Programme Information

American singer and vocalese expert Kurt Elling, one of Jamie Cullum's favourite jazz vocalists and one of his major influences as a musician, performs in session at the BBC's Maida Vale studios.

In a candid interview, Kurt looks back over his career and explains the nature and significance of vocalese, with examples delivered throughout.

Jamie also continues to showcase his love for all types of jazz, and music rooted in jazz, from its heritage to the future.

Presenter/Jamie Cullum, Producer/Karen Pearson for Folded Wing

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Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie are live from Manchester. In tonight's show, they have a session from singer-songwriter Anna Calvi, who made the shortlist for the BBC's Sound Of 2011.

Last year, Anna toured with Grinderman and an early champion was none other than legendary producer Brian Eno who, in a BBC 6 Music interview, called Calvi "the biggest thing since Patti Smith". Her debut album, which was released last month, was produced by long-term PJ Harvey collaborator Rob Ellis.

Presenters/Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie, Producers/Ian Callaghan and Lizzie Hoskin for Smooth Operations

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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More Bands That Mattered Ep 1/2

Tuesday 1 March

10.00-11.00pm BBC RADIO 2

Thirties Bandleader Jack Payne

Brian Matthew charts the rise and fall of the BBC Dance Orchestra and profiles two very different leaders, Jack Payne and Henry Hall, in the first of a new, two-part series.

In Britain, the shifting of dance music from the ballroom to the radio studio began with the institution of the BBC Dance Orchestra, playing under the leadership of Jack Payne, from 1928, and then Henry Hall. Brian looks at the bandleaders, their particular attributes and foibles and their musical achievements.

The programme draws on archive recordings; the written memoirs of Payne, Hall and Sir John Reith; the newspaper pundits of the day; and the thoughts of current BBC Big Band maestro, Barry Forgie.

The programme also examines how the two leaders' styles differed and listeners will listen-in to a live music broadcast – complete with acrobatics. Henry Hall's famous microphone technique is explored as he introduces Johnny Mercer to the British public and singer and Coronation Street actress Betty Driver shares memories of touring with Henry's post-BBC orchestra.

Presenter/Brian Matthew, Producers/Roy Oakshott and Tony Staveacre for Wise Buddah Creative Limited

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Starting this week, Classical Collection presents a complete cycle of Beethoven piano sonatas – one of the towering peaks of the piano repertoire, spanning the composer's entire career.

Sarah Walker and James Jolly introduce the sonatas at the rate of two a week, each Tuesday and Thursday. Pianists featured include well-loved Beethoven interpreters from the past and present such as Alfred Brendel, Emil Gilels, Paul Lewis, Andras Schiff and Wilhelm Kempff.

Presenters/Sarah Walker and James Jolly, Producer/Richard Denison

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The theme of this week's Lunchtime Concerts is New Tunes On Old Fiddles. Recorded at the Clothworkers Centenary Concert Hall, in the University of Leeds, the four concerts focus on so-called "ancient" instruments – both in their familiar repertoire and out of their comfort zone.

Each concert includes the world première of a new work by a young composer. Today, harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani performs a Fantasia by Orlando Gibbons, a selection of Bach's Preludes And Fugues (Book 1) and a new commission by Marc Yeats entitled Rhêma.

Presenter/Penny Gore, Producer/Les Pratt

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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In a special production for St David's Day, novelist Russel Celyn Jones tackles the famous Welsh mountain Snowdon and thinks about childhood, Wordsworth and the need to travel on foot.

Presenter/Russel Celyn Jones, Producer/Duncan Minshull

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Fiona Talkington returns with a duet from Lol Coxhill and Steve Miller; piano music by Liszt played by Ashley Wass; a rarity from World Standard; and a new collaboration between Corsican Voices A Filetta, trumpeter Paolo Fresu and accordionist Daniele Bonaventura, in tonight's edition of Late Junction.

Presenter/Fiona Talkington, Producer/Olwen Fisher

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

On The Ropes Ep 1/5

Tuesday 1 March

9.00-9.30am BBC RADIO 4

Max Mosley tells John Humphrys about the moment his wife first saw an exposé on him in a national newspaper and how she initially thought it was a joke, in a new series of On The Ropes.

The former President of motor racing's governing body, Federation Internationale de l'Automobile, describes the impact the revelations had on his family and his marriage. He also reiterates his determination to see a change in the law.

Max has lived his life in the constant shadow of controversy – his parents were Oswold Mosley and Diana Mitford, whose wedding was attended by Adolf Hitler. In 2008, however, the full beam of public scrutiny fell directly upon Max himself, when a Sunday newspaper ran an exposé on him.

In a candid interview, Max discusses how he successfully sued the newspaper for breach of privacy and proved that elements of the allegations were false.

He has now taken his case to the European Court of Human Rights – he wants the British government to be forced to introduce a law which would require journalists to inform people about stories featuring them, before they appear.

Presenter/John Humphrys, Producer/Karen Gregor for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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The UK's Payment Council predicts that "by 2050, using cash could well be a minority activity." This programme asks whether Britain will ever become a cashless society.

Materials scientist, and Royal Institution Christmas lecturer, Mark Miodownik looks at the story of money, from its historical roots through to today's sophisticated security features.

Mark visits the little-known Trial of the Pyx, a traditional ceremony held annually for over 750 years in the Hall of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths. Inside the courtroom, a jury of experts begin the rigorous process of weighing, counting and testing new coins to check they conform to the high standards required by the Royal Mint.

He goes behind the scenes at De La Rue in Basingstoke, the UK company which produces banknotes and coins for over 150 countries worldwide.

Critics also argue that producing currency is expensive. Consultants McKinsey estimate that we spend £180 a year per person to cover the cost of cash. But "cash in hand" deals, from paying the plumber to visiting a car boot sale, fuel the black market. Smart cards, credit cards and direct debits all produce traceable, taxable transactions which bypass the problem of forgery.

Presenter/Mark Miodownik, Producer/Michelle Martin for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Michael Bird tells the story of the artist Peter Lanyon, in Lanyon's Last Flight.

In August 1964, Peter Lanyon died in a gliding accident. He was 46, had enjoyed successful shows in New York and his work was being eagerly sought. Today, he is recognised as one of the most innovative painters in 20th-century British art.

Lanyon's painting, Thermal, has been admired by the thousands of visitors to his recent retrospective exhibition at Tate St Ives. It is a painting that grew out of Lanyon's passion for gliding, yet its vivid abstract forms and resonant colour express his lifelong attempt to create a visual language for his intense experience of the environment.

This programme follows Lanyon's creative journey, which began with his deep immersion in the landscape and history of his native Cornwall and took him to the experimental edge of international abstract art in the Fifties.

It features archive appreciations of Lanyon from Mark Rothko and the poet WS Graham reading The Thermal Stair, his powerful elegy to his artist friend. Lanyon himself speaks about how gliding influenced his art.

Like Jackson Pollock's fatal car crash eight years earlier, the story of Lanyon's last flight speaks of a generation of artists for whom art demanded physical immersion in the act of painting and a wholehearted faith in the creative accident.

Presenter/Michael Bird, Producer/Julian May for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Soul Music Ep 1/5

Tuesday 1 March

1.30-2.00pm BBC RADIO 4

Music lovers describe the impact that Mozart's Clarinet Quintet has had on their lives, in this new, five-part series.

Written in 1789, two years before Mozart's death, this first ever work for string quartet plus clarinet remains a firm favourite for music lovers around the world.

In this programme, Professor Paul Robertson describes how his wife played this piece to him while he lay in a coma. Clarinettist Peter Furniss tells of the solace the slow movement provided his mother as she lay dying and Alex Smith explains the importance of this piece in his work to help children with autism, aspergers, dyslexia and other childhood disorders.

Producer/Rosie Boulton for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Mackenzie Crook and Amanda Root star in this magical play which was co-written by comedy writer-performer Amelia Bullmore and playwright Duncan Macmillan.

Nancy knows her teenage son doesn't like washing, but she has no idea of the strange and bewildering consequences that this lack of soap and scrubbing will lead to – and nor does Dan. As his body adjusts to a more "natural" state, Nancy and Dan's delicate status quo is disrupted and life-changing decisions have to be made.

Family Tree is a fairytale about mums and their sons and allowing children to grow and blossom into the people they want to be.

The cast features Mackenzie Crook as Terry, Amanda Root as Nancy, Dorien Thomas as the storyteller, Gareth Pierce as Dan, Amelia Bullmore as Reena, Simon Ludders as Dustin and Claire Harry as Fizz.

Producer/Sam Hoyle for BBC Cymru Wales

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Making History Ep 1/15

Tuesday 1 March

3.00-3.30pm BBC RADIO 4

Making History returns with a new team of presenters for a new, 15-part series.

Tom Holland, Helen Castor and Fiona Watson share the workload and sift through listeners' questions and turn to some leading historians for some answers.

Today's opener asks why someone would boast about having a chicken in France, why a motorcycle gunner wears spurs and why should people be thrilled about graffiti on a medieval church wall in rural East Anglia.

Each week, the Making History team tackles these and many other questions putting listeners at the heart of historical debate and also hears about the latest research.

Presenters/Tom Holland, Helen Castor and Fiona Watson, Producer/Nick Patrick for Pier Productions Limited

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Bath Festival Stories Ep 1/3

Tuesday 1 to Thursday 3 March

3.30-3.45pm BBC RADIO 4

Three writers read their own stories in front of an audience at the Bath Festival of Literature.

On Tuesday, Marina Warner reads The Mermaid. A niece rolls up to her aunt's place in a flash car. It had been turned over by its previous owner, but the re-conditioning is superb. Over a lunch of samphire and crabmeat she complains about the affects of ageing, mobile phone reception and the inability of boyfriends to keep their promises. Her aunt is well used to her niece's capricious behaviour – she is, after all, every inch her mother's daughter. Revived by food and rest, the niece speeds off into the blue yonder and the aunt finds she has an awakening of her own.

On Wednesday, Paul Farley reads The Switch-Off Personality. This is the story of a young boy who wrote a letter that began "Dear Jim, please can you fix it for me...". Thirty years later, the boy, who is now a man, finally gets a reply.

Finally, on Thursday, Salley Vickers reads The Deal. Alice is a very determined six-year-old – she doesn't just want a cat, she wants a marmalade girl cat. Her father's allergy, however, won't deter her in her quest. Not a natural vegetable lover, she forms an unlikely alliance with Mr Job from the allotments. From him she picks up not only a completely new lexicon of choice phrases to be stored up for future use, but also one or two lessons in guile and cunning. If only she can get her hands on a bottle of beer...

Readers/Marina Warner, Paul Farley and Salley Vickers, Producer/Sarah Langan for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Harriett Gilbert presents a special edition of A Good Read for World Book Night. The programme features three of the titles chosen for this exciting reading event.

Harriett's guests are Lynne Hatwell, the popular literary blogger known as dovergreyreader, and actor and broadcaster Tom Watt. They will discuss Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre, Half Of A Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and The World's Wife by Carol Ann Duffy.

World Book Night, which is launched on BBC Two on the evening of Saturday 5 March, is a UK and Ireland initiative to celebrate books and reading. Twenty books have been specially chosen for the event and one million of these are being given away by 20,000 passionate readers to kick start a nationwide reading campaign. A Good Read gives the BBC Radio 4 audience a chance to hear a lively discussion about three of the books on the list.

Presenter/Harriett Gilbert, Producer/Beatrice Fenton for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

5 Live Sport

Tuesday 1 March

7.00-10.30pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Mark Pougatch brings listeners the main sports stories of the day and a look ahead to the evening's football action.

There is also live football commentary on one of the evening's matches, followed by The Final Whistle with post-match reaction.

Presenter/Mark Pougatch, Producer/Mike Carr

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Marc Riley welcomes Turner Prize-winner Martin Creed into the BBC 6 Music studio for a live session.

Martin is perhaps best known for his submission for the 2001 Turner Prize, Work No. 227, the lights going on and off, which won that year's prize. Words and music have always been an integral part of his work often combined with visual art and choreography. He chats to Marc about the music he's making and performs his current single, Thinking/Not Thinking.

Presenter/Marc Riley, Producer/Michelle Choudhry

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Gideon Coe plays concert archive of Sigur Ros, recorded at Glastonbury, and the Tom Robinson Band performing in 1979, in tonight's programme.

Classic sessions include BB King from 1989, Madness just after their first Top 3 hit My Girl, A Guy Called Gerald in 1995 and a glorious racket from White Denim in session for Marc Riley in 2009.

Presenter/Gideon Coe, Producer/Mark Sheldon

BBC 6 Music Publicity