Wednesday 29 Oct 2014
Reggie Yates is joined by McFly on today's official chart show. The Brit Award-winning band, originally from London, are back on the scene with their new single Party Girl. Reggie also catches up with Alesha Dixon on the show.
Presenter/Reggie Yates, Producer/Adele Cross
BBC Radio 1 Publicity
Aled Jones says Good Morning Sunday to singer/songwriter Rob Halligan and talks to him about how he lost his father in the 9/11 attacks in New York.
The programme's faith guests this week are Catholic songwriting duo Boyce and Stanley who talk about their involvement with the Pope's visit to the UK. They also provide the Moment Of Reflection.
Presenter/Aled Jones, Producer/Hilary Robinson for the BBC
BBC Radio 2 Publicity
Taking a break from the stage, Jodie Prenger sits in for Paul O'Grady this week.
There's another Cocktail Hour track, the Northern Soul and Motown Triples and more of listeners' heartfelt Thank You messages. To get in touch with the show, listeners can email paulogrady@bbc.co.uk.
Presenter/Jodie Prenger, Producer/Malcolm Prince for the BBC
BBC Radio 2 Publicity

In the year that the King of Rock 'n' Roll would have turned 75, Chris Evans presents a concert of Elvis's best-loved and most popular songs, live from London's Hyde Park.
Priscilla Presley will appear alongside a host of Elvis fans and musicians, including Craig David, Marti Pellow, Tony Hadley, Suzi Quatro, Scouting For Girls, Imelda May, Nell Bryden, Travis front man Fran Healy, Michael Ball, Tony Christie, Mica Paris and KT Tunstall.
"I am delighted to be appearing at Elvis Forever which I know will be a memorable celebration of Elvis's life and career," says Priscilla Presley. "He has many fans throughout the UK and we are all looking forward to this celebration at Hyde Park in London. I know Elvis would have been very pleased."
Craig David says: "Elvis was one of the coolest artists the world has ever seen. His music inspired me and to be asked to take part in this event is a real honour and something I am really looking forward to."
Marti Pellow, lead singer of Wet Wet Wet, is excited to be a part of this celebratory concert: "Elvis, like the city of Memphis, was and is a huge part of my reason for singing ... he is a singer's singer and he is known as the King of Rock 'n' Roll. Well, that kinda says it all ... if it's cool with Elvis then it's cool with me."
Spandau Ballet front man Tony Hadley says: "I'm thrilled to be a part of this event as I've always loved Elvis – an amazing man with a truly amazing voice. One of the pioneers of rock 'n' roll – what more can I say!"
Rock legend Suzi Quatro says: "I first saw Elvis on television when I was six years old, living in Detroit. From that moment on, I decided I would be just like him. It didn't occur to me that he was a guy! He definitely got me All Shook Up and I have loved him ever since. There is not, and never will be, anyone like him in this world again."
Roy Stride, lead singer of Scouting For Girls, adds: "We are so excited to be part of Elvis Presley's 75th birthday celebrations, and feel very privileged to be asked to play BBC Radio 2's Elvis Forever in Hyde Park. Elvis has always had a very special place in our hearts. We love him so much, we dedicated a song to him on our first album called Elvis Ain't Dead. We'll be playing our two favourite Elvis tunes: Hound Dog and Blue Suede Shoes. We love Elvis!"
Elvis Forever culminates in a spectacular firework finale and, over the following week, listeners can hear highlights from the concert across the station's daytime shows. The Radio 2 website (bbc.co.uk/radio2) will feature exclusive backstage footage and interviews from the event.
The concert is introduced by Richard Allinson.
Presenter/Chris Evans, Producer/Anthony Cherry for the BBC
BBC Radio 2 Publicity
Last week, Brian D'Arcy looked at the contribution from women to the life of the Christian Church. This week, he turns his attention to the role of men.
While many hold positions of power and leadership, churches are working hard to attract more men into the pews, where male attendance is particularly low. Music comes from the choir and congregation of St Andrew's Church, West Tarring, featuring the voice of this year's BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year, Jacquelyne Hill.
This week's featured hymns include Christ For The World We Sing and Glorious Things Of Thee Are Spoken. The musical director is John Wardle and the organist is Richard Axtell.
Presenter/Brian D'Arcy, Producer/Clair Jaquiss for the BBC
BBC Radio 2 Publicity
Michael Berkeley's guest this week is Peter Bazalgette, the British media entrepreneur who has been a leading light in the independent TV production sector, responsible for reality shows such as the UK version of Big Brother, and lifestyle shows such as Ground Force, Changing Rooms, and Ready, Steady, Cook!
Peter Bazalgette's mother was a pianist, and his first choice is Alfred Brendel playing Schubert's Impromptu No. 3 in G flat, which his mother used to play. He was in the school choir, and remembers singing Britten's A Ceremony Of Carols, from which he has chosen Deo gracias. Peter was introduced to opera by his wife, and loves opera sung in English (as at English National Opera). He feels that Mozart's The Magic Flute is one of the most appealing and accessible operas for a newcomer, and has chosen A Man In Search Of Truth And Beauty from Act I.
Presenter/Michael Berkeley, Producer/Sarah Cropper
BBC Radio 3 Publicity
Charles Hazlewood is joined by the BBC Concert Orchestra and composer Graham Fitkin to explore Fitkin's new BBC Radio 3 commission, Tidal.
Featuring an intriguing look into Fitkin's early work, musical influences and his current compositional techniques, the programme includes excerpts from the new work as well as the world première performance. Plus there's an inside look at a BBC Concert Orchestra education project which ran alongside this edition of Discovering Music.
Presenter/Charles Hazlewood, Producer/Sam Phillips
BBC Radio 3 Publicity
In Brian Friel's classic play – one of the greats in the modern Irish canon – a faith healer returns to his native Ireland to a potentially terrible fate.
When fortune smiles, Frances Hardy's gifts are prodigious. Otherwise his devoted wife, Grace, can only watch on as he wages "a drunken feud between himself and his talent". Grace has given up a privileged background and a career in law to join Frank and his engaging wide-boy manager Teddy, touring remote corners of Scotland and Wales in a battered van. But now Frank senses that a return to his native land may be the only way to restore his waning powers. And so the fateful crossing is made, in a homecoming that will change the lives of all three for ever.
This new production for radio, directed by Peter Kavanagh, features Owen Roe, who performed the title role in Dublin and Edinburgh last year. Newcomers to the play are Lia Williams as Grace and Phil Daniels as Teddy.
Director/Peter Kavanagh
BBC Radio 3 Publicity
Actor John Sessions follows the story of a sweeping medieval research project that's rewriting the history and context of early English drama.
The Records Of Early English Drama (Reed) is now one of the biggest research projects ever to have taken place in the study of English literature. Its brief is to establish the broad context from which the great drama of Shakespeare and his contemporaries grew. But rather than look again at the extant texts and folios of the mystery plays and pageants of the early medieval period, a small army of Reed scholars, marshalled from their HQ at the University of Toronto, are combing through church and court records for any reference to plays, music, pageant and performance that they can find.
Very often the records are no more than court reports of wrongdoings: illegal performances, drunken revelry and bawdy performances. Occasionally there are snapshots of the plays that were put on by way of costume and performer costs, touring plans, venue preparation and even descriptions of events that took place. County by county, riding by riding the scholars are producing a brilliantly colourful picture of drama and entertainment from the early medieval period up until the closing of the theatres in 1642.
John Sessions follows Reed scholars into the archives, talks to them about the scale and discipline of their work – it can take over 10 years to cover one county – and asks scholars and performers, including Peter Holland and Mark Rylance, what all this new evidence does to their understanding and performance of early English theatre.
Presenter/John Sessions, Producer/Tom Alban
BBC Radio 3 Publicity
Sue MacGregor gathers together some of the Jewish children who were brought to safety in England by the Kindertransport movement of the Thirties.
From 2 December 1938 until war broke out nine months later, almost 10,000 Jewish children were rescued from Nazi persecution from Germany and the occupied territories of Austria, Poland and Czechoslovakia. The operation became known as the Kindertransport movement.
Following the Kristallnacht attack on Jews in Germany, the British government decided to offer refuge to a limited number of Jewish children. They were sent without their parents by train and boat to England. They were only allowed to take a small suitcase and 10 Reichsmarks. When they arrived many were either placed in temporary hostels or with foster families. Many found kind homes, some were exploited as easy domestic help and others were neglected.
At first, the children had occasional written contact with their parents through the International Red Cross but, as the Second World War progressed, the communication ended.
Most of them never saw their mothers and fathers again. A small percentage were reunited with parents who had either spent the war in hiding or survived the Nazi camps but it was invariably impossible to re-establish family relationships.
Sue is joined around the table by Lord Dubs, Hella Pick, Ruth Humphries, Sir Erich Reich and Ruth Barnett.
Presenter/Sue MacGregor, Producer/Sarah Cuddon for Whistledown Productions
BBC Radio 4 Publicity
Peter White returns with a new series of Children Of The Olympic Bid, which follows the London teenagers representing the sporting dreams of the nation.
When Lord Coe presented London's bid for the 2012 Games at the IOC meeting in Singapore on 6 July 2005 he was flanked on stage by a number of London teenagers. They were seen as crucial in helping secure victory over Paris – representing the sporting dreams of the nation. Peter has been following them, their families and those who train alongside them, providing a unique insight into the lives of the youngsters from very diverse backgrounds who are now making the transition from childhood to living independently – some staking all on the hope of competing in 2012.
Twenty-year-old athlete Jessica Manning, who stopped competing in heptathlons following her family's decision to move to Canada, helped lead the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Meanwhile, 18-year-old Janani is set to take up a place at University College London – if only her uncles can talk her out of her increasing allegiance to protest groups.
Thomas Brown, a promising swimmer who narrowly missed out on competing in Beijing, is in family melt-down – and Michelle, his coach, despairs of him ever making the Paralympic 2012 team. In contrast Ellie has been selected to represent England in the Commonwealth Games. She is committed to her sport, although her family now lives in Australia where 50-metre pools are in plentiful supply.
For Amber Charles the dream of Olympic competition is a step nearer thanks to a basketball scholarship to a prestigious American university – and as if that wasn't enough, she's also fallen in love.
Presenter/Peter White, Producer/Sue Mitchell
BBC Radio 4 Publicity
Wildlife cameraman John Aitchison often finds himself in isolated and even dangerous locations across the globe, filming wildlife, and in this series he reflects on the uniqueness of human experience, the beauty of nature, the fragility of life and the connections which unite society and nature across the globe.
It's November and on Bird Island in the South Atlantic Ocean John watches as Wandering Albatross chicks attempt to fly for the very first time. It takes a year to raise an Albatross chick until its wings are the largest of any bird. As well as these young chicks, one of the world's oldest birds, a grey-headed Albatross, also lives here on Bird Island. She still wears the ID ring with which she was fitted in 1959.
Glen Crossin, a biologist on the island, explains to John how it's only the skin on this Albatross's feet which shows her great age. It's thin and transparent, like the skin on Glen's grandmother's hands. As a boy, this was how Glen knew his grandmother was old.
Watching, filming and hearing stories about the Albatross – long-lived birds and among the greatest of all travellers – John is reminded of his own grandmother and is filled with respect for these two "old birds" as he considers their longevity and life experiences.
Presenter/John Aitchison, Producer/Sarah Blunt
BBC Radio 4 Publicity
Roger McGough returns with an autumn series of Poetry Please.
Today's programme includes poems by DH Lawrence – including his great late masterpieces The Ship Of Death and Bavarian Gentians, and a pair of dazzling birds, Hummingbird and Turkey Cock – read by David Bamber.
Also featured are two new poems from Midlands veteran poet Roy Fisher.
Presenter/Roger McGough, Producer/Tim Dee for the BBC
BBC Radio 4 Publicity
The day's sports coverage starts with 5 Live Sport's Sunday Roast, where Colin Murray is joined by special guests and fans in BBC Television Centre to discuss the day's action.
At 1pm there's live Formula 1 commentary of the Italian Grand Prix from Monza with David Croft, Anthony Davidson and Holly Samos.
From 4pm there's Premier League commentary of Birmingham City versus Liverpool live from St Andrew's.
Presenter/Colin Murray, Producer/Steve Houghton
BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity
Jonathan Overend presents live commentary of the US Open Men's final from Flushing Meadows, New York, with Alastair Eykyn and David Law, plus expert analysis from Jeff Tarango.
Presenter/Jonathan Overend, Producer/Louise Sutton
BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity
Uninterrupted commentary on England versus Pakistan in the second One Day International comes live from Headingley with the Test Match Special commentary team.
Producer/Jen McAllister
BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity
In the first part of an American sport double bill, Arlo White presents commentary on the Wembley bound San Francisco 49'ers at the Seattle Seahawks, in the first weekend of the new NFL season.
Producer/Simon Crosse
BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity
There is more live American sporting action with baseball commentary on title-chasing Atlanta Braves against the St Louis Cardinals, at Turner Field in Atlanta.
Producer/Simon Crosse
BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

Elbow front man and BBC 6 Music presenter Guy Garvey covers for Cerys Matthews while she's on holiday.
Presenter/Guy Garvey, Producer/Michelle Choudhry
BBC 6 Music Publicity
Fun Lovin' Criminal Huey Morgan chills out with the UK's most exciting jazz and hip hop artist, plus saxophonist and rapper, Soweto Kinch. They talk about Soweto's musical influences and the creation of his forthcoming album, The New Emancipation.
Former Beta Band front man Steve Mason continues his stint on Sharing Is Caring, adding to listeners' musical knowledge by introducing another of his favourite, lesser-known songs.
Presenter/Huey Morgan, Producer/Becky Maxted for Wise Buddah
BBC 6 Music Publicity
New Zealand-born DJ Christopher Tubbs takes over the 6 Mix for Heads Down Radio: two hours of dance music from across the globe.
One half of the remix team Atlantic Conveyor, Chris was a DJ in his native Wellington before relocating to London to pursue his love of music. A founder member of Breaks Co-op with BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe, Chris crosses dance music genres from disco to dub via post-punk and future jazz and joins the dots between 30 years of experimental music.
Presenter/Christopher Tubbs, Producer/Rowan Collinson
BBC 6 Music Publicity
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