The fashion for keeping chickens in your back garden shows no sign of waning, but Natalie Haynes has heard some dark rumours about the true habits of the hen. Can they be true? Natalie's own chicken knowledge being limited entirely to their lives in Ancient Rome, she hears from chicken breeders and keepers; but perhaps the most keen insight is from...

The first series of the BBC Radio 4 comedy, Mark Thomas: The Manifesto, recorded with participation from a studio audience. This series was originally broadcast on 25 June and 2 July 2009. Comedian and activist Mark Thomas creates a People's Manifesto, taking suggestions from his studio audience and then getting them to vote for the best. Some of...

Spoof theatre company The National Theatre of Brent take on the story of the Suffragette Movement in this hilarious Radio 4 series, first heard on the Woman's Hour Drama slot The award-winning National Theatre of Brent aka Desmond Olivier Dingle and Raymond Box present the entire epic struggle of the Suffragettes or the Giant Ladies as they was als...

Stephen Fry presents this intriguing programme charting the history of knowledge, how technology changes our relationship with it, and how we know what we know Knowledge. The Google generation thinks it doesn't need to carry much of it around in its head any more. Much has already been written about the internet changing the way we think and learn....

As part of the BBC Radio 4 comedy drama series: 'Turf Wars', in this short 3rd play of 4, 'How's Your Mother?' by Simon Brett, Michael Maloney stars as mysterious villager Humphrey Partridge. In a gossipy village Humphrey is reckoned to be anti-social, indeed stand-offish. But he always has an excuse - namely that he has to look after his ailing el...

First episode to kick-off the BBC Radio 4 comedy-drama series, 'Turf Wars' by Nick Warburton, originally broadcast on the 9 March 2011. This delicious comedy, 'Losing the Plot', stars James Fleet as Edward, a bashful man who, passing a local allotment, speaks to an attractive female allotee (Joanna Monro). He decides there and then that he must app...

Four comic dramas about boundaries that are both territorial and personal, as heard on BBC Radio 4 Territory is the theme that unites these four humorous plays - whether that means fighting over an allotment plot, dealing with the sudden partition of a country, guarding the privacy of a garden or battling with the council over school catchment area...

Episode 2 of 4 of the BBC Radio 4 comedy-drama series 'Turf Wars', Nigel Planner stars in 'An Incident at the Border', Kieran Lynn's comedy about boundaries that are both territorial and personal. Directed by Peter Kavanagh and originally broadcast 16 October 2011. Arthur (Joe Kloska) and Olivia (Leah Brotherhead), take in the sun in their local pa...

Three short stories written and performed by leading new comedians at The Pleasance Theatre in Edinburgh as part of the Festival Fringe. In May Contain Nuts, by Janey Godley, a woman glimpses her own mortality when she calculates that only twenty-seven years separate her from her cantankerous father. The Hair of the Dead, by Sarah Millican, is a mo...

Three more short stories which capture the atmosphere of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Recorded live at The Pleasance last week, leading comedians perform their own work in front of a packed audience. The Woman Who Sniffed, written and read by Susan Calman, is a wry look at office politics. Just When You Thought It Was Safe to be Green, written an...

A series of three brand new short stories written and performed by leading comedians. Stairlift Us Up Where We Belong, written and read by Sarah Millican, is a poignant and funny monologue exploring the tricky turning point in a woman's life, when she goes from being thought of as useful to becoming invisible. In Spooky and the Van, written and rea...

The sinister affair of the eighteenth century cow-creamer and the small, brown, leather-covered notebook tests the Wooster soul as it has never been tested before. Friends and relations, in urgent need, queue up to beg for assistance in a variety of troublesome situations, and ruthless enemies stop at nothing in their determination to bring Bertie...

The first volume of Wodehouse's brilliant complete and unabridged short stories. Originally a semi-novel, this version contains self-contained stories which are nonetheless linked, often by Bingo Little, an endearingly hopeless chap and a serial romancer: 1. Jeeves Exerts the Old Cerebellum 2. No Wedding Bells For Bingo 3. Aunt Agatha Speaks Her Mi...

Beth just wants what's best for her 11 year old son; a solid secondary education at the kind of school that recognises his genius, as well as his aptitude for baroque music. A school like Folgate. But when the family is edged out of Folgate's catchment area, a battle begins. Beth takes on the might of the council with a mixture of community action,...

Roy Smiles' celebration of the 'Beyond the Fringe' team takes a funny and affectionate look at how four young men from Oxbridge changed the face of British comedy. Starring Matt Addis as Alan Bennett, Rory Kinnear as Peter Cook, Jonathan Aris as Jonathan Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch as Dudley Moore. A CPL production for BBC Radio 4.

Tuck into this bean-feast of razzle-dazzle rhymes and tales of tomfoolery! Meet Anna, who decides to view the world upside down. Make the acquaintance of the cat who writes poems. And find out exactly what happens when Mr Delmonico offends the word witch...

The story of Graham Chapman's history with the Monty Python team; how he met and started writing with John Cleese, his rise through the ranks writing The Frost Report, the glory, glory years with the Pythons and his struggle to overcome his considerable drinking demons. And how the collective kindness of Messrs Cleese, Jones, Idle, Palin and Gillia...

Roy Smiles' play about Spike Milligan's last days with the Goons and his complex and often fractious relationship with Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe. During the 1950s, 'The Goon Show' had England laughing week after week, greatly influencing Monty Python and the Beatles, among others - and paved the way for sketch comedy as we know it today.

Bertie Wooster, recently returned from a very pleasurable soujourn in Cannes, finds himself at the stately home of Sir Henry Hackwood in Dorset. Bertie is more than familiar with the country house set-up: he is a veteran of the cocktail hour and, thanks to Jeeves, his gentleman's personal gentleman, is never less than immaculately dressed. On this...

A poignantly funny retrospective of the genteel wit of broadcaster, comedienne, poet and entertainer, Joyce Grenfell, superbly performed by Maureen Lipman and heard on BBC Radio 3. Together with the creative team that produced the stage show, ReJoyce, Maureen perfectly recreates the much-loved material of the late, great Joyce Grenfell. Featuring m...

From the unique perspective of David Sedaris comes a new book of essays taking his listeners on a bizarre and stimulating world tour. From the perils of French dentistry to the eating habits of the Australian kookaburra, from the squat-style toilets of Beijing to the particular wilderness of a North Carolina Costco, we learn about the absurdity and...