Programme Information

Desmond Carrington shares good tunes, some unexpected ones and a few that listeners may never have heard before.

This week he sorts through his personal record collection of some 250,000 titles for songs and music related to the theme "new singers with old songs". He picks out some of the better cover versions of pop classics.

Presenter/Desmond Carrington, Producer/David Aylott for Foldback Media Ltd

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Claudia Winkleman meets singer Duffy, who appears in new British film Patagonia. The film is about the journeys of two women: one looking for her past, and the other looking for her future. Claudia is also joined by the film's director, Marc Evans.

Also this week, Alex Heminsley previews the Romantic Novel of the Year Awards and broadcaster Chandrika Chevli goes behind the scenes of a fascinating new exhibition at the British Museum. The exhibition, Afghanistan – Crossroads Of The Ancient World, explores the country's pivotal role at the heart of the ancient Silk Road. It includes treasures from the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul that were safely hidden away during years of turmoil.

Presenter/Claudia Winkleman, Producer/Jessica Rickson for the BBC

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Today's recital features viola da gamba player Jonathan Manson and lutenist Elizabeth Kenny. Their programme includes French Baroque music by Antoine Forqueray, Robert de Visée and Marin Marais, alongside the first performance of Images Sombres – a new work by Wirral-born composer Adam Duncan.

Presenter/Penny Gore, Producer/Les Pratt

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Ian McMillan presents the best words around in BBC Radio 3's language cabaret. This week, Booker Prize-nominated novelist Emma Donoghue reads a brand new commission, a breathless adventure called Fall which features Annie, a woman with nothing to lose.

Presenter/Ian McMillan, Producers/Erin Riley and Dymphna Flynn

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Lopa Kothari plays new tracks from across the globe, and features a studio session with American bluesman Charlie Parr, from Duluth, Minnesota. Parr writes songs in a country blues style, and accompanies himself on a National resonator guitar.

Presenter/Lopa Kothari, Producer/Roger Short

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

This gripping and funny portrait of small-town life comes from the pen of David Harrower.

The small town in question is Helensburgh, a once-thriving seaside destination in the shadow of Faslane nuclear submarine base. Hotel receptionist Helen is challenged by the arrival of a young man, whose return to the town throws her life into turmoil.

The play stars Maureen Beattie as Helen, Paul Chequer as Evan and Sean Biggerstaff as Jack.

Producer/Gaynor Macfarlane for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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The Now Show Ep 1/6

Friday 4 March

6.30-7.00pm BBC RADIO 4

Comedy double act Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis

Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis return with another series of The Now Show with topical stand-up and sketches.

This week they are joined by Laura Shavin, Mitch Benn and Jon Holmes.

Producer/Julia McKenzie for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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David Attenborough explores the fossilised evidence of the beginning of life in the latest of his Life Stories.

David has always been fascinated by fossils; even as a boy he'd spend many hours exploring the local quarry near his home in Leicestershire. Near his family home was a forest which, though he visited it frequently, wasn't a place he hunted for fossils because he knew the rocks there were too old to have any postcards of early life embedded in their layers – but he was wrong. Those rocks harboured a wonderful secret that would rattle the cages of the big thinkers of the time and would change the story of life on Earth for ever.

Presenter/David Attenborough, Producer/Julian Hector for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

In Kicking Off With Colin Murray, the presenter is joined by Pat Nevin and Perry Groves to preview the weekend's sport.

Presenter/Colin Murray, Producer/Mike Carr

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

World Cup Cricket

Friday 4 March

8.15am-4.30pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Cricket fans can enjoy uninterrupted commentary on the group match between Bangladesh and West Indies at the World Cup, live from the Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

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Athletics

Friday 4 March

4.30-6.00pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

As Britain's Jessica Ennis goes for gold in the pentathlon at the European Indoor Championships, listeners can hear uninterrupted commentary on the event live from Paris.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

From Italy to India, David Goldblatt examines the ever-changing face of Formula 1.

At the Monza circuit in Northern Italy, Goldblatt discovers the triumphs, tragedies and the nostalgic old-style glamour of a past motor racing era in a town that has been hosting the Italian Grand Prix since long before the arrival of Formula 1. But, now a global super brand, the sport has changed.

Goldblatt also visits the embryonic circuit on the outskirts of Delhi which in October 2011 will become Formula 1's latest high-tech venue. In the ever-evolving world of motor sport, he questions whether Europe will be able to financially support the sport in the future and whether it matters that a country such as India, with a negligible history of motor sports, has been chosen to host a grand prix.

This programme can also be heard today at 3.05pm and 8.05pm.

Presenter/David Goldblatt

BBC World Service Publicity