Thursday 19 February 2009

Off-air recordings 21-27 February 2009

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



Timewatch: Queen Elizabeth's Lost Guns - "A mile off the coast of the channel island of Alderney lies a shipwreck that could rewrite English naval history. Presenter Saul David joins a team of divers and experts as they attempt to find and raise the ship's four-hundred-year-old cannons. By recasting and firing them, they hope to demonstrate how Elizabeth I became the mother of British naval dominance... "



Guns, Germs and Steel - "Jared Diamond embarks on a world-wide quest to understand the roots of global inequality, tracing humanity's meanderings across 13,000 years of history.
Jared asks why Europeans were the ones to conquer so much of the planet - why didn't the Chinese or the Incas become masters of the globe instead, and why are the tropics now the capital of global poverty?
As he peels back the layers of history to uncover fundamental, environmental factors shaping the destiny of humanity, Diamond finds both his theories and his own endurance tested."



Sissinghurst - "Series about the attempts of writer Adam Nicolson and his wife Sarah to bring farming back into the heart of the estate and garden at Sissinghurst Castle in Kent." - "Battling the National Trust can take time. Three years into the action, writer Adam Nicolson attends his 47th committee meeting, armed with tea, biscuits and bucketloads of patience. His grandfather, writer and politician Harold Nicolson, had donated the property at Sissinghurst in Kent to the Trust, on condition the family could always live there. While his wife Sarah yearns to modernise the restaurant, Adam itches to restore the farm as he believes his grandmother, writer Vita Sackville-West, would have wished. But it's the Trust that makes the decisions. In this opening double-bill, Adam's plans get the green light; but he'll undoubtedly need to stock up on digestive biscuits. "



Drama on 3: The Time Machine - Part of BBC Radio's forthcoming sci-fi season - "Robert Glenister stars in Philip Osment's dramatisation of HG Wells' classic story of a time-traveller's journey to the future, where mankind has diverged into two species - the Eloi and the Morlocks."



Horizon: The Secret Life of Your Bodyclock - "Why are you more likely to have a heart attack at eight o'clock in the morning or crash your car on the motorway at two o'clock in the afternoon? Can taking your medication at the right time of day really save your life? And have you ever wondered why teenagers will not get out of bed in the morning?
The answers to these questions lie in the secret world of the biological clock."



True Stories: Trouble at the Water - "A Grand Jury Prize winner at the Sundance Festival (and up for an Oscar two nights ago), this harrowing doc uses camcorder footage shot by New Orleans couple Kimberly and Scott Roberts to show Hurricane Katrina and the floods ripping through their community. "



Lloyd George: People's Champion - "Huw Edwards presents a profile of the former Prime Minister, depicting him as a brilliantly innovative social reformer to whom we owe old age pensions, National Insurance and much else. Contributors include Stephen Constantine, Margaret MacMillan, Neil Kinnock, Michael Heseltine and David Steel."

The Naked Archaeologist - "Bringing a touch of rock and roll to archaeology as he dances and raps his way around the ancient Middle East, he's been affectionately termed Ali G meets Indiana Jones. We know him better as The Naked Archaeologist. But just who really is Simcha Jacobovici?... "

Britain's Best Drives: 1/6 - Scarborough to Whitby - "Actor Richard Wilson takes a journey into the past, following routes raved about in motoring guides of 50 years ago.
In a classic Morris Minor Traveller, he drives from Scarborough to Whitby via the Yorkshire moors. He learns about the rise and fall of the British seaside resorts, takes a toll road through the Dalby Forest and checks out the mythical roadside wonder that is the Hole of Horecum.
He finds out how the village of Goathland now lives a double life and ends up with a carload of goths on their way to visit Whitby Abbey."

Britain's Best Drives 2/6 - North Wales - "Actor Richard Wilson takes a journey into the past, following routes raved about in motoring guides of 50 years ago.Richard takes the wheel of Ford Zodiac to drive the circular route from Caernarfon that loops through some of Snowdonia's most sensational scenery.He gets a Welsh lesson at Caernarfon Castle, learns the significance of the Dinorwic slate quarry, drives the Llanberis Pass, meets 71-year-old human fly Eric Jones and takes a trip down memory lane at a former Butlins holiday camp."

Caravans: A British Love Affair - "Documentary about the love affair between the British and their caravans, which saw the country establish the world's largest caravan manufacturer and transformed the holiday habits of generations of families.
In telling the intriguing story of caravanning in Britain from the 1950s through to the present day, the film reveals how caravans were once the plaything of a privileged minority but after World War II became a firm favourite with almost a quarter of British holidaymakers.
It explores how changes in caravanning across the years reflect wider changes in British society, in particular the increased availability of cars during the 1950s and 60s, but also the improved roads network and changing attitudes towards holidaymaking and leisure time.
Enthusiasts and contributors include Dorrie van Lachterop from the West Midlands and Christine Fagg from Hertfordshire, remarkable and adventurous women who started touring alone in their caravans during the 1950s."

Touring Britain: The Victorian Way 1/2 - "Cultural historian David Heathcote uses his favourite old 1887 Baedeker Guide to explore modern-day Britain, discovering unexpected delights and hidden treasures which were popular with Victorian tourists but are rarely visited today.
Following in the footsteps of early American tourists who arrived off the boats in Liverpool, he takes the advice of the Guide and discovers 'the most fashionable of Welsh watering places'. The Guide then recommends a trip to the salt mines, popular with American visitors 100 years ago and, surprisingly, just as interesting today.
He then travels on to Manchester, recommended by Baedeker as a hotbed of music, politics and radical thinking and discovers that the spirit of what attracted the curious visitors 100 years ago lives on.
The journey ends in York where modern day tourists follow in the footsteps of their Victorian counterparts and enjoy the magnificent medieval city and cathedral.
As he travels, Heathcote explores the story behind the guide books that were so influential in creating the independent traveller as we know it today."

Michael Smith's Drivetime - 6 part series "Novelist and raconteur Michael Smith explores Britain's modern obsession with cars and driving, as well as seeking to understand the effects it has on our daily lives." Part 1 Escape From London and Part 2 Long Days On Watling Street

The Joy of Motoring - "Tristram Hunt looks at how motoring has gone from allowing us to explore the English countryside to the present day of speed cameras, congestion charges and environmental issues."

Snowstorms: Britain's Big Freeze - "In the first weeks of February, travellers were stranded and thousands of schools closed as Britain suffered its worst snow falls in 18 years. This film documents that extraordinary week and the fallout from the storm, exploring the possible factors behind the freak weather.
On Monday February 2, large parts of Britain almost ground to a halt. The snow and ice continued over the week as parts of Britain began to adapt and resume their routine. Still, great swathes of the nation suffered from heavy snow, icy roads and flooding, crippled by relentless snow and rainfall, and unable to cope. People battled to get to work, some taking eight hours using skis and sledges, while others made the most of their wintry day off. Parents gave up and joined their children in a great snow romp across the country.
In a climate mostly dominated by the recession, Britain was turned into a fun, white wonderland by this sudden change in conditions, but with more than just a few broken bones as a result. Snowstorm: Britain's Big Freeze examines the causes of this dramatic weather and if it really is that unusual. The last great storms were in 1946, 1963 and 1991, and if this was part of a cycle we might have to wait another two decades before the next one.


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* 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.

Tuesday 10 February 2009

Off-air recordings 14-20 February 2009

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

Iran and Britain - "Documentary in which writer and journalist Christopher de Bellaigue explores the fraught but often surprisingly intimate history of Britain's relations with Iran, and asks why Iranians think that if something goes wrong in Iran then Britain must have something to do with it.
De Bellaigue has lived in Tehran, speaks fluent Persian and knows well the phenomenon of 'Uncle Napoleonism', the notion that the cunning British are 'out to get you' that has been a common attitude in Iranian society for 100 years.
He looks at some key events in the relationship, notably Britain's role in the overthrow of several Iranian governments, its control of Iran's oil and the on-off support for Iran's democrats.
Meeting prominent Iranians, including Uncle Napoleon's inventor and others with direct knowledge of these events, he examines the foundations and justification for these Iranian suspicions and asks if they are still there after 30 years of isolation."

Storyville: Prostitution Behind the Veil - "Director Nahid Persson follows the lives of two Iranian women whose misfortunes have landed them in the same run-down building. Their husbands are serving long prison sentences, both have been left to look after their young children and both have had to resort to prostitution to support their heroin habits.
Persson's sympathetic portrait follows them as they struggle to create a better life for themselves and their children."

Panorama: Muslim First, British Second - "MI5 say that they cannot keep tabs on all of the country's Muslim extremists.
As ministers prepare to announce a new counter-terrorism strategy, Panorama asks whether we should isolate or talk to the radicals, and examines suspicions that government-funded community projects are being covertly used to gather intelligence."

Storyville: Ghosts of the 7th Cavalry - "Powerful documentary from Emmy award-winning director Tom Roberts which explores the profound human consequences of America's frontier wars through the moving personal journey of retired US Major Robert 'Snuffy' Gray, who fought with the controversial 7th Cavalry Regiment."

Storyville: How Vietnam Was Lost - "Based on David Maraniss' book, They Marched into Sunlight, the film tells the story of two seemingly unconnected events in October 1967 that changed the course of the Vietnam War... "

Poetry Pie - "Straight from the oven, CBeebies cooks up a fresh, daily serving of scrummy poetry pie in a specially created new series for three-six-year-olds, in which poets including Brian Patten, Roger McGough, Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen and primary school pupils across the UK contribute a mix of funny and original rhythms and rhymes.
Each episode of Poetry Pie is a unique recipe for poetic fun with every poem animated and brought vividly to life by one of five characters who act, dance and sing the words to the poems. They are Evie the cow, Charlie the alien, Amber the hermit crab, Mischa the hamster and Findlay the dragon. Roger McGough’s title poem starts the journey into this enchanting world and at the end of each episode a Greek chorus of Liverpudlian worms recites a short, amusing poem, created with children from schools around the UK.... "

Arena: Harold Pinter - "Nigel Williams presents a two-part film biography exploring the life, work and political passions of the famous playwright and actor. This first part explores Pinter's key theme, the room, through the rooms in which he wrote his first series of plays."

The Victorians - "New series in which Jeremy Paxman takes his love of Victorian paintings as the starting point for a journey into Victorian Britain. Such pictures may not be fashionable today, but they are a gold mine of information about the most dynamic age in British history.
In this episode he investigates the most dramatic event of Victorian Britain - the explosion of great cities. At first the Victorians feared these new monsters in their midst but then grew to love and transform them.
Jeremy explores the canals and sewers, suburbs and back streets, workhouses and magnificent buildings of the great Victorian city, while also picturing the fun-filled chaos of Derby Day."

Natural World: A Farm For the Future - "As her farmer father nears retirement, Rebecca Hosking looks into methods of making the family farm less reliant on fossil fuel. having discovered that food production in this country is virtually entirely dependent on cheap oil, Rebecca is shocked to discover how unstable the supply lines are.
She then sets about exploring pioneering techniques, which suggest that nature holds the answer to a low-energy future."





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* 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.

Wednesday 4 February 2009

Off-air recordings 7-13 February 2009

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

Iran and the West - New 3-part series "Militant Islam enjoyed its first modern triumph with the arrival in power of Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran in 1979. In this series of three programmes, key figures tell the inside story... "

Citizen Smith - "Publisher Michael Smith takes on the guise of a contemporary Citizen Smith, scouring England in search of a modern day definition of nationality... "

Just Read with Michael Rosen - "Children's laureate and poet Michael Rosen, worried that children don't seem to read as much as they used to, takes on an ordinary primary school in Cardiff to see if he can start a reading revolution in just ten weeks.
He gives the staff permission to break into a packed curriculum simply to introduce good books and stories, after discovering that a lot of the children don't have many books at home and have never visited a library."

Why Reading Matters - "Science writer Rita Carter tells the story of how modern neuroscience has revealed that reading, something most of us take for granted, unlocks remarkable powers. Carter explains how the classic novel Wuthering Heights allows us to step inside other minds and understand the world from different points of view, and she wonders whether the new digital revolution could threaten the values of classic reading."

Storyville: Heavy Load - "Documentary about punk band Heavy Load, subject to the combustible flux of ego, ambition, fantasy, expectation and desire that fuels any emerging band, but uniquely made up of musicians with and without learning disabilities.
This makes the band's survival a precarious negotiation between two different worlds - on the one hand the institutional timetable of day centres, work placements and social workers and, on the other, the chaotic slacker life of rehearsal rooms, studios and gigs."

Horizon: Why Do We Dream? - "Horizon uncovers the secret world of our dreams. In a series of cutting-edge experiments and personal stories, we go in search of the science behind this most enduring mystery and ask: where do dreams come from? Do they have meaning? And ultimately, why do we dream?
What the film reveals is that much of what we thought we knew no longer stands true. Dreams are not simply wild imaginings but play a significant part in all our lives as they have an impact on our memories, the ability to learn, and our mental health. Most surprisingly, we find nightmares, too, are beneficial and may even explain the survival of our species."

Nature's Great Events - "Using state of the art filming technology, Nature's Great Events on BBC One captures the Earth's most dramatic and epic wildlife spectacles and the intimate stories of the animals caught up in them.
From the flooding of the Okavango Delta, in Africa, to the great summer melt of ice in the Arctic and the massive annual bloom of plankton in the northern Pacific Ocean, each of the six programmes features a different event set in one of the world's most iconic wildernesses."

Books for Boys: A Mission Impossible- "Richard Hammond investigates the art of writing children's fiction and discovers that it isn't as easy as he thinks. Contributors include authors Mallory Blackman and Anthony Horowitz, publishers David Elliot and Brad Thompson, novelist John O'Farrell, children's author Garth Nix and feminist writer Natasha Walter."

Samuel Johnson: The Dictionary Man - "Drama documentary telling the story of Samuel Johnson's creation of the first English dictionary, in an attic room just off Fleet Street in Georgian London. The depressive writer-for-hire with Tourette’s syndrome did for the English language what Newton had done for the stars, classifying words, fixing their meaning and bringing order to the chaos of language. It took him nine years, but in the process an anonymous writer became a literary superstar."

How Reading Made Us Modern - "English literature professor John Mullan explores the dramatic increase in reading which took place in 18th-century Britain, as it went from being the preserve of the rich to the national pastime it is today.
In 1695 a tiny amendment to the British constitution allowed for a flood of publications, without which Britain would be almost unrecognisable. This was the era that gave us the first ever magazines, newspapers and perhaps most vitally, the novel.
Mullan takes us from raucous, politically-charged coffee houses to the circulating library, the social space of the late 1700s. There is a glimpse inside an 18th century lady's closet where she hid with her novel, and Mullan also celebrates the hero of the reading revolution, Dr Samuel Johnson."

The Lost Libraries of Timbuktu - "Aminatta Forna tells the story of legendary Timbuktu and its long hidden legacy of hundreds of thousands of ancient manuscripts. With its university founded around the same time as Oxford, Timbuktu is proof that the reading and writing of books have long been as important to Africans as to Europeans."


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* 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.