off-air recordings 13 December - 2 January 2008

Merry Xmas everyone! It's time for the off-air recordings Christmas listings. I'm afraid there's not much to suggest except for ongoing series' that are nearly finished or the offerings below. However, if there are any other programmes you know of that may be of use for teaching purposes please email Rich Deakin < rdeakin@glos.ac.uk >. Likewise, if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

Panorama: I'll Die When I Choose - (Repeat of last Monday's show with sign language) "Margo MacDonald is one of Scotland's most popular public figures - a firebrand, independent politician and forthright media commentator.
She also has the degenerative brain condition Parkinson's disease and has spoken openly of her desire to choose the moment of her death. Now, in a deeply personal Panorama film, she uncovers the truth about assisted dying, meeting people with illnesses like hers who are desperate to choose the time and place of their death, and exploring whether British law should be changed to allow them to do just that."

Pagans - 4 part series "This series of four Channel 4 programmes looks at the origins, history and traces today of pagan beliefs and practices. "

Larkrise to Candleford - "a feature length Christmas special followed by 11 new episodes"

Little Town of Bethlehem - "How the town's Christians will mark Christmas"

The Secret Family of Jesus - "Robert Beckford explores the historical evidence for claims that Jesus had brothers and sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles and nephews, as well as a deep friendship with Mary Magdalene. Beckford and many other theologians believe that Jesus did indeed have an extended family that survived some 300 years after his death. However, they have been airbrushed from history and excised from the Bible as the result of a power struggle in the early church... "

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If there are any other programmes that you would like recording please let me know and will see if I can accomodate your request.*

This applies to staff members at the University of Gloucestershire only. Any recordings made are to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence.

Off-air recordings 6-12 December 2008

Please email Rich Deakin < rdeakin@glos.ac.uk > if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice - "Michael Radford's adaptation of Shakespeare's play about a Jewish moneylender who seeks to forfeit a literal pound of flesh from his Christian nemesis."

Louis Theroux: Law and Disorder in Johannesburg - "Louis Theroux travels to Johannesburg, where the residents find themselves increasingly besieged by crime. Despairing of the capability of the police and the courts to protect them, many have turned to an industry of private security offering protection for a price. Are the sometimes brutal methods of these private police really a solution or just another part of the problem? ... "

Britain's Love Story - "A three-part series for ITV1, Britain’s Love Story charted the revolution in modern love, sex and marriage in Britain during the last 50 years."

Growing Babies - 2-part series - Part 1 "Laverne Antrobus investigates the theory of foetal-maternal conflict, an idea championed by Harvard evolutionary biologist Professor David Haig and controversially believed by some to be to blame for a wide range for a wide range of behavioural and psychological disorders such as Tourettes, depression and autism."

Part 2 - "Laverne Antrobus delves into the extraordinary world of foetal and infant neuropsychology as she tries to explain the curiosities of baby cognition. Babies just hours old can make complex inferences about people and objects, music and language, and even the principles of geometry and geography.
Antrobus asks how babies perceive the world around them, what they know and how they learn to process knowledge. She debates whether babies learn everything from experience or whether knowledge can be hardwired into their brilliant brains, an idea first postulated by psychologist Elisabeth Spelke when she unveiled theories about core knowledge."

Horizon: Allergy Planet - "We are in the grip of an allergy epidemic. 50 years ago one in 30 were affected, but in Britain today it is closer to one in three. Why this should be is one of modern medicine's greatest puzzles.
In search of answers, Horizon travels round the globe, from the remotest inhabited island to the polluted centres of California and the UK. We meet sufferers and the scientists who have dedicated their lives trying to answer the mystery of why we are becoming allergic to our world."

The Story of Asthma Island - "Documentary about how Tristan da Cunha, the most remote inhabited island in the world and a seven-day boat trip from Africa, could hold the key to unlocking one of the great mysteries of modern medicine - the genetic basis for asthma.
Featuring Napoleanic garrisons, volcanic eruptions and ship-wrecks, the film uncovers the extraordinary history of Asthma Island, its unique people and the scientist who has spent his career trying to unravel the secrets of their past."

True Stories: An Independent Mind - "An Independent Mind is a unique feature-length documentary inspired by one of the most fundamental and controversial of human rights: Freedom of Expression.The film features eight characters from around the world attempting to exercise their right to freely express themselves.Their stories include facing the threat of imprisonment for drawing a cartoon of the President, being sent to a labour camp for telling a joke, being tortured for writing a poem and being forced into exile for singing a song. These stories focus not just on the developing world but also on Western democracies."

The Medici: Makers of Modern Art - "Documentary in which Andrew Graham-Dixon reveals how the Medici family transformed Florence through sculpture, painting and architecture and created a world where masterpieces fetch millions today.
Without the money and patronage of the Medici we might never have heard of artists such as Donatello, Michelangelo or Botticelli, and Graham-Dixon examines how a family of shadowy, corrupt businessmen, driven by greed and ambition, became the financial engine behind the Italian Renaissance."

Panorama: I'll Die When I Choose - "Margo MacDonald, the firebrand, independent politician, is one of Scotland's most popular public figures. But she also has Parkinson's Disease and, earlier this year, she spoke openly of her desire to choose the moment of her death.
Now, in this deeply personal film, she uncovers the truth about assisted dying, meeting those with illnesses like hers who are desperate to die, and exploring how British law could be changed to allow them to choose when they can.
And she investigates the underground suicide movement in the UK, uncovering shocking evidence of "suicide hoods", and powerful veterinary drugs being used illegally.
In a moving interview, her life-long friend and leader of Scotland's Catholics, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, tries to persuade Margo against taking her own life."

Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2006: Predictability - http://www.rigb.org/christmaslectures06/pdfs/lecture5_transcript.pdf
"Professor Marcus du Sautoy considers the question of predictability. He illustrates how mathematics can show what will happen next in the fields of weather forecasting and population growth, and demonstrates that not everything is quite so predictable."

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If there are any other programmes that you would like recording please let me know and will see if I can accomodate your request.* This applies to staff members at the University of Gloucestershire only. Any recordings made are to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence.

Off-air recordings for week 29 November - 5 December 2008

Please email Rich Deakin < rdeakin@glos.ac.uk > if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

Perfect Disaster: Super Tornado - Five - "At two miles wide and with wind speeds of more than 350 mph, a super tornado would reduce downtown Dallas to a war zone within minutes. Scientists say it could happen. When it does, a Dallas emergency city manager is forced to choose between making sure his family remains safe, or saving the lives of millions."

After Rome: Holy War and Conquest - BBC 2 - part 1 0f 2 "In the first episode of this two-part series, Boris Johnson travels to France, Spain, Egypt, Israel, Syria and Turkey to investigate the early beginnings of what some people now call 'the clash of civilisations.' This is the idea that the two historically opposed religious cultures of Christianity and Islam are locked into a never-ending cycle of mutual antipathy, distrust and violence... "

Louis Theroux: Law and Disorder in Philadelphia - BBC2 - Part 1 of 2 - "Louis Theroux joins the Philadelphia Police Department patrolling the most dangerous part of one of the most violent cities in America.
With gun carrying drug dealers on every corner, it is now normal for the centre of Philadelphia to stage 30 or 40 homicides a month. Embedded within the Philly rapid response teams, Louis feels a palpable sense of adrenalin mixed with frustration as police and the drug dealing 'corner boys' take each other on night after night. Here is a community desperate for protection but unwilling to talk to the law enforcers for fear of street retribution."

Horizon: Do you Know What Time It Is? - BBC2 - "Particle physicist Professor Brian Cox asks, 'What time is it?' It's a simple question and it sounds like it has a simple answer. But do we really know what it is that we're asking? Brian visits the ancient Mayan pyramids in Mexico where the Maya built temples to time. He finds out that a day is never 24 hours and meets Earth's very own Director of Time."

Imagine: Heavy Metal In Baghdad - BBC1 - "Documentary charting five years in the lives of Marwan Ryad, Faisal Talal, Firal al Lateef and Tony Aziz, who together are Acrassicauda, Iraq's first heavy metal rock band. The quartet met in high school during the Ba'athist regime's dictatorship, and bonded over their shared love of western music. However, heavy metal trademarks such as goatee beards and tattoos were outlawed under Saddam Hussein, and the group's defiant pursuit of fame forced them to become a real life band on the run."

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If there are any other programmes that you would like recording please let me know and will see if I can accomodate your request.* This applies to staff members at the University of Gloucestershire only. Any recordings made are to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence.

Off-air recordings for week 22-28 November 2008

Please email Rich Deakin < rdeakin@glos.ac.uk > if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

Time Team Special - Washingborough, Lincs - "Three thousand years ago the River Witham, just outside Lincoln, was very different to what it is today. The river itself, which is now channelled in a virtually straight canal, was then very much wider, 100 metres or more across in parts, winding its way through reed beds and marshes. And higher sea levels at that time meant that the coast was much further inland, with tides reaching the modern-day village of Washingborough. ... "

God Bless America - "George W Bush was one of the most openly religious presidents in American history. After his eight-year term of office ended this November, this documentary takes a look at the political future for America's conservative Christians... "

Lost For Words: Tonight - "Angie Mason looks at why some children arrive a primary school unable to string a proper sentence together, and how this lack of early development could affect their whole lives."

Horizon: Jimmy's GM Food Fight - "Jimmy Doherty, pig farmer, one-time scientist and poster-boy for sustainable food production is on a mission to find out if GM crops really can feed the world. We need to double the amount of food we produce in the next fifty years to feed the world's growing population. Are GM crops the answer? Or are they a dangerous Frankenstein technology that could start an environmental catastrophe? To find the answers Jimmy is on a journey that will take him from the cutting-edge technology of the GM laboratories to the banana plantations of Uganda."

High Society's Favourite Gigolo - "Channel 4's High Society season of fascinating documentaries examining secret scandals and notorious figures from the higher echelons of British society continues with the amazing but largely forgotten story of the meteoric rise and pitiful fall of Britain's first black superstar."

Francesco's Venice - "Francesco's Venice brings us the epic story of Venice, seen through the eyes of Francesco da Mosto, a descendent of one of the oldest and most distinguished Venetian families, whose ancestral history is inextricably intertwined with that of Venice. The book accompanies the BBC TWO series, in which Francesco takes viewers on an engaging and entertaining journey through Venice's history and the secrets and mysteries of its canals, palaces and homes... "

Travels with Vasari - "The first of two documentaries exploring the extraordinary achievement of the chronicler of the Italian Renaissance, Giorgio Vasari, author of the monumental Lives of the Artists. On a spectacular journey through Renaissance Italy, Andrew Graham-Dixon goes in search of the shadowy figure who wrote arguably the most important book ever written about art and looks at some of the most dazzling art ever created, including masterpieces of the early Renaissance by Giotto, Masaccio and Donatello."

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If there are any other programmes that you would like recording please let me know and will see if I can accomodate your request.* This applies to staff members at the University of Gloucestershire only. Any recordings made are to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence.

Off-air recordings 15-21 November 2008

Please email Rich Deakin - rdeakin@glos.ac.uk - if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

The Fallen - "British troops have now been in Afghanistan for more than seven years and in Iraq for over five. This powerful and poignant film features families and friends of those who have died talking openly about their feelings, their loved ones and their grief. Epic in scale and spanning seven years of war, the three-hour film gives a rare insight into the personal impact and legacy of this loss."

Super Typhoon: Perfect Disaster - "The Pacific Ocean breeds the biggest and most powerful typhoons in the world. So far, the seven million inhabitants of Hong Kong have never felt the full impact of a typhoon, but a change in weather means that the most powerful force of nature has the island in its sights. Dr Chai of the Hong Kong Observatory has a few short hours to determine whether the super typhoon will hit or miss. Out on the streets, fire service officer Annie Soho is taking no chances, worrying that her father - a fisherman - may be lost to the storm. With conditions already ripe for the most destructive typhoon imaginable, watch as detailed CGI illustrates how the storm would come together and arrive at Hong Kong's door. Experts explain how the city's skyscrapers would react to a super-strength typhoon and how the city would deal with the crisis."

Time Shift: How To Solve A Cryptic Crossword - "A look at the world of cryptic crosswords, offering up the secrets of these seemingly impenetrable puzzles. Crossword setter Don Manley, AKA Quixote, reveals the tricks that compilers use to bamboozle and entertain solvers using a crossword he created especially for the programme. We also find out why Britain became home to the cryptic crossword, how a crossword nearly put paid to the D-Day invasion and why London Underground is elevating the crossword to an art form."

Mark Lawson talks to Quentin Blake - "In a rare interview, Quentin Blake talks to Mark Lawson about life as one of Britain's best known illustrators and children's authors, having illustrated over 300 books for writers such as Michael Rosen and John Yeoman. His most prolific collaboration was with Roald Dahl and together they produced some of the most famous children's books ever, including The Twits, The BFG and Matilda. Blake also taught at the Royal College of Art from 1978 to 1986 and contributed to Punch magazine when only 16."

The Ascent of Money - New 6 part series - "Why did the CEO of Goldman Sachs make £27 million last year, and you didn't? What's a hedge fund? Why are people in Europe rich, and people in Africa aren't? These and other questions are answered along the way in Niall Ferguson's major new history of Money. "

Imagine: How An Orchestra Saved Venezuela's Child - "The Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, which caused a sensation at last year's Proms, is the product of an extraordinary music education system. Children as young as two get intensive music lessons designed to steer them away from the dangers of the street. With Scotland now trying its own version of the scheme, Alan Yentob investigates the phenomenon and meets its most successful graduate, conductor Gustavo Dudamel, who next year becomes music director of the LA Philharmonic."

Storyville: Please Vote For Me - "Chinese Director Weijun Chen's charming film takes us into the world of Chinese schoolchildren, learning about democracy for the first time as they try to vote for their class monitor. Elections are pretty uncommon in China, so when the children in a school in Wuhan, Central China are presented with the chance to choose their own class monitor they don't quite know what to make of it. It doesn't take them long to get into the swing of it, though, and soon all sorts of dirty tricks are going on. Urged on by their parents, the candidates launch elaborate campaigns of bribery and coercion. After tantrums and tears, it's finally time for the vote, and who will win - the sweet girl who woos her voters with her flute playing, the bully who beats his classmates, or the boy who has the best sweets."



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If there are any other programmes that you would like recording please let me know and will see if I can accomodate your request.

* This applies to staff members at the University of Gloucestershire only. Any recordings made are to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence.

Booking the Digital Edit Suite in QU015 and using the DVD/Video player in QU006

Just to recap the procedures for booking the Digital Edit Suite in QU015 and using the DVD/Video players on QU006 (see also original entries from FCH Service Desk Blog on 14 and 20 February 2008):

Booking the Digital Edit Suite

• The Digital Edit Suite (FCQU015) is bookable for the transfer of media, and editing purposes only (Except in exceptional circumstances i.e. if hell freezes over, Ian Paisley sends the Pope a Xmas card, or Walsall finish higher than Leicester City in League 1 this season, etc. etc. [Thinking about it, the last one might actually be a miracle]).

• Before using the Edit Suite it is advisable to have an overview of the equipment available (unless already familiar with it), so please refer to them to me in the first instance, if possible, either by email rdeakin@glos.ac.uk, or telephone Rich Deakin on 01242 714665.

• I'll usually make a booking for them by using the "Edit Suites" folder in the "LC Staff" folder section in the Outlook Calendar - NOT via Aleph. However, once it's been ascertained what their needs are, any member of the FCH LC staff should have access to the Edit Suite folder and can adjust booking time accordingly if necessary.
  

• As a rule bookings are usually made for 2 hours at a time. However, they can be extended if the editing is likely to take longer than this.

• The key to the edit suite is non-bookable and non-renewable, and is also issued for 2 hours at a time. But, the issue of the key should correspond with a booking period made in Outlook, and can be extended as long as no else has it booked immediately afterwards.

• Remember to extend the booking time on the Outlook Calendar too if reissuing a the room key for more time.
  

Booking the DVD/Video player

• If anyone needs to watch a DVD they can do so by watching it on one of the LC PCs, providing they can get the DVD drawer open of course! Failing that they can book the remote control (kept in the cupboard behind the enquiry desk) and watch it on the TV/DVD combi in the small annexe (QU006) next to the room with psychology books in it.

• Likewise, VHS videos can also be watched on the same television.
  

• In all cases it is advisable to borrow a set of headphones from the AV cupboard behind the Issue Desk.

There endeth my gibberish for today. I don't think I've missed anything out.

I'm sorry this is a bit convoluted, but we had to make the room non-bookable on OPAC / Aleph so as not encourage people booking it for non-media / editing purposes. Give me a call if you want me to make anything clear.

Rich

Off-air recordings 8-14 November 2008

Please email Rich Deakin - rdeakin@glos.ac.uk - if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

A Woman in Love And War: Vera Brittain - "In 1914 Vera Brittain was young, in love and preparing to study at Oxford. She was at the heart of an intense friendship that bound five youngsters (four young men and Vera) together, full of ambition and excitement. Four years later, her life and the life of her whole generation had changed unimaginably. The war saw her companions killed. As a volunteer nurse in London and on the Front she witnessed horrors that turned her idealistic passion for a 'just war' to dust. This is the story of the First World War as seen through a woman's eyes."

Wilfred Owen: A Remembrance Tale - " Jeremy Paxman presents a docudrama about tragic WW1 poet Wilfred Owen, telling the poignant tale of his life from a childhood in Shropshire and northern England to his travels in pre-war France. Paxman visits the sites of the battles in which he fought and died, and there are reconstructions from Owen's experience in the trenches and in hospital, when he was writing most intensely."

WWII: Behind Closed Doors - New 6-part documentary series using dramatic reconstructions and testimony from witnesses to reveal the 'behind closed doors' politics of the Second World War. Episode 1 looks at the secret history of the non-aggression pact between Hitler and Stalin.

Not Forgotten: the Men Who Wouldn't Fight - "In this special edition of Not Forgotten, journalist and broadcaster Ian Hislop explores the compelling and emotive stories of conscientious objectors during the First World War. Ian visits war memorials and the battlefields of the Western Front, and looks for evidence in local archives and personal war diaries to inspire his search for stories. He meets the descendants of some of the ‘Conchies’ and hears how they have dealt with the social stigma of their relatives’ refusal to fight...."

Horizon: How Mad Are You? - "For the first in a new series Horizon has drawn together ten volunteers for an extraordinary test. Five are 'normal' and the other five have been officially diagnosed as mentally ill. This programme asks - can you tell who is who? And where does the line between sanity and madness lie."

The Words of War - "To commemorate ninety years since the end of the Great War, letters, diaries and poems depicting first-hand accounts of life in the trenches are read by serving soldiers, relatives and public figures. Interwoven with archive images of the war, the accounts tell of the optimism felt in 1914, the horrors of trench warfare, and of Europe's exhausted armistice four years later."

Oceans - New 8-part series on BBC2. "A team of intrepid divers explore the oceans of planet earth... The Oceans dive team travel the globe from the Southern Ocean to the Arctic Ocean unravelling the secrets of the depths."

Secrets of Eygypt: Screaming Man - 8 part series - "In the first episode, scientists attempt to unravel the mystery of a 3,000-yearold ‘screaming’ mummy. The man was recovered from a tomb devoid of the usual trappings of Egyptian burial, with his features locked in a screaming expression. Who was this man and what does his fate reveal about the ancient Egyptian attitude to the afterlife?"

Beeching's Tracks - New 6-part series "Crane's Trains and Automobiles.
Nicholas Crane explores what happened to Norfolk's railways 45 years ago when many of the county's branch lines were closed after the Beeching Report, and he learns of an ambitious plan to build an orbital railway by reinstating some of those axed lines."

Walter Tull: Forgotten Hero - "Walter Tull was a pioneering black British footballer and the first black officer in the British Army. He died heroically fighting in the First World War, and yet almost no one has heard of him. Former EastEnders star Nick Bailey has long been obsessed by the incredible story of this forgotten black British hero. In this programme, Nick investigates war records to establish whether there was a colour bar in the British Army and asks how Walter managed to become an officer, despite Army regulations requiring only men "of pure European descent". Nick also examines why Lieutenant Tull was denied a Military Cross for heroism, despite the fact that his commanding officer recommended him for one. "

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If there are any other programmes that you would like recording please let me know and will see if I can accomodate your request.

* This applies to staff members at the University of Gloucestershire only. Any recordings made are to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence.

Off-air recordings for week 1-7 November 2008

Please email Rich Deakin < rdeakin@glos.ac.uk > if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

Timewatch: The Last Day of World One - "In the week before Remembrance Day, Michael Palin tells the story of how the First World War ended on 11 November 1918 and reveals the shocking truth that soldiers continued to be killed in battle for many hours after the Armistice had been signed. Recounting the events of the days and hours leading up to that last morning, Palin tells the personal stories of the last soldiers to die as the minutes and seconds ticked away to the 11am ceasefire."

Armistice - "Professor David Reynolds takes a fresh look at the extraordinary events and personalities that brought about the armistice of 1918, venturing beyond the familiar British account of Remembrance Day to unravel how the other side, the Germans, plunged to total defeat in just a few months at the end of the war.In a journey that takes him through command centres and battlefields, he uncovers a story of wounded egos, mental illness and political brinkmanship as statesmen and generals haggled over the terms of peace, while, at the front, the soldiers fought on with sustained brutality.For many Germans, the armistice was a betrayal of all they had fought for and it caused lasting resentments that would eventually fuel Adolf Hitler's rise to power. Reynolds argues that the bitter endgame of the 'war to end all wars' tragically sowed the seeds of even more appalling conflict to come."

An Awfully Big Adventure - "Looking at the life of the creator of The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame."

Picture Book - "3 part Series which reveals the enchanting story of our childhood reading.This opening part looks at our very first books and the picture book heaven they create for under fives, exploring the magical interplay of words and pictures and how they begin to shape our childhood imagination. Featuring favourites from The Tale of Peter Rabbit to Charlie and Lola, from Noddy to Thomas the Tank Engine, plus modern classics such as We're Going on a Bear Hunt and Each Peach Pear Plum.There are also interviews, readings and demonstrations of their art from leading writers and illustrators including Michael Rosen, Shirley Hughes, Alan Ahlberg and Lauren Child."

Michael Portillo: Death of a Schoolfriend - "A trio of BBC2 documentaries about mental health will see Michael Portillo examine youth suicide, Terry Pratchett discuss Alzheimer's disease and Meera Syal look at self-harm... The first of the three documentaries, Michael Portillo: Death of a School Friend, looks at the suicide of one of the former MP's close friends. The Liberty Bell Productions programme features interviews with the parents of Gary, a friend of Portillo who died just before his 16th birthday.

Unreported World: Paraguay's Painful Harvest
"Documentary series on topical global issues. Paraguay has become one of the world's biggest suppliers of genetically modified soya, much of it destined to feed cattle that ends up on European plates. This programme reveals how our demand for meat is driving the industrial farming of soya to epic proportions, leading to violent clashes between peasants, foreign landowners and the police."

People's Century: 1929 Breadline - "The story of 'the hungry thirties' told by men and women who suffered in the worldwide depression that followed the Wall Street Crash. In Chicago, the unemployed ripped wooden paving blocks from the city streets, while in Belgium, laid-off miners broke into their own pits to scavenge for waste coal. Sweden was the first democracy to fight the depression, and America's President Roosevelt offered the country a new deal."

Regeneration - "Powerful, grim and compelling adaptation of Pat Barker's prize-winning novel, set in a Scottish hospital during the First World War. Eminent psychiatrist Captain William Rivers (Jonathan Pryce) questions his values and training when charged with treating victims of shell shock, only to send the soldiers back into active service at the Front."

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If there are any other programmes that you would like recording please let me know and will see if I can accomodate your request.

* This applies to staff members at the University of Gloucestershire only. Any recordings made are to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence.

Off-air recordings for week 25-31 October 2008

Please email Rich Deakin < rdeakin@glos.ac.uk > if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

A Midsummer Night's Dream - 1999 adaptation directed by Michael Hoffman

Reader I Married Him - "Daisy Goodwin delves into one of the most successful literary genres - romantic fiction. From Jane Austen to the present day, via Mills & Boon, this three-part series explores the enduring appeal of the love story and the integral part it plays in readers' lives."

Dispatches: Jon Snow's American Journey - "As Obama and McCain's gladiatorial showdown enters its final week, Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow goes in search of the new America. Starting at the border with Mexico, Snow takes a road trip up the Pacific highway linking San Diego to Seattle, travelling though areas of great affluence, deprivation, innovation and tradition to find out about the new Americans, new economy and new directions that are shaping the next America..."

Little Dorritt - New BBC adaptation "Little Dorrit tells the story of the Dorrit family and the rich array of characters they meet on their way from rags to riches and back again."

Diwali: A Sikh's Journey Home - "To mark Diwali, a story symbolising the hurdles faced by families caught up in the clash of cultures, religions, generations and genders in the 21st century."

True Stories: Jesus Politics the Bible and the Ballot - "Showing as part of More 4's US election season, Ilan Ziv's film is a probing look at how deeply religious faith shapes 21st century American politics."

Earth From The Air - "French aerial photographer Yann Arthus Bertrand spent ten years making a photographic inventory of the earth's surface. From magestic landscapes to rubbish dumps, the images are shockingly beautiful, but for Yann the most important part is the powerful environmental message which accompanies each image.
Yann takes on various photographic assignments, amongst them locations such as Russia and the Lebanon, learning on the way about the ecological issues that drive him."

Radio programmes

Archive Hour: Potteries Fascists - "Seventy years ago the Public Order Act of 1936 marked the beginning of the end of the British Union of Fascists, banning the wearing of the blackshirt uniform and giving police the power to ban fascist marches. Within a year, the movement was also barred from most big halls in the country, leaving its leader Oswald Mosley without his two main weapons processions and mass meetings.In Potteries Fascists, Gerry Northam marks the anniversary of the Act with a unique set of recordings, never before heard on network radio, chronicling the rise and fall of the fascist movement in one of its strongest provincial bases, Stoke-on-Trent."

Classic Serial: Robinson Crusoe and His Farther Adventures - "Adaptation of Daniel Defoe's less famous sequel to the classic adventure Robinson Crusoe. After returning to England from his island home, Robinson Crusoe sets sail once more in search of adventure."

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If there are any other programmes that you would like recording please let me know and will see if I can accomodate your request.
* This applies to staff members at the University of Gloucestershire only. Any recordings made are to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence.

Off-air recordings for week 18-24 October 2008

Please email Rich Deakin rdeakin@glos.ac.uk if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

Timewatch - Young Victoria - "Timewatch tells the story of how an unassuming little girl rose to be the most powerful woman in the world. At her birth few believed Princess Victoria would ascend the throne, but a number of untimely deaths and the failure of her uncles to father any children meant that Victoria became heiress to the throne of England. The battle between her and her mother the Duchess of Kent, however, was to become one of the fiercest mother-daughter struggles of all time, as the Duchess schemed to share in the power and riches that would one day be Victoria's."

Violent Women: Tonight - "With recent figures showing 240 women are arrested for violent crimes every day, the programme investigates the reasons behind this rise in aggressive behaviour. Former Big Brother contestant Alex de Gale, who was removed from the house for intimidating other contestants, tries a variety of anger-management therapies to curb her temper."

Channel 4 Education -
What's So Good About Jamila Gavin? (ages 7-11)
What's So Good About Roald Dahl? " "
What's So Good About JK Rowling? " "
We Are From Croatia (ages 9-12)

Imagine: A Love Story - "What makes a great love story? Imagine looks at the great books, films and pop songs that have tackled the thorny issues of love, pain and desire. Lancelot and Guinevere, Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, Lady Chatterley's Lover, 24 Hours from Tulsa, Casablanca, Brief Encounter and Lolita are all great love stories, but what makes them special?

According to Pulitzer prize winner Jeffrey Eugenides, "A great love story has to have a fly in the ointment." Other contributors include best-selling authors Sarah Waters, Helen Fielding, Jane Austen's biographer Claire Tomalin, Burt Bacharach's lyricist Hal David, screen doctor Robert McKee, psychoanalyst Adam Phillips, and literature professor John Sutherland"

1914-1918 - "Documentary series telling the history of the Great War, in which nine million people perished. Beginning with the origins of the conflict." Parts 1-2 of 7.

True Stories: No End In Sight - "A searing indictment of the Iraq War, representing a full analysis of Iraq's descent into civil war... Based on over 200 hours of footage, the shocking story of post-invasion Iraq is told via interviews with high-ranking Bush Administration officials including General Jay Garner, who briefly ran the reconstruction before being replaced by L. Paul Bremer; Ambassador Barbara Bodine, who was placed in charge of the Baghdad embassy; Richard Armitage, former deputy secretary of the State Department; Robert Hutchings, former chairman of the National Intelligence Council; Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell's former chief of staff; Col. Paul Hughes, who worked in the ORHA and then the CPA."

Mum, Heroin and Me - "This is a film about what happens when your daughter becomes a heroin addict. Shot over the course of a year by award-winning documentary-maker Jane Treays, the film follows Kate (49), her 20-year-old heroin-addicted daughter Hannah (pictured) and Hannah's boyfriend, Ricky (31). As Hannah moves from pavement, to hostel, to bedsit, the film provides a moving portrait of a mother and daughter trying to love one another through the fog of heroin addiction."

British Transport Films – A Nation On Film Special - "... reviews the work of Edgar Anstey and his team of film-makers in the state-owned British Transport Films Unit after the Second World War. The archive features beautiful documentaries and travelogues, but did they strike the right balance between truth and propaganda?"

Elizabethan Express - "'Elizabethan Express' is an example of a widely released British Transport Film (BTF) film which focussed directly on rail travel, this film features the express locomotive Silver Fox which travelled from London’s King’s Cross to Edinburgh – a distance of 393 miles in six and a half hours."

Greart Railway Journeys of the World: Euston, London to Kyle of Lochalsh, western Scotland - "Avid trainspotter Michael Palin fulfils a boyhood dream as he travels from Euston in London to Kyle of Lochalsh in Scotland. Part of The Golden Age of Steam season."

Unreported World: South Africa Body Parts for Sale - "Channel 4's acclaimed foreign affairs strand returns with an eye-opening, and horrifying, investigation into "Muti Murder" in South Africa. While the country is modernising fast, Unreported World reveals how hundreds of people, including children, have been killed for body parts destined for the booming practise of traditional medicine and talks to a "healer" who claims he tortures and kills people for his trade."

Unreported World: India: God's own Country - "Kerala is apopular tourist destination in southern India where thousands of pilgrims seek slavation from the growing number of gurus in the region. However, as Jenny Kleeman reports, many of these so-called godmen now face allegations that range from fraud to sexual abuse."

Radio Programmes

Wayfarers All: a Hundred Years of Wind in the Willows - (5-part series) To mark the 100th anniversary of the publication of Kenneth Grahame's iconic children's novel, The Wind In The Willows, BBC Radio 4 has commissioned five authors to write short stories inspired by the names of the book's main characters. The line-up includes: Rat by Candia McWilliam; Toad by Beatrice Colin; Mole by David Almond; Weasel by Zoe Strachan; and Badger by Mark McNay.

Misfits in France: Wild(e) about Dieppe - (3-part series) "Series in which Julian Barnes and Hermione Lee explore the connections between a group of Victorian writers and artists who crossed the English Channel for different reasons. Examining the differing fortunes of Oscar Wilde and the painter Walter Sickert during their time in the French town of Dieppe. Wilde arrived at Dieppe in May 1897 in disgrace, following his release from Reading Gaol, but quickly moved on. Sickert enjoyed a long and happy association with the resort, beginning with childhood holidays there and including an affair with one of the local fishwives."

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If there are any other programmes that you would like recording please let me know and will see if I can accomodate your request.

* This applies to staff members at the University of Gloucestershire only. Any recordings made are to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence.

TASI - Internet for Image Searching

"Would you like to learn how to use the Internet to find copyright cleared images for your work, quickly and efficiently?"

Welcome to Internet for Image Searching

TASI (the JISC Advisory service for Digital Media) and Intute as part of the Intute: Virtual Training Suite have created this tutorial to help you make the most of the internet to find and use copyright cleared images for your work.

"Use this free, interactive tutorial to improve your image searching skills."

Off-air recordings for week 11-17 October 2008

Please email Rich Deakin rdeakin@glos.ac.uk if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

Building of the Year: RIBA Stirling Prize 2008 Live - "Which building will win this year's most prestigious award in UK architecture? Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud hosts live coverage from the RIBA Stirling Prize announcement, which this year is held at the BT Convention Centre, part of ACC Liverpool. The award goes to the architects of the building that has made the greatest contribution to British architecture in the past year."

Timewatch - The Boxer Rebellion - "Timewatch exclusively reveals the dramatic true story behind the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, when Imperial troops and Chinese rebels laid siege to the diplomatic quarter in Beijing. Told through Chinese sources and the diaries and memoirs of the outnumbered European defenders, the siege helped to bring down the imperial monarchy, precipitating a century of destruction, revolution and ultimate renewal."

High Anxieties: The Mathematics of Chaos - "Documentary which looks at how developments in mathematics over the past 40 years has completely changed our understanding of the fundamental nature of the world we live in. As we approach tipping points in both the economy and the climate, the film examines the mathematics we have been reluctant to face up to and asks if, even now, we would rather bury our heads in the sand rather than face harsh truths."

True Stories: Garbage Warrior - "A documentary telling the epic story of maverick US architect Michael Reynolds. - Hippie architect Michael Reynolds has spent the past 35 years creating eco-friendly homes known as “Earthships”. Using beer cans and tyres to hold the structures together, he came up with a way of life that requires none of the traditional household fuels. Running foul of American planning mandates, he found his buildings threatened, but in the wake of the Boxing Day Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, he has found recognition at last. Brit filmmaker Oliver Hodge’s documentary initially depicts its subject as a bit of an ass, but it gradually becomes obvious that Reynolds is a true humanitarian, offering a real alternative to modern living"

Between The Lines: Railways in Fiction and Film - "Novelist Andrew Martin presents a documentary examining how the train and the railways came to shape the work of writers and film-makers... " (click the link for more info.)

The Last Days of Steam - "The Last Days Of Steam asks why, when the rest of the world was committing to diesel trains, Britain was building hundreds of steam-powered locomotives."

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If there are any other programmes that you would like recording please let me know and will see if I can accomodate your request.

* This applies to staff members at the University of Gloucestershire only. Any recordings made are to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence.

Off-air recordings for week 4-10 October 2008

Please email Rich Deakin < rdeakin@glos.ac.uk > if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

Timewatch: Britain's Forgotten Floods
"Tsunamis are among the most destructive forces known to Man - but in Britain, most of us think they are one thing we don't need to worry about. Professors Simon Haslett and Ted Bryant have already challenged this view. They believe that the Bristol Channel flood of 1607 - one of Britain's greatest natural disasters - was in fact a tsunami. But the story doesn't stop there - in Britain's Forgotten Floods, Simon and Ted investigate evidence for what they believe are at least four more British tsunamis.
Joining them on their journey around the British coastline is historian and scientist Vanessa Collingridge (presenter of Radio 4's Making History). Vanessa will be weighing up the evidence, and also looking back to the Lisbon tsunami of 1755 - an almost forgotten disaster that had a profound effect on Britain, and changed the course of European history.theory of the healing stones bear up to modern day forensic science?"

Spy Stories: British Espionage in Fact and Fiction
"The story of the long and often extraordinary relationship between fact and fiction in the mysterious world of British espionage. The programme charts the evolution of spying through the twentieth century and looks at the parallel development of spy fiction during the same period. Contributors include Stella Rimington, Daphne Park, David Shayler, John Le Carre, Charlie Higson, Bernard Porter, Nick Hiley and Stephen Dorril."

Dirty Tricks: Storyville The Man Who Got the Bushes Elected
"Stefan Forbes's gripping documentary tells the story of Lee Atwater, the blues-playing rogue whose rambunctious rise to become chairman of the GOP positioned him as kingmaker and political rock star. Atwater mentored George W Bush and Karl Rove while leading the Republicans to victory, helped make liberal a dirty word and transformed the way America elects its presidents. Featuring interviews with colleagues and adversaries, the film sheds new light on his role in America's shift to the right."

Great British Journeys - 1. Gerald of Wales, 2. William Cobbett, and 3. John Leland

Wilderness Explored (3-part series)
"Documentary series telling the stories of early European explorers who reached the wildernesses of Canada, the Congo and Australia. 200 years ago, the Arctic was a blank on the map for explorers, a place which captured their imagination as a place of sublime beauty but one where expeditions disappeared without trace. In the last century, the polar sea has become a region of vital strategic significance and, as the Arctic ice melts, the polar bear has become an emblem for the earth's fragility."

The American Future: a History by Simon Schama (4-part series)
"Shot against the backdrop of the US presidential campaign, a new documentary series on BBC Two, The American Future: A History, sees Simon Schama travel through America to dig deep into the conflicts of its history to understand what is at stake right now..."

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If there are any other programmes that you would like recording please let me know and will see if I can accomodate your request.

* This applies to staff members at the University of Gloucestershire only. Any recordings made are to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence.

off-air recordings for week 27 September - 3 October 2008

Please email Rich Deakin rdeakin@glos.ac.uk if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

TV Programmes

Timewatch - Stonehenge - "This historic excavation is now complete and researchers are ready to solve one of the greatest of archaeological mysteries – what was Stonehenge for?"

Civilisation: Heroic Materialism - "Sir Kenneth Clark's classic documentary series presenting his personal view of the restoration of Western civilisation."

Simon Schama's Power of Art : Guernica - "Guernica (1937) was created during Picasso's Surrealist period and captures the horror of the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. By the end of World War II, Picasso had become an internationally known artist and celebrity..."

The Genius of Photography – Paper Movies (4/6) - "The American photographer Garry Winogrand said that he took photographs to “see what the world looked like photographed”. Photographers have always had this as their mission statement, but the three decades from the late 1950’s onwards was the real golden age of the photographic journey. The Genius of Photography – Paper Movies relives the journeys that produced some of the most acclaimed paper movies. The programme takes a fascinating look at Robert Frank’s odyssey through 50s America, William Klein’s one-man assault on the sidewalks of New York, Garry Winogrand’s charting of the human comedy in Central Park Zoo, Tony Ray Jones’s dissection eccentricity at the English seaside, and finally, William Eggleston’s guide to Memphis and the American South. Episode four of the series also examines the arrival of colour as a credible medium for serious photographers, as controversial at the time as Dylan going electric.
Contributors include legendary photographers like William Klein, William Eggleston, Robert Adams, Stephen Shore, Joel Sternfeld, Joel Meyerowitz, Martin Parr and artist Ed Ruscha. "

Imagine: The Fantastic Mr Dahl - "Alan Yentob explores the magical and mysterious world of the best-selling children's author Roald Dahl to discover what made him such a great storyteller. This intimate portrait has exclusive access to his personal archive, and features interviews with members of his immediate family, including his widow, Felicity, his first wife, the actress Patricia Neal, his children, Tessa, Theo and Ophelia, and his grand-daughter, the model Sophie Dahl."

A History of British Art - My Wife, My Horse and Myself - "Writer and presenter Andrew Graham-Dixon travels back to the 18th century, the golden age of British art. He looks at the rich visual world of the aristocracy, from art depicting the great English informal landscape garden to studies of the aristocrat's racehorse, wife, dog and mistress and explore the works of artists like Hogarth, Stubbs and Gainsborough."

Arena: The Waugh Trilogy: An Engishman's Home (3/3) - "...examines Waugh's deteriorating health in his latter years. After his mental illness Waugh penned The Ordeal of Gilbert Penfold, which describes horror, hallucinations and voices in the head. So accurate were his descriptions of his experiences that the work was highly regarded by psychoanalysts."

Dana: The Eight Year Old Anorexic - "Dana is eight years old. She is also anorexic. This week's Cutting Edge follows Dana as she embarks on an intensive 12-week programme at a specialist clinic, to examine why younger and younger children are developing eating disorders."

1964 General Election - "The latest broadcast from the BBC's political archive is the closely fought election of 1964. Labour's slim victory put an end to 13 years of Conservative rule and prevented a fourth successive victory for them at the national ballot box. And the BBC broadcast the unfolding results round-the-clock for the first time. All three radio stations were put to work covering the election along with over 50 TV cameras - including 30 outside broadcast units - across the country." More

Radio programmes

America Empire of Liberty - Omnibus editions of this daily broadcast history of America by David Reynolds.

Dreaming of Toad Hall - "To mark the centenary of the publication of The Wind in the Willows, John O'Farrell returns to the Berkshire riverbank of his Kenneth Grahame and his son Alistair. On the way, he unlocks the symbols and mysteries contained in this classic children's book."

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If there are any other programmes that you would like recording please let me know and will see if I can accomodate your request.

* This applies to staff members at the University of Gloucestershire only. Any recordings made are to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence.

Off-air recordings 20th-26th September

Please email Rich Deakin < rdeakin@glos.ac.uk > if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

Christina: A Medieval Life - "Historian Michael Wood delves through medieval court records to follow the fortunes of a village in Hertfordshire and, more particularly, the family of peasant Christina Cok."
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Arena: The Hunt for Moby Dick - "Arena – the BBC's flagship arts documentary strand – confronts our fascination with one of the most mysterious creatures of the ocean, the whale, in a new feature-length adventure documentary... Filmed in England, America and the Azores over four years, the documentary follows acclaimed author Philip Hoare as he writes his new book and tackles man's complex relationship with the whale, bringing it into startling new focus through one book: Moby Dick.

also 3 accompanying Arena programmes;

Arena: Philip Hoare's Guide to Whales - "Acclaimed author and whale-watcher Philip Hoare takes us into the world of baleen whales, the largest animals ever to have lived.
With plates of bristly baleen instead of teeth with which they filter their food, blue whales, fin whales and humpback whales swim the Atlantic. Hoare shows us how to identify whales from their tails or flukes, and explores the strange shared history between humans and whales."

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BBC4 1968 Night programmes below

Storyville: 1968 - "Documentary exploring what really happened throughout the world in the seminal year of 1968, a time of music and of revolution, asking why so many hopes were disappointed and what is the period's true legacy.
Drawing on archive from the US, Vietnam, Britain, France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Italy and Mexico, the film dynamically reconstructs the hopes, the fears and the ultimate sense of despair that pervaded the events of 1968."

Storyville: RFK - "Probing biography that examines the remarkable and tragic life of Robert Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 as he campaigned for the presidency."

Storyville: Citizen King 1963-68 - "The story begins on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963 when a 34 year old preacher galvanized millions with his dream for an America free of racism. It comes to a bloody end almost five years later on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee. In the years since those events unfolded, the man at their centre, Dr Martin Luther King Jr, has become a mythic figure, a minister whose oratory is etched into the minds of millions, a civil rights activist whose works and image are more hotly contested, negotiated and sold than almost anyone else's in American history. Citizen King tells the story of those 5 years that changed history."

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Trial of the Knights Templar - Five 23rd September 8.00-9.00PM. No other info as of yet.

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Kenneth Tynan: In Praise of Hardcore - "Rob Brydon plays the critic and impresario Kenneth Tynan in this funny and touching drama set in 1960s London. As well as being one of the most influential theatre critics of the time, Tynan worked with Laurence Olivier at the newly founded National Theatre and waged a battle against censorship that famously led to him being the first person to say f*** on television. We spoke to the writer and director Chris Durlacher about the drama."

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The NHS: A Difficult Beginning -"Britain's National Health Service celebrates its sixtieth birthday on 5 July this year. Serving over one and a half million patients and their families every day, the NHS is the biggest service of its kind in the world. It is universally regarded as a national treasure - the most remarkable achievement of post war Britain..."

Greg Dyke on Nye Bevan - "Greg Dyke takes a bus tour through the Welsh Valleys and the life of Labour politician Aneurin Bevan, pronouncing him 'one of the outstanding men of the 20th Century'.
In 1945, Bevan simultaneously launched the National Health Service and set about rebuilding a bomb-damaged Britain, in one of the most remarkable double acts a politician has ever been asked to achieve.
Dyke visits the coalmines where Bevan began to hew coal at the age of 13 and explores the Tredegar Medical Aid Society, which was the blueprint for the NHS.
He also reveals the close friendship between Bevan and the black American civil rights campaigner and world-renowned opera singer Paul Robeson.

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Series / programmes already in progress (Originally added on 15th September)

Amazon with Bruce Parry - "Amazon will follow explorer Bruce Parry's epic journey down the world's greatest river, travelling over 6,000 kms by foot, light aircraft and boat to meet and live with tribes, coca growers, loggers and illegal miners."

Horizon: The President's Guide to Science - "Horizon asks some of the biggest names in science to have a quiet word with the new President, be it Obama or McCain. The United States President is quite simply the most powerful man on earth, but past Presidents have often known little about science. That is a problem when the decisions they make will affect every one of us, from nuclear proliferation to climate change. To help the new President get to grips with this intimidating responsibility, some of the world's leading scientists, from Dawkins to Watson, share some crucial words of advice."

Panorama: Can Money Grow On Trees? - "With soaring prices accelerating the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, Panorama asks whether the money markets can achieve what campaigners and law enforcement have so far failed to do and make trees more valuable alive than dead. That would mean putting a value on their services to mankind; storing carbon and generating rainfall. Ben Anderson reports from Brazil and Guyana."

If there are any other programmes that you would like recording please let me know and will see if I can accomodate your request.

* This applies to staff members at the University of Gloucestershire only. Any recordings made are to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence.

Off-air recordings 13th-19th September

Please email Rich Deakin < rdeakin@glos.ac.uk > if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

Earth The Climate Wars - 3-part series

Tess of the D'Urbervilles - "David Nicholls (Starter For Ten, Much Ado About Nothing) has penned a new four-part adaptation of Thomas Hardy's tragic and well-loved novel, Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, for transmission in autumn 2008 on BBC One. Produced in-house by BBC Drama Productions, David Snodin (Great Expectations, Crime And Punishment) will produce the serialisation with Kate Harwood as Executive Producer. "

Timeshift: How to be a Good President - "Jonathan Freeland looks the qualities that make a great American President; what can be learnt from Theodore Roosevelt and JFK, Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter about what it takes to make your mark in the White House? Freedland is helped by some well-known and distinguished contributors including James Naughtie, Shirley Williams, Harold Evans, Douglas Hurd, Simon Hoggart and Bonnie Greer, who give frank assessments of some of America's greatest presidents."

Man In The Mansion: California Governors - "Being governor of the most populous US state is never going to be an easy job, but for a large part of the last 50 years, Californians have made some distinctively LA-style choices about the person best qualified to undertake it. "

President Hollywood - "Part of US Presidents season. A look at how this year's race for the White House has been run before on TV series The West Wing, when a non-white Democrat stood against an experienced Republican."

Dinner with Portillo: American Election Special - "In New York, Michael Portillo and seven guests explore the enduring conflict between America's liberal Hollywood dream factory and its conservative heartland values.
In the absence of a successful Democrat for the last decade, Hollywood invented virtual liberal Presidents, as in The West Wing and Air Force One. Over dinner, the guests discuss the impact on the voting public and politicians, why Hollywood is such a haven for liberal values and how the relationship between Hollywood glamour and gritty politics is playing out in the current presidential race."

******additions to list. Added on 15th September*******

Amazon with Bruce Parry - "Amazon will follow explorer Bruce Parry's epic journey down the world's greatest river, travelling over 6,000 kms by foot, light aircraft and boat to meet and live with tribes, coca growers, loggers and illegal miners."

Horizon: The President's Guide to Science - "Horizon asks some of the biggest names in science to have a quiet word with the new President, be it Obama or McCain. The United States President is quite simply the most powerful man on earth, but past Presidents have often known little about science. That is a problem when the decisions they make will affect every one of us, from nuclear proliferation to climate change. To help the new President get to grips with this intimidating responsibility, some of the world's leading scientists, from Dawkins to Watson, share some crucial words of advice."

Panorama: Can Money Grow On Trees? - "With soaring prices accelerating the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, Panorama asks whether the money markets can achieve what campaigners and law enforcement have so far failed to do and make trees more valuable alive than dead. That would mean putting a value on their services to mankind; storing carbon and generating rainfall. Ben Anderson reports from Brazil and Guyana."


If there are any other programmes that you would like recording please let me know and will see if I can accomodate your request.

* This applies to staff members at the University of Gloucestershire only. Any recordings made are to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence.

Last chance to request backdated off-air recordings

I am clearing the DVD- Recorder's Hard Drive. Please email me if you require any of these recent programmes before I delete them. Email rdeakin@glos.ac.uk or telephone 714665. *

BBC1 - The Last Word Monologues - Prog. 1 - Before I Call You In; Prog. 2 - Six Days One June; Prog. 3 - A Bit Of Private Business

BBC 2 - Simon Gray's Smoking Diaries

BBC4 - Lost Horizons: The Big Bang, & also The Big Bang Machine

Five - Megastructures: Beijing Olympic Stadium

BBC1 - Panorama: True Brits

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If there are any other programmes that you would like recording please let me know and will see if I can accomodate your request.

* This applies to staff members at the University of Gloucestershire only. Any recordings made are to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence.

Off-air recordings 24th August - 4th September 2008

I am on leave until Thursday 4th September. Any requests for off-air recordings between Tuesday 26th August and 4th September should be made to Phil Davis on 41667 or email pdavis@glos.ac.uk. If you urgently require anything recording on Monday 25th August please contact Steve Randall, email srandall@glos.ac.uk.

Any programmes / series in progress will be completed and dealt with on my return.

Rich Deakin
Information Adviser
FCH LC
University of Gloucestershire

Off-air recordings for week 16th-22nd August 2008

Please email Rich Deakin rdeakin@glos.ac.uk if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

The Archive Hour: Fortress Totobag - The Story of the Notting Hill Riots. "Henry Bonsu recalls the Notting Hill riots of August 1958. At 9 Blenheim Crescent, known as Fortress Totobag, fighting between West Indians and teddy boys reached a peak on Monday September 1. The cafe acted as a community centre and information bureau for newcomers to the area, but also served as a gambling den and Caribbean music venue. As white hostility to the growing black presence grew, tensions erupted into violence."

Team Spirit - "In this five-part radio series, Claudia Hammond looks at the psychology of team dynamics. By visiting groups around the country and talking to leading academics, she'll find out what makes successful teams tick."

Costing the Earth - part 1 Summer of Mud (six-part radio series). "Costing The Earth packs up its tent pegs and heads out for a summer of mud as guest presenter Tom Robinson investigates whether punters and musicians at festivals really do care about the environment. This summer, millions of people will attend one of the hundreds of events that now fill the summer diary, from the established mega-festivals such as Glastonbury, to the small-scale Truck festival in Oxfordshire. Renewable energy-powered stages, biodegradeable tent pegs and car-share schemes are a few of the growing attempts to reduce the impact of summer festivals on their surroundings. Many festivals now promote a "leave no trace" policy; however, Costing The Earth investigates whether the party-goers – and the artists – actually adhere to it."

The Homecoming: Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Return to Russia. "An epic, two month train journey across Russia with one of the world's greatest writers, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who died earlier this month. The programme follows him on his return home to Russia in 1994 with his family after 20 years of enforced exile in America."

Megastructures - Beijing Olympic Stadium. "... one of the world's largest enclosed facilities-the Beijing National Stadium. 42,000 tons of twisted steel, and a stadium to seat 90,000 people-one of the biggest and most ambitious constructions projects ever attempted in modern China. Against the backdrop of China's Olympics, this programme examines the unique features of the "bird's nest" stadium, following its design, engineering and construction up."

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If there are any other programmes that you would like recording please let me know and will see if I can accomodate your request.

* This applies to staff members at the University of Gloucestershire only. Any recordings made are to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence.

Off-air recordings for week 9th-15th August 2008

Please email Rich Deakin rdeakin@glos.ac.uk if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

Comics Britannia - Anarchy in the UK 3/3
"In the 1970s and 1980s comic books became darker, more graphic and more adult. This programme features interviews with ground-breaking writers such as Alan Moore, who spearheaded this new wave of comics." Part of the Comics Britannia season.

Make Me A Christian - "The Reverend George Hargreaves thinks Britain is in a state of moral decline and that a return to a more 'Christian' way of life would stop the rot. He and his team of mentors aim to show how by convincing a group of non-Christian volunteers to live by the teachings of the Bible for three weeks."

Britain From Above - new three part BBC1 series with 3 part accompanying BBC2 series.
"Britain looks very different from the skies. From a bird's eye view of the nation, its workings, cities, landscapes and peoples are revealed and rediscovered in new and extraordinary ways. Like a constantly moving machine, with its cogs and wheels permanently in motion, or like a living animal with blood coursing through its veins and arteries, the way the country works is revealed from above in a uniquely compelling way.

The Real Life On Mars - "Part of BBC FOUR's Brit Cop season. Documentary about policing in Britain in the 1970s. Former police and criminals talk about the truth behind 1970s policing."

Hadrian - "Dan Snow takes a look around the Roman emperor's vast former empire."

Timewatch: Hadrian's Wall - "It is unique in the Roman World. A spectacular and complex stone barrier measuring 74 miles long, and up to 15 feet high and 10 feet thick. For 300 years Hadrian's Wall stood as the Roman Empire's most imposing frontier and one of the unsung wonders of the ancient world."

High Culture For All In Postwar Britain: The Third Programme - "The BBC's Third Programme launched in 1946, promising high-culture that was available to all. Yet within years it was in crisis. This documentary explores how The Third Programme's successes and failures reflected profound changes in British culture."

Word of Mouth (seven part radio series on BBC Radio 4) - "BBC Radio's Word of Mouth is a programme about English and the way it is spoken. It is broadcast regularly on BBC Radio 4 and is presented by Michael Rosen. The programme looks at all aspects of the spoken word from slang, acronyms, strange vocabulary, jargon and has a very lively message board to which the presenter regularly contributes. The programme is part of a stable of network radio programmes produced in Bristol for Radio 4."

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If there are any other programmes that you would like recording please let me know and will see if I can accomodate your request.

* This applies to staff members at the University of Gloucestershire only. Any recordings made are to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence.

Off-air recordings for week 2nd - 8th August 2008

Please email Rich Deakin < rdeakin@glos.ac.uk > if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

BBC4's London Tube night
including METROLAND, Poet Sir John Betjeman's celebrated 1973 documentary in which he extols the glories of the Metropolitan Line; ARENA: THE UNDERGROUND - Stories from the Underground, including that of Margaret Barnett, who sheltered in the Tube during WWII; 40 MINUTES: HEART OF THE ANGEL, Molly Dineen's RTS award-winning 1989 documentary about the men and women who work in Islington's Angel Tube station; DESIGN CLASSICS: LONDON UNDERGROUND MAP, Harry Beck's Tube map has transfixed travellers for nearly eighty years - find out the story of its making and of its enduring influence, and UNDER NIGHT STREETS - Classic atmospheric London Transport account of what happened at night on London's Underground, produced by Edgar Anstey.

The Genius of Charles Darwin 3-part series. Richard Dawkins presents the ultimate guide to Darwin and his revolutionary theory of evolution by natural selection.

Voyages of Discovery 4/5 - The Figure of the Earth - Paul Rose tells the story of three 18th century Frenchmen who set off on a perilous mission to measure the shape of the planet.

The Man Who Walked Across the World 3 part series.
1. Tim Mackintosh-Smith follows in the footsteps of 14th Century Moroccan scholar Ibn Battutah, who covered 75,000 miles, 40 countries and three continents in a 30-year odyssey.Beginning in north Africa, Tim visits Tangier in Morocco where Battutah was born and sees a performance of medieval trance music. In Egypt, he goes to a remote village where Battutah had a prophetic dream and visits the world's oldest university in Cairo.

2. In an effort to change the West's monolithic view of Islam, Tim Mackintosh-Smith follows in the footsteps of 14th Century Moroccan scholar Ibn Battutah, who covered 75,000 miles, 40 countries and three continents in a 30-year odyssey. He explores the place of Islam in Hindu-dominated India and communist China, and tells the story of the Islamic trade empire of the 14th century. In China, he meets a clan who trace their ancestry back to Arabs, and witnesses an illegal Arabic lesson.

3. In an effort to smash the West's monolithic view of Islam, Tim Mackintosh-Smith follows in the footsteps of 14th century Moroccan scholar Ibn Battutah, who covered 75,000 miles, 40 countries and three continents in a 30-year odyssey. In Turkey, Tim watches an illegal whirling dervish ceremony, and in the Taurus mountains he meets the last of the Turkoman nomads. He chats to Tatars in Crimea, while in Delhi he watches a Muslim magician performing the Indian rope trick.

The Burning Season - Storyville documentaryt about a scheme to allow businesses to offset their emissions and protect vast swathes of Indonesia.

If there are any other programmes that you would like recording please let me know and will see if I can accomodate your request.

Please check the lists of programmes for previous weeks if you haven't already done so, as I am about to delete many of them from the DVD Hard Drive

* This applies to staff members at the University of Gloucestershire only. Any recordings made are to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence.

Off-air recordings for week 26th July - 1st August 2008

Please email Rich Deakin < rdeakin@glos.ac.uk > if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

BBC4's Cab Night . Some of the programmes, such as Arena: Cab Driver, The Knowledge and Modern Times: Streetwise may be of more use/interest than the others.

Riddle of the Romanovs: Revealed - Historical documentary probing one of the 20th century's most enduring mysteries. In 1918, Nicholas II of Russia and his family were executed by the Bolsheviks. Rumours that some of his children may have survived gained ground when investigators discovered that two bodies were missing from the family's grave.

Voyages of Discovery part 3 - THE ICE KING. In 1892 Fridtjof Nansen announced a seemingly suicidal plan to be first to the North Pole. He's now considered a forefather of polar exploration.

Travellers' Century - part 2 Laurie Lee. "Benedict Allen recreates Laurie Lee's 1935 journey across Spain as a 20-year-old penniless poet, a trip that was captured in his book As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning."

If there are any other programmes that you would like recording please let me know and will see if I can accomodate your request.

* This applies to staff members at the University of Gloucestershire only. Any recordings made are to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence.