agents contacted independent radio production company, Whistledown, and they took a look at the material.

The most important finds are a number of long-lost episodes of Eric and Ernie's first radio show, You're Only Young Once, which was made for the BBC between November 1953 and June 1954. These feature songs, sketches, their trade mark banter and guest cameo appearances from other well-known performers including Bob Monkhouse.

The tapes in Ernie's garage are believed to be "run off" copies recorded by studio engineers immediately after the recordings and probably never played since, as well as acetate copies which Doreen paid the studio engineer a few shillings for.

Producer David Prest says: "Much of the value of the material is in what it shows about their comedy development. The early radio series are very naturalistic, and feature historical sketches and songs which precede the Seventies BBC TV shows by almost 15 years."

Presenter/Jon Culshaw,
Producers/David Prest and Stewart Henderson

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As a youngster, Professor Justin Champion, head of history at Royal Holloway, University of London, loved adventure novels jam-packed with sword play such as the Three Musketeers, The Prisoner Of Zenda and Sir Walter Scott's Waverley series.

Justin has always been intrigued by men's urge to defend their honour in such a dangerous way. In this programme, he traces the history and influence of the duel and the stories of some particularly pivotal encounters. He is also shown how to sword fight, and thinks he's found the reason why duelling eventually ceased as a practice in the UK.

Justin talks to experts on Shakespeare about how frequently the Bard picked up on the duelling debate in many of his plays, including Romeo And Juliet. He visits the Royal Armouries Collection in Leeds to witness a sword fight and is given a tutorial in the techniques required. He also charts the transition from sword to pistol and is shown some of the collection's important duelling weapons.

Justin also talks to fellow historians about significant duels and their political and literary impact.

Presenter/Justin Champion, Producer/Sarah Taylor

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David Haig stars in Raymond Briggs's own dramatisation of his graphic novel of the same title, Gentleman Jim.

Toilet attendant Jim Bloggs dreams of a better life for himself and his beloved wife Hilda. Ruminating over the jobs in the paper, Jim's imagination leaps into action as he seeks adventure and excitement.

Setting out to turn his dreams into reality, Jim soon discovers that things aren't straightforward. Hindered by a lack of education and funds, his life begins to spiral out of control, and his romantic dreams turn into terrible nightmares.

Gentleman Jim is a wonderfully funny, yet intensely moving tale which, despite its melancholy, has a real feeling of optimism at heart.

The cast stars David Haig as Jim and Jan Ravens as Hilda, with John Sessions, Adrian Schiller and Sara Markland.

Producer/Celia de Wolff

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Come Away, Come Away! Ep 1/3

Tuesday 4 to Thursday 6 May

3.30-3.45pm BBC RADIO 4

To mark the 150th anniversary of JM Barrie's birth, three leading writers for young people contribute new stories inspired by a chapter title from Peter Pan. The authors have been set the task of exploring the joys and the terrors of childhood without sentimentality, much as Barrie did in his original text.

In the first episode, Melody Grove reads Peanut Butter And Cello by Geraldine McCaughrean, in which a young girl carries a precious burden on a hazardous cross-city journey.

In Wednesday's episode, James Bryce reads Daredevil by award-winning author Michael Morpurgo; a reckless challenge leads to a dark discovery in a tale of nature and brotherhood.

In the final programme on Thursday, Laura Smales reads The Beautiful Freedom Cage by Julie Bertagna. Alam travels from his desolate mountain community to the glittering promise of Europe, where he hopes to learn the true meaning of freedom.

Readers/Melody Grove, James Bryce and Julie Bertagna, Producer/Eilidh McCreadie

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Sir Stuart Rose, executive chairman of Marks & Spencer, chooses cartographer Matthew Flinders, who mapped Australia 200 years ago, as his subject in this week's Great Lives.

Matthew Parris presents, with Nigel Rigby of the National Maritime Museum offerings an expert's view.

Presenter/Matthew Parris, Producer/Miles Warde

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John Waite explores research pioneered in Cambridge that shows that some patients in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) might in fact retain a degree of consciousness.

Tony Bland had been in a persistent vegetative state for four years following the Hillsborough disaster and died nine days after the Law Lords gave permission for feeding to be withdrawn. It was Tony's parents' wish that future medical efforts be focused on trying to improve the diagnosis of PVS.

Now Dr Adrian Owen and his fellow Cambridge researchers are using functional MRI scans to try to detect brain activity. They have been asking patients and healthy volunteers to imagine playing tennis and answer questions while being scanned. In each of the healthy volunteers this stimulated activity in the pre-motor cortex part of the brain which deals with movement. This also happened in 4 out of 23 of the patients presumed to be in a vegetative state.

These are not patients who show any signs of physical recovery but the research raises the possibility that they might retain a degree of consciousness and that there might be a way of communicating with them.

John also talks to Professor John Pickard, head of neurosurgery at Addenbrooke's hospital in Cambridge, and Kate Bainbridge, a 37-year-old teacher thought to be in a vegetative state after contracting a viral infection.

Presenter/John Waite, Producer/Sue Mitchell

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Dr Mark Porter visits the Trauma Centre at the Royal London Hospital, which has established teams of experts to rapidly deliver treatments to the seriously injured.

The Centre is based on a model of care established in the United States, which has been shown to save lives and improve the outcome for severely injured patients.

The Royal London Hospital Trauma Centre treats around 1,400 patients a year. Around a quarter of those are very seriously injured, often as the result of knife or gunshot wounds, traffic accidents, burns or falls. The team was heavily involved in the treatment of the victims of the London bombings in 2005.

The Trauma Centre is now one of four in London, collaborating to provide the best treatment to the capital.

Mark spends a day with the team of doctors and nurses to find out how they work together to save the lives of seriously injured people.

Presenter/Dr Mark Porter, Producer/Deborah Cohen

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5 Live Sport

Tuesday 4 May

7.00-10.30pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Mark Pougatch

Mark Pougatch presents the day's sports news, including coverage of cricket's World Twenty20 in Guyana.

Presenter/Mark Pougatch, Producer/Tim Peach

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

World Twenty20 Cricket

Tuesday 4 May

6.15-9.45pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

The Test Match Special team provide uninterrupted commentary on the Group D match between England and Ireland in the ICC World Twenty20, live from Providence, Guyana.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sport Extra Publicity

Gideon Coe selects archive concert tracks featuring Television and Lonnie Donegan.

He also delves deep to find a quartet of session rarities, including improv-experimental American composer Jim O'Rourke, London trio White Lies, Jackie Whitern and Aberdeen's funky early Eighties troupe APB.

Presenter/Gideon Coe, Producer/Mark Sheldon

BBC 6 Music Publicity