William Wordsworth's autobiographical poem The Prelude is arguably the most important piece of poetic writing in our language. Recorded in Wordsworth's home in Grasmere, Cumbria, Wordsworth looks back over events in his early life. Wordsworth believed that poetry should be written in the natural language of common speech, and in that way it was re...

William Wordsworth's autobiographical poem The Prelude is arguably the most important piece of poetic writing in our language. Recorded in Wordsworth's home in Grasmere, Cumbria, Wordsworth looks back over events in his early life. Wordsworth believed that poetry should be written in the natural language of common speech, and in that way it was re...

William Wordsworth's autobiographical poem The Prelude is arguably the most important piece of poetic writing in our language. Recorded in Wordsworth's home in Grasmere, Cumbria, Wordsworth looks back over events in his early life. Wordsworth believed that poetry should be written in the natural language of common speech, and in that way it was re...

Set in 1960s Sydney, the presence of a luxurious liner seems to offer Trudy and her young husband, James, a tantalising opportunity to fulfil their dreams... The BBC National Short Story Award 2011 is managed in partnership with Booktrust.

Welsh stand-up comedian Rhod Gilbert is one of the biggest names in UK stand-up, performing to sell-out audiences in the Britain and abroad. Now he has his own radio show, recorded in front of a live audience and packed with laughs. Joining Rhod on stage are fellow comedians Lloyd Langford and Greg Davies (We Are Klang), along with Sarah Millican w...

Leslie Charteris' square-jawed, blue-eyed hero loved, fought and stole his way through Europe from the 1930s to the 1970s, endlessly pursuing blondes, baddies and boodle. Adored by women and feared by his foes, he was renowned for both his heroic exploits and his nefarious reputation - and he always left his trademark calling card at the scenes of...

A BBC Radio 4 drama by Katharine Way, 'Star Struck' was first broadcast on 2 May 2011 and stars Julia Haworth as Sarah, Philip Bretherton as Cal and was produced by Gary Brown. Sarah has got the job of her dreams. Working with Cal, an Astronomy Professor at a remote observatory in New Zealand. Sarah loves her work, but she would rather look at star...

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....

Stephen Fry traces the evolution of the mobile phone, from hefty executive bricks that required a separate briefcase to carry the battery, to the smartphones available today. There are more mobile phones in the world than there are people on the planet: Stephen Fry talks to the backroom boys who made it all possible and hears how the technology suc...

Stephen Fry meets the brains behind the mobile phone. There are more mobile phones in the world than there are people on the planet: In this first episode, Stephen Fry explores the creation of the mobile phone network. Richard Frenkiel, a Bell Labs engineer, who created the cellular networks on which all mobile phones depend, was himself never part...

Stephen Fry meets the brains behind the mobile phone. There are more mobile phones in the world than there are people on the planet: Stephen Fry talks to the backroom boys who made it all possible and hears how the technology succeeded, in ways that the geeks had not necessarily intended. In this second episode, he traces the evolution of the mobil...

Stephen Fry meets the brains behind the mobile phone. In this third episode, he looks at the discovery of text messaging. The engineers who designed the early texting facilities didn't imagine that anyone might want to reply. (Just in case, they added a short list of possible pre-set answers: yes, no and maybe). In the eighties, when network covera...

Stephen Fry meets the brains behind the mobile phone. In this third episode, he looks at the discovery of text messaging. The engineers who designed the early texting facilities didn't imagine that anyone might want to reply. (Just in case, they added a short list of possible pre-set answers: yes, no and maybe). In the eighties, when network covera...

Stephen Fry meets the brains behind the mobile phone. Today, 85% of the silicon chips inside all mobile phones are designed by one Cambridge-based company, ARM. Two computer engineers needed some micro-processors but didn't like what they saw and decided to make their own. Strapped for cash, they designed chips that were small, cheap and exceptiona...

Tom Baker stars as the Fourth Doctor in the fifth of five thrilling brand new adventures, with Susan Jameson as Mrs Wibbsey, Richard Franklin as Mike Yates, and David Troughton as the Visitor. It has been three months since the Hexford catastrophe, and Mike Yates is trying to show strength of leadership to the villagers. But with morale low and sup...

This fascinating collection of archive interviews with the acclaimed playwright, whose centenary was celebrated in 2011, begins in 1969 with a radio appearance on Out This Week. It culminates with an interview for Kaleidoscope in 1977, recorded a few months before his death. Inbetween are several major radio features on Rattigan's life and work, in...

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...

Deep in the British Library tucked into the slipcover of a book on the history of Blenheim Palace a packet of extraordinary letters has been discovered. "Dear Marengo brackets Napoleon's horse close brackets, I've never written a letter like this before...." Thus begins the first passionate letter from Copenhagen, the Duke of Wellington's horse, to...