Programme Information

BBC RADIO 1XTRA LIVE
Westwood

Friday 24 September

4.00-7.00pm BBC RADIO 1XTRA

On the eve of BBC Radio 1Xtra Live, the network's flagship live music event, Westwood and Target present their shows live from London's Wembley Arena, warming up for what will be a spectacular night of live music on Saturday 25 September.

This year's 1Xtra Live features performances from an incredible line-up of chart-topping UK and international artists, including headliners N-Dubz, Tinchy Stryder, Tinie Tempah, Jason Derulo and B.o.B. Ten thousand lucky listeners will get the chance to attend the concert, which is the UK's largest free urban music event (paying for postage on tickets only).

Westwood kicks off proceedings at 4pm with a special show live from the venue as it gets transformed from an empty arena into the setting for 1Xtra Live. The Big Dawg aims to get all the backstage scoop from those involved in setting up the event – catching up with everyone from the artists soundchecking to lighting technicians and the cleaners.

Presenter/Westwood, Producers/Lee Edmenson and James Clark

BBC Radio 1Xtra Publicity

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BBC RADIO 1XTRA LIVE
Target

Friday 24 September

7.00-10.00pm BBC RADIO 1XTRA

Target really gets the party started at 7pm, live from London's Wembley Arena, with PAs from Loick Essien, Talay Riley, Scorcher, Bashy and Mz Bratt, as they warm up for tomorrow's flagship music event, BBC Radio 1Xtra Live.

Presenter/Target, Producer/Julie Shepherd

BBC Radio 1Xtra Publicity

Claudia Winkleman meets actor Henry Goodman, who's starring in the West End première of Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay's play Yes, Prime Minister on the London stage, following its successful run at Chichester Festival Theatre.

Goodman plays Sir Humphrey Appleby starring alongside David Haig as Prime Minister Jim Hacker.

Plus, film critic Xan Brooks reviews this week's movie releases and Sue Steward has the latest from the world of photography.

Presenter/Claudia Winkleman, Producer/Jessica Rickson for the BBC

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Neil MacGregor's world history, as told through things that time has left behind, continues its look at the European age of discovery, between 1450 and 1600.

Today Neil is with pieces of eight – little silver coins that by 1600 could have been used in many countries around the world. He describes Spain's dominance in South America and their discovery of a silver mountain in Potosi in present-day Bolivia. He also explains the process by which pieces of eight turned into the first truly global money.

The Bolivian former head of a Unesco project in Potosi describes the conditions for workers there today, and financial historian William Bernstein looks at how these rough silver coins were the catalyst for a shift in the entire balance of world commerce.

Presenter/Neil MacGregor, Producer/Anthony Denselow for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Recalling her own experience as the only black child in her Newport classroom in the Eighties, Josie d'Arby looks at the introduction of Black History Month into British schools and asks whether it has been a help or hindrance to the way children understand the past, and to how black people relate to the way history is taught in classrooms.

Josie examines whether the focus of Black History Month has changed much over 23 years and why there is such an emphasis on American figures such as Martin Luther King and Muhammad Ali. She asks about other groups who feel marginalised by not having time dedicated to them.

Speaking with teachers, pupils, parents, politicians and academics, Josie finds out what Black History Month means and meets some unlikely critics and supporters.

Presenter/Josie d'Arby, Producer/Rachael Kiddey for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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It is a quiet Saturday morning in the Hinchcliffe home, in this wonderfully perceptive comedy of manners and international relations by David Nobbs – celebrated writer of The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin and A Bit Of A Do.

Tony and Sal are tired after a week of work, and there is nothing, blessedly, in the diary. They have time on their hands, but not for each other. Middle-aged and middle-class, they haven't had kids and they still feel that emotional vacuum.

The doorbell rings. It is an American couple, Monty and Janey – a rather loud duo they stayed with in Delaware years ago. They said: "If ever you happen to be passing..." To Tony's horror Sal invites them to stay.

Then the doorbell rings again. It is Jan and Hilda, a Flemish Belgian couple from Bruges who kindly helped when Janey had a migraine. In gratitude Sal and Tony said, "If ever you happen to be passing..."

Then the doorbell goes again – it is Pierre and Colette, French Belgians who helped them in Namur when Sal was sick. In gratitude they said: "If ever you happen to be passing..."

The Americans are loud and pompous and the Belgians loathe each other. But when Colette and Jan find themselves drawn to one another, the ensuing, messy crisis precipitates a reassessment of all the couples' pattern of behaviour.

The cast features James Nickerson as Tony, Olwen May as Sal, Kerry Shale as Monty, Melissa Jane Sinden as Janey, Malcolm Raeburn as Jan, Maggie Fox as Hilda, Hugo Chandor as Pierre/French chef and Szilvi Naray-Davey as Colette.

Producer/Gary Brown for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

Kicking Off With Colin Murray teams the presenter with regulars Pat Nevin and Perry Groves as they look forward to the weekend's Premier League and Championship fixtures.

Presenter/Colin Murray, Producer/Patrick Whiteside

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

5 Live Formula 1

Friday 24 September

10.55am-12.35pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA
2.25-4.05pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Motor racing fans can enjoy uninterrupted commentary on the first practice session, from 11am, and the second practice session, from 2.30pm, from the Singapore Grand Prix.

Producer/Jason Swale

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

Tom Robinson is joined by rap artist Roots Manuva for an in-depth discussion of his career, based around five of his tracks – spanning his 1999 debut album Brand New Second Hand through to his latest release, Duppy Writer, a collection of his songs re-worked by producer Wrong Tom.

Presenter/Tom Robinson, Producers/Adam Hudson and Tom Billington

BBC 6 Music Publicity

A tale of flying carpets, rockets and dreams, this programme examines why people still care about magic in an age of techno-wizardry... and how it feel when science threatens to make magical objects real.

Web-dreaming one day, writer Cathy FitzGerald stumbled on a site belonging to a museum in Iran. It purported to tell the "true history" of the flying carpet and detailed its many uses – military, as a means of aerial attack; commercial, as a vehicle for the transport of goods; and cultural, as a device to help readers in the library at Alexandria reach the high books. The article appeared across the web, rarely with any caveat or credit.

In search of a "real" flying carpet, Cathy tracks down the article's author, Azhar Abidi, who helps her separate carpet fiction from carpet fact. She goes on to meet a physicist working on levitation in the quantum world, and a Japanese astronaut who took a carpet ride in space.

Cathy FitzGerald explores the past, present, and future of the magic carpet and wonders what our desire to defy gravity tells us about ourselves.

Presenter/Cathy FitzGerald

BBC World Service Publicity