Programme Information

Vernon Kay tells BBC Radio 1's Story Of The Big Weekend, from its first incarnation 10 Big Weekends ago to 2010's event in Bangor. Vernon goes behind the scenes to see how an event of this scale is put on, how the bands are chosen and how it all comes together. He also finds out how the event came into existence in the first place.

BBC Radio 1 Stories explore the musical back-stories of listeners' favourite artists, eras, genres and scenes. Previous episodes in the series have included International Radio 1, Art Of Noise, Life In Jail and The A-Z Of Vampire Weekend.

Presenter/Vernon Kay, Producers/Louise Katterhorn and Alice Lloyd

BBC Radio 1 Publicity

BBC Radio 2 marks the 50th anniversary of the start of the Sixties, the decade that changed the UK, and the world, for ever, with a season of programmes including documentaries covering popular culture, music and eyewitness accounts. Presenters include Robert Vaughn, Tony Blackburn, Alice Cooper and Brian Matthew alongside Guy Garvey and Michael Sheen. Two of the decade's movers and shakers, Vicki Wickham and Tony King, present personal eyewitness accounts of "their" Sixties.

Perhaps like no other world leader, the life of John F Kennedy still intrigues and fascinates, despite it being nearly 50 years since his untimely death. Robert Vaughn (The Man From UNCLE and BBC One's Hustle) looks back at how JFK changed politics for ever and shaped the Sixties. He also assesses why the world is still enraptured by him.

When elected in 1960, Kennedy epitomised the hope of the new decade and a feeling that America was emerging from post-war austerity and into a new colourful world which it would shape. With rock 'n' roll, big brands and Hollywood, the USA would conquer the world and, at its helm, was a leader who sold out magazines and excited a nation.

Kennedy kick-started and influenced the decade of hope. From space travel to civil rights, the Cold War to Vietnam, his policies shaped the decade of the Sixties, while his mix of showbiz friends, a glamorous wife and his brilliance in front of the TV cameras made him a paparazzi target and brought in a new era of politics. Yet away from the cameras, he hid many secrets; few knew of his litany of health problems (he was given the last rites several times) or his extra-marital affairs.

With contributions from JFK's inner circle, including speechwriter and confidante Ted Sorensen, close friend and newspaper editor Ben Bradlee and writer Gore Vidal, this documentary hears first-hand about Kennedy's life and looks at his continued appeal. The programme also hears from contributors who experienced the JFK years while growing up, including former BBC political correspondent John Sergeant, who was a young man on a gap year in America when Kennedy was in his pomp, and Mickey Dolenz, singer in The Monkees, who lived the JFK-inspired "American dream".

Presenter/Robert Vaughn, Producer/Mark Sharman

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Bringing together the combined forces of the Hallé, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, four choirs and a first-class roster of vocal soloists, Sir Mark Elder conducts Mahler's monumental symphony – Symphony No. 8, Symphony Of A Thousand.

Its epic dimensions and staggering vision, requiring a vast number of performers, including blazing brass around the balconies, have earned it the reputation of a work of Olympian proportions. To quote Mahler himself: "Imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound." The words combine the medieval hymn, Veni, Creator spiritus, and a setting of the final scene of Goethe's Faust.

Soloists include sopranos Claire Rutter, Aga Mikolaj and Anna Leese, mezzo-sopranos Sarah Connolly and Catherine Wyn-Rogers, tenor Lars Cleveman, bass-baritone Gerald Finley and bass James Creswell.

The performance is preceded by an organ improvisation on the symphony's Veni, Creator spiritus theme by Olivier Latry, one of the foremost organists of the time.

Presenter/Ian Skelly, Producer/Anthony Sellors

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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The Essay – The King Returned Ep 1/5

Monday 24 to Friday 28 May

11.00-11.15pm BBC RADIO 3

Jonathan Sawday paints a picture of Restoration Britain in five essays this week: the politics, the science, the culture and the philosophy which made this an extraordinary period of history.

In May 1660, Charles II was invited to return to England and take the throne lost by his beheaded father. A dozen years of Puritan rule were overthrown with a resuming of vigorous cultural life. There was an ebullient outpouring of baroque music, liberated playwriting, scientific progress, stately architecture and courtly entertainment that became known as the Restoration.

Caricatured as excessive in today's costume drama, this was a time that was also energetic, experimental and outward looking. From the foundation of the Royal Society to the construction of St Paul's, to the new contractual nature of government, this was a period which marked the creation of crucial aspects of modern Britain. But in the 1660s, how much was really "restored" of pre-Cromwellian Britain, and how much was actually newly introduced? How much that was restored had really never gone away?

On the 350th anniversary of the King's return, Sawday attempts to retell the story of the Restoration in a new way – through five essays, each of which provides a snapshot of cultural and intellectual life.

Presenter/Jonathan Sawday, Producer/Matthew Dodd

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

A History Of The World – Warren Cup

Monday 24 to Friday 28 May

9.45-10.00am BBC RADIO 4

Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor

Throughout this week, Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum in London, explores the ways in which people were seeking pleasure around the world 2,000 years ago, from pipe smoking in North America to court etiquette in China.

He starts with the Roman Empire and a silver cup that offers a rare glimpse into the world of sex in ancient Rome. The cup features such explicit images of homosexual acts that it was once banned from America and museums refused to buy it. The Warren Cup is now one of the British Museum's better known objects.

In today's programme, Neil examines the sexual climate of Rome and asks how acceptable homosexuality was at this time and why the Romans were so keen to copy the Greeks. Historians Bettany Hughes and James Davidson help provide the answers.

Presenter/Neil MacGregor, Producers/Philip Sellars, Paul Kobrak, Anthony Denselow and Jane Lewis

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Woman's Hour Drama – The Private Patient Ep 1/10

Monday 24 to Friday 28 May

10.45-11.00am BBC RADIO 4

In The Private Patient, PD James's latest Dalgliesh mystery, journalist Rhoda Gradwyn checks into Cheverell Manor, an exclusive cosmetic surgery clinic in Dorset.

The clinic's owner, George Chandler-Powell, is faced with his right-hand man, Marcus Westhall, and his sister, Candace, trying to persuade him that it may not be a good idea to admit such a well-known investigative writer. Meanwhile, Rhoda is told a dark secret about the stone circle next to the clinic.

The Private Patient is the latest in the long-running Dalgliesh series and is dramatised by Neville Teller.

Carolyn Pickles is the narrator, Christine Kavanagh is Rhoda Gradwyn, Jonathan Keeble is George Chandler-Powell, Alison Pettitt is Candace Westhall, Adrian Grove is Marcus Westhall, Bertie Carvel is Robin Boyton and Charlotte Worthing is both Sharon Bateman and Mary Keyte.

Producer/Peter Leslie Wild

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Football Fights Back explores the initiatives being undertaken in a bid to stamp out racist abuse in football.

Presenter Hardeep Singh Kohli talks to former professional football player Leroy Rosenior who made his debut for Fulham Football Club as a teenager in the Eighties. He was one of the few professional black football players and remembers the racist abuse as being both threatening and uncontrolled. Leroy talks about the progress that has been made since then but also emphasises that there is work still to be done.

Hardeep also attends an educational event organised for local schoolchildren by the Show Racism The Red Card campaign.

Kick It Out director Piara Powar talks about one of the latest co-operative ventures between Kick It Out and the Football Association – a short film aiming to show the ugliness of homophobic abuse.

Hardeep questions the value of this kind of initiative and meets Ivor Baddiel who, together with his brother, David Baddiel, is launching a film which attacks anti-Semitism.

Hardeep meets Sue Law, head of equality at the Football Association, and speaks to Rafal Pankowsky, who has made a study of far right-wing and neo-Nazi influences on football behaviour, and who has worked with FARE, Football Against Racism in Europe.

Presenter/Hardeep Singh Kohli, Producer/Richard Bannerman

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Dick Clement and Ian la Frenais writers of Lennon – A week In The Life

Part of the BBC's Eighties Season, Tony Maudsley stars as Sam Leach in Dick Clement and Ian la Frenais's tribute to a man, a city, a moment ... John Lennon, Liverpool, December 1980.

When just 40 people turn up to John Lennon's memorial service in Liverpool in December 1980, his old friend and promoter Sam Leach is forced to act.

The play draws together fragments of reportage from the time, interviews with Lennon himself, the true story of Leach – The Beatles' first promoter – with the fictional stories of two lost young people.

Joanna Monro plays Joan Leach, Lauren O'Neil plays Debbie Leach, Laura dos Santos plays Janine Hobday, Bruce Alexander plays Morris Tate, Craige Els plays Clive Inch, Billy Butler plays himself, John Shortell plays Kenny Stratton and Alison Pettitt plays Carol Stratton. Other cast members include John Biggins, David Seddon, Rufus Wright and Nigel Hastings.

Producer/Jessica Dromgoole

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Book At Bedtime – A Vision Of Loveliness Ep 1/5

Monday 24 to Friday 28 May

10.45-11.00pm BBC RADIO 4

In Louise Levene's dark comedy, a naive young girl learns about the grubby glamour of Sixties London, A Vision Of Loveliness is read by Emilia Fox.

After the discovery of a lost handbag, Jane James meets a beautiful young model and her life takes an unexpected turn.

Jane is convinced she must have been born to better things than a dingy bedroom in her Aunt Doreen's house in Norbury and evenings spent eating gala pie and tinned potato salad in their "sitting-cum-dining room".

So, armed with her well-thumbed copy of Lady Be Good, she practises her French turns, her killer smile and precisely how much thigh to show when crossing her legs, and dreams of a time when she can be a part of the world she glimpses through the Mayfair windows of the cashmere shop where she works.

When she finds a crocodile handbag left in a pub, it leads her to Suzy St John, a girl-about-town with the glamour, confidence and irresistible allure that Jane has been practising for so long.

Suzy takes Jane under her wing and Jane becomes Janey, a near carbon-copy of her new best friend and a delighted adventurer in an easy, sleazy, Sixties West-End world of part-time modelling and full-time man-trapping.

Her new, improved self catwalks confidently through nightclubs, rag trade showrooms and luxury Mayfair flats but Jane finds that she can never quite drown out the carping voice of her past – or the nagging doubt that there might be slightly more to life than a mutation mink jacket or an engagement ring.

When a shocking act of violence threatens to bring Jane's glittering new life crashing down around her, she must call on all her powers of reinvention if her dyed-to-match stilettos are to carry her away unscathed.

Reader/Emilia Fox, Producer/David Roper

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

5 Live Sport

Monday 24 May

7.00-10.30pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Mark Chapman has all the day's sports news and, from 8pm, live commentary of England's international friendly against Mexico from Wembley Stadium.

Presenter/Mark Chapman, Producer/Francesca Bent

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

BBC 6 Music presenter Lauren Laverne

Lauren Laverne is joined by Yeasayer for a live session in the BBC 6 Music studios.

The Brooklyn band's second album, Odd Blood, was released earlier this year and earned them much acclaim, both commercially and critically. They join the show today for an electro-tinged session of greatness and talk to Lauren about what the summer holds for them.

Presenter/Lauren Laverne, Producer/Gary Bales

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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The Mystery Jets play a live session for Steve Lamacq from the BBC's Maida Vale studio to celebrate the release of their forthcoming third album, Serotonin.

Presenter/Steve Lamacq, Producer/Paul Sheehan

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Gideon Coe mines the BBC archives once again to play concert tracks from Headxswim, playing Glastonbury Festival in 1998. Session tracks include Scottish poppers Ballboy and Warp Records' veteran dance moodists Autchre.

Presenter/Gideon Coe, Producer/Mark Sheldon

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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The Live Music Hour features The Band at the Carter Brown Amphitheatre, Washington DC in 1976, plus sessions from Julian Cope in 1989 and Tunng in 2007.

Presenter/Chris Hawkins, Producer/Claire Slevin

BBC 6 Music Publicity

Following on from the weekend's programming, Bobby Friction presents a Baishakhi special in tonight's show. Showcasing the highlights from both the main stage and the Allen Gardens Arena, listeners hear from artists including The Nasha Experience and 789 Crew.

Throughout the week Bobby's show includes the best bits from the Allen Garden stage.

BBC Asian Network Publicity

Culture, lifestyle, values and ideals are increasingly important factors as US States compete for global economic and political dominance. This kind of influence – attracting and persuading others to adopt your goals – is known as soft power. It thrives on influence, not coercion, and many 21st-century leaders are keenly aware of its importance.

Since Barack Obama came to office, the media has widely reported on American soft power – something that many think declined during the Bush years. But who will challenge Washington to be tomorrow's No. 1 soft power?

Philip Dodd continues his examination of how the global soft power battle is shaping up and what weapons are being deployed – from global sporting fixtures and cultural events to China's soft power offensive in Africa.

Presenter/Philip Dodd, Producer/Michael Gallagher

BBC World Service Publicity