Programme Information

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