Programme Information

On Easter Sunday, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd and Rt Hon Rowan Williams, discusses the news of the week from a faith perspective, and gives a special Easter Moment Of Reflection.

Aled Jones also says Good Morning Sunday to Katrina Leskanich, best known as lead singer of Katrina and the Waves. Their song, Love Shine A Light, won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1997, the last time UK took the prize.

Katrina looks forward to this year's competition and reflects on the 25 years since the band first entered the UK Top 10 with Walking On Sunshine.

Presenter/Aled Jones, Producer/Hilary Robinson

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West End legend and BBC Radio 2 presenter Elaine Paige

Jack O'Brien joins Elaine Paige in the studio for this week's show. A renowned theatre director, O'Brien is in charge of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom sequel Love Never Dies.

Plus there's also the Disney Double, more listeners' Break-A-Leg messages and the latest Broadway news.

Presenter/Elaine Paige, Producer/Malcolm Prince

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Alan Titchmarsh presents another hour of an eclectic mix of music from the worlds of classical, opera, operetta, musicals, films, brass and military bands and jazz.

This week's show includes music from Utopia Ltd, Cavalleria Rusticana and Chicken Run.

Presenter/Alan Titchmarsh, Producer/Bridget Apps

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Brian D'Arcy celebrates Easter with a programme of music, prayers and reflections from Manchester Cathedral.

He is joined by the choir of Manchester Cathedral, Manchester Camerata and the BBC Radio 2 Young Choristers of the Year 2009, Laurence Kilsby and Jacquelyne Hill. The musical director is Christopher Stokes and the organist is Jeffrey Makinson.

The story of that first Easter morning is told through Bible readings and poetry. The choirs and congregation join together to sing hymns including Jesus Christ Is Risen Today, The Strife Is O'er and Thine Be The Glory.

Presenter/Brian D'Arcy, Producer, Janet McLarty

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In this Easter Sunday edition of Private Passions, Michael Berkeley meets the newly appointed Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham, Bernard Longley, to discuss his musical choices including works by Verdi, Borodin, Poulenc, Messiaen and Elgar.

Bernard studied singing at the Royal Northern College of Music and at New College Oxford, and music has always been a great passion in his life. His choices include the famous Notturno movement from Borodin's Second String Quartet – a piece associated with the musical Kismet which his mother particularly loved – and the harrowing ending of Poulenc's opera Dialogues des Carmelites, which Bernard greatly admires as bearing witness to the courage and sacrifice of the Carmelite nuns during the French Revolution.

Presenter/Michael Berkeley, Producer/Chris Marshall

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

Bishop Nigel McCulloch, National Chaplain to the Royal British Legion, leads a meditation to mark the dawning of Easter Day from the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, a haven of peace, contemplation and hope for the future.

The programme features the Lichfield Cathedral Chamber Choir directed by Martyn Rawles.

Producer/Stephen Shipley

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Archbishop Vincent Nichols is the celebrant and preacher at this special mass which comes live from Westminster Cathedral.

The renowned cathedral choir, directed by master of music Martin Baker, sings from the Church's heritage of Easter music, including works by Taverner and Palestrina, as well as the hymns Jesus Christ Is Risen Today and Thine Be The Glory. The organist is Matthew Martin.

Producer/Philip Billson

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The Reunion Ep 1/5

Easter Sunday 4 April

11.15am-12.00noon BBC RADIO 4

In the first of a new series of The Reunion, Sue MacGregor revisits the first London Marathon in 1981.

She speaks to five people who were involved in the creation of the biggest one-day charity event in the world and the foundation of one of the most important events in the British sporting calendar.

Sue is joined by: David Bedford, current race director and former 10,000m world-record holder; John Disley, an original founder and bronze-medal Olympic steeplechase winner; John Bryant, journalist and marathon historian; Hugh Jones, course measurer and the first British man to win the London Marathon in 1982; and Veronique Marot, the second British woman to win, setting a British women's record in 1989.

Before the London Marathon, long-distance running in Britain was the exclusive domain of elite athletes. Two former British Olympic athletes, Chris Brasher and John Disley, were inspired by the New York Marathon and the jogging boom of the Seventies, and decided to set about organising a marathon through the streets of London. With almost 7,000 runners participating in the first race, marathon running was suddenly on the map.

More than 36,000 participants are confirmed for 2010. Though not the original intention of the founders, the London Marathon went on to become the largest one-day fundraising event in the world. By 2010, the marathon will have raised over a half a billion pounds for charity.

Presenter/Sue McGregor, Producer/David Prest

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Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen's
Escape To The Country Ep 1/10

Easter Sunday 4 April

2.45-3.00pm BBC RADIO 4

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen explores the ideas of the countryside with leading historians and geographers, writers and journalists.

This series is an account of how, through history, people have moved from the town to the country and taken with them powerful ideas about what the countryside should be. Each age tends to invent a countryside that chimes with the pre-occupations of the day.

The last two centuries have seen the countryside shaped for personal aggrandisement, for moral improvement, for the reflection of a new industrial wealth, as the creation of an ideal landscape, as a place of health and healing and as a refuge from, and comment on, the pace, nature and stress of contemporary urban life.

The first programme features the story of Humphrey Repton who was effectively a makeover artist, bringing the unruly, macho countryside into check. He created attractive views over the landscape, cut gentle, serpentine paths and added terraces to residences so that one could stroll and admire nature as it delicately progressed to the horizon. And he was the first landscape designer who had to reconcile the countryside with the city, the pastoral with an industrial landscape.

His predecessor Capability Brown had worked for the aristocracy, landscaping their parks to express their wealth and status, while a generation later, Repton set out to redefine this profession, working more modestly and for a range of clients including dukes, lawyers, bankers and manufacturers.

Other programmes in the series feature William Wordsworth; recreation and social aspiration in the 19th-century countryside; Feargus O'Connor and the Chartist Land Movement; Octavia Hill and the beginning of conservation; Leslie Paul; the suburban countryside; and self-sufficiency.

Presenter/Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Producer/Kate Bland

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Simon Warner celebrates British beat poet, performer and provocateur Michael Horovitz, who is 75 this month, and has been a significant figure in the counterculture for well over 50 years.

Music lecturer and writer Simon Warner makes the case that no one has had a greater influence on the development of British poetry over the last five decades.

Horovitz spent years publishing and promoting the verse of the English underground, often at his own expense and in the face of establishment indifference.

His notion that poetry should be seen and heard, often with music, has been shared and developed in collaboration with notable musicians from Stan Tracy to Damon Albarn, as well as a couple of generations of poetry performers, including Adrian Mitchell, John Cooper Clarke, Jean "Binta" Breeze, John Hegley, Patience Agbabi and Francesca Beard.

His influence on publishing has been as significant as his impact on performance. In 1959 he launched New Departures, which first published works by Beckett, Burroughs, Ginsberg and others in the UK. The magazine grew into a famously anarchic and energetic touring show, Live New Departures, which brought poetry, music, visual art and performance to venues all over Britain during the counterculture explosion of the Sixties. He played a key part in the 1965 International Poetry Incarnation at London's Royal Albert Hall and, since 1980, he has organised a number of Poetry Olympics events that have showcased inventive and inspiring collaborations between poets and musicians, and continue to do so.

Simon also talks to those who have worked with Horovitz, supported him and been supported by him over the years, including poets Pete Brown, Roger McGough, John Hegley, Valerie Bloom and Libby Houston, musicians Laurie Morgan and Damon Albarn, and writer Barry Miles.

Presenter/Simon Warner, Producer/Sara Davies

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

5 Live Sport

Easter Sunday 4 April

12.00noon-6.00pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Colin Murray presents the latest sports news and an afternoon of live sport. From 1.15pm there's Scottish Premier League commentary of Hibernian versus Celtic live from Easter Road, with reports from Wasps versus London Irish in rugby union's Premiership, plus a look back at this morning's Malaysian Grand Prix in Kuala Lumpur.

There are also reports from the tennis Masters event in Miami ahead of today's final and golf updates from the final day of the Estoril Open in Portugal.

From 4pm there's live Premier League commentary of Everton versus West Ham United at Goodison Park.

Presenter/Colin Murray, Producer/Patrick Whiteside

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Broadcasting legend and BBC Radio 5 Live football reporter Stuart Hall delves in to the BBC Sport Archives to choose some of his favourite football interviews from over the years.

Stuart picks two of his own classic interviews, plus other memorable football interviews from sports programmes down the years, including some from the world's longest-running sports radio show – Sports Report.

Presenter/Stuart Hall, Producer/Phil Brown

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Former Catatonia singer and BBC 6 Music presenter Cerys Matthews

Cerys Matthews takes up her new position on Sundays and eases listeners into a day of musical pleasure.

Cerys says: "I had a great time with the audience every afternoon on BBC 6 Music; I'm now excited to be slipping into my brand-new Sunday morning slot, bringing my own particular choice of tasty tunes from the right side of rock 'n' roll. There'll be more live music, virtual radio road trips, guests, requests, texts, twitters and purely great music from the past, present and beyond."

Presenter/Cerys Matthews, Producer/Henry Lopez-Real

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Sunday lunchtimes on BBC 6 Music see one half of the award-winning Adam And Joe going solo on radio for the first time. With the help of the listeners, Adam Buxton's Big Mix Tape will take a weekly topic or theme and make a compilation tape for all to share. The first Mix Tape is called Øddens and is based around weird yet accessible music – created by both well-known and less-well-known artists.

Adam's first guest is a man who also made his name as part of a successful double act – Julian Barratt from The Mighty Boosh. Adam says: "Julian is not only one of my favourite actor/comedians but is a big music fan himself and likes weird music almost as much as he loves jazz."

A wonderfully eclectic musical selection includes Radiohead, Can, Vangelis, Kate Bush, Silver Apples, Scott Walker, Grace Jones, Captain Beefheart and, of course, David Bowie.

Presenter/Adam Buxton, Producer/James Stirling

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Fun Lovin' Criminal Huey Morgan celebrates the launch of his extended two-hour show with his usual selection of unusual tunes – from Latin to soul, hip hop, rap, punk and reggae that stem from his New York heritage or have inspired him as a musician.

He meets the one-man blues machine Son Of Dave who has just released his fourth album Shake A Bone, recorded in just two weeks in Chicago with uber producer/audio engineer and musician Steve Albini.

Son Of Dave is notorious for his live shows where he entertains crowds with his one-man virtuoso displays of toe-tapping, beat-boxing and harmonica-playing all looped under witty and often growling lyrics that build to a crescendo of genre-clashing funk, hip hop, electronica and New Orleans rhythm and blues.

Born Benjamin Darvill in Winnipeg, Canada, Son Of Dave was part of the Crash Test Dummies in a previous incarnation, but has lived in London for 10 years now, performing under the Son Of Dave moniker. Huey gets a demonstration of his celebrated performing technique while chatting about Son Of Dave's exile in London, second career in music journalism (he writes for Stool Pigeon) and, of course, the blues.

Regular features Sharing Is Caring and Vinyl Fetish also get a special extended airing.

Presenter/Huey Morgan, Producer/Becky Maxted

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Listeners are invited to jump aboard the disco train as DJ and George Lamb sidekick Marc Hughes returns for the latest edition of his 6 Mix residency.

Marc – a Ministry Of Sound resident who has recently DJed as far afield as Russia and China – plays the best in old-skool house from the last 30 years, from Todd Terry and Masters At Work to obscure gems from the Chicago underground.

There's also another 40-minute trip on the Disco Express, featuring a selection of uplifting nuggets from the late Seventies and early Eighties. Finally, in the last half hour, Marc gets into the mix to play a selection of upfront minimal techno tunes setting dancefloors on fire in club land.

Presenter/Marc Hughes, Producer/Rowan Collinson

BBC 6 Music Publicity

BBC Asian Network is hosting the main stage at the first ever Asian Mela, being held at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London.

The Asian Network team will be introducing the best of British Asian musical talent; Imran Khan, AG Dhollar, and Metz n Tricks, among other great artists.

The Asian Network stage aims to give a voice to home-grown British Asian talent, providing a variety of talent and entertaining visitors throughout the Mela. The Asian Mela brings together all the best elements of Asian life in the UK, the fashion and travel industries, catering, weddings and music to name but a few.

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Legendary singer Shabbir Kumar will be chatting to Raj and Pablo, live from the BBC's Mumbai studio. He talks about his song in the forthcoming film Housefull and what he's been doing for the past 16 years.

His son Dilshaad is also on hand to chat about his new career as a singer and his work singing the theme song for Blue. This programme is a must-listen for fans of veternary Shabbir who rarely speaks to the media.

Presenters/Raj and Pablo

BBC Asian Network Publicity