Adam Thirlwell was born in London in 1978. The author of three previous novels, his work has been translated into thirty languages. His essays appear in the New York Review of Books and the London Review of Books, and he is an advisory editor of the Paris Review. His awards include a Somerset Maugham Award and the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; in 2018 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He has twice been selected by Granta as one of their Best of Young British Novelists.

Adam Thirlwell

Adam Thorpe was born in Paris in 1956. His first novel, Ulverton, appeared in 1992 and he has published two books of stories and ten further novels, most recently Missing Fay (2017), and six poetry collections. 
 
 
www.adamthorpe.net

Adam Thorpe

Adam Tooze is the author of the highly praised Crashed, The Deluge and The Wages of Destruction, all published by Allen Lane. He has been the recipient of the Wolfson Prize for History, the Longman-History Today Book of the Year Prize and the Lionel Gelber Prize. Tooze has taught at Cambridge and Yale and is now Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of History at Columbia University.

Adam Tooze

Adam Usden

Adam Wagner

Adam Wasson

Adam Weymouth's work has been published widely, including in Granta, The Atlantic, The Observer and the BBC. His first book, Kings of the Yukon, won the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year, the Lonely Planet Adventure Travel Book of the Year and the Prix Paul-Emile Victor. He has been named by the National Writing Centre as one of ten writers shaping the UK's future.

Adam Weymouth

Adam Wisniewski-Snerg (1937-95) was born on the outskirts of Warsaw. His science fiction writing is largely focused around the consequences of totalitarianism. Although largely unread during his lifetime, after his suicide in 1995 his work began to receive major critical attention. He is now considered to be, along with Stanislaw Lem, one of Poland's greatest science fiction writers.

Adam Wisniewski-Snerg

Ade Edmondson

Adele Lang

Adele Nozedar is an author and photographer. Previously, she was in a cult indie band, then ran her own indie record label and became A&amp;R Director/General Manager of a major record company. 
 
Her wide-ranging passions are reflected in her books, which include The Hedgerow Handbook (2012), The Signs and Symbols Sourcebook (2011), The Secret Language of Birds (2006), and The Element Encyclopedia of Native Americans (2013).

Adele Nozedar

Adele Puhn

Adeline Yen Mah

Adelle Waldman is a freelance writer and book critic. She worked as a reporter at the New Haven Register and the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and wrote a column for the Wall Street Journal's website. Her articles also have appeared in The New York Times Book Review,The New Republic,Slate,The Wall Street Journal, and other national publications. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Adelle Waldman

Aditi Kakade Beaufrand is an Indian illustrator based in France. She likes experimenting with bright, happy colours. She grew up reading fairytales, watching animated films and imagining adventure stories, and her style is an embodiment of her Indian heritage and western culture. She loves animals and taking long walks on the beach, but she is never too far away from a pencil and a paper to draw her perception of the world.

Aditi Kakade Beaufrand

Aditya Chakrabortty

Adiva Geffen is a bestselling writer and playwright. Her plays have appeared on major stages in Israel, she lectures and leads numerous writing workshops and she is a board member of the Israeli Writers’ Association. 
 
 Geffen started out as a special-education teacher, before serving as the spokesperson for the Habima National Theatre for more than a decade. She founded and subsequently led the Israeli Theatre Award for ten years, and now serves as head of The Gnazim Institute of the Hebrew Writers Association, the largest Hebrew literature archive in the world. 
 
 Born in Haifa, Israel and the mother of three sons, Geffen now lives in Tel Aviv with her partner Aharon Meidan.

Adiva Geffen

Adnan Sarwar, 35, is a former British soldier who served in the Iraq War.  He has since worked as a military consultant to film and is a writer based in London.  Read more at www.adnansarwar.com / @adnansarwar

Adnan Sarwar

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Loos (1877-1933) was a leading Austro-Hungarian architect, perhaps most famous for the revolutionary 'Loos House' opposite the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, which caused outrage when it was built in 1912, and the wonderful American Bar, also in Vienna. He wrote extensively on architecture and design, working in reaction to the elaborate mass of decoration celebrated by the Vienna Secession movement.

Adolf Loos

Adolfo García Ortega

Adomnan of Iona

Adonis

Adriaan Van Dis

Adrian Bean

Adrian Bliss is a creator, writer and performer from London, best known for his comedy sketches which, explore everything from history to natural science to religion. Adrian's work has earned him nearly 20 million followers across social media and has been featured in CNN, The Times and Vogue. Adrian was named one of the New Faces of Comedy at Just For Laughs, and his one-man play Inside Everyone sold out its debut run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival prior to opening.

Adrian Bliss

Adrian Desmond

Adrian Edmondson

Adrian Fort

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Oliver Burkeman

There's a ritual of the modern workplace - one you've heard and most likely indulged in yourself. It's the call and response we go through when you ask a workmate how they're doing: "Busy!" "So busy." It is pretty obviously a boast disguised as a complaint. And our simultaneously grim and half chuckled reply comes as a kind of congratulation: "Ha, better than the opposite." When did we start doing that? 
 
As if he didn't have enough to do, Oliver Burkeman explores this epidemic of busyness to reveal that it may not be what it at first seems. He asks if we are talking ourselves into feeling overwhelmed with busyness, and if our problem with busyness is not that we do not have the time but rather we literally do not have the head space. He questions whether people have become addicted to busy, either because it makes them feel like heroes fighting the odds, or because problems can be avoided by never sitting still. 
 
Finally, he examines whether the solution to busyness is perhaps not to work harder and organise ourselves, but to indulge in a little idleness. 
 
Oliver Burkeman is an award-winning feature writer for the Guardian. He writes a popular weekly column on psychology, ‘This Column Will Change Your Life’, and has reported from London, Washington and New York. 
 
Produced by Peter McManus. 
This programme was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 as 'Oliver Burkeman Is Busy.'

Addicted to Busy

Why life has got so hectic

Francine Stock

Francine Stock sets out to explore the elusive quality that is charisma. 
 
Can charisma – variously combining charm, magic and power – ever really be pinned down? 
 
Moving from St Paul’s coining of the word in the first century of the Christian Era right up to the present day, charisma continues to be a powerful influence, not always for the good, in the fields of politics, banking, terrorism, theatre and film. 
 
Along the way, Francine takes in early medieval mystics such as Margery Kempe and Joan of Arc; the Elizabethan belief in the so-called "Royal Touch" and its different manifestations today; the powerful healing claims of Franz Mesmer; and radical charismatic leaders from Garibaldi to Osama Bin Laden. She explores the power and appeal of charisma with stars such as Sarah Bernhardt; self-made businessmen such as W.K.Kellogg, Henry Ford and Steve Jobs; totalitarian leaders including Hitler, and new forms of political extremism such as the so-called Islamic State; civil rights leaders, Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama; and the volatile world of contemporary banking. 
 
There is a continuing hunger for charisma; can this gift of grace be turned to a shared advantage? 
 
Produced by Beaty Rubens 
 
©2018 BBC Worldwide Ltd (P)2018 BBC Worldwide Ltd

Charisma

An exploration of that elusive quality

David Mitchell

David Mitchell sets out on a vigorous but impeccably polite investigation into the confusing world of manners. Are they really in decline, as many would have us believe? Or are we just throwing off the shackles of the Victorian obsession with etiquette? 
 
Over the course of the series, David eats his lunchtime sandwiches with children in a primary school, and later goes to a street market to see manners - good and bad - in action. He explores where our manners come from with Professors Steven Pinker from Harvard University and the author Henry Hitchings. What do we mean by 'civility' and 'good manners' in public places? Why are people still pinching vicars' bottoms, and what can the state do to improve standards of public behaviour? And, David asks, how is the digital age changing our sense of public space? 
 
Produced by Chris Ledgard.

Behaving Ourselves

David Mitchell on Manners

Timandra Harkness

We seem to have forgotten how to argue about important things without descending into tribalism, insults, and generally thinking the worst of our opponents. This is no good. We'll never get out of the bitter divisions cleaving society if we don't learn to disagree fruitfully. 
 
In this series, Timandra Harkness explores the best ways to disagree with other people - constructively. 
 
She examines how clashes of interests, competing moral visions, factual disputes, arguments about strategies and even different personal preferences over which film to watch at the cinema can all be managed better. 
 
With the help of a trade union negotiator, an expert on neighbour disputes, and scientists, Timandra examines how best to deal with competing points of view, and – when it comes to personal preferences – asks why we try so hard to find reasons for what we want to do or believe. 
 
And she has a disagreement over the merits of disagreement. 
 
Produced by Martin Rosenbaum.

How to Disagree

A beginner's guide to having better arguments

Adam Buxton

Adam Buxton takes a sideways look at some of our confusing modern ideas, and explains why you're definitely doing it all wrong. 
 
Across five episodes he explores the worlds of work, parenting, diet, the environment and family. 
 
Is the idea of a 'dream job' - one that inspires and fulfils us and makes our lives worth living - really possible? Does your toddler eat strictly rationed organic produce, or are they allowed to eat what they want? Does installing solar panels and despairing over plastic bottles make a difference if we continue to jet off on holidays and eat imported guava?! 
 
It doesn't really matter what you answer to these incessant questions, as long as you know that you are wrong wrong wrong! 
 
Produced by Emily Knight.

You're Doing It Wrong

Bridget Kendall

Bridget Kendall presents an oral history tracing decisive moments of the Cold War. 
 
The Cold War is one of the furthest-reaching and longest-lasting conflicts in modern history. It spanned the globe - from Greece to China, Hungary to Cuba - and lasted for almost half a century. It has shaped political relations to this day, drawing new physical and ideological boundaries between East and West. 
 
Bridget Kendall explores the Cold War through the eyes of those who experienced it first-hand. This landmark series draws on exclusive interviews with individuals who lived through the conflict's key events, offering a variety of perspectives that reveal how the Cold War was experienced by ordinary people. From pilots making food drops during the Berlin Blockade and Japanese fishermen affected by H-bomb testing, to families fleeing the Korean War and children whose parents were victims of McCarthy's Red Scare, Cold War covers the full geographical and historical reach of the conflict. This is essential listening for anyone seeking to understand how the tensions of the last century have shaped the modern world, and what it was like to live through them. 
 
1. The Greek Civil War 
2. The Czech Coup 
3. The 1948 Election in Italy 
4. The Berlin Blockade 
5. The Fall of Shanghai 
6. The Korean War 
7. McCarthyism 
8. The H-Bomb 
9. The East German Uprising 
10. The Iran Coup 
11. Khrushchev’s Thaw 
12. The Hungarian Revolution 
13. The Congo Coup 
14. The Berlin Wall Crisis 
15. The Cuban Missile Crisis 
16. The Fall of Khrushchev 
17. The Chinese Cultural Revolution 
18. The Prague Spring 
19. America’s Vietnam War 
20. The Coup in Chile 
21. The Fall of Saigon 
22. Ostpolitik 
23. The Angolan Civil War 
24. The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan 
25. The Birth of Solidarity in Poland 
26. The New Cold War 
27. Gorbachev’s Perestroika 
28. The Fall of the Berlin Wall and German Reunification 
29. The Baltic Singing Revolution 
30. The Collapse of the Soviet Union

Cold War: Series 1 and 2

Stories from the Big Freeze

Jeremy Bowen

BBC Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen presents a personal history of the Middle East. 
 
Over these 25 programmes, Jeremy reflects on the present and the past of the Middle East, after reporting from the region for more than a quarter of a century. He combines first-hand accounts from the front line with an in-depth look into the region's history. He has witnessed endless wars between individuals, religious groups and full-sized states, jostling for military, political and economic power. He has interviewed dictators, fanatics and fundamentalists as well as the ordinary people caught up in their dangerous games. In that time, the past has always been present, providing motivation and political ammunition. Bowen has made headlines himself and he has paid a personal price, coming under fire and losing a colleague in the course of reporting - on the worst day, he says, in his life. 
 
1. The Giant Awakens: On America's dramatic intervention in the region during the massive military build-up to the first Gulf War 
2. All Flesh is Glass: Bowen recalls the devastation of the first Gulf War, as he witnessed the aftermath of the bombing of a shelter in Baghdad 
3. Retreat to the Mountains: The story of the Kurds of Iraq 
4. Jerusalem: On the allure and challenge of the Holy City 
5. Recipe for Disaster: How the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin changed the region's history 
6. Crossing the Divide: How a gas container explains the divide between the Israelis and the Palestinians 
7. Death on the Nile: On the trail of Osama Bin Laden 
8. The Final Frontier: Looking back to December 1998, when the West sent bombers into Baghdad 
9. A Blunt Instrument: Bowen recalls his tricky dealings with the Iraqi Ministry of Information 
10. The Nearness of Death: Bowen describes the worse day of his working life - the day he and his colleagues came under fire from the Israeli Defence Force 
11. A Strike to the Heart: The dark days following 9/11 
12. The Drums of War: The fallout from the invasion of Iraq in 2003 
13. The Unravelling: On what went wrong, as Iraq descended into chaos in the months after the US invasion in 2003 
14. Guns and Olive Branches: The life of Yasser Arafat 
15. Missiles and the Ballot Box: Exploring Gaza 
16. A Taste of Fire and Smoke: The impact of religious divisions across the Middle East 
17. A Flash of Nail Varnish: On Iran's strategic position in the Middle East and its attitudes to the West 
18. The Revolving Revolution: The popular revolution in Egypt during the Arab Spring 
19. Unfollow the Leader: The overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi in Libya 
20. Crossing the Line: The dramatic eruption of opposition to the Assad regime in Syria 
21. A Mini World War: On the many different layers of war in Syria 
22. Oil and Water: The conflict in Yemen and the role of Saudi Arabia 
23. The New Sultan: Turkey's dramatic changes under the leadership of President Erdogan 
24. Cruelty Without Borders: On the rise and fall of the Islamic State group 
25. Through a Glass Darkly: Bowen looks at some of the lessons of the past 25 years - what happens next in the Middle East? 
 
Produced by Mark Savage and Cara Swift. 
 
The audio for this title has been updated as of December 2019.

Our Man in the Middle East

First-hand accounts from the front line

Maya Angelou

A BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Maya Angelou's poignant, powerful autobiography, starring Adjoa Andoh, Indie Gjesdal and Pippa Bennett-Warner. 
 
Abandoned by their parents, Maya and her older brother Bailey are sent to live with their grandmother and uncle in the small Southern town of Stamps in Arkansas. Struggling with rejection, they endure the prejudice of their white neighbours and suffer several racist incidents. 
 
One day, their father unexpectedly returns and takes the children to live with their mother in St Louis, Missouri. Aged only eight, Maya is abused by her mother's boyfriend, an experience that haunts her for a lifetime. Filled with guilt and shame, she refuses to speak to anyone except Bailey – until she meets Mrs Bertha Flowers, who encourages her love of books, helping her to find her voice and regain her own strong spirit. 
 
Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic, beloved worldwide, which recounts a youth filled with curiosity, wonder, disappointment, frustration, tragedy, and hard-won independence. This radio dramatisation, starring Adjoa Andoh, Indie Gjesdal and Pippa Bennett-Warner, plays out her extraordinary story with dramatic verve and poetic brilliance. 
 
Cast: 
Narrator (Older Maya)...Adjoa Andoh 
Maya...Indie Gjedsal/Pippa Bennett-Warner 
Bailey...Roshawn Hewitt 
Momma...Cecilia Noble 
Uncle Willie/Freeman/Daddy...Richard Pepple 
Steward/Lawyer...John Lightbody 
Girl...Francesca Elise 
Mother...Ellen Thomas 
Bertha Flowers...Nikki Amuka-Bird 
Spanish voices... Maider Jáuregui, Rocío Mesonero, Celia Romo, Julio Villa-García, Hugo Sánchez and Francisco Oda-Ángel @ Instituto Cervantes,Manchester 
Receptionist...Lauren Cornelius 
 
Dramatised by Patricia Cumper 
Produced by Pauline Harris

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

A BBC Radio 4 dramatisation

Sara Pascoe

Sara Pascoe explores our modern social world though theories of evolutionary psychology and more. 
 
In a brand new stand up show recorded in front of live audiences in museums, Sara asks how our past influences our modern lives, and how come we can still get emotionally hijacked by our primitive emotions? 
 
Sara says: "I've been obsessing about the ape behaviours visible in our 'civilised' human interactions for nearly as long as I've been plotting to get a Radio 4 series. I'm thrilled that I've been given the opportunity to use the latter to explore the former - I'm off to eat lice out of friends' fur to celebrate." 
 
"Always clever and sometimes exquisite." The Independent 
 
"Pascoe's lively mind teases out big questions with intelligence, silliness and self-deprecation to make a near-perfect show." The Guardian

Sara Pascoe: The Modern Monkey

Joanna Bourke

Eyewitness accounts from the BBC Archive are at the heart of this unique history of the latter half of the 20th Century, narrated by Tim Pigott-Smith. 
 
The events of 1950-1999 are described by the people who saw them happen, from the Festival of Britain in 1951 through to dawn of a new millennium at the end of 1999. 
 
Inbetween are the eras of the Angry Young Men, the Teddy Boys and the Punk Rockers; the arrival of rock and roll and the permissive society; the advent of industrial strife in England and sectarian unrest in Northern Ireland; the rise to power of Margaret Thatcher; the miners’ strike, three day week and Winter of Discontent; the Queen’s Silver Jubilee; the IRA’s campaign of bombing and the eventual Good Friday agreement; the marriage of Prince Charles, the death of Princess Diana, the Poll Tax riots, and the British participation in wars in the Middle East and Bosnia. 
 
Events both joyful and sorrowful are illustrated with fascinating and rarely heard archive recordings, with a linking narration by the historia Joanne Bourke. Thought-provoking and moving, these are the voices of the past speaking to the present day.

Eyewitness: 1950-1999

Voices from the BBC Archives

Mark Jones

First-hand accounts by those who planned and took part in the Normandy landings, and eyewitness reports from BBC correspondents travelling with the troops on 6 June 1944. 
 
In 1940, after the evacuation of the British army from Dunkirk, Winston Churchill vowed that Allied Forces would return to “cleanse Europe of the Nazi Pestilence”. The logistics of Operation Overlord were daunting, but an inspired campaign of deception successfully diverted Hitler’s attention away from the Normandy beaches until it was too late. Rommel had privately declared the battle must won in the first twenty-four hours or it would be the beginning of the end for Germany. By midnight on D-Day, a beachhead had been established. The Allies were back in Europe, and Rommel was right. 
 
The reminiscences of civilians, military strategists, German officers and Allied servicemen powerfully evoke the events of seventy years ago. The courage of the troops is evident, yet their individual stories reveal their deepest fears. Some were haunted by the carnage, others exhilarated by the action, but, in the words of one officer, “obviously there were tragic moments, frightening moments too, but on the whole it had to be done and we did it.”

D-Day: The Road to Normandy

Two BBC Radio programmes exploring President John F. Kennedy's shocking assassination on 22 November 1963. In Something Is Terribly Wrong, first broadcast in 2003, Alan Thompson charts the confusion and disbelief after the assassination. He returns to key sites in Dallas, and talks to eyewitnesses including Nellie Connally (ex-First Lady of Texas), Jim Leavelle (ex-Dallas detective), Jim Ewell (ex Dallas Morning News correspondent), Aubry Rike (ambulance driver/witness), and Ken Dowe, from Dallas radio station KLIF. Using rare, vivid archive material, he relives the events as they unfolded over three days that shocked the world. In Letter from America, first broadcast two days after the President's assassination, renowned broadcaster Alistair Cooke uses his weekly radio missive to reflect upon the legacy of John F. Kennedy, and to observe that the American nation feels it has been robbed of a brother.

The Last Day Of JFK

Tina Pepler

Martha's posting to Agok, in South Sudan, gives her the chance to make amends for the mistake that caused her to be sent home from her last posting. As Project Manager, she's in charge of a small team facing an escalating crisis, with more and more refugees arriving across the border from the North, and violence never far under the surface. Mistakes and misjudgements are all too easy to make, and the tensions within the team add to her feel of isolation.  As Martha's team try to deal with an ever-increasing number of refugees, she has a crisis of her own to deal with inside the compound.

Crisis

Complete Series

Charles Hazlewood

The Royal Albert Hall has attracted some of the biggest names in showbiz throughout its 140-year history. From rock events to The Proms, Cirque du Soleil to the Chelsea Arts Ball, it has played host to an huge variety of performers. In these two programmes, Charles Hazlewood introduces a montage of artists who have graced the stage of the Hall, including the Rolling Stones, Pavarotti, Gillian Weir, Jimi Hendrix and Russell Watson. There are contributions from Sir Cliff Richard, Katherine Jenkins, Jamie Cullum, Hayley Westenra,  Jools Holland, Sir Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Mike Batt and Jeff Wayne. In the company of V &amp; A design curator Abraham Thomas, historian Helen Rappaport and others, Hazlewood explores the Hall's history, discusses some of the spectaculars that have taken place under its roof and tells how various charitable organisations have found a home there, including the Prince's Trust, Amnesty International and Music for Youth.

Celebrating The Royal Albert Hall

Rory Cellan-Jones

Rory Cellan-Jones traces the roots of social networking from the counterculture of the 197s through early bulletin board systems such as California's The WELL and the first networks on the World Wide Web, finding out how a geeky hobby became a mass phenomenon. He discovers how Facebook became the world's biggest social network, looks at the sites of the future and asks where the phenomenon is heading. His interviewees include Lee Felsenstein, co-founder of Community Memory, Larry Brilliant, co-founder of The WELL, Andrew Weinrich, founder of SixDegrees.com, Jonathan Abrams, co-founder of Friendster, Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Facebook, Chris DeWolfe, co-founder of MySpace, Michael and Xochi Birch, co-founders of Bebo, Wayne Ting, co-founder of Campus Network, David Kirkpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect, Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, Dennis Crowley, co-founder of Foursquare and Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn.

The Secret History Of Social Networking

Katie Hickman

In this fascinating BBC Radio series, Katie Hickman examines the lives of 'diplomatic women' through their letters and diaries. From the first exploratory expeditions into foreign lands, through the heyday of the British Empire and still today, the foreign service has been shaped and run behind the scenes by the wives of ambassadors and minor civil servants. Accompanying their spouses in the most extraordinary, tough, sometimes terrifying circumstances, they have struggled to bring their civilization with them. Their stories - from ambassadresses downwards - never before told, are a feast of eccentricity, genuine hardship and genuine heroism, and make for a hilarious and compelling series.

Daughters Of Britannia

Peter White

In Blind Man's Bete Noire, Peter White explores some of the things which annoy him most about his blindness. The four programmes include The Countryside, Holidays, Being Introduced to Other Blind People and Going Slowly.  Produced by Cheryl Gabriel.

Blind Man's Bete Noire

Four Programmes presented by Peter White

Margaret Thatcher

In interviews ranging from 1975 to 1990, Margaret Thatcher talks about being a woman in politics; managing men and women; her response to the media attacks she received in the early days of her career, and the importance of wearing the right clothes. She also recalls her memories of home, including working in her father's grocery shop; the radio and TV programmes she enjoyed (including The Two Ronnies) and following sports like cricket and tennis. 
 
 Also mentioned are her first meeting with her future husband Denis; her worries about her son Mark when he went missing in the Sahara desert; her interest in science, and her love of porcelain and sculpture. Lastly, she discusses her stamina and her worst moment as Prime Minister (during the Falklands War). 
 
 Interviews include: Jimmy Young, BBC Radio 2 (first broadcast 19 February 1975); Pete Murray's Late Show, BBC Radio 2 (first broadcast 7 March 1982); Radio interview for Central Office of Information, BBC Radio (first broadcast 13 December 1985); Favourite Things, BBC One (26 July 1987); Wogan, BBC One (first broadcast 12 January 1990); Woman's Hour, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 17 May 1990). 
 
Due to the age and nature of this archive material, the sound quality may vary. 
 
©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Margaret Thatcher In Her Own Words

First-hand accounts featuring the RAF pilots who took part in the Battle of Britain - one of the chief turning points of World War Two.   'Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few' - Winston Churchill.   The 'Few' were the nearly 3,000 RAF pilots who fought against the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain, which raged in the skies over southern England and the English Channel in the summer of 1940.   With a new Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, Britain fought alone in Europe - and under the threat of invasion from Hitler's Germany.   Douglas Bader, Flight Lt Richard Hillary, 'Ginger' Lacey and Flight Lt. Brian Kingcombe describe the strains they had to face as pilots: 'I didn't have butterflies in my stomach - I had vultures' and the 'long, boring hours interspersed with moments of tremendous exhilaration'. Their determination, bravery, and skill are evident as, outnumbered, they fought doggedly in their superior Hurricanes and Spitfires.   With news bulletins, reportage, personal accounts from the ground crews, and excerpts from Churchill's famous speeches, this recording undeniably shows why, for the victorious RAF pilots, 'This was their finest hour'.

The Battle Of Britain

Complete

Various

A hilarious collection of BBC broadcasting blunders presented by John Inverdale. There are no gaffes like sporting gaffes. In the excitement of the moment, and live on air, commentators and sports personalities can say the most amazing and the silliest things. This compilation includes slips-of-the-tongue and scrambling of words which produce gales of laughter from the commentary box – and those listening in. There’s the hysteria of an overexcited Colombian football commentator, as well as Brian Johnston’s unforgettable ‘leg-over’ gaffe, not to mention a whole host of laugh-out-loud moments involving tennis, racing, boxing and almost every other major sport under the sun. All the classic moments are here, together with some surprises, in this quick-fire collection which is a must for every sports fan.

Sporting Gaffes

Guy Claxton

Bill Lucas

Being creative is a state of mind. Techniques may help, though some, like brainstorming, can, surprisingly, do more harm than good. And the climate at work and play matters too. But essentially, creativity is an attitude. We either meet life's challenges with a spirit of adventure, or we keep trying to make it fit old habits that don't work any more. Creativity is not about what you do for a living, or how you dress. Accountants and receptionists need creativity as much as designers and song-writers. Creativity is not just for budding Mozarts and Einsteins. In uncertain times, we all need to be able to come up with fresh ideas, to sort out the good ones, and make them work. You don't want to move to Scotland, but I don't want to carry on in this dead-end job. Dad is getting frail, but the house isn't big enough to have him. We are afraid to let Sophie go to France, but she says that is "so not fair!" Creativity is about discovering other possibilities that we have not dreamed of yet. Be Creative is about how to grow the kinds of minds that think new things

Be Creative

Essential Steps To Revitalise Your Life

Misha Glenny

More series of Misha Glenny’s BBC Radio 4 show about the borders, the stories and the people of countries worldwide 
 
Former BBC Central European correspondent Misha Glenny investigates the borders, the histories and the people that make different nations what they are today. 
 
Aided by a wealth of expert contributors, he discovers the geographical quirks, Game of Thrones-style battles and history-changing personalities that have defined each nation - busting some persistent myths and stereotypes along the way. 
 
'Every series is a revelation' Daily Telegraph 
'One of the jewels in the BBC radio crown' Radio Times 
 
This collection takes a deep dive into Scandinavia, Bangladesh, Poland, Russia, Turkey, China, Taiwan, Hugary and more.

How to Invent a Country: A Second Collection

Ten More Nations and the Histories that Made Them

BBC Radio Comedy

24 more archive editions of the much-loved BBC Radio 4 panel game chaired by Nicholas Parsons 
 
As if to prove the point that good humour never dates, this collection of archive Just a Minute includes episodes broadcast across four decades, from 1973 to 2009. As usual, players must attempt to speak for one minute on a given subject without hesitation, repetition or deviation and while at the mercy of both the stopwatch and their fellow contestants’ buzzers. Mirth, merriment and silliness are bound to follow, in a fashion that has made ‘JAM’ a beloved institution not only in this country but also around the world. Nicholas Parsons welcomes listeners to each episode and gives his firm but fair adjudication to the many tricky challenges that ensue. 
 
Regular players Kenneth Williams, Peter Jones, Derek Nimmo and Paul Merton pit their wits against each other and guests Sheila Hancock, Jean Marsh, Magnus Pyke, Joan Bakewell, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Barry Took, Jan Ravens, Brian Johnston, Gyles Brandreth, Martin Jarvis, Simon Bates, Craig Ferguson, Stephen Fry, Pete McCarthy, Steve Frost, Jenny Eclair, Kit Hesketh-Harvey, Maria McErlane, Julian Clary, Linda Smith, Tony Hawks, Graham Norton, Tim Rice, Sue Perkins, Wendy Richard, Bill Bailey, Chris Neill, Charles Collingwood, Janey Godley, Shappi Khorsandi and Liza Tarbuck. 
 
Please note: Contains mild innuendo. The humour in these programmes sometimes reflects the era in which they were first broadcast. Due to the archive nature of some of the episodes, the sound quality may vary. 
 
Cast and credits 
 
Devised by Ian Messiter 
Chaired by Nicholas Parsons 
Episode selection by Michael Stevens 
Music: The Minute Waltz (Waltz in D Flat Major, Op. 64) by Chopin 
With thanks to Keith Wickham and the Radio Circle for archive assistance. 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Episode Guide 
1 01 October 1973 
Featuring Sheila Hancock, Peter Jones, Derek Nimmo, Kenneth Williams 
 
2 26 November 1973 
Featuring Peter Jones, Jean Marsh, Derek Nimmo, Kenneth Williams 
 
3 19 January 1977 
Featuring Peter Jones, Derek Nimmo, Magnus Pyke, Kenneth Williams 
 
4 27 March 1979 
Featuring Joan Bakewell, Peter Jones, Derek Nimmo, Kenneth Williams 
 
5 9 May 1981 
Featuring Tim Brooke-Taylor, Peter Jones, Barry Took, Kenneth Williams 
 
6 25 April 1983 
Featuring Peter Jones, Derek Nimmo, Jan Ravens, Kenneth Williams 
 
7 16 May 1983 
Featuring Brian Johnston, Peter Jones, Derek Nimmo, Kenneth Williams 
 
8 30 June 1984 
Featuring Gyles Brandreth, Martin Jarvis, Derek Nimmo, Kenneth Williams 
 
9 1 February 1986 
Featuring Simon Bates, Peter Jones, Derek Nimmo, Kenneth Williams 
 
10 8 March 1993 
Featuring Craig Ferguson, Peter Jones, Paul Merton, Derek Nimmo 
 
11 8 January 1994 
Featuring Stephen Fry, Peter Jones, Pete McCarthy, Paul Merton 
 
12 4 February 1995 
Featuring Steve Frost, Peter Jones, Paul Merton, Derek Nimmo 
 
13 25 February 1995 
Featuring Jenny Eclair, Kit Hesketh-Harvey, Peter Jones, Paul Merton 
 
14 22 June 1998 
Featuring Steve Frost, Peter Jones, Maria McErlane, Paul Merton 
 
15 15 January 2001 
Featuring Julian Clary, Kit Hesketh-Harvey, Paul Merton, Linda Smith 
 
16 4 February 2002 
Featuring Jenny Eclair, Tony Hawks, Graham Norton, Tim Rice 
 
17 29 July 2002 
Featuring Tony Hawks, Kit Hesketh-Harvey, Sue Perkins, Wendy Richard 
 
18 17 February 2003 
Featuring Bill Bailey, Tony Hawks, Chris Neill, Linda Smith 
 
19 21 March 2005 
Featuring Tony Hawks, Chris Neill, Tim Rice, Linda Smith 
 
20 24 July 2006 
Featuring Charles Collingwood, Tony Hawks, Paul Merton, Sue Perkins 
 
21 3 March 2008 
Featuring Gyles Brandreth, Janey Godley, Tony Hawks, Kit Hesketh-Harvey 
 
22 12 January 2009 
Featuring Charles Collingwood, Shappi Khorsandi, Paul Merton, Graham Norton 
 
23 9 February 2009 
Featuring Gyles Brandreth, Paul Merton, Sue Perkins, Liza Tarbuck 
 
24 10 August 2009 
Featuring Charles Collingwood, Jenny Eclair, Stephen Fry, Paul Merton 
 
 
© 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

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