Programme Information

Dermot O'Leary has live music from the winner of BBC's Sound Of 2010

Dermot O'Leary has live music from the winner of BBC's Sound Of 2010, Ellie Goulding, in this week's show.

The BBC's Sound Of list showcases the best rising music stars for the coming year and is compiled using tips from leading UK tastemakers, including top music critics, magazine editors, broadcasters and influential bloggers.

Ellie won her first talent contest in her home town of Kington, Herefordshire, and began as a traditional acoustic singer-songwriter. But while studying drama at university in Canterbury, she hooked up with producers Starsmith and Frankmusik – who appeared on Dermot's show last year – and the results soon gained a following online. Her "folktronica" sound mixes a traditional acoustic approach with a more cutting-edge electronic style.

Presenter/Dermot O'Leary, Producer/Ben Walker

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Comedian Alex Lowe

The Alex Lowe Double Act unites Alex (The Peter Serafinowicz Show, Phoenix Nights, Clare In The Community) with Alistair McGowan, star of The Big Impression, for 30 minutes of sketches, monologues, characters and comedy banter.

The pair will do funny impressions – if Alex can twist Alistair's arm that is. And there are sketches with Barry From Watford, the elderly lifestyle guru from Steve Wright In The Afternoon; and Steven McMurdoch, Scotland's No. 1 home computer expert.

This comedy pilot is written principally by Alex and Alistair along with Ashley Blaker, Paul Putner, Jon-Luke Roberts, Jon Hunter and Holly Walsh, Joel Morris and Jason Hazeley.

Presenter/Alex Lowe, Producer/Ashley Blaker

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Harper Simon performs live versions of tracks from his new, self-titled album in Bob Harris's show tonight.

The album was recorded in Nashville, New York and Los Angeles with the help of an impressive and decidedly eclectic and multi-generational group of musical collaborators, including famed producer Bob Johnston, an all-star group of veteran first-call Nashville session players, a group of contemporary young singer-songwriters and friends, and even Harper's own father, the legendary Paul Simon.

Presenter/Bob Harris, Producer/Mark Simpson

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

This production of Il Turco in Italia – Rossini's perceptive comedy of Neapolitan life and love – was recorded live at the Royal Opera House in April, starring Ildebrando d'Arcangelo, Aleksandra Kurzak and Sir Thomas Allen.

A Turkish Prince, Selim, arrives in Naples by boat, looking for an amorous adventure. At the same time, the respectable Don Geronio is struggling to keep his younger wife, Fiorilla, happy. She is more interested in flirting with the young men around her, and she is immediately drawn to the exotic young Turk.

Meanwhile, the poet Prosdocimo is trying to find a subject for a new play, and he decides to stir things up in the name of theatre, especially when he discovers Zaida, a young gypsy girl who was jilted by a prince in Turkey, and Don Narciso, the previous lover of Fiorilla, now usurped by Selim.

Rossini's lively vocal ensembles sparkle with desire, frustration, jealousy and love. In this production, updated to the Sixties, this is all played out at the beach in Naples complete with pasta, wine, Italian cars, a Vespa and a masked ball.

Presented by Ivan Hewett, there are additional insights from writer and broadcaster Daniel Snowman and interviews with members of the cast, the conductor and directors during the interval.

Presenter/Ivan Hewett, Producer/ Janet Tuppen

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

This Saturday Play tells the true story of The Jubilee Singers who brought the songs of the plantations to Europe in the years immediately after slavery, and stars Jonathan Pryce, Bonnie Greer, Felix Dexter and Clive Rowe.

The singers played to Queen Victoria and Gladstone, and Swing Low Sweet Chariot was heard in England for the first time when they sang it to packed concert halls throughout the country.

The play stars a London black gospel choir, with musical directors Felix Cross and Allyson Devenish. The cast includes Adjoa Andoh, Felix Dexter, Bonnie Greer, Nadine Marshall, Alibe Parsons, Clive Rowe and Ray Shell.

They are joined by Jonathan Pryce who plays a Welsh journalist captivated by a completely new kind of song. He hears each singer's own story and begins to be entranced by one of them in particular, though their love appears to have no future, developing as it does under the shadow of war in Europe and the inevitable barriers which 19th-century culture placed between men and women of different races.

It was written by the late Adrian Mitchell, who died suddenly last year. Adrian, who was a revered poet, playwright and human rights campaigner, was inspired to write this musical play by the true story of a Welsh journalist who toured with the black American Jubilee singers in their first European tour in the late 19th century.

Mitchell's play was conceived for the theatre but it has not yet had a stage production; this is its première, adapted for radio under the guidance of Adrian's widow Celia Mitchell.

Producer/Marilyn Imrie

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Presenter Sarah Lenton explores the Royal Opera House archive to find out what the world of opera and ballet looks like from an orchestra pit.

Tucked out of sight in the pit of Covent Garden, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House accompanies every world-class performance presented on that stage.

Using a mixture of archive and backstage material, Sarah Lenton explores the orchestra's fortunes from Handel, who started the band, up to the latest rehearsal of the new Aida and allows the players to give listeners their "pit's eye view" of the Royal Opera House.

Their unique position provides some revealing insights into audiences, conductors and what happens if the stage action spills into their playing space.

Supplementing the player's view of life is archive from their conductors, from the despotic Thomas Beecham to the mercurial Georg Solti. Bernard Haitink makes an appearance, apparently as baffled as anyone else as to how a band manages to read a conductor's hands, and the programme hears from the current Music Director of the Royal Opera House, Antonio Pappano.

Presenter/Sarah Lenton, Producer/Philippa Ritchie

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

5 Live Sport

Saturday 15 May

12.00noon-6.00pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Mark Pougatch presents an afternoon of live sport. From 12.15pm there's live coverage of the second League One semi-final first-leg play-off tie, plus all the latest from the qualifying session of the Monaco Grand Prix and racing from Newbury.

At 3pm there's live commentary of the FA Cup Final between Chelsea and Portsmouth from Wembley Stadium. There are also regular updates from the Scottish Cup Final, Ross County versus Dundee United.

Presenter/Mark Pougatch, Producer/Mark Williams

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

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BBC Radio 5 Live's 606 presenter Spoony travels the country to meet some of the Premier League's top young players, including some World Cup hopefuls.

Spoony will be talking to the Young Lions about the pressures of being a footballer in 2010, both on and off the pitch, and their ambitions for the future.

Contributors include Manchester City and Birmingham City goalkeeper and England hopeful Joe Hart, West Ham United striker Carlton Cole and Manchester City star Micah Richards, the youngest ever defender to be called up to the senior England team.

Presenter/Spoony, Producer/Jo Tongue

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

5 Live Formula 1

Saturday 15 May

9.55-11.05am BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA
12.55-2.05pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Uninterrupted commentary on the third practice session (9.55am) and the qualifying session (12.55pm) for the Monaco Grand Prix, comes live from Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo.

Producer/Jason Swales

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

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Football

Saturday 15 May

2.45-5.00pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Uninterrupted live commentary of the Scottish Cup Final features Ross County versus Dundee United, live from Hampden Park.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

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Boxing

Saturday 15 May

9.00-11.00pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Listeners can enjoy live commentary from Upton Park, East London, as local boy Kevin Mitchell challenges Australian Michael Katsidis for the Interim WBO Lightweight title.

Ahead of the main fight, and on the same bill, there's live commentary of Olympic Champion James DeGale's first title fight, the WBA international super-middleweight clash with Dudley's Sam Horton. Olympians Frankie Gavin and Billy-Joe Saunders are also on the bill.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

Dave Pearce meets Sister Bliss and Maxi Jazz from seminal electronic band Faithless to talk about their life in dance music.

Best known for their hits Insomnia and God Is A DJ, the band release their eagerly awaited album The Dance later this month; the first on their own label, Nate's Tunes.

Having sold 12 million records since they formed in 1995, Faithless have also established themselves as a massive draw on the UK live circuit, and this summer mark their return by playing Glastonbury, T In The Park, Global Gathering and the V Festival.

In this special edition of Dance Anthems, Dave – who was the first person ever to play Faithless's music on UK radio – talks to the band about their career and invites them to choose the tracks which have influenced them the most over the last 30 years of dance music. In the last half hour of the show, there's another chance to hear an extract of their Faithless Sound System Essential Mix, broadcast on BBC Radio 1 earlier this year.

Presenter/Dave Pearce, Producer/Rowan Collinson

BBC 6 Music Publicity

Worldplay Season – The Big Melt Ep 1/6

Saturday 15 May

8.00-9.00pm BBC WORLD SERVICE

Broadcasters from around the world have each produced a play based on the theme Money as part of the new series of Worldplay. The series comprises six plays, which will air on BBC World Service from May to September 2010.

The Big Melt is a comic play from Radio New Zealand about contemporary society. It looks at how big narratives, such as global warming and financial meltdowns could be dealt with on a day-to-day level.

Writer Stuart Hoar says of the play: "I think it ends optimistically, in that having eaten some freegan food (admittedly only once), I do know that – even if things get very bad – as long as there are supermarket waste bins there is no need to despair: yet."

Directed by Duncan Smith with music by Daniel Beban and Isaac Smith, the cast includes Jeffrey Thomas, Ginnette McDonald, Simon Ferry, Gavin Rutherford, Ete Etuati and Kate Prior.

BBC World Service Publicity

Aled Jones says Good Morning Sunday to singer-songwriter Judie Tzuke in this week's programme, as she reflects on a career that spans over 30 years.

Rabbi Pete Tobias also explains more about the Jewish harvest festival of Shavuot, which falls this week.

Presenter/Aled Jones, Producer/Hilary Robinson

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This week's show includes music by Malcolm Arnold, Betty Driver, Glenn Miller and Vaughan Williams.

Plus Alan Titchmarsh's A-Z Of Operetta reaches E and looks at the life of singer Nelson Eddy.

Presenter/Alan Titchmarsh, Producer/Bridget Apps

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Brian D'Arcy celebrates the feast of the Ascension

Brian D'Arcy celebrates the feast of the Ascension with hymns, prayers and reflection.

This week's featured choir is the Blossom Street Singers directed by Hilary Campbell. The organist is Andrew Earis and hymns include Alleluia Sing To Jesus and Crown Him With Many Crowns.

Presenter/Brian D'Arcy, Producer/Janet McLarty

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

American composer John Adams, one of the most successful contemporary composers of operas and orchestral works, talks to Michael Berkeley about the music that makes him tick.

John Adams's best-known works, often on contemporary or controversial themes, include the operas Nixon In China, based on Richard Nixon's epoch-making 1972 meeting with the Chinese leader Mao Tse Tung; The Death Of Klinghoffer, about the terrorist hijacking of the cruise liner Achille Lauro and the murder of an elderly American passenger; and Doctor Atomic (2005), which deals with Robert Oppenheimer and the building of the first US atomic bomb. His minimalist orchestral and ensemble works have entered the contemporary repertoire and earned him a wide international audience.

John's musical tastes encompass popular American masterpieces such as Sousa's The Stars And Stripes Forever, Duke Ellington's The Tattooed Bride and the Beach Boys' Good Vibrations, as well as a series of extraordinary works written towards the end of composers' lives: a late Beethoven string quartet; Schubert's last great piano sonata; Hagen's monologue from Act One of Wagner's opera Gotterdammerung; and Debussy's elusive ballet score, Jeux.

Presenter/Michael Berkeley, Producer/Sarah Cropper

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Broadcaster and journalist Edward Seckerson tells the remarkable story of the use of the early telephone to relay live entertainment and news direct to subscribers' homes in the late 19th and early 20th century.

The gasps of admiration at Alexander Graham Bell's 1876 invention had barely died away before the new medium was being seen not just as a means of conversation, but as an instrument for relaying live music. As soon as 1881, live performances from two Paris opera houses were being transmitted to a great electrical exhibition at the French capital's Palais d'Industrie. The big, bold sound of opera was particularly suited to overcoming the technical shortcomings of the earliest telephone equipment.

Opera was to have an honoured place in entertainment-by-telephone history. In London, for example, Covent Garden performances could be accessed live in private homes, gentlemen's clubs and hotels. Opera was standard fare for telephone subscribers in Budapest. In the USA, one piece of educational expertise saw subscribers "taught" operas by an interweaving of spoken libretto and recordings of arias.

The Pleasure Telephone also looks at the breadth of other entertainment offered via the telephone at this time. The most astonishing developments took place in Budapest, where the Telefon Hirmondo company offered what we would now fully recognise as a radio station.

Presenter/Edward Seckerson, Producer/Andrew Green

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

Poetry Please Ep 1/10

Sunday 16 May

4.30-5.00pm BBC RADIO 4

Roger McGough introduces requests for poems learnt by heart while at school, in the first of a new series of Poetry Please.

The programme, called Old Chestnuts Warmed Up, includes classic works by AA Milne, Thomas Hardy and some anonymous writers.

Presenter/Roger McGough, Producers/Mark Smalley and Tim Dee

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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In Perpetual Love Affair, Selina Cadell reads a selection of Jan Morris's travel writing about Venice.

Henry James felt that the inevitable relationship with Venice was "a perpetual love affair". In this piece about the city, travel writer Jan Morris notes particularly the children of Venice and its cats.

The programme is abridged and produced by Christine Hall.

Reader/Selina Cadell, Producer/Christine Hall

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

5 Live Sport

Sunday 16 May

12.00noon-6.00pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Colin Murray presents 5 Live Sport with the latest sport news and live action.

There's live coverage of the second League Two semi-final play-off first-leg match, at 1.30pm. At 1pm there's also F1 coverage of the Monaco Grand Prix.

Listeners can also hear coverage of the Blue Square Conference play-off final at Wembley, with the winners securing a place in the Football League.

Presenter/Colin Murray, Producer/Adrian Williams

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Listeners can hear an hourly rerun of the overnight WBA light-welterweight title fight as Amir Khan defends his title against American Paulie Malignaggi at Madison Square Garden, New York.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

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World Twenty20 Cricket

Sunday 16 May

4.00-7.45pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA
8.45pm-12.15am BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Uninterrupted commentary on the men's final (4pm) and women's final (8.45pm) of the ICC World Twenty20, live from Bridgetown, Barbados, comes from the Test Match Special team.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

Comedian and actor Peter Serafinowicz joins Adam Buxton to create a tape of songs which are funny, intentionally or not. Peter made his name on British TV in a number of classic comedies including Black Books, Spaced and Smack The Pony and went on to host his own show, appropriately titled the Peter Serafinowicz Show.

Presenter/Adam Buxton, Producer/James Stirling

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Fun Lovin' Criminal and BBC 6 Music presenter Huey Morgan

One of the most seminal rock 'n' roll albums of all time, The Rolling Stones's Exile On Main Street, gets a reissue this year accompanied by 10 unearthed tracks. In the biggest interview of his radio career, Huey Morgan hangs out with his hero, one of the most famous men in rock, Mick Jagger.

Huey quizzes Mick about the making of the album which, in his eyes, defined them as a band. What was that long hot summer of 1971 like, living in tax exile in the South of France, recording in Keith Richard's infamous rented mansion, Villa Nellcote? From Rip This Joint to Tumbling Dice, Torn And Frayed and All Down The Line – how did the songs come about and how were they recorded in that sweltering basement, once a former residence of the Nazis?

Mick has been occasionally dismissive of the album which had a lukewarm reception when it came out, but has gone on to be hailed as a masterpiece. How does he feel about it now? As well as picking apart the record Huey finds out about the new cuts and talks about Stones In Exile, a new documentary to be aired on the BBC about the making of the record. He also asks about upcoming plans for the band – when will they be back out on the road?

Rolling Stones fans can also hear BBC Radio 2's documentary on the making of Exile On Main Street, Exile Of The Stones, on Radio 2 on Wednesday 19 May at 10pm.

Presenter/Huey Morgan, Producer/Rebecca Maxted

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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DJ and producer James Lavelle takes over the 6 Mix, playing tracks from his eagerly awaited new UNKLE album. James, who in his own words, became a DJ "because I couldn't break dance and I was no good at graffiti", founded influential hop-hip and electronic label Mo' Wax in the mid Nineties, releasing DJ Shadow's seminal Endtroducing album.

In 1998 he joined forces with Shadow to release the album Psyence Fiction under the name UNKLE, collaborating with Thom Yorke, Richard Ashcroft and the Beastie Boys on the record. Since then, Lavelle has released five other UNKLE albums, as well as carving out a career as an international DJ with a long-time residency at London's Fabric nightclub.

In his 6 Mix, James plays tracks from the new UNKLE album Where Did The Night Fall, and talks about collaborating on the record with Mark Lanagen, Sleepy Sun and Autolux. There's also an hour-long club mix from James, playing a selection of upfront new music he's found on his DJ travels.

Presenter/James Lavelle, Producer/Rowan Collinson

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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The Live Music Hour features Skunk Anansie live at the Glastonbury Festival in 1999, plus sessions from Powerhouse and Daisy Chainsaw.

Presenter/Chris Hawkins, Producer/Claire Slevin

BBC 6 Music Publicity

This week's Tracks Of My Years are selected by Alexandra Burke. The winner of The X Factor in 2008 reveals two of her favourite records each day this week.

There's also the regular Record and Album Of The Week features, and the Popmaster quiz which can now be played online at bbc.co.uk/ken-bruce/popmaster.

Presenter/Ken Bruce, Producer/Fiona Day

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Chris Tarrant returns to BBC Radio as he sits in for Steve Wright all week, playing three hours of top tunes and talking to celebrity guests.

Chris last presented on BBC Radio 2 with pop star and songwriter Nik Kershaw in December 2009, profiling the Great British Songbook Of The Eighties.

Chris has a rich and diverse history of broadcasting, ruling the London airwaves from 1987 to 2004 as the host of the legendary Capital Radio Breakfast Show, as well as changing the face of the television game show as presenter of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? from 1998 until today.

Presenter/Chris Tarrant, Producer/Adam Uytman

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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The Divine Comedy, aka Neil Hannon, is live in session on Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie's show this evening.

Neil will be performing tracks from his forthcoming album Bang Goes The Knighthood, which is The Divine Comedy's 10th studio album.

Presenters/Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie, Producer/Viv Atkinson

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Jools Holland's guest this week is Paul Weller.

Paul joins Jools and his band to perform an impromptu version of the Dinah Washington song What A Difference A Day Makes.

Weller recently played a concert for BBC Radio 2 at the Radio Theatre for the first Radio 2 In Concert, performing classic hits and tracks from his new album Wake Up The Nation plus exclusive numbers for BBC 6 Music.

Presenter/Jools Holland, Producer/Sarah Gaston

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Musically speaking, "verismo" is a term that probably has more exceptions than rules, inviting debate to the point where some academics have stated that the concept should be "handled with great care, if at all".

Happily ignoring that particular advice, as part of the Opera On The BBC season, Roger Parker, an authority on Italian opera, joins Donald Macleod to map out the ways in which "verismo" can be applied to opera from Verdi to the 20th century.

From the anguish of Elisabeth in Verdi's Don Carlo, to the ghastly murder that draws the curtains on Puccini's Il Tabarro, Composer Of The Week explores the passion, ecstasy and heartbreaking tragedy, realised in sumptuous musical colour by grand masters of the genre.

The week promises a feast of music by Puccini, Leoncavallo and Mascagni, along with lesser known but equally colourful characters including Cilea, made famous by Enrico Caruso; Ponchielli, probably best known for the comedic realisation of Dance Of The Hours in Disney's Fantasia; and Catalani, whose best-known aria was used in the French film Diva. There's also an aria from an alternative Bohème, written by Leoncavallo at the same time as Puccini's big hit.

Monday's programme begins in the 1870s, in the aftermath of a newly unified Italy. Responding to the prevailing artistic restlessness, composers were keen to break away from the operatic conventions of the past and found inspiration in an avant-garde literary movement led by Giovanni Verga.

It was against this backdrop that the grand old man of Italian opera, Giuseppe Verdi looked to Paris and grand opera, wishing to produce something new and distinctly modern. Soon enough a tide of younger composers rushed to follow in his wake.

Presenter/Donald Macleod, Producer/Johannah Smith

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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From the Bridgewater Hall, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra under Gianandrea Noseda continues its critically acclaimed cycle, Mahler in Manchester, celebrating 150 years since the composer's birth, with his Seventh Symphony, often labelled Song Of The Night.

Before that, David Matthews's Seventh Symphony, commissioned by BBC Radio 3 for this cycle, contrasts modern pieces with the legacy of the Austrian composer.

Presenter/Jonathan Swain, Producer/Juan Carlos Jaramillo

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi

Philip Dodd talks to film director Erik Gandini, whose new documentary about Silvio Berlusconi has generated controversy and censure in Italy.

Gandini's film Videocracy probes the television and celebrity culture that surrounds the Italian Prime Minister and contains some revealing interviews with Berlusconi's inner circle of advisers and neighbours.

Before reaching high office and the current scandals surrounding his love life, Berlusconi made his fortune in the Seventies and Eighties with entertainment-heavy Italian TV so that now, Gandini says, "the president of television is the president of the whole country".

Gandini's resulting film was deemed offensive by the state broadcaster RAI, which also banned all broadcasts of its trailer.

Philip asks Erik about the outraged reaction to Videocracy and probes him on the extent to which Italy has really undergone a cultural revolution, as the director claims.

Presenter/Philip Dodd, Producer/Lisa Davis

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

A History Of The World –
Coin With Head Of Alexander

Monday 17 to Friday 21 May

9.45-10.00am BBC RADIO 4

British Museum director Neil MacGregor begins the second part of his global history told through objects from the Museum

Neil MacGregor begins the second part of his global history told through objects from the British Museum in London.

This week he looks at a subject of topical interest – the great rulers of the world, but this time from 2,000 years ago.

Neil explores the lives and methods of powerful rulers around the world 2,000 years ago, and asks what enduring qualities are needed for the perfect prosecution of power.

He begins with one of history's most famous leaders, one with a divine aura – Alexander the Great, a ruler whose empire was to stretch from Egypt almost as far as China and who has left an impressive legacy on the world today.

He tells the story of Alexander through a small silver coin, one made years after his death, which portrays an idealised image of the leader as a vigorous young man.

Political commentator Andrew Marr considers Alexander as a model for future rulers and the historian Robin Lane-Fox explains the motivation behind his extraordinary ascent.

Presenter/Neil MacGregor, Producers/Philip Sellars, Paul Kobrak, Anthony Denselow and Jane Lewis

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Woman's Hour Drama – The Rabbit House Ep 1/5

Monday 17 to Friday 21 May

10.45-11.00am BBC RADIO 4

Laura Alcoba was the daughter of members of the Montoneros, a militant left-wing organisation engaged in a bitter and violent conflict with the military government in Argentina in what later came to be called the "dirty war" of the Seventies.

The Rabbit House is Laura's memoir of a turbulent Argentinian childhood, a powerful and moving account of political upheaval seen through the eyes of a seven-year-old child, who knows enough to be frightened, but not enough to understand.

With her father in prison, Laura and her mother move to a safe house in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, where they run a rabbit breeding business as a cover for the backroom operation of the Montoneros' clandestine printing press, turning out copies of their revolutionary newspaper for distribution all over the city.

Laura is brought up amid secrecy, subterfuge and silence, and learns very early the importance of keeping her mouth shut, and the danger of loose talk or careless behaviour. But there's also love and laughter in the Rabbit House, and a comforting sense of loyalty and friendship, which she only later discovers to have been betrayed most horribly.

Laura Alcoba's story of living through violence and political turbulence is about the Argentina of only 30 years ago. She now lives in Paris.

Translated by Polly McLean and dramatised by Sheila Yeger, The Rabbit House cast includes Saira Todd as adult Laura; Bethan Barke as young Laura; Jenny Coverack as Laura's mother; Jay Villiers as her father; Merelina Kendall as her grandmother; Rod Beacham as her grandfather; and Lisa Coleman as Diana. Other members of the cast include Vincenzo Pellegrino, Sonia Elliman and Charlotte Ellis.

Producer/Sara Davies

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Simon Miller is 17 and angry with the world. Britain is in recession, his father faces redundancy and, living in the shadow of Sellafield, Simon is haunted by fears of nuclear holocaust.

In The End of the World by Danny Brocklehurst, part of a series of radio plays by leading writers set in the Eighties to tie-in with BBC Two's season about the decade, Simon falls in love with Tasha, a beautiful anti-nuclear activist and sees his chance to make a difference.

When he leaves home to join her in a squat with other anti-nuclear activists, Simon is soon out of his depth and has to face some tough decisions. Music and news archive from the time are interwoven into the play.

Bryan Dick plays Simon, Olivia Hallinan plays Tasha, Jake Norton plays Jo-Jo, Neil Dudgeon plays Kenneth, Jacqueline Leonard plays Liz, Aidan Parsons plays Mickey and John Catterall plays Iain. Other parts are played by Emma Hartley-Miller, Balvinder Sopal and Russell Richardson.

The next play in the series, Lennon – A Week In The Life by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, can be heard on Monday 24 May at 2.15pm.

Producer/Nadia Molinari

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

5 Live Sport

Monday 17 May

7.00-10.30pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Mark Chapman presents a round up of all today's sports news and, from 7.45pm, live coverage of the second leg of the first League One play-off semi-final.

Presenter/Mark Chapman

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Lauren Laverne is joined by Canadian band Wintersleep for a live session in the BBC 6 Music studios.

Wintersleep found success during 2008 and 2009 with their album Welcome To The Night Sky. They return to the UK this month with their fourth studio album, New Inheritors.

Presenter/Lauren Laverne, Producer/Gary Bales

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Andrew Collins celebrates the work of music video director Spike Jonze, who provides the visuals for the Video Of The Week, Drunk Girls by LCD Soundsystem.

Presenter/Andrew Collins, Producer/Jax Coombes

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Marc Riley is joined in the studio this evening by Jeffrey Lewis and Kimya Dawson's anti-folk super group The Bundles who play a live session.

Along with Jeffrey and Kimya, The Bundles also feature Jeffrey's brother Jack, Karl Blau and Anders Griffen. Kimya is formerly of the Mouldy Peaches and best known for her contributions to the Juno soundtrack.

The band originally formed as long ago as 2001, but it has taken them a decade to record and release their eponymous debut album, which came out in March.

Presenter/Marc Riley, Producer/Michelle Choudhry

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Gideon Coe's trawl through the BBC archives this evening results in vintage post punk from Magazine, in concert from 1980, plus session tracks from Blondie.

Also featured are sessions from Serious Drinking and Noseflutes (both for John Peel) and Miracle Fortress with a BBC 6 Music session from 2007.

Presenter/Gideon Coe, Producer/Mark Sheldon

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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The Live Music Hour takes an Eighties theme tonight with a classic concert by Culture Club, live from Golders Green Hippodrome and session highlights from Visage.

Session tracks from non-Eighties band Hope Of The States also feature.

Presenter/Chris Hawkins, Producer/Claire Slevin

BBC 6 Music Publicity

Once unheard of in the UK, acid attacks are now on the increase.

According to National Health Service statistics, the number of people hospitalised as a result of cases involving acid increased from 44 to 67 in just two years and a leading a charity is now so concerned, that it is to conduct the first ever detailed research to be carried out in the UK.

This Asian Network Reports Special, presented by Konnie Huq, talks to those who have been affected and examines what lessons can be put in place to combat these attacks.

One man speaks about how he had acid thrown into his face and how he's suffered great trauma as no-one has ever been arrested for the attack. We also hear from a 24-year-old woman, who describes how she has undergone endless hours of pioneering surgery after she also had acid thrown into her face.

Hearing from these acid victims, Konnie also talks to the experts who want to stop the horrifying increase of acid attacks in Britain.

Presenter/Konnie Huq, Producer/Perminder Khatkar

BBC Asian Network Publicity

Soft Power Ep 1/2

Monday 17 May

8.00-8.30pm BBC WORLD SERVICE

Culture, lifestyle, values and ideals are increasingly important factors as US States compete for global economic and political dominance. This kind of influence – attracting and persuading others to adopt your goals – is known as soft power. It thrives on influence, not coercion, and many 21st-century leaders are keenly aware of its importance.

Since Barack Obama took office, the media has widely reported on American soft power – an aspect that many believe declined during George Bush's presidency. But who will challenge Washington to be the world's No. 1 soft power in the future?

Philip Dodd examines how the global soft power battle is shaping up and what weapons are being deployed – from global sporting fixtures and cultural events to China's soft power offensive in Africa.

Philip speaks to a range of international figures about this concept, including former European Commission President Romano Prodi; Joseph Nye, the US policymaker and the man who first forged the phrase soft power; AR Rahman, the composer of the soundtrack to Slumdog Millionaire; Yu Long, Music Director of the China Philharmonic orchestra; and Zhou Li Bo, one of the most famous comedians in China.

Presenter/Philip Dodd, Producer/Michael Gallagher

BBC World Service Publicity

Jamie Cullum showcases his love for all types of jazz, and music rooted in jazz, from its heritage to the future.

This week's show features a live session track hand-picked from the BBC archives. So far, Jamie has selected tracks featuring Duke Ellington and the John Surman Octet, both from the Sixties. After a huge email response to his request for more ideas, he chooses another classic recording from the archives.

Presenter/Jamie Cullum, Producer/Karen Pearson

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Pete Waterman, the producer behind artists including Kylie Minogue, Steps and Westlife, concludes his look at the decline of the independent record shop and considers what the future holds for them.

The programme hears from Nick Todd, the quirky, straight-talking owner of Spillers in Cardiff. The world's oldest record shop still in operation, it has been hailed as a "lifeline" by The Manic Street Preachers and the place where they got their musical education. Local radio star Frank Hennessy explains how the shop has managed to ward off multiple closure threats and compete in a supermarket and download-dominated market. Frequented by such acts as Super Furry Animals, Cerys Matthews, the Coal and the Zutons, Spillers remains full of character, and a true cultural institution which, so far, locals have done everything to protect.

And Pete is awestruck as he enters Rough Trade East, the cult record store off London's Brick Lane. It's one of the last independent record shops in a city formerly teeming with them and, since its opening in 2007, it has bucked the trend and thrived.

Whether it's supermarkets, downloading, hikes in rent or complacent store managers that are to blame for the decimation of record shops, this programme discovers that the survivors are fighting back. And if they continue to have their way then the record shop is here to stay.

Presenter/Pete Waterman, Producer/Hannah Rosenfelder

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Anne McElvoy talks to Martha Nussbaum, one of American's most influential philosophers. Nussbaum has made her name as a defender of progressive contemporary values supported by classical authors such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. She famously took the stand in a legal case defending anti-discrimination laws for gays and, to the criticism of some scholars, cited the classics in her arguments. She worked with Nobel Prize economist Amartya Sen to advance ideas about the "capabilities" in developing societies, rather than just GDP or freedoms. And she's probed the idea of disgust and shame as moral drivers.

At the same time Nussbaum has not been afraid to attack feminists, who she thinks have strayed too far from the realm of mainstream politics. She's now a frequent commentator on some of the big debates about gender and law in American society.

Nussbaum's latest book is Not For Profit – Why Democracy Needs The Humanities. Anne asks her to explain why she thinks what Americans call "the liberal arts" are under any sort of real threat.

Presenter/Anne McElvoy, Producer/Fiona McLean

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

A History Of The World as told through objects at the British Museum considers the ruler of India 2,000 years ago.

Throughout this week Neil MacGregor explores the lives and methods of powerful new leaders. Today he looks at how the Indian ruler Asoka turned his back on violence and plunder to promote the ethical codes of Buddhism.

Asoka communicated to his vast new nation through a series of edicts written on rocks and pillars. Neil tells the life story of Asoka through a remaining fragment of one of his great pillar edicts and considers his legacy in India today.

Amartya Sen and the Bhutanese envoy to Britain, Michael Rutland, describe what happened when Buddhism and power came together.

Presenter/Neil MacGregor, Producers/Philip Sellars, Paul Kobrak, Anthony Denselow and Jane Lewis

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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On the 80th anniversary of Lorraine Hansberry's birth, Adjoa Andoh reflects on the brief but highly influential career of this African-American playwright and social activist.

In 1959, Hansberry became the first black woman to have a play produced on Broadway and was the youngest recipient of the New York Drama Critics Circle Award.

An eloquent and impassioned orator for civil rights, Lorraine Hansberry quickly became one of the most famous women in the country.

Friend to the likes of Paul Robeson, James Baldwin and Nina Simone, who composed To Be Young, Gifted And Black in her honour, Hansberry's prescient speeches and artfully constructed drama played a key role in the ongoing civil rights struggle.

This programme also features her sister, Mamie Hansberry; poet and playwright Jackie Kay; Chicago Southside historian Timuel Black; and theatre directors Michael Buffong and Paulette Randall.

Presenter/Adjoa Andoh, Producer/Eleanor McDowall

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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John Gordon Sinclair stars in this dark comedy about a surveillance expert who discovers his wife is having an affair – and realises it could make an engaging teaching aid.

Stuart is a freelance surveillance expert who teaches covert "'information gathering" to new intelligence recruits.

As part of his work he "bugs" friends and family, including his wife, Penny. When he discovers that she's having an affair with a man called Neil, his work colleague, Ren, offers her own skills in "enhanced interview techniques" to help, but Stuart declines.

He realises that the secret affair could make an engaging teaching aid. Initially, his students are slightly unsettled but very intrigued. The affair becomes the main focus of the curriculum, and the group study how to bug all manner of difficult situations, such as an impromptu hotel room, a car in a field, a busy nightclub and a hot-air balloon. But Penny feels terrible about the affair and, when Stuart discovers emotions deeply buried, things soon spiral out of control.

The Recordist by Sean Grundy features John Gordon Sinclair as Stuart, Sharon Horgan as Penny, Gemma Jones as Ren, Ed Weeks as Neil, Fergus Craig as Reese, Nick Mohammed as Munro and Phyllida Nash as Penny's mum.

Director/Alison Crawford

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Making History Ep 1/8

Tuesday 18 May

3.00-3.30pm BBC RADIO 4

Vanessa Collingridge returns with a new series of BBC Radio 4's history programme in which listeners' questions and research help offer new insights into the past.

This episode features the 19th-century Somerset boot-maker who helped improve the lives of millions of amputees and changed the course of medical history; and, in the North West, a literary scheme that is using historical fiction to help readers unlock the past.

Contributions or questions can be emailed to making.history@bbc.co.uk or posted to Making History, BBC Radio 4, PO Box 3096, Brighton BN1 1PL.

Listeners can join the conversation on the Making History Facebook page or find out more from the website at bbc.co.uk/radio4/makinghistory.

Presenter/Vanessa Collingridge, Producer/Nick Patrick

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Why. Robot? Ep 1/3

Tuesday 18 to Thursday 20 May

3.30-3.45pm BBC RADIO 4

Why. Robot? features three different stories inspired by Isaac Asimov's three laws of robotics.

The first story, The Melancholy, written by Toby Litt and read by Indira Varma, is set in 2068. Chief Engineer Chandi Kane investigates why a local application, 13/13, has mysteriously gone missing on one of Jupiter's moons, Europa.

Algorithms are step-by-step methods for solving a problem and Rebecca's life is full of them. The problem is that they tend to solve one problem while creating a new one. Algorithms is written by Scarlet Thomas and read by Siobhan Redmond.

In the final story, The Companion, by Anita Sulliva, Colin – a medically trained, "Companion-series" humanoid – watches over Eunice's old age with an unorthodox interpretation of the three laws of robotics. The Companion is read by Sheila Steafel.

Readers/Indira Varma, Siobhan Redmond and Sheila Steafel, Producer/Jeremy Osborne

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Kim Phuc and the ITN reporter who helped save her life, Christopher Wain

Kim Phuc, subject of an iconic picture from the Vietnam War, tells her story as she is reunited with the ITN reporter who helped save her life 38 years ago.

The image of a nine-year-old girl screaming as she ran naked down a road in Trang Bang after suffering extreme burns in a Napalm chemical attack became one of the most famous photographs of the Vietnam War.

In an emotional meeting, former ITN reporter Christopher Wain – who helped to save her life that day – is reunited with Kim for the first time in 38 years.

They recall the events of 8 June 1972 and Kim hears for the first time the lengths to which Chris went to get her life-saving treatment.

She tells how Nick Ut's Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph has helped and haunted her in equal measure. She explains how she was recruited as a "symbol of war" before finally escaping Government control by fleeing to Canada.

She managed to live a normal life for a while but was discovered by the press again in the Nineties. She soon realised she had to take control of the photograph and decided to use her fame to help others by establishing a charity for child victims of war, The Kim Phuc Foundation.

The burns Kim suffered in 1972 left her scarred for life and still take their toll on her body. She's in constant pain and has to take regular breaks. But it doesn't stop her living a busy life.

As part of the programme, Kim also meets Ali Abbas, who lost both his arms and 16 members of his family in the Iraq War. The pair share their experiences and Kim offers him advice on living a normal life and finding a way to forgive.

Presenter/Christopher Wain, Producer/Ashley Byrne

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Physicist Brian Cox tells Matthew Parris about his hero

Physicist Brian Cox tells Matthew Parris about his hero, Carl Sagan.

As a young boy of 13, Brian watched the Cosmos TV series, and was inspired to dedicate his life to science.

Carl Sagan's programme took him on a journey across the Cosmos. The programme was a ground-breaking piece of television by a brilliant young scientist who could be inspiring and infuriating in equal measure.

Sagan was a complex character. Driven to succeed, he came from a relatively poor background to become a millionaire, and one of the most influential scientists of his era. His popularity left him open to both criticism and jealousy among his colleagues and, while he was passionate about the need to educate the populace, he could also be arrogant and dismissive of his fellow scientists. Brian explains why he has nominated Sagan in BBC Radio 4's Great Lives.

Presenter/Matthew Parris, Producer/John Byrne

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Horatio Clare seeks out survivors of the African Resistance Movement, a group of young, mostly white liberals, who in Sixties South Africa, turned to sabotage to fight apartheid.

Horatio discovered that his father was involved with the group, which resolved to end apartheid – by force if necessary. He explores this personal story and reveals the idealism and tragedy of a generation.

The group's aim was to halt apartheid by making South Africa ungovernable. They were prepared to blow up pylons and communications equipment but they were adamant that people should not be targeted.

The charismatic president of the National Union of South African Students, Adrian Leftwich, was one of their leaders. Arrested by the police in July 1964, and terrified, he agreed to bear witness against his peers. In the storm that followed, a fringe member, John Harris, planted a bomb in a Johannesburg station. He alerted two newspapers and the police, but they did not evacuate the building. The bomb went off wounding 24 people, including a 77-year-old woman, who later died of pneumonia brought on by her injuries. Harris was executed for this in 1965. The movement was destroyed in a welter of trials, betrayals, arrests and exiles.

Sholto Cross, who was working with Umkonte we Sizwe, the armed wing of the ANC, gives his account, as does RW Johnson, South Africa's pre-eminent contemporary historian. And Horatio interviews his father, who was chosen to fly to Namibia to try to forge links with SWAPO, the South West Africa People's Organisation, which was fighting its own war of liberation.

John Clare, now a respected education journalist, recalls the initial discussions on a university campus that led to the formation of the African Resistance Movement.

The programme follows the movement from its genesis through training, the sabotage operations, and finally to the melt-down; death, imprisonment and exile.

Presenter/Horatio Clare, Producer/Julian May

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

5 Live Sport

Tuesday 18 May

7.00-10.30pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Mark Chapman has all the day's sports news and, from 7.45pm, live coverage of the second League One play-off semi final second leg.

Presenter/Mark Chapman

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Broken Social Scene join Lauren Laverne for a live session.

The Canadian supergroup release their fourth album, Forgiveness Rock Record, this month. Formed by Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning, the band can contain up to 19 members at any one time and previous and current performers include members of Stars, Metric and Feist.

Presenter/Lauren Laverne, Producer/Gary Bales

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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On the 30th anniversary of the death of Joy Division's tragic lead singer, Ian Curtis, Steve Lamacq celebrates his musical legacy with a look back at his life and the music he helped create. Steve chats to Ian's bandmate Peter Hook and asks him about his forthcoming tour of Joy Division's 1979 album Unknown Pleasures.

Presenter/Steve Lamacq, Producer/Paul Sheehan

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Gideon Coe digs deep into the archive to play concert tracks from hip Oxford band Foals from 2007 and The Groundhogs from 1974. His chosen sessions come from 1977 punks The Lurkers, Suckle – members of whom were once in The Vaselines – and the intriguing Elizabethan Jazz Trio.

Presenter/Gideon Coe, Producer/Mark Sheldon

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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The Live Hour features concert highlights from Your Code Name Is Mylo at the Glastonbury Festival in 1999, plus sessions from The Wild Strawberries recorded for the BBC in 1986.

Presenter/Chris Hawkins, Producer/Claire Slevin

BBC 6 Music Publicity

Adil Ray chats to Hrithik Roshan, the star of new international, action-packed film, Kites. The dual-language film is a love story where a man and a woman fall for each other in New Mexico, despite language and cultural barriers.

Adil questions the Bollywood heart-throb about his career and how he feels about working so closely with his family – his uncle, Rajesh Roshan, produced the music to Kites and his father, Rakesh Roshan produced the film.

Presenter/Adil Ray

BBC Asian Network Publicity

Mike Harding presents an hour of the very best in folk, roots and acoustic music, including news from the world of folk and the latest album releases.

Mike also interviews Debbie and Stu Hanna, also known as Megson, and plays tracks from their forthcoming album The Longshot.

Following two successive BBC Radio 2 Folk award nominations for best duo and a string of critically acclaimed releases, The Longshot is themed around work and many of the selected songs originate from the couple's native North East of England.

Megson are supporting the album with a UK tour and appearances at several top UK folk festivals this summer.

Presenter/Mike Harding, Producer/Kellie While

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Paul Sexton tells the tangled tale of one of the most celebrated albums in rock history, the Rolling Stones's epic Exile On Main Street.

As the album is reissued, 38 years after its 1972 release, Paul speaks to Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts and finds out how, and why, the celebrated band became rock's first tax exiles, and wound up making an album with producer Jimmy Miller in the dingy basement of Keith's villa in the south of France.

Amid chemical indulgence, technical problems and the presence of endless hangers-on, the sessions dragged on for months, before the whole project was transported to Los Angeles for final mixing. What emerged, at last, was what some fans call the greatest album the Rolling Stones ever made.

"There's no flim-flam on this record," observes Richards. "It's a bunch of guys trying to say 'Hey, we're more than just pop stars.'"

The programme features classics from the original album, such as Tumbling Dice, Happy and Rocks Off; plus recently-discovered out-takes; and newly completed tracks like Following The River.

Listeners can also hear Huey Morgan interview Mick Jagger for digital radio station BBC 6 Music by listening again at bbc.co.uk/6music.

Presenter and Producer/Paul Sexton

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

From the Barbican Hall, the London Symphony Orchestra, under Sir Colin Davis, perform contrasting symphonies.

First, Haydn's Symphony No. 97, one of the masterworks he wrote and premièred in London. The second concert, Carl Nielsen's Symphony No. 4, the "inextinguishable", is a passionate reflection on the unquenchable will to live.

Between these two symphonies, there's Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17 with star pianist Mitsuko Uchida as soloist.

Presenter/Jonathan Swain, Producer/Juan Carlos Jaramillo

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

Neil MacGregor continues his historical account through objects in the British Museum by describing a power struggle in ancient Egypt revealed in the story behind one of the most familiar and controversial objects at the Museum – the Rosetta Stone.

This week, Neil's theme is shifting empires and the rise of legendary rulers around the world over 2,000 years ago and this story features the Egypt of Ptolemy V.

He also tells the story of the Greek kings who ruled in Alexandria, explains the struggle between the British and the French over the Middle East and their squabble over the stone and describes the astonishing contest that led to the most famous decipherment in history – the cracking of the hieroglyphics on the Rosetta Stone.

Historian Dorothy Thompson and writer Ahdaf Soueif help untangle the tale.

Presenter/Neil MacGregor, Producers/Philip Sellars, Paul Kobrak, Anthony Denselow and Jane Lewis

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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MiraclesRUs Ep 1/4

Wednesday 19 May

11.30pm-12.00noon BBC RADIO 4

Actress Anna Massey

Two diverse women run a service together, MiraclesRUs, offering to fulfil whatever domestic task might arise that any hard-pressed modern household might want to delegate.

In the opening episode, Flux, Caroline, played by Deborah Findlay, is running Household Solutions on her own from the student rooms she is renting – just leafleting through doors, offering a family back-up service.

After a chance meeting with Sylvia (Anna Massey), Sylvia is sure she could be helpful to the business; Caroline is sure she couldn't.

Sylvia persists and, against her better judgement, Caroline gets drawn in. And gradually, throughout the series, a mutual respect is formed and a strong business, MiraclesRUs, is built up.

Written by Lesley Bruce, MiarclesRUs stars Anna Massey and Deborah Findlay.

Producer/Katie Tyrrell

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Heresy Ep 1/6

Wednesday 19 May

6.30-7.00pm BBC RADIO 4

Victoria Coren returns as host of the show which dares to commit heresy.

Victoria and guests Rufus Hound, Grayson Perry and Julia Hartley-Brewer challenge received opinion, expose the wrong-headedness of received wisdom and kick back at knee-jerk reactions.

Each week a panel of three writers, comedians, broadcasters and artists combine with Victoria to demonstrate that some of the most deeply held beliefs are all plain wrong. It's a rich mix of thoughtful discussion and irreverent humour.

Guests in the first programme in the series are comedian and Sport Relief Let's Dance champion Rufus Hound; the artist best known for his ceramic vases and habit of cross-dressing, Grayson Perry; and newspaper columnist and political journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer.

They will be challenging, among other things, the received wisdom that an artist who doesn't make his own work is a fraud and that women look better in men's clothes than men do in women's.

Presenter/Victoria Coren, Producer/Brian King

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

5 Live Sport

Wednesday 19 May

7.00-10.30pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Mark Chapman presents all the day's sports news and, from 7.45pm, live coverage of the second leg of the first League Two play-off semi-final.

Presenter/Mark Chapman

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

It's the middle of the week which can only mean another new favourite band in the studio chatting with Steve Lamacq.

Steve is also joined by Los Angeles based four-piece Warpaint who are mid-way through their UK tour.

Presenter/Steve Lamacq, Producer/Paul Sheehan

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Marc Riley is joined for a live studio session this evening by nu-folk singer Johnny Flynn.

It's been nearly two years since the folk sounds of Johnny Flynn last graced Marc's studio. Since then he's been busy touring, both solo and with his band the Sussex Wit.

He's also found time to record a new album, Been Listening, which is out in June. The multi-talented Flynn not only plays guitar, mandolin, violin, organ, accordion and trumpet, but has also acted with Propeller theatre company.

From a family of actors, Johnny received his musical education at Bedales school which also produced Lily Allen, Patrick Wolf and Luke Pritchard of the Kooks. Fact fans will also be interested to know that he's also the step brother of actor Jerome Flynn of Robson And Jerome fame.

Presenter/Marc Riley, Producer/Michelle Choudhry

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Everything But The Girl's Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn join Gideon Coe for an hour of chat and tunes.

Tracey's new album Love And Its Opposite is due for release on Ben's label on 17 May.

Presenter/Gideon Coe, Producer/Mark Sheldon

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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The Live Hour features Bruce Springsteen recorded in 1992 playing live at Thrill Hill. There are also sessions from the Aloof from 1997 and Pussycat Trash from 1993.

Presenter/Chris Hawkins, Producer/Claire Slevin

BBC 6 Music Publicity

BBC Radio 2 In Concert

Thursday 20 May

8.00-10.00pm BBC RADIO 2

New Zealand singer-songwriter and Crowded House front-man Neil Finn

Crowded House perform an exclusive show for BBC Radio 2, live from London's Mermaid Theatre, and are interviewed by Johnnie Walker.

The current incarnation of Crowded House features Neil Finn, Nick Seymour, Mark Hart and Matt Sherrod, who replaced original drummer Paul Hester after his death in 2005. Tonight they perform classic hits alongside tracks from their new album, Intriguer.

Their 2007 album, Time On Earth, was the first from the band in over a decade but they are already back with the new album and a European and North American tour.

Johnnie Walker presents BBC Radio 2 In Concert with regular features including the Gig Guide, Gig Review, Support Slot and a listener's choice of Classic Live Album.

Presenter/Johnnie Walker

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Sir Tim Rice continues to celebrate the musical heritage of America

Sir Tim Rice continues to celebrate the musical heritage of the United States, and this week reaches Utah.

Artists featured include The Osmonds, Johnny Mercer, Dinah Shore, Art Lund, Ned Miller and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Presenter/Sir Tim Rice, Producers/Anthony Cherry and Ruth Beazley

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

As part of the BBC's A Passion For Opera, Afternoon On 3 will be featuring complete operas on Thursday afternoons until the start of the Proms in July. Today's work is truly international in scope: a Dutch performance of a romantic Italian opera set in the Austrian alps.

When an opera ends with its two leading characters falling to their deaths in an avalanche it's no surprise that it's rarely seen on stage. But La Wally, by Puccini's contemporary Alfredo Catalani, contains some glorious music, including an aria popular from recitals and film scores. Leading Dutch dramatic soprano Eva Maria Westbroek takes the title role, with top Swedish tenor Mats Carlsson as her doomed lover. The opera is introduced by Louise Fryer.

The Netherlands Radio Chorus and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra are conducted by Giuliano Carella.

Presenter/Louise Fryer, Producer/Mark Lowther

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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On 20 May 1845 Lord Franklin's ships the Erebus and Terror cleared the mouth of the Thames on their voyage to find the Northwest Passage.

A traditional song recounts the story "of Franklin and his gallant crew" and, through this, Julian May explores their fateful – indeed fatal – voyage, and reveals how folk song, as well as being beautiful and inspiring, can be history.

Presenter and Producer/Julian May

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

In today's programme, Neil MacGregor outlines the imperial ambitions of Han Dynasty China as described through a beautiful lacquer cup.

In a week of programmes exploring the nature of power and the emergence of new rulers around the world 2,000 years ago, Neil MacGregor takes listeners to Han Dynasty China. He tells the story of how the Chinese maintained loyalty and control by dispensing luxury gifts.

He describes the world of the imperial Han through an exquisite lacquer wine cup that was probably given by the emperor to one of his military commanders in North Korea.

Historian Roel Sterckx underlines the importance of lacquer for the period, while writer Isabel Hilton looks at how the production of goods under state control has remained a consistent interest of the Chinese.

Presenter/Neil MacGregor, Producers/Philip Sellars, Paul Kobrak, Anthony Denselow and Jane Lewis

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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When a heartbreaking memoir about life in war-torn Kabul lands on her desk, Emma thinks she's discovered a new literary sensation. Her colleagues, though, are deeply sceptical.

Cinders is a comedy by Ali Taylor about drawing the line. Emma is played by Claudie Blakley, best known for her roles as Emma Timmins in Larkrise To Candleford, and as Charlotte in Pride And Prejudice.

Other cast members are Michael Shelford, Vineeta Rishi, Lizzy Watts, Sam Dale, Alison Pettitt, Imran Khan and David Seddon.

Producer/Jessica Dromgoole

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

5 Live Sport

Thursday 20 May

7.00-10.30pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Eleanor Oldroyd has all the day's sports news and, from 7.45pm, live coverage of the second League Two play-off semi-final second-leg match.

From 9.30pm Eleanor is joined by guests from the world of rugby for 5 Live Rugby.

Presenter/Eleanor Oldroyd

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Former Delgados singer Emma Pollock joins Steve Lamacq at his round table to chat about her new album, The Law Of Large Numbers, and to review some of this week's interesting new releases.

Presenter/Steve Lamacq, Producer/Paul Sheehan

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Leeds four-piece (and Steve Lamacq favourite) ¡Forward Russia! plus Edinburgh's Beta Band are both in concert, augmented by session tracks from Glasgow's The Pastels; Scottish folk group The Humblebums (who count Billy Connolly and Gerry Rafferty among their former members); Saxon Sound System DJ Papa Levi, who worked with Aswad and Maxi Priest; and Washington DC's drone rockers Trans Am.

Presenter/Gideon Coe, Producer/Mark Sheldon

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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The Live Music Hour features Phil Lynott's last band, Grand Slam, live in Great Yarmouth in 1984.

Presenter/Chris Hawkins, Producer/Claire Slevin

BBC 6 Music Publicity

Desmond Carrington dips into his personal record collection of some 250,000 titles once more, this time in search of music related to a "bandstand" theme.

Desmond celebrates the talents of brass and silver bands, as well as the military on display.

Presenter/Desmond Carrington, Producer/Dave Aylott

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Claudia Winkleman has a special report from the Cannes Film Festival in this week's Arts Show. She is also in discussion with art critic Estelle Lovatt.

Presenter/Claudia Winkleman, Producer/Jessica Rickson

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Ian McMillan presents BBC Radio 3's cabaret of the spoken word, this week featuring a brand new commission from Tracy Chevalier.

Tracy shot to fame with her second novel, Girl With A Pearl Earring, which sold 4 million copies worldwide and was turned into a film starring Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson.

Her writing since then has taken in the lives of other historical and cultural figures, from poet William Blake in Burning Bright to fossil hunter Mary Anning in Remarkable Creatures.

Tracy is one of a host of celebrated novelists, including recently Lionel Shriver, Neil LaBute, Sue Townsend and Neil Gaiman, to have written for The Verb, which every week features a new piece of short fiction specially commissioned for the programme.

Presenter/Ian McMillan, Producer/Laura Thomas

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

Neil MacGregor concludes the first week of the second part of his global history as told through objects from the British Museum with the story of Caesar Augustus, represented by a 2,000-year-old bronze head.

Concluding a week of examinations of powerful rulers from Alexander the Great in Egypt to Asoka in India, Neil today explains how the power and God-like status of Augustus was enshrined in a larger-than-life bronze head with striking eyes.

He describes how Augustus dramatically enlarged the Roman Empire, establishing his image as one of its most familiar objects. Historian Susan Walker and Mayor of London Boris Johnson help explain the power and methodology of Augustus.

Presenter/Neil MacGregor, Producers/Philip Sellars, Paul Kobrak, Anthony Denselow and Jane Lewis

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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i-Shrine explores how the internet and technology is changing the way people deal with death.

Today people leave vast data legacies of the lives they have lived. i-Shrine explores what happens to these legacies of data.

Producer/Peregrine Andrews

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Colin Murray

Colin Murray presents Kicking Off With Colin Murray talking about the latest sports news with special guests and looking ahead to forthcoming sporting action.

Presenter/Colin Murray, Producer/Louise Sutton

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Rugby League

Friday 21 May

7.55-9.45pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Listeners can enjoy live uninterrupted commentary of the Super League match between St Helens and Hull Kingston Rovers.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

Full-bodied friend of the show, Nick Frost joins Shaun Keaveny live in studio to talk about playing the lead role of John Self in a new BBC Two adaptation of Martin Amis's Money.

Matt Everitt has the day's music news, a listener gets a wake-up call in My Morning Racket, and Shaun asks listeners for their Earworms – songs that are stuck on repeat in their heads.

Presenter/Shaun Keaveny, Producer/Nic Philps

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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BBC 6 Music presenter, pilot and Iron Maiden front-man Bruce Dickinson

Formed in London in 1969, UFO evolved from a trippy outfit dabbling in cosmic space rock to one of the world's greatest purveyors of classy, anthemic hard rock.

In fact UFO could be the archetypal hard rock band, complete with preening front-man, mercurial lead guitarists and a bass player whose antics are the stuff of legend (rock lore has it that Sharon Osbourne wouldn't allow Pete Way anywhere near Ozzy, as he was a bad example).

The band has worked with the likes of George Martin and, in 1979, released one of the all-time classic live albums, Strangers In The Night.

UFO enjoyed intermittent success in the Eighties and Nineties, when American guitarist Vinnie Moore joined in 2004 he brought not only his considerable talents to UFO but also a much needed stability. Subsequently the band is enjoying something of a renaissance, with current album The Visitor giving them the most critical acclaim they've had in years.

Presenter/Bruce Dickinson, Producer/Ian Callaghan

BBC 6 Music Publicity