Illuminated

A farmer, a cheesemaker, a philosopher and a scientist take us on a guided tour through a cow. Told in five acts, this programme weaves together the voices of our four guides - artist-philosopher Samar Nasrullah Khan, cheesemaker Peter Dixon, farmer Nikki Yoxall and Professor of Animal Science and Microbiology Sharon Huws. They take us on a journey from deep in the soil, through a plant, into a cow’s mouth, through her four stomach compartments – home to vast civilisations of bacteria, protozoa and fungi – and, of course, out the other end. Finally, the cow is milked and her dung is devoured by microorganisms, who turn it back into soil – starting the cycle again. Part documentary, part creative interpretation, the programme uses field recordings to immerse us in the multi-species communities we encounter along the way. These mingle with the voice of the cow herself, and those of our human guides, who explain and reflect on the interactions and transformations occurring at each stage. Humans and cattle have co-evolved. Over thousands of years, we have harnessed, exploited and relied on their ability to transform protein-poor plants into milk and dung, providing nourishment for people and soil. But still, what actually goes on inside a cow – and between a cow and its environment – to make these transformations possible remains a source of wonder. Featuring Nikki Yoxall, Samar Nasrullah Khan, Professor Sharon Huws and Peter Dixon Producer and narrator: Katie Revell Executive producer: Carys Wall Sound design, music and mix: Ev Buckley Additional recordings by Gastric Mill A Bespoken Media Scotland production for BBC Radio 4

John Betjeman wrote that it was 'worth cycling forty miles in a head wind to visit St Wendreda's church in March, Cambridgeshire, because of the 118 angels in the roof. The wings of the C16th oak carvings are inspired by hen and marsh harriers. Once common locally - they are returning now. Nature writer Robert Macfarlane looks at the carvings, drawing connections between angels and harriers, what they say about of our feelings for the birds and angels.Robert climbs to the ringing chamber to get close to the harrier angels with Ruth Clay, vicar of St Wendreda's, Edward Wilson-Lee, author of The Grammar of Angels, and Ajay Tegala, ranger at Wicken Fen. They discuss their meaning, in the C16th when they were carved, and today. The persecution and survival of the angel carvings corresponds to that of the birds. At Easter this is a resonant story.During the Reformation iconoclasts destroyed 'idolatrous' church decorations, including carvings. Michael Rimmer, author of The Angel Roofs of East Anglia, tells of their destruction. At the same time the Tudor Vermin Acts led to a frenzy of killing of birds of prey such as harriers.When Henry VIII's agents came to March to destroy the carvings, the people of March plied them with drink and food. They left with the church silver, but the harrier angels stayed intact. In William Barsley’s workshop the wood carver speaks about the art of the carvers who were known as 'imaginators'. Robert visits Wickham Fen with Ajay Tegala, where hen and marsh harriers are in recovery, to observe them in angelic flight.And musician Martin Simpson has made a special recording of his song Skydancers, about harriers, their predicament, recovery, and our role in this.Presenter: Robert Macfarlane Producer: Julian May

In 2018, the writer and actor Harriet Madeley found out that she was going to die. At least, that’s what she heard when a doctor diagnosed her with Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis, a progressive disease for which there is no medical treatment, no cure, poor understanding and a long list of frightening Google stats.. None of her loved-ones knew how to respond to this bombshell. Her best friend kept crying. Her parents preferred not to talk about it. And her fiancée? She took it upon herself to cure the thing.In the midst of a confrontation with looming death, Harriet’s closest relationship began disintegrating. Harriet's response? To write a comedy about it.This is the story of how Harriet used her creativity to come to terms with a life-changing diagnosis, and how it helped her to rebuild her relationships and decide how to face the future.The play featured (slightly) fictionalised versions of the people closest to her. The script was a monologue, in which her own flaws and those of her loved-ones are magnified for the paying audience.But how will those loved-ones respond? Will they be horrified? Or will the play force a meaningful conversation at last? Harriet is still alive and kicking, facing a finite future. But then again, aren’t we all?Writer: Harriet Madeley Producer: Andrew Wilkie Sound Design: Micky Curling and Bella Kear Voices of theatre team: Madelaine Moore, Mark Knightley, Jessica Clark With heartfelt thanks to Abi Mowbray Photo: Karla GowlettA PRA production for BBC Radio 4

‘Do nothing’. So exhorts Jimmy as he overhauls the strokes, kicks and breathing of his adult swim learners at Cardiff International Pool. They plunge, roll, extend. As they learn to let go and glide, they’re overcome with a sense of joy, freedom and bodily ease.For journalist Selma Chalabi, Jimmy’s classes have been a lifeline. She joined the class to improve her swimming technique, but what she found was something so much more profound. Jimmy’s unique and philosophical style of teaching taught her not only how to move at one with the water, but also how to live her life - when to move and when to rest and how to breathe.It’s in the pool that Selma meets a community of learners - all ages, shapes and cultures - who are doing so much more than learning to swim. There’s Maggs, who is determined to face her worst fear and overcome a deep childhood trauma, and working mum Doris, whose moment of peace is when she submerges into the water. As for Darius, he has transformed from absolute beginner to potential competitor. This is a world you might find in any leisure centre around the country. A place so familiar to us, and yet in its depths and shallows, in its pools of chlorine and azure light, are stories of courage, determination, bliss and finding new meaning in the water. Producer and presenter: Selma Chalabi Executive Producer: Leonie Thomas Sound Designer: Mike Woolley Sound engineers: Meic Parry and Katie HillWith deepest gratitude to Jimmy, his students, and the staff at Cardiff International Pool.An Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4

Historian Maurice Casey reveals the story of an anti-Nazi resistance network and the family at its heart, told through a newspaper crafted by two young girls. In the dusty corners of a Galician villa on Spain’s northern coast, Casey uncovered a forgotten archive of revolution, resistance and love. Among the documents was something extraordinary. The Alpenpost - a newspaper lovingly hand-crafted by Elisa and Alida Leonhard, two girls raised on Europe’s 1930s refugee routes. Created every fortnight from late 1935 until 1940, The Alpenpost charted the activities of the two Leonhard girls and their mother Emmy, a veteran of the repressed world of Weimar German communism. With a mixture of cartoons, light stories and precocious political analyses, the girls charted their unusual upbringing as the children of an anti-fascist father and an exiled revolutionary mother.Each issue was posted to the girls’ ‘papa’ Edo Fimmen, separated from his family, constantly travelling to maintain a network of activists and informants. Fimmen led the powerful International Transport-Workers’ Federation in continual resistance to fascism. Reading The Alpenpost, Edo could chart his daughters’ flight through 1930s Europe. Both a love letter to a father seperated from his family by dangerous work and a remarkable document of a childhood lived in flight from totalitarianism.This is a tale of survival against the odds - not only the survival of a family that lived under grave political threats, but an archive that survived a journey across countries and generations.Contributions from Pedro Ewald, Dieter Nelles, Rene Dumont, Bob Reinalda Voices of The Alpenpost: Hannah Nehb, Juno Nehb, Neva Nehb with Arjan SchipperProducer: Mark Burman A Storyscape production for BBC Radio 4

Alan Hall and his siblings have a shared story from their childhoods - their mum, Jackie, describes walking through a Liverpool park with her mum, their grandma, Hettie. It must be the 1940s. Hettie is a single mum. She'd fallen pregnant, according to family mythology, while working as a domestic servant in Scotland. Jackie has had spells in foster care. "Don't stare," Hettie says. "Those men over there, they're your uncles." Years later, after Jackie's death, Alan finds an envelope labelled, 'Mum's Pics'. Inside, there are photographs of two men in military uniforms, one with 'Fred' written on the back, the other, of a soldier in a kilt, 'Brother Bill'. These are Hettie's brothers - or rather, two of them. She was the youngest of nine and the only daughter. Of the other boys, Jackie had told her children, three had been killed in the Great War. A third photograph, of the Foster family gravestone, provides their names - Harry, Sidney and Thomas, "their duty nobly done".Cannon Fodder traces memory, myth and meaning within one family touched by the catastrophe of World War One. With contributions from historian Jeremy Banning, Lynelle Howson of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, retired Salvation Army officers Lt-Cols. David and Doriel Phillips, Ruth Anders of St Anne's Church, Aigburth in Liverpool and Hettie's grandchildren - Cathy, Laureen, Alan and Robin.With music by Robin's daughter, Leila Hall (voice), and Alan Hall (cornet). Produced by Alan Hall A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Hilik Magnus is Israel’s foremost search and rescue specialist. He has performed missions, public and private, for over 30 years across six continents. He has worked under the radar during disasters such as 2004’s tsunami and 2008’s Mumbai attacks. He has worked with everyone, from grieving families to cartels and the Taliban, all for the simple purpose of returning people to where they belong. Now, he opens up about this secretive world, and talks frankly about his origins and values.The start, in the 1990s, was simple. His operating base was an abandoned train carriage in the southern desert of Israel with three telephones and a dial-up connection. Hilik did not know what awaited him. All he knew was that he felt a ‘shlichut’ – ‘higher purpose’ in Hebrew – to help save lives, to return the unburied to their grieving families. Yet the business grew and now employs 80 people in a hi-tech hub in Tel Aviv. There is GPS, GSM, fibre-optic, and over 2,500 calls for help every year. In the midst of this change, Hilik is finding it hard to connect the now and then. For him, the purity of the work was in shepherding lost souls, alive or dead, to their rightful place. Strange, mystical encounters at 6,000m above sea-level, exposing national corruption in Bolivia - not board meetings and touchscreens. He hates the city and all it implies. Yet the world moves on, and the work means everything to him. When he lets himself stop, his 76 years catch up with him, leading to days laid up in bed. Producer: Jeremy Neumark Jones Assistant Producer, Additional Research: Robert Neumark Jones Original Music by Theo Whitworth Executive Producer: David Prest A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

The Indri lemur, also known as the singing lemur, can be found only in Madagascar’s rainforests. Famous for their eerie, melodic calls, they are one of the few primates that sing and, as it turns out, they have a surprising relationship to rhythm - one that’s very similar to our own. After hearing news of these unlikely rhythmic capabilities, Georgie Styles ventures into one of the most biodiverse yet threatened ecosystems on Earth to capture the haunting songs of this critically endangered species, as they echo through the treetops. But as she goes deeper into this tale of survival and song, she discovers a hidden female history. So what can the Indri lemur tell us about the origins of music?Providing us with the first-ever evidence of complex vocal abilities that exceed those of any other mammal, besides humans, the Indri reveals clues to our own evolutionary journey and offers us a rarely told perspective.With contributions from primatologist and conservationist, Dr Sylviane Volampeno, primatologist Dr Chiara De Gregorio, researcher Irene Marchesi and a team of Madagascan research guides, A Lemur’s Song connects nature’s melodies to the evolution of music. Through the captivating sounds of Madagascar’s rainforests, the Indris songs and the creative responses of an original score by music artist and saxophonist Laura Misch, Georgie reflects on what sounds can tell us about our world and what we are at risk of losing.A 2 Degrees West production for BBC Radio 4

If you ask many women in recovery from alcoholism what the term ‘functioning alcoholic’ means to them, they will laugh. In truth, a large percentage of women who end up in treatment had been, to the outside world, ‘functioning’. Holding down jobs, raising children, paying their rent or mortgage. However, internally, ‘functioning’ is about the last word they would use to describe their mental and emotional landscape as alcohol increasingly tightened its grip on their lives.Here, two women share in raw and brutally honest detail their descent into alcohol dependency, which took place incrementally, behind closed doors, and, for the most part, under the radar as they continued to appear to live regular, ‘functional’ lives.​​Functioning offers a rare insight into the experience of leading a completely dual existence - the secrecy, the agility and the alchemy required in maintaining a ‘functioning’ exterior, while your interior is coming apart; and a lesson in how much can go undetected when you are not what the world assumes of an alcoholic.Sound design by Action Pyramid Produced by Jodie Taylor A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

In the 1930s a group of researchers descended on the northern mill town of Bolton to observe the natives. They christened their chosen case-study 'Worktown'. It was a ground breaking study of working class culture - and one thing they wanted to know was what makes people happy.The people of Bolton were asked a simple questions "What is happiness to you and yours?" The letters written in response reveal a snapshot of the innermost thoughts and feelings of ordinary people, living ordinary lives almost a century ago. Katharine Longworth returns to Bolton to discover whether this town still holds the secret to happiness. Exploring the town centre, markets, pasty shops and pubs; she asks the same question, bringing the original letters to life as modern day Boltonians reflect on the insights of their predecessors. We knock on the doors of those who live in the same spot as the original correspondents, linking them to the past through the words of the letters, and hearing their own reflections on happiness. Have things changed? Is it more difficult to be happier today? And is Bolton the happiest town on earth?Original letter written by: J.E. Nelson G. Taylor J. Warburton Joseph Roberts A. Thornley F. Fielding L. Bollington E. HorrocksProducer: Katharine Longworth Sound Design: Michael Smith Actors: Paul Brennan, Jasmine Hyde and Mike RogersWith thanks to Professor Jerome Carson and Dr Sandie McHugh at The University of Greater Manchester.

Time is a journey - the future ahead of us, the past behind. Our burdens are a weight that we carry, our problems are a puzzle that we solve.Metaphor is at the heart of how we understand our existence. In a period of huge change and global uncertainty, are we outgrowing the metaphors we have lived by?The poet Jack Underwood is offering his services as a metaphor consultant, for a very reasonable fee.Featuring conversations with poet and psychoanalyst Nuar Alsadir; Dr Stephen Flusberg, the Director of the Framing, Reasoning And Metaphor (FRAME) Lab at Vassar College; computer scientist Melanie Mitchell; the philosopher Dr Julia Ng; and the linguist and author of Metaphors We Live By, George Lakoff.Location recording by Mitra Kaboli, Kristina Loring, Gustavo Martinez and Donelle WedderburnProduced by Eleanor McDowall A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

For decades, Nigerian hall parties have been the hub for communities in the UK, it was the place where they could bring a little bit of home and be transported through music, food and fashion. Full of extravagance, warmth and culture, the word Owambe, both noun and adjective, directly translates to ‘everything is there’. Now, first generation British Nigerians continue this tradition, their way. Presenter Bisi Akins takes us on a journey through an Owambe, exploring what that “everything” really means. We dive into the key elements of a successful Nigerian hall party, immersed in the sounds, smells, music, and traditions that bring an Owambe to life. We’ll hear from those who lived it, loved it, and how the next generation are keeping the tradition alive. Bring your big beats, bold outfits, and dancing shoes – Into the Owambe for BBC Radio 4. A Hill 5.14 production for BBC Radio 4

Bass guitarist and record producer Jah Wobble has had a lifetime’s immersion at the low end of the musical spectrum. Over four decades, his hypnotic bass riffs have powered music from punk to reggae, fusion to world music.He relates his first experiences as a teenager attending blues dances where Jamaican sound systems played cuts of reggae dub where the bass felt like a force like gravity, and seeing Bob Marley and the Wailers where he was captivated by the playing of bassist Aston ‘Family Man’ Barrett, and on to his own involvement with Public Image Limited, where he brought a dub sensibility into their post-punk music. He discusses his long years as a solo artist, and collaborations with musical legends from Can’s Holger Czukay to Sinead O’Connor, and Primal Scream to Pharoah Sanders. During these years, Jah Wobble has also been interested in the Science of Bass. So, he meets up with Dr Duncan Edwards of Salford University, to ask him about the special, physical properties of Bass Notes. How do they reach our brains and, once there, what psychological, emotional effects can they have on us? To understand this, he submits to an experiment where his head is wired up, and the Wobble brain waves measured. After years lost in drink and drugs Jah Wobble turned to Buddhism and became fascinated by alternative explanations of his bass playing that this could give him. He interviews eminent teacher of Tibetan Buddhism, Lama Jampa Thaye, to find further enlightenment. And in a south London Prayer room, he listens to the extraordinary low-pitched chanting of exiled Tibetan monks, where one mantra has the awesome power of a bass note.Presenter: Jah Wobble Producer: Alastair Laurence Sound Design: Jake Wittlin A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

What does Christmas Day mean to you? This raw, kaleidoscopic audio portrait, made up entirely from voice notes recordings, tracks the emotional contours of the day as it unfolds. Through midnight churchgoing and moments of quiet reflection to frenetic gift-giving, culinary chaos and karaoke, the programme evokes and questions our own multifarious experiences of what Christmas Day ‘means’. Variously boozy, silly, sad, excited, warm, lonely, deeply spiritual and endearingly humanistic – the contributions chart a cross section of modern Britain, encompassing heartfelt-stories, accidental field recordings, impromptu songs and audio diary entries. With special thanks to all those who recorded their Christmas Day for us in 2024. Original music and sound design by James Bonney. Producer: James Bonney Mix: Mike Woolley Executive Producer: Olivia Humphreys An Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4

In 1939, Emma Freud's mother Jill was evacuated from London to the suburbs of Oxford. After staying with Lewis Carroll's friends the Butler sisters for a few years, she arrived at her next designated accommodation clutching a small suitcase and a copy of her favourite book, The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis. It was just a few weeks later, after she spotted several copies of that book on a shelf, that she realised she was actually living with CS Lewis himself.In this telling of Jill's fascinating story, Emma hears all about her mother's love for CS Lewis, known to her as Jack. How she cared for him, how he paid for her to go to drama school and how a big, old, wooden wardrobe became part of her story...Illustrated with readings from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Emma captures these precious memories as she sits down with her mum to hear her magical story.Readings of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by Olivia Williams. Other readings by Richard Gibson.Presenter: Emma Freud Producer: Elizabeth FosterThe Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis © copyright 1950 CS Lewis Pte Ltd.Lady Jill Freud, April 1927-November 2025.

Like so many people at a similar time of life, the poet Paul Farley is facing up to the fact that he might need hearing aids. His wife has been asking him to turn down the volume on the telly for years, and has given up shouting downstairs for him because he never hears. Out in cafes and pubs, Paul can no longer really follow what people are saying to him, and so he often turns down invitations knowing he can’t turn up the volume. Even worse, for Paul at least, is the fact he can no longer hear the high frequencies of his beloved birdsong. Now, though, all that could change as he heads for a test at his local opticians to get his own NHS hearing aids fitted. He also speaks with Gabrielle Saunders, Professor of Audiology at the University of Manchester, about the past and future of hearing aids, and also the truth about the supposed connection between dementia and hearing loss. Paul also visits the near total silence of Salford University’s anechoic chamber so that he can hear himself think properly - and looks forward to a time when he might once again be able to listen to the birds.Presented by Paul Farley Produced by Geoff Bird Executive Producers: Eloise Whitmore and Jo MeekA Naked production for BBC Radio 4

From Rock-a-bye Baby to Brahms to AI…Has the lullaby become a lost art?Matt Edmonds is trying to sing his child to sleep. It’s not working. As his baritone produces My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean for the 19th time and his toddler says 'Dada, stop!’, he drifts into a parallel reality. Could AI do bedtime for him? Surely it would be simpler? And he would be spared lying on the floor of his child’s bedroom.What is a lullaby? What gives it its magic? The tune? The words? The rhythm? The very act of delivery? In this programme, we join Matt Edmonds - writer, musician and father - as he falls down a rabbit hole, chasing the lost art of the lullaby. In this dreamy, musical 'sleeper hit', Matt encounters people with stories that explore the power of the lullaby.During Lullaby Hour at a neonatal unit, Matt hears first-hand the impact live lullabies have on premature babies. He talks to Roxana Vilk, whose lullabies project gathers songs from all over the world, to see if she can help. And he meets his friends, musicians Johnny and Lillie Flynn, to hear what musical tricks they use to compose and sing lullabies. Full of fresh wisdom, Matt returns to his child’s bedside, his baritone hoarse and sleep-deprived, to test if the ancient art of the lullaby still has legs. This programme is richly designed with a soundscape woven from recordings of Matt’s own attempts at lullabies, the sounds of the locations he visits, and music from Matt, Mica Bernard, Bex Ashford and from Johnny and Lillie Flynn.Presenter: Matt Edmonds Producer: Jenny Dare Executive Producers: Shannon Delwiche, Chris Jones and Guy NatanelWith special thanks to Dr Aniko Deierl and Irena Meza for their contributionsA Sound & Bones production for BBC Radio 4.

Emily Berry leads us on an exploration of agoraphobia: a poetic journey through the lives of people who don't like going on journeys.Agoraphobia is elusive and elastic – and it's very probably not what you think it is.Poet Emily Berry was diagnosed with agoraphobia over ten years ago, a condition which limits her ability to travel. And so she's setting off in a different way: on a journey into the life of the mind, guided by a chorus of fellow agoraphobics. What does it mean to come up against the boundaries of the self and how might those limits be breached through the power of the imagination – in the words of poet Vasko Popa, "the little box which contains the world."Featuring Graham Caveney, Charlotte Levin and Peter Ruppert.Includes extracts from a BBC interview with Dr Claire Weekes. Graham Caveney's memoir is called On Agoraphobia (Picador) Charlotte Levin's most recent novel is If I Let You Go (Mantle) Peter Ruppert's on-line community is anxietyfitness.com

The Piano Boat, the floating concert hall where world-renowned concert pianist Masayuki Tayama played, sits empty. His wife, Rhiana, is left with a boat with no captain and a Steinway she was never allowed to play. We join her as she processes her grief and considers the future of The Piano Boat without Masa.Rhiana and Masa commissioned the boat in 2019 and planned to run concert cruises, on board the boat, along the inland waterways. It was a dream project for both of them – a life designed for two.But, in 2021 Masa was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and although the chemotherapy turned his fingers numb, he relearned his technique and kept playing. In August 2023, a week after what would be their final round of cruises, Masa was hospitalized for the last time. He died two weeks later.Will Greenwood, who has seen the boat from creation to present day, journeys with Rhiana on the waterways and as she rebuilds her dreams while coping with her grief. She shares her honest audio diaries, the highs and lows. She is surprised by sorrow and joy as she starts to fill the boat with music once more. Beginning with playing Masa’s piano – something she had never done before.Craig Terry, Director of Steinway & Sons UK, tells us about the piano and meeting Rhiana and Masa for the first time. Concert Pianist and one of Masa’s former colleagues, Graham Caskey, and music academic, Kris Worsley, talk on the intimacy of The Piano Boat, and show us how the pieces we hear don’t need words to tell a story.Presented by Will Greenwood Produced by Will Greenwood and Anna Scott-Brown An Overtone production for BBC Radio 4

There are so many problems in the world. For the past three years, Estonian clown Julia Masli - armed with a microphone taped to a mannequin leg - has been trying to solve them.So far, during the performances of her live show ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, where Julia asks audience members their problem, she has recorded 1574 problems. A few people feel homesick, some worry about the collapse of society, and many lament their retreating hairlines. But we are not alone with our problems: Janet is not the only one with a broken fridge. Simon shares his back pain. Alexandra might feel lonely, but Aisha does too. This clown might not be able to solve all of our problems, but she’s going to try. Photo: Cameron Whitman Original music composed by Alessio Festuccia Produced by Talia Augustidis and Julia Masli Dramaturgy by Kim Noble (director of ha ha ha ha ha ha ha) Executive producers Alan Hall and Eleanor McDowall A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

This is a story about a community on the north east coast of Scotland that talked to plants with miraculous results.Established in 1962, the Findhorn community gained international recognition for 40lb cabbages, 8-foot delphiniums, and roses that bloomed in snow.With seemingly no gardening experience, community founders Peter and Eileen Caddy and their friend Dorothy Maclean transformed the barren sand dunes surrounding the 30-foot caravan they were living in, into a modern-day garden of Eden.The public wanted to know how this was possible. What was the source of this horticultural miracle? People flocked to Findhorn from around the world to witness this incredible transformation first-hand.An extraordinary story began to emerge. Peter, Eileen and Dorothy - along with Scottish writer and supernatural enthusiast Robert Ogilvie Crombie (ROC) - attributed their success to one thing: collaboration with the ‘intelligence of nature’.They claimed they had pierced the veil of the nature spirit realm, and were regularly receiving guidance from fairies, floral spirits and angelic forms Dorothy called 'Devas' - the ‘architects’ of the natural world. Moreover, they had been called upon by these entities to transform the Findhorn Garden into a centre of spiritual light. What started with a single family in a caravan quickly grew into a thriving international village of hundreds of people united by shared social, spiritual and ecological values.Inspired by the media's enduring fascination with Findhorn's supernatural origins, sound designer Jonathan Webb travels to Findhorn in search of transmissions from the nature spirit realm.Trawling through the archives, in conversation with community elders, and in pursuit of sonic traces of higher elemental worlds, Jonathan brings into focus the echoes and reverberations of Findhorn’s strange and magical past.Produced, Edited & Sound Designed by Jonathan Webb Executive Producer: Carys WallA Bespoken Media Scotland production for BBC Radio 4Additional field recordings by Brenda Hutchinson.With grateful thanks to Jonathan Caddy, Judy McAllister and Karl Jay-Lewin, whose kindness and generosity made this programme possible.Thank you to the Findhorn Foundation for providing access and permission to use recordings from the Findhorn Foundation archive.The Findhorn Garden includes excerpts from ‘The River’ by Lark Batteau and ‘Love One Another’ by David Spangler and Milenko Matanovic, performing as The New Troubadours (Findhorn community band, 1970-1973)Jonathan Webb makes no claim to authorship or ownership over any of the quotations or repurposed recordings used in the production of this work, and for practical and artistic reasons it has not been possible to reference and cite them individually. Jonathan Webb’s authorship is in the overall conception, arrangement, treatment and presentation of this audio artwork in its context.

Clint Buffington spends his time where land meets sea, searching for a very specific treasure - messages in bottles that have drifted across oceans. Over the past 20 years he has recovered more than 140 of them, each carrying a clue - sometimes decades old - waiting to be discovered.Finding a bottle is only the beginning. The real mystery unfolds when Clint carefully extracts the fragile paper in his Utah home lab. He first teases out the faint, salt-blurred words, deciphering a message damaged by years at sea. Only then does Clint begin tracking down the person who sent it, often many years after they let it go. Each investigation is part detective work, part conversation across time.The messages reveal remarkable journeys - a German sailor who cast a note into the Bermuda Triangle on his birthday in 1979, three French women who paddled across the Atlantic to set a world record, Puerto Rican students at a crossroads, even a pair of tiny dolls wrapped in a spell.Join Clint on his search and the unexpected revelations it sparks - a reminder that across vast distances and years at sea, the quest for human connection is timeless. A Sound & Bones production for BBC Radio 4

On the 75th anniversary of the iconic comic strip Peanuts, psychoanalyst and author Josh Cohen shares how Charlie Brown and the Snoopy gang have become his constant companions—and how they can help us navigate the frustrating squiggle of life.Charles Schultz’s daily newspaper comic strip is perhaps the most enduring, beloved and iconic cartoon ever penned. Even if you’ve never read the strip itself, you are unlikely to have escaped its famous characters’ journeys across the decades and the globe. The round-headed, wobbly mouthed Charlie Brown and his dog Snoopy, often found snoozing atop his kennel, have been emblazoned across t shirts, crockery and pretty much every other conceivable piece of merchandise. They have inspired TV shows, pop songs, and even been the namesakes of Apollo lunar modules. Far from just a bunch of cutesy doodles, as many have come to see it, Peanuts’ cross-generational appeal is down to its spot-on depiction of the complex emotions that follow us all from childhood into adulthood. From Charlie Brown’s humiliation on the baseball field to his frenemy Lucy’s unrequited pining for her piano-playing crush, and her brother Linus’ desperate attachment to his security blanket, the strip reflects the everyday pain and frustration of being human. And, with warmth and wit, offers its readers a way to live with it. In fact, Peanuts deals so much in the intense emotional experiences of its young protagonists that one of its most recognisable recurring gags is Lucy’s booth offering ‘PSYCHIATRIC HELP 5¢’.Stepping out from behind his analytic couch and taking a seat at its cartoon simulacrum in that famous booth, Josh unpacks the psychological truths illustrated in the comic’s four main characters - Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus and Snoopy. Hooked by a copy of Peanuts Jubilee aged five, they were his contemporaries. Today, after 50 years of avid reading, he’s on the other side of the two-way channel between childhood and adulthood that Peanuts opens up. He investigates the emotional pull of the comic for him and for so many of us - including the other writers and thinkers we hear from who share his passion. Presenter and Writer: Josh Cohen Producer: Heather Dempsey Executive Producer: Samantha Psyk Editor: Kirsten Lass A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4

Alan Dein takes to the road to explore the social and cultural resonances of Kraftwerk’s Autobahn. The music begins the way journeys begin: with a clunking car door and churning ignition, before rolling onwards on a warm rhythmic throb - a 23-minute conceptual road-trip of swerves and curves, gentle gradients and blaring horns, tarmac-rumbling rhythms and doppler-shift effects that simulate the sensory whoosh of passing vehicles.Kraftwerk's lyrical paean to the possibilities of freedom via the German motorway system is fifty years old. It was released in late 1974 and became popular worldwide in 1975. These were years in which a new West Germany was being created, one in which a more overt reckoning with history was possible, and in which a new characteristically German culture could be asserted, free from -- and implicitly in opposition to -- that history: new art, writing, cinema, and, with Kraftwerk, among others, music.The autobahn wasn't an innocent choice of subject for Kraftwerk. It connected them back to the 1930s, when the autobahn system was begun and became an integral part of the infrastructure of the Third Reich. After the war it became a symbol of the West German 'economic miracle'. Beginning in darkness, the autobahn could be conceived as a road that drove towards progress and optimism.'Wir fahren, fahren, fahren auf der autobahn': 'We’re driving, driving, driving on the autobahn.' Alan Dein is on the autobahn as well – driving, driving, driving – in Kraftwerk’s wake, and tuned in to the cultural world of West Germany in the 1970s.Featuring: Berthold Franke, cultural historian Daniel Miller, musician and founder of Mute records Emil Schult, artist and sometime member of KraftwerkWith grateful thanks to Dietmar Post and Uwe Schutte.Photograph shows Emil Schult and Alan Dein. Behind them is Schult's painting, used as the original cover of Kraftwerk's Autobahn album.

200 years ago, the modern railway was born. On 27th September 1825, the first ticketed passenger train, powered by steam travelled on a public line in County Durham. Katrina Porteous, a poet with generational connections to the area follows the track of that inaugural journey, accompanied by a rich aural soundscape by Joe Fowler. She also journeys through time, accelerating from the coal mines which fuelled the railway to the modern day, racing to a future of international travel and modern technologies which offer new, more sustainable rail alternatives. From the Northeast's coal mines to the sea, we capture the wonder of that inaugural journey, meeting people passionate about the Stockton and Darlington Line and the rail networks that followed: chance encounters, voices from history, retired railway men, and those who have preserved this legacy (Senior Museum Curator at Locomotion the National Railway Museum in Shildon, Anthony Coulls, and Caroline Hardie, Friends of the S&DR.) Katrina discovers how this particular railway contributed to the standardisation of time and its incredibly rapid growth in Britain and around the world, while cold digital sounds and aural disintegration reflect some of the challenges rail travel has faced in the modern era. Through landscape and time, Katrina explores what a world shrunk by technology and speed means now and what the future of the railways might be.This is a magic mosaic, capturing the place railway travel holds in so many hearts – not least the production team where family histories entwine and childhood passions now experiment with sound, or who have simply enjoyed train travel in places as far flung as India, the States or Japan. Produced by Anna Scott-Brown. An Overtone production for BBC Radio 4.

When decapitated cats start appearing in South London, animal rescue duo Boudicca Rising and Tony Jenkins spring into action. They’ll do whatever it takes to get to the bottom of this mystery.It’s 2015 and the two volunteers running the South Norwood Animal Rescue and Liberty (SNARL) Facebook page, stumble upon a vet’s poster telling locals to keep their pets safe as there have been a series of “mutilations” in the area. When Boudicca and Tony share the vet’s warning, they’re flooded with messages from pet owners saying something similar has happened to their cats.Boudicca and Tony convince the police to launch Operation Takahe, an investigation into the “Croydon Cat Killer.” Far from stepping back, Boudicca and Tony find themselves at the centre of the operation; investigating “crime scenes,” breaking bad news to pet owners and being interviewed by press. The case takes over their lives.Presented and produced by Natasha Fernandes Editor: Matt Willis Sound design: James Beard

Watchmaker Rebecca Struthers has been invited to come and examine a watch which its owners claim is the world's oldest - but is it?Until now, Rebecca had only heard rumours of this watch - about the reputation of its famous maker, about the extraordinary circumstances in which it was found, about its unbelievable valuation. It is famous, or infamous, in antiquarian horology circles. But until Rebecca wrote her book 'Hands of Time' (a Radio 4 Book of the Week), few outside that small world had heard much about it. Now, thanks to her book, a mysterious lawyer has emailed to ask if she'd like to examine the watch. So she's on her way to Switzerland with a lot of questions. Not least - is it the real deal or, as so many of the watch's detractors claim, nothing more than a forgery.Producer: Giles Edwards

The red-billed chough is the most dashing crow in the world. These rare, flamboyant, scarlet-legged, scarlet-billed denizens of Britain’s Celtic coasts are communal and comic, intelligent and daring. They’re also sublime aeronauts, riding the breeze as though they’re made of it. For writer Horatio Clare, the chough is his totem. He’s loved the bird since he first encountered it in the 1980s during childhood holidays to Pembrokeshire. And more than forty years on from that joyous first encounter he still seeks them out. It’s his annual pilgrimage. In this episode of Illuminated, we join Horatio on that pilgrimage as he tells the story of a bird with a beak and legs the colour of a saint’s blood… or perhaps a king’s blood; whose cry says its name and whose presence symbolises a nation’s identity. It’s the story of a bird which embodies myths… and creates new ones; a bird which fled into the West over two centuries ago and which is finally returning to a wider world. Horatio begins his journey on Pen Llŷn, the westernmost spur of North Wales and one of the red-billed chough’s strongholds. His guide as he walks the sea cliffs is naturalist and folklorist Twm Elias. Twm lived alongside chough as he grew up on Llŷn and remembers a childhood visit to Caernarfon Castle, where his friend Dic John made a grab for the Castle’s ‘tame’ chough – and got a painful pecking in return. Twm sees chough as a symbol of the wild coastal areas of north Wales. But it’s also wrapped up in ideas of Cornish identity too. Dr. Loveday Jenkin grew up on stories of King Arthur becoming a chough when he died. Yet, just as she heard those stories, the very last choughs were dying out in Cornwall. But then, in 2001, thirty years after the last chough disappeared, three birds from Ireland made landfall in the far west of Cornwall. The following year two of them built a nest and the population grew from there. Hilary Mitchell from Cornwall Birds tells the story of how the avian symbol and spirit of the county returned. The chough is associated now with the western Celtic coasts. But once upon a time it ranged right across the British Isles. And maybe it will again. Horatio heads in the opposite direction… east… to a place which hasn’t seen chough for at least two centuries, despite the bird being embedded in its iconography.In Dover he meets Paul Hadaway from Kent Wildlife Trust to discover how a bird which was a symbol of the martyr and saint Thomas a Becket is once again flying in Kentish skies. And Jenny Luddington from the Trust explains how she’s drawn on an old tradition of hooden creatures – carved wooden animal heads on poles – to create a hooden chough and tell the story of the bird’s return to Kent. Horatio Clare discovers that the chough’s story has come full circle as old myths rehatch and new ones take wing.Presenter: Horatio Clare Producer: Jeremy Grange Editor: Chris Ledgard A BBC Audio Wales production for BBC Radio 4

Care packages are a universal love language and a way for families to stay connected across distances. We unbox four from China, India, Ireland and the Philippines, each filled with the tastes, textures and memories of home. In Newton-le-Willows, content creator Aurora unwraps a parcel from her mother in China revealing fragrant spices, dried mushrooms and handmade gifts as a reminder of her native traditions. In Cardiff, dancer Ishika shares a tightly sealed batch of homemade bori, sun-dried lentil dumplings prepared and packed by her cousins in India. Over in Liverpool, full-time mum Sarah introduces us to a selection of snacks pulled from her Nanny's cabinet in Ireland for a mix of nostalgia, sweetness and comfort that bridges generations. In Norwich, multidisciplinary artist Sha opens a package from her mum in the Philippines filled with dried mangoes and polvoron, a crumbly, sugary treat that melts in your mouth and warms the heart. Each of them shares how these packages, sent with care and packed with love, offer more than just food. They’re a connection to family, culture, belonging and the best remedy for homesickness.Presented and produced by Jay Behrouzi Executive Producer Richard McIlroy A BBC Audio North production for BBC Radio 4

When the Reverend Andrew Doarks took on the church of St Gregory's in Sudbury three years ago - he received no warning of what he would discover in the vestry.There - behind a perspex screen and a wooden flap in the wall - is the severed head of the fourteenth century Archbishop of Canterbury Simon of Sudbury. Simon who was decapitated during the Peasant's Revolt in 1381 shares the same space as the church's playgroup and receives visitors by appointment only. It is an unusual arrangement for the former Archbishop who met his demise after attempting to introduce a hated poll tax. So how did Simon's head end up in Sudbury when his body is buried in Canterbury Cathedral? And should both head and body be reunited?Andrew takes a trip to Canterbury to see Simon's tomb with the Cathedral's Head of Estates Joel Hopkinson. Inside the tomb - Simon's head has been replaced by a cannonball. He then visits the Cathedral library with Cressida Williams who discovers a document in the archive that relays Simon's will, dictated immediately before his death and he discusses Simon's future with the Canon Treasurer Andrew Dodd. Dr Helen Lacey from the University of Oxford and the People of 1381 project provides the historical context from the days of the Revolt.It's a journey of discovery that sheds light on Simon's past and gives Andrew ideas for his future. After all - as he reflects - managing severed heads just wasn't part of his training at theological college.Produced and presented by Robin Markwell for BBC Audio in Bristol "Vice Or Virtue" is composed and performed by singer-songwriter Jonny Day

“There are so many things you can’t see coming. You can’t see death. You can’t see Mount Vesuvius erupting. The carpet could be pulled out from under you at any second. But I’ll see a knife coming if it’s going to hit me.”Target Girls are the female performers in “impalement arts'', where knives, arrows and even bullets are propelled at humans. Prepare for a full body immersion in this extreme profession, as we pull back the curtain on the hidden world behind the target girl’s silent, singular image.Your ringleader for this event is world-famous target Ula The Painproof Rubbergirl! Also starring!! Yana Hanson, Annabelle Holland and Amanda Jane ... With a special guest appearance from The Great Throwdini!Producer: Jude Shapiro Executive Producer: Jack Howson Sound Designer: Louis BlatherwickA Peanut & Crumb production for BBC Radio 4

Electromagnetic waves fill the universe, radiating from solar storms and bursts of lightning, but also from our electronic devices and infrastructures. Using simple, DIY tools, a community of audio enthusiasts translates these waves into sound, uncovering hidden sonic worlds.Five dedicated ‘natural radio’ enthusiasts venture beyond the electromagnetic pollution of the city, tuning into the Earth’s natural static to reveal a rich, textured soundscape, rarely heard.Stephen McGreevy, a cult figure within this practice, shares stories of his recordings during the geomagnetic storm of 1989. Hannah Kemp-Welch travels to northern Norway in search of the electromagnetic waves of the aurora borealis, struggling to escape the omnipresent hum of the mains power grid. Alyssa Moxley captures the crackles of shooting stars in southern France. Matt Parker ventures into the National Radio Quiet Zone in Virginia, USA. And Anonea experiments with antennas from a remote location in northern Spain.This audio feature encourages listeners to contemplate the vast, often invisible role electromagnetism plays in our daily lives. It invites us to look up at the sky and imagine radio waves bouncing off layers of the atmosphere, connecting us all under one magnetosphere. Produced by Hannah Kemp-Welch and Oliver Sanders Research & Development: Hannah Kemp-Welch Editing & Sound Design: Oliver Sanders Executive Producer: Lucia Scazzocchio Special thanks to Anonea, Alyssa Moxley, Dan Tapper, Francesca Thakorlal, Matt Parker, Rob Stammes, Rebekah Breding, Ruth Stewart, Sébastien Robert and Stephen P. McGreevy. A Social Broadcasts production for BBC Radio 4

Tracey Okines is witty, stylish, sharp, and fiercely independent. She loves seaside strolls, spontaneous shopping trips, pub outings, and her cat, Meow. She’s a writer, a dreamer, a lover of music, and someone who refuses to be boxed in by anyone’s expectations.At 27, Tracey’s life changed overnight when a misjudged cartwheel caused a massive bleed, leading to a brainstem stroke. She was left with locked-in syndrome, unable to move or speak but fully conscious. Sixteen years on, she communicates using eye-tracking and a letter board, lives independently with 24-hour care, and remains, as ever, totally herself.In Still Me, producer Jess Gunasekara visits Tracey in Eastbourne, joining her in everyday moments and quiet reflections. Through Tracey’s personal musings, dream diaries, text messages, and actor-read excerpts from her memoir, this intimate portrait reveals a woman living boldly, navigating the world with humour, honesty, and imagination.A story of agency, adaptation, and the richness of inner life, from someone who’s still here, still vibrant, still herself.Produced and presented by Jess Gunasekara Sound design and mix by Meic Parry Actor: Lizzie Stables Executive Producer: Olivia Humphreys With thanks to Tracey Okines and John OkinesAn Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4

An atmospheric gathering storm of a documentary exploring the extraordinary history of the Beaufort Scale - a system designed to help find language for the wind.Sea like a mirror Whistling heard in telegraph wires Umbrellas used with difficulty...In this programme we climb to the top of a lighthouse in the Outer Hebrides, labelled the windiest point in Britain by the Guinness Book of Records, and travel deep into the Met Office archives. With contributions from the writer Scott Huler, author of Defining the Wind; Ruairidh Macrae, the retained lighthouse keeper for the Butt of Lewis and Eilean Glas lighthouses in the Outer Hebrides; Catherine Ross, the library and archive manager at the Met Office; and John Morales, a hurricane specialist and meteorologist with 40 years experience in the field.The Beaufort scale is read by Charlotte Green Original music composed by Jeremy Warmsley, with additional music by Eleanor McDowall Mix by Mike WoolleyProduced by Eleanor McDowall A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Once a year, residents of Longyearbyen gather where the steps of the old hospital used to be to witness the return of something they have not seen in months – sunlight. The Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, part of Norway, is as far north as humans can live. This dramatic polar world experiences 24-hour daylight in summer and total darkness in winter.But on March 8th, locals and visitors of its largest settlement, Longyearbyen, wait with baited breath until a single ray of sunshine appears upon the old hospital steps, warming their cheeks for a few minutes before disappearing once more behind the vast mountains that surround the town. Journalist and producer Lara Bullens takes us with her to witness this miraculous moment, but also to understand why people have decided to make a home in a place not meant for humans. Svalbard is a barren frozen land, devoid of trees or crops. The risk of avalanches is always lurking around the corner. Polar bears outnumber humans. Powerful winds and sub-zero temperatures engulf the landscape most of the year. Deprived of sunlight for months at a time, many residents battle depression. The remote landscape is also experiencing vast transitions. The Arctic is warming twice as fast as any other part of the planet, banishing sea ice and opening its waters to the exploitation of natural resources. Coal mining, the industry on which Svalbard’s economy was built, is coming to an end. And non-Norwegians living in Longyearbyen are increasingly feeling less stable here. Yet humans decide to stay, bound together by the eternal cycle of light. Written and Presented by Lara Bullens Produced by Lara Bullens and Steven Rajam Executive Producer: Leonie Thomas Mix and Sound Design: Mike Woolley An Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4

When a dog goes missing it can be devastating. It’s every dog owners worst nightmare. Social media is awash with posts about lost dogs, some of them scams, but many are genuine cries for help from distressed people who have lost an animal they love. Between January 2023 and June 2024 almost 5000 dogs were reported missing in the UK.In March 2025, Roger put a lead on his Jack Russell terrier Betty, as he attended to his boat at Buckden Marina in St Neots, Cambridgeshire. With his back turned for a few minutes, she disappeared. In this episode of Illuminated, we join a group of volunteers with St Neots Animal Search and Rescue as they seek to reunite Betty and Roger using all the experience, teamwork and technology available. Colin Butcher is a pet detective based in West Sussex who has been recovering missing and stolen pets for over 20 years. As Colin shares his expert tips for dog-owners, through field recordings from a tiny microphone attached to a dog-collar, listeners are invited to enter the world of our missing puppy.Producer: Peter ShevlinA Pod60 production for BBC Radio 4

Worms are everywhere - in our soils, our seas, and our selves. Dive down a worm burrow on this sound-rich odyssey to meet our most numerous and intimate animal companion.Science writer Jack Monaghan will guide you through gardens and farms, factories and laboratories to look afresh at our wriggling, wonderful world.Producer and narrator: Jack Monaghan Sound design and original music: Robert Moutrey Executive producer: Bridget Harney A Pronk production for BBC Radio 4

Where do we begin to think about time without humans to count it? Chris Gasson spends every spare moment on his local beach, Seatown on the Jurassic coast of Dorset, looking out for fossils and stones that speak of a past and future too vast for us to easily imagine. On his walks, Chris has found countless time capsules - including a mammoth tooth, plesiosaur vertebrae and the remains of an ichthyosaur 190 million years old, now under research by Craig Chivers. 'It's a fantastic find,' says Craig. 'Fossils are a snapshot in time a bit like paintings and writings. Trace fossils that show where a dinosaur once stepped and left a footprint behind, or an ammonite has rolled along the sea floor and left an impression in the sediment, really stir the imagination.' Our walk along Seatown beach is accompanied by readings by geologist and writer, Marcia Bjornerud, Walter Schober Professor of Environmental Studies and Professor of Geosciences at Lawrence University, Wisconsin. Her essay Wrinked Time imagines humans as wandering in a vast, labyrinthine library of time. 'We are like squatters living amid the remains of earlier empires, worlds defined by different geographies,' she writes in a work that first appeared in Emergence Magazine. Marcia shows us how fragments from that library still exist in the most synthetic, human-made products like phones and computers if only we have eyes to see them. Produced by Jon Nicholls and Monica Whitlock Sound design and music by Jon Nicholls Photograph by Monica WhitlockA Storyscape production for BBC Radio 4For many more creative and surprising one-off documentaries like this, just search for Illuminated on BBC Sounds.

It's the glorious summer of 1966 and Hollywood has taken over England’s prettiest village. The residents of Castle Combe have made way for the cast and crew of the biggest budget musical of the decade- Doctor Dolittle.Where sheep once grazed there are two-headed llamas, talking macaws, singing chimps and enormous catering trucks. Propping up the bar at the local pub are hot actors Anthony Newley, Richard Attenborough and one of the biggest stars of the day- the man who talks to the animals- Rex Harrison.Locals are divided about the pros and cons of the Hollywood invasion but one thing they’re all annoyed about is the destruction of the local trout stream, dammed to create a lake for filming. Native fish and plants are gone, replaced by movie props and trained ducks.Four young chaps decide to make their feelings clear. For three of them that means fireworks and noisy protests but ring leader, Ranulph Fiennes, intends to take things a little further. He’s just joined the SAS, the crack Army regiment that gives him access to high explosives- more than enough to blow the dam sky high.Environmental historian and broadcaster, Eleanor Barraclough gathers together the protagonists to publicly share their stories of the Dolittle affair for the first time.Producers: Alasdair Cross of BBC Audio Wales and West and Matt Dyas for Good Productions

When you look at the moon, what do you see? Producer and artist Siddharth Khajuria encounters competing human imaginations for the moon. Starting with some of the earliest lunar maps, he works with moonlight to illuminate thornier questions about our own behaviour on earth. What motivates the desire to etch a name into the landscape? The humanity woven through our modern map of the moon – Seas of Tranquility and Crises, Lakes of Death and Dreams, an Ocean of Storms – is the work of a 17th century Italian priest, Giovanni Battista Riccioli. Siddharth meets Riccioli’s poetic mapmaking in the context of a heated European race to name the moon’s many craters, mountains, valleys and maria. From these celestial cartographers etching names into the first detailed lunar maps, to the Cold War era Apollo missions and commercially-fuelled landings that lie ahead of us, the story of humanity’s relationship with the moon is one of a growing intimacy. Featuring astronomer and lunar biographer David Whitehouse, librarian at the Edinburgh Royal Observatory Karen Moran, space lawyer Frans von der Dunk, and a late night, torch-lit conversation between Siddharth and his eldest son.Photograph: Siddharth KhajuriaMusic composed and performed by Phil Smith Produced by Eleanor McDowall and Siddharth Khajuria A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

An extraordinary one-off symphony brings to life the stories of five people and their relationship with one of their vital organs.Like a symphony orchestra, our organs work in harmony to execute the movement that is human life. We don’t often think about our relationship to these internal cogs that keep us alive. For most people, the connection remains distant. For others, it is ever present. In The Organ Symphony, we encounter our five vital organs – the heart, lungs, brain, kidneys and liver – through the eyes of five people, each with a special relationship to one of the five organs. Our brain is an Emeritus Professor in Computer Science, Steve Furbar, whose work is focused on understanding the human brain via computing. Our kidney is writer Alison Moore, who donated one of her kidneys to her husband and simultaneously wrote a horror novella, based on the experience. Our liver is Dr Zhong Jiao, a Chinese Medical Doctor who focused on treating her postnatal depression by caring for her liver. Our heart is a men's group facilitator and agony uncle Kenny Mammarella-D'Cruz, who draws on his traumatic experiences of leaving his homeland and subsequent journey of self-discovery to help others foster positive relationships with their heart and emotions. Liz, our representative of the lungs, unexpectedly experienced both her lungs collapsing in the space of two yearsEach representative worked with the producer, Maia Miller-Lewis to illustrate their relationship to their organ through music, creating musical sketches that capture how they imagine their organ sounds.These sketches were then taken by composer, David Owen Norris, who turned them into individual classical scores. In this way the five organs have become five sections of an orchestra. The heart, the vocals. The lungs, the brass. The kidneys the woodwind. The brain, the percussion. The liver, the strings. David ultimately brought the five pieces together, working them into harmony to form the completely unique Organ Symphony. With the wonderful assistance of Simon Webb, Carolyn Hendry, Jonathan Manner and Matthew Swann at the BBC, the individual pieces and the combined symphony was played out by the BBC Concert Orchestra and the BBC Singers at Maida Vale Studios in March 2025.You can hear the full Organ Symphony piece here: https://loftusmedia.co.uk/project/the-organ-symphony/Producer: Maia Miller-Lewis Executive producers: Jo Rowntree and Kirsten Lass Composer and conductor: David Owen Norris With thanks to the BBC Concert Orchestra and the BBC Singers A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4

As their 30th birthday approaches, Saba Husain (they/them) receives an unexpected and life changing box. It contains ‘the life’ of their mum; never before seen diaries, love letters, poems, photos of a person who died when Saba was born, 29 years earlier.With no note or message, it must have been sent by Saba’s father - but why now? Why not before? And what should Saba do with these incredibly intimate pieces of their mother? Saba starts to investigate, asking; how do you get to know your mum - from scratch - through a box of her things?Mum in a Box follows Saba on the twists and turns of the often unacknowledged experience of a motherless child, piecing together a person through the things they’ve left behind and the revelations that unfold. We join Saba as they work through this totally uncurated box of both overwhelming and underwhelming surprises, travelling through space and time as they try to reach a mother that they never got to meet.Producer: Christina Hardinge Co-creator: Saba Husain Sound Design & Music composition: Noémie Ducimetière A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio Four

In his memoir of surviving the brutal apartheid prison Robben Island, South African activist Sedick Isaacs recalls an extraordinary event about which little has been recorded - "the creation and training of the eighty-member choir [of political prisoners] for the production of Handel’s ‘Hallelujah Chorus'. The incongruous beauty of the choir’s performance – and the rich history of the Messiah in South Africa – is brought to life by former political prisoners, by musicians and academics who reveal the power of music as it was experienced on the Island – music as escape, protest, refuge and salvation.Original compositions, mixing and production by Charl-Johan Lingenfelder Hallelujah Chorus – reconstruction arranged and conducted by Leon Starker with singers from Fezeka Secondary School in Gugulethu under the leadership of Monde Mdingi, with additional singers from across Cape Town Also featuring: The South African Messiah, a translation of Handel’s Messiah by Michael Masote Archival tape courtesy of UWC-Robben Island Museum Mayibuye Archives, Villon Films and the SABC With special thanks to Marcus Solomon, Neo Lekgotla laga Ramoupi, Kutlwano Masote, Christopher Cockburn, Maraldea Isaacs and Lebohang SekholomiProduced by Catherine Boulle A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

How many questions have you asked today? How many were rhetorical, “boomer-asking”, passive/aggressive or just boringly functional?Did you know that our appetites for question-asking peak at the age of five, then steadily diminish? That kids ask an average of 40,000 questions between the ages of 2 and 5, while adults ask fewer than ten questions a day? Why are we asking fewer, meaningful questions? In an age where antisocial behaviour has become normal — where it’s entirely acceptable to spend most of the time looking down at our phones, or ranting on social media — shouldn’t we be asking what we’re losing in the process?Can journalist Ian Wylie, who uses the five Ws daily, reignite our curiosity and appetite for asking questions? And can he discover better questions that unlock bigger stories and deeper conversations? What will he learn from professional question-askers, including barrister Melanie Simpson, detective Steve Hibbit, philosopher Lani Watson and priest Leanne Roberts? Is artificial intelligence likely to discourage us from asking deep, open-ended questions? Or could it force us to ask clearer, sharper, more precise questions?Can Ian create his documentary entirely from questions? Or will he slip up?A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4

If a person dies without friends or relatives, the authorities can instigate a 'public health funeral'. Once called pauper's funerals - the services are referred to on the administrative form with a poignant phrase: "Nobody to Call."These funerals often see online appeals for mourners to attend. And when the BBC's Kevin Core spots a particularly moving appeal on behalf of a 102 year old woman, he's intrigued. “Funeral notice for Miss Margaret Robertson. 11 O’Clock, Thursday. Sefton Road United Reformed Church in Morecambe. Margaret Robertson has no family. If anyone could attend, that would be lovely.”This documentary charts his visit to that funeral. He talks to celebrant Hayley Cartwright about the hidden world of "public health funerals". Hayley's commitment to "do right by people" who die alone, compels her to seek out details about their lives, inviting mourners and ensuring these departures are more than cold, legal necessities. Kevin wants to know more about the life of the 102-year-old Margaret Robertson, and finds a story of grit and dedication - and the surprising, moving reality behind the original online appeal. Produced and presented by Kevin Core

Welcome to the feast! We’re invited to a traditional Georgian ‘Supra’ to immerse ourselves in the magic of Georgian polyphonic singing. The table groans with food, the wine flows, and the singing fills the heart. Led by toastmaster Levan Bitarovi, diners are guided through a narrative, weaving together their personal and collective experiences, through song.At home in the mountains, in Georgia's "singing village" Lakhushdi, people sing like they breathe. A lullaby, a grieving song, a song when the belly is full, a song for milking the cow. It’s a part of everyday life and forms the connective tissue of the community.For Paris-based singer Luna Silva, these songs bring her the comfort and sense of togetherness of her childhood circus home. Since first hearing the music as an ethno-musicology student in London, she has made several trips to the Georgian mountains to immerse herself in the musical tradition, and now teaches polyphonic singing to her French choir. She even took them with her to Lakhushdi. Now, the French choir has invited their Georgian hosts to attend their first Supra in Montreuil, Paris.In the pauses during the Supra, as people talk and eat, we hear from singers and diners what makes the Supra so important in Georgia. Luna and Levan also dissect the polyphonic singing style, as voices are added and removed to demonstrate how individual pitches and harmonies are brought together. They are layered over each other, surrounding the listener in a bath of sound which touches the soul. As the Supra draws to a close, everyone joins together to sing a song to life.You can hear more from the musicians at https://adilei.ge/en/about-us/ You can also find Lakhushdi, the Singing Village on various music streaming websites. Search for ‘The Singing Village Lakhushdi’.Presented by singer and ethno-musciologist Luna Silva Featuring singers Levan Bitarovi, Madona and Ana Chamgeliani, Avto Turkia and Lasha Bedenashvili Produced by Amanda Hargreaves Executive producer: Carys Wall Sound recordist: Léonard Ibañez Sound designer: Joel Cox With thanks to the Choeur d'Aronde in MontreuilA Bespoken Media production for BBC Radio 4