We explore the rise of powerful non-English linguistic forces in the United States. Starting at Plymouth Rock where the Pilgrim Fathers landed in 1620, Melvyn Bragg follows the development of English in the American colony-from the War of Independence and the founding of the first capital, Philadelphia, right through to the controversial contempora...

The English language in India. Despite being the imposed language of the imperial power, English also had the power to unite the nation. The story of the English language in India is also the story of the British merchants, adventurers and colonial administrators for whom the country was the Empire's jewel in the crown. Calcutta, the great Victoria...

Here we take up the story of Caribbean English where the Brixton Routes left off. For the poet Edward Kamau Braithwaite the legacy of the English language is something from which he, in his tropical landscape, must break free because, as he wrote, "the hurricane does not roar in pentameters". Melvyn Bragg heads off to the Caribbean where he meets a...

English becomes the language of liberation as Afrikaans takes on the label of oppression. In 1994 the first free democratic elections in South Africa were held, bringing Nelson Mandela to power as the country's first black president. One of the other consequences was the elevation of nine African languages to equal status with English and Afrikaans...

With English now hailed on all sides as the world's first "global" language and the preferred medium of expression from United Biscuits to the United Nations, Melvyn Bragg meets people-like former Dome supremo P.Y. Gerbeau-for whom talking English is the most natural way to speak, yet who didn't absorb it with their mother's milk. Also taking part...

Tom Baker stars in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of John le Carr‚'s powerful thriller. In the third year of perestroika, London publisher Barley Blair is sent a manuscript from Moscow. Exposing Russian nuclear threats as a sham, the information-if it's genuine-could shatter East-West relations. Jazz-loving, hard-drinking Blair is hardly...

Sarah Millican plays Sarah, life counsellor and modern-day agony aunt, in this BBC Radio 4 comedy series. Together with her team of 'experts', Sarah tackles the nation's problems head on, dishing out real advice for real people. In this episode, Sarah tackles the problems, 'I love a plumber but I'm no boiler', 'Dating outside of your class: would y...

Sarah Millican plays Sarah, life counsellor and modern-day agony aunt, in this BBC Radio 4 comedy series. Together with her team of 'experts', Sarah tackles the nation's problems head on, dishing out real advice for real people. In this episode, Sarah tackles the problems, 'My mother is behaving like a teenager - she's 50 not 15!' and 'I'm a sensit...

Sarah Millican plays Sarah, life counsellor and modern-day agony aunt, in this BBC Radio 4 comedy series. Together with her team of 'experts', Sarah tackles the nation's problems head on, dishing out real advice for real people. In this episode, Sarah tackles the problems, 'I'm a clown with a secret' and 'Do age-gap relationships work: is 65 in sli...

Sarah Millican plays Sarah, life counsellor and modern-day agony aunt, in this BBC Radio 4 comedy series. Together with her team of 'experts', Sarah tackles the nation's problems head on, dishing out real advice for real people. In this episode, Sarah tackles the problems, 'My broken heart needs fixing but I've only got paper glue' and 'Tonight is...

A sparkling BBC Radio 4 production of Alan Ayckbourn's festive play, starring Frances Barber, Phil Daniels, Bill Nighy, Geoffrey Palmer and John Sessions Christmas is the season of good cheer and harmony among men, but things are not working out quite that way in the Bunker household. As a motley collection of friends and relatives fill the house...

1911 saw the fall of the Qing Dynasty and the abdication of the last Emperor in China. 100 years on, Isabel Hilton describes how China coped with the collapse and looks for any lingering legacy in this BBC Radio 3 report originally broadcast as the 'Sunday Feature' on 23 January 2011. After living under the comparative stability of an Imperial sys...

The listener response to this play when it was first broadcast as part of the 'God's Country' series was overwhelming and it has gone on to become an audio bestseller. Performed by Becky Simpson, Spoonface is a young autistic Jewish girl who, learning that she is terminally ill, contemplates the meaning of life and death in a dramatic monologue int...

A frank and uncompromising BBC Radio 3 drama about a young woman in prison. Originally broadcast on 5 February 2011 as part of 'The Wire', a showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative. Tomorrow 23-year-old Ronia will have the most important conversation of her life - her parole hearing. Ronia has been serving an 'Imprisonmen...

John Moffatt and Rosemary Leach star in this BBC Radio 4 production of Noel Coward's patriotic play about the ups and downs of a working-class family between 1919 and 1939 'This Happy Breed' opens in 1919, when the Gibbons family have just moved to their smart new home in the suburbs of South London. Against a background of social change and nation...

In this first episode from his fantastically funny BBC Radio 4 series that investigates the myriad examples of corporate lunacy and maddening jobsworths in modern Britain, comedian Tom Wrigglesworth finds himself baffled by the weird world of parking enforcement.

n this second episode from his fantastically funny BBC Radio 4 series that investigates the myriad examples of corporate lunacy and maddening jobsworths in modern Britain, comedian Tom Wrigglesworth is bemused by the peculiar practices of utilities companies.

In this third episode from his fantastically funny BBC Radio 4 series that investigates the myriad examples of corporate lunacy and maddening jobsworths in modern Britain, comedian Tom Wrigglesworth wonders how on earth the bankers keep getting away with it.

In this fourth episode from his fantastically funny BBC Radio 4 series that investigates the myriad examples of corporate lunacy and maddening jobsworths in modern Britain, comedian Tom Wrigglesworth asks why we still bother with estate agents.

Art historian Philip Mould discusses the art chosen by Government ministers in this BBC Radio 4 broadcast from 26 January 2011. Becoming a Minister has many perks, but one they can see every day is the art hanging in their office, often borrowed from the Government Art Collection. Art historian Philip Mould speaks to new ministers about what they c...

Welsh stand-up comedian Rhod Gilbert hosts a brand new audience comedy show featuring comedy regulars Lloyd Langford and Greg Davies (We Are Klang), along with Sarah Millican who takes a weekly look at The Six Stages of Woman. This first episode features live music from Scouting for Girls, including their hit She's So Lovely, and the guest comedian...