For 5000 years and more, elephants have served humanity, as a living tractor, pile driver, fork lift truck, tank and 4WD. But the working elephant is now at the end of its economic usefulness. Adam Fowler explores the plight of thousands of captive elephants in Asia and their historic and changing relationship with man.

The complete cBBC Radio 4 series written and presented by Sir David Attenborough featuring all twenty episodes about some of the strangest plants and creatures from around the world. One of the nation's most popular presenters examines twenty marvels of the natural world from his extraordinary and pioneering experiences. What was Sir David's first...

Join presenter Brett Westwood and Stephen Moss in this fascinating guide to the songs of our most popular woodland birds, as heard on BBC Radio 4. Woods and forests are full of birds, and although you might not immediately see them you will certainly hear them. This practical and informative audio guide, recorded in springtime in the Forest of Dean...

Nature writer Richard Mabey reflects on his lifelong relationship with science and the natural world, in this collection of episodes originally broadcast on Radio 4 in September 2009 and repeated as part of The Essay series on Radio 3 in April 2010.

Voyage of the Beagle foreshadows Darwin's world-changing On The Origin of Species (also a CSA Word audiobook read by Richard Dawkins), in its constant intellectual quest. Darwin - still only in his early twenties - never just accepts what he sees, but wants to understand it; he shares his thinking in clear, entertaining, witty, even lyrical writing...

When he was fourteen years old, some friends of his parents gave wildlife sound recordist, Chris Watson, The Observer's Book of Birds. Flicking through the pages, Chris was captivated by the description of a bird which sang at night. The bird was a Nightingale; and since first reading about it, Chris has been fortunate enough to hear Nightingales b...

oin Brett Westwood and Stephen Moss in this fascinating guide to the sounds of our most popular coastal birds, as heard on BBC Radio 4. In the fourth of our series of bird guides, Brett Westwood is joined by keen birdwatcher Stephen Moss on the north coast of Devon, and with the help of wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson they offer a practical a...

The complete second BBC Radio 4 series written and presented by Sir David Attenborough featuring all 20 episodes about some of the strangest insects and creatures from around the world. One of the nation's most popular presenters examines twenty marvels of the natural world from his extraordinary and pioneering experiences. How did Sir David track...

Anyone alive in the 18th century would have known that 'the longitude problem' was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day - and had been for centuries. Lacking the ability to measure their longitude, sailors had been literally lost at sea as soon as they lost sight of land. As the scientific establishment throughout Europe struggled, from Gali...

For the 1960s BBC series 'Zoo Quest', David Attenborough visited the Northern Territory of Australia. Specially recorded for radio, the quest follows the intrepid BBC film crew on their adventures through both jungle and arid desert. David Attenborough meets aborigines, goes walkabout in the bush, and paints a compelling and fascinating picture of...

The story of a joint animal-collecting and film-making trip to Indonesia. Attenborough tells of danger on the crew's hazardous boat trip with a gun smuggling captain and the terror of erupting volcanoes. Experience the incredible sights he witnessed - breathtaking butterflies, taking tea with Charlie the Orangutan and the capture of a Komodo dragon...

The story of David Attenborough's joint animal-collecting and film-making trip to New Guinea. The quest demanded hazardous treks across treacherous terrain in the Jimi Valley to find exotic Birds of Paradise.

An exclusive edition of the perennially popular BBC Radio 4 series for gardeners everywhere. Gardening can be both a challenge and a joy. Get it right, and it can provide boundless pleasure; get it wrong, and it is a source of infinite frustration. Help is at hand, however, in this specially recorded 'Gardeners' Question Time' compilation, in which...

Join Brett Westwood and Stephen Moss in this absorbing guide to the sounds of our most popular farmland birds, as heard on BBC Radio 4. In the fifth of our series of bird guides, Brett Westwood is joined once again by enthusiastic birdwatcher Stephen Moss, and with the help of recordings made by wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson they present th...

Dr. Geoff Bunn presents a journey through 5000 years of our understanding of the most complex thing in the known universe: the brain, in this major ten-part BBC Radio 4 series. Human beings have long been fascinated by the brain and how it fulfils its many functions. This groundbreaking cultural history explores the development of our ideas about t...

Dr. Geoff Bunn presents a journey through 5000 years of our understanding of the most complex thing in the known universe: the brain, in this major ten-part BBC Radio 4 series. In Episode 1, 'A Hole in the Head', the focus is on trepanation, the practice of drilling holes in the skull believing that such operations might correct physiological or sp...

Dr. Geoff Bunn presents a journey through 5000 years of our understanding of the most complex thing in the known universe: the brain, in this major ten-part BBC Radio 4 series. In Episode 2, 'The Blood of The Gladiators', the focus is Ancient Greek scholarship, with Hippocrates' astonishingly prescient belief in the brain as the chief organ of cont...

Dr. Geoff Bunn presents a journey through 5000 years of our understanding of the most complex thing in the known universe: the brain, in this major ten-part BBC Radio 4 series. In Episode 4, 'Spirits in the Material World', the focus is on Thomas Willis, the 17th century physician after whom the 'Circle of Willis' - the circuit of arteries supplyin...

Dr. Geoff Bunn presents a journey through 5000 years of our understanding of the most complex thing in the known universe: the brain, in this major ten-part BBC Radio 4 series. In Episode 5, 'The Spark of Being', the focus is on electricity and communication, within the brain and between the brain and the rest of the body. When John Walsh showed, i...

Dr. Geoff Bunn presents a journey through 5000 years of our understanding of the most complex thing in the known universe: the brain, in this major ten-part BBC Radio 4 series. Episode 7, 'Mind the Gap', focuses on how the microscope allowed neurologists to deatil the structure of brain cells. While Sigmund Freud, who started out as a neurologist,...

Dr. Geoff Bunn presents a journey through 5000 years of our understanding of the most complex thing in the known universe: the brain, in this major ten-part BBC Radio 4 series. Episode 7, 'Mind the Gap', focuses on how the microscope allowed neurologists to deatil the structure of brain cells. While Sigmund Freud, who started out as a neurologist,...