A few days worth here, from Friday and over the weekend.
Friday.
11:00: Blondin of Niagra Falls and Ealing
150 years since Blondin walked a rope across the Falls. Follows his story, and that of other rope walkers since.
Hardeep discovers the continuing appeal of defying gravity from the experiences of circus acrobat Chico, the celebrated ‘man on wire’ Philippe Petit and the slack-liner Jon Ritson.
11:30: Give Me The MoonLITE
Another program tying in with 40th anniversary of the Apollo landing. This one looks at the British efforts surrounding moon exploration.
Richard Hollingham discovers how, by using small, low cost components, British space scientists hope to set up a network of instruments to monitor moonquakes and probe the lunar interior and one or more orbiting satellites that could establish communications and navigation systems for other human and robotic missions.
18:00: The Now Show
Remember Punt and Dennis? This is what they do on the radio. Funny.
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis present a satirical review of the week’s news.
Saturday.
11:00: Soho Stories – A Thousand Flowers
Channel 4 was born in 1982. One of the effects of this was that it broke the duopoly of the BBC and ITV in television production, and this led to innovation. Less civil servants, more creative arts.
Television executive and broadcaster Paul Jackson charts the rise of independent producers, from the isolated minnows of the early 1980s to the global monoliths of today
12:00: From Our Own Correspondent
Variety of reports from various BBC correspondents, long running and classic.
Greenland comes in from the cold – Stephen Sackur reports it’s all because of global warming
Kevin Connolly in Washington says plans to reform healthcare have bedevilled many US presidencies
Nick Higham has an unsettling encounter with a wrestler who’s coming to grips with Bulgaria’s corruption problem
Humphrey Hawksley travels in Graham Greene’s footsteps dancing with a devil in Liberia
Hamilton Wende brawls with a monkey on the holiday island of Bali
20:00: Archive On 4 – On Northern Men
An hour long exploration of the way that Northern men have been depicted on the radio, with supporting material from the archive.
The programme traces the relationship between changing variables of social class, heroism, ‘northernness’ and fictional portrayals of masculinity in film and television, using supporting material from the radio archive, and remembers some of the humour and creativity that emerges from struggle and the portrayal of difficult lives.
Sunday.
12:00: Face The Facts – A Death Unnoticed
What happens when someone dies, and has no-one who cares to bury them? Investigation into undiscovered bodies, and council funded funerals.
Every week, councils across the UK fund and organise funerals for people who have nobody else to take care of their affairs. Often these are deaths which have remained undiscovered for weeks, months or even years. In an ageing society, it is an issue expected to get worse. So how can someone die and no one notice? John Waite investigates the background to some of these desperately sad cases and asks whether anything could be done to make them less likely.
17:00: File On 4 – Serious Fraud Office
An investigation into how large companies are able to avoid prosecution for fraud.
Fraud is estimated to cost the UK economy upwards of 14 billion pounds a year, a figure which is expected to rise dramatically during the recession. Gerry Northam investigates whether some of the biggest and most audacious corporate fraudsters are now practically immune from prosecution.