Off-air recordings for week 4-10 June 2011

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


Monday 6th

BBC Radio 4 - Macolm X: A Life of Reinvention - 5 part series - "Constantly rewriting his own story, Malcolm X became a criminal, a minister, a leader, and eventually an icon, assassinated at the age of 39.

The details of his life have long since calcified into a familiar narrative: his early years as a vagabond in Boston and New York, his conversion to Islam and subsequent rise to prominence as a militant advocate for black rights, his acrimonious split with the Nation of Islam, and ultimately his violent death at their hands. Yet this story, told and retold to various ends by writers, historians, and filmmakers, captures only a snapshot, a fraction of the man in full.
Manning Marable's new biography is a stunning achievement, filled with new information and shocking revelations that will reframe the way we understand his life and work. Malcolm X unfolds a sweeping story of the darkest days of racial unrest, from the rise of the Ku Klux Klan to the struggles of the civil rights movement, examining his engagement with the Nation of Islam, and the romantic relationships whose energy alternately drained him and pushed him to unimagined heights.
Malcolm X - A Life of Reinvention is an attempt to definitively capture one of the most iconic figures of the twentieth century, a man who constantly strove, in the great American tradition, to remake himself anew."

Tuesday 7th

BBC4 - Botany: A Blooming History - 3 part series - "What makes plants grow is a simple enough question. The answer turns out to be one of the most complicated and fascinating stories in science and took over 300 years to unravel.

Timothy Walker, director of Oxford University Botanic Garden, reveals how the breakthroughs of Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, Chelsea gardener Phillip Miller and English naturalist John Ray created the science of botany. Between them these quirky, temperamental characters unlocked the mysteries of the plant kingdom and they began to glimpse a world where bigger, better and stronger plants could be created. Nurseryman Thomas Fairchild created the world's first artificial hybrid flower - an entirely new plant that didn't exist in nature.
Today, botanists continue the search for new flowers, better crops and improved medicines to treat life-threatening diseases."

BBC1 - Poor Kids - "Documentary telling the stories of some of the 3.5 million children living in poverty in the UK. It is one of the worst child poverty rates in the industrialised world, and successive governments continue to struggle to bring it into line. So who are these children, and where are they living? Under-represented, under-nourished and often under the radar, 3.5 million children should be given a voice. And this powerful film does just that.

Eight-year-old Courtney, 10-year-old Paige and 11-year-old Sam live in different parts of the UK. Breathtakingly honest and eloquent, they give testament to how having no money affects their lives: lack of food, being bullied and having nowhere to play. The children might be indignant about their situation now, but this may not be enough to help them. Their thoughts on their futures are sobering.
Sam's 16-year-old sister Kayleigh puts it all into context, as she tells how the effects of poverty led her to take extreme measures to try and escape it all.
Poor Kids puts the children on centre stage, and they command it with honesty and directness. It's time for everyone to listen."


Wednesday 8th

BBC3 - Our War - 3 part series - "Series marking the ten-year anniversary of the war in Afghanistan, telling the story of the conflict through the words and pictures of the young soldiers themselves."


BBC4 - Hidcote: A Garded For All Seasons - "Documentary telling the story of Hidcote, the most influential English garden of the 20th century and Lawrence Johnston, the enigmatic genius behind it. Hidcote was the first garden ever taken on by the National Trust, who have spent 3.5 million pounds in a major programme of restoration. As part of this facelift, the garden team have been researching Johnston's original vision and in doing so have uncovered a compelling story that reveals how he created such an iconic garden.

Yet until recently, little has been known about its secretive creator and self-taught gardener, Johnston. He kept few, if any, records on Hidcote's construction, but the head gardener at Hidcote, Glyn Jones, has embarked on a personal mission to discover as much about the man as possible to find out how, in the early 20th century, Johnston set about creating a garden regarded as the model of inspiration for designers all over the world."


ITV1 - Mugged - "Mugged sees BAFTA award winner Brian Hill take a fresh look at the most common street crime in Britain. Last year there were more than 1000 muggings a day and in this documentary film he uncovers the human stories behind the statistics, told from the point of view of victims and of muggers.

The range of stories provide an unflinching look at the profound personal impact of mugging on people from all walks of life, with contributors’ testimony offering a vivid insight into the both the attacks and the full extent of the aftermath.
Jane tells the shocking story of muggers pushing her off her bicycle to steal her bag, which led to her hitting her head and ending up in a coma. Luckily Jane is able to tell the tale but her story leaves no doubt that her ordeal has changed her life forever.
“I know that I have brain damage as a result, but I don’t really understand the extent. And it’s only recently really that I’ve accepted the permanence,” explains Jane. “I have absent seizures a lot, where I find it really hard to communicate, and I have Jacksonian seizures sometimes, which is just - which is down one side of my body, down the righthand side.”
The film also features Paul, who bravely stepped in to help when he heard the cries of Jackie, a woman being mugged. The muggers turned on Paul and viciously attacked him – the force was so great that he later had to have a major lung operation to stop it from collapsing. Despite this, Paul doesn’t regret helping Jackie and she has very gratefully acknowledged him as her hero.
“He’s (Paul) sort of like an old friend, and yet I don’t really know him,” says Jackie. “But I’ll never forget what he did. Not ever.”
Providing a rare glimpse into the motivations of those who carry out muggings, producer Brian Hill also speaks to muggers, who talk candidly about their crimes – and the reasons for their actions.
“We used to hit up all the student areas, just like drive around, you know, see someone, go right, we’ll have him…,” explains Anthony, who served two jail terms for street robbery. “Spoilt rich kids, that’s the way we looked at it.” Anthony continues, “The method was I’d just give them a couple of slaps and, you know what I mean, they’d know not to mess around, they would just do as they’re told…Best adrenaline rush you’d ever get in the world.”

Thursday 9th

BBC2 - The Clydebank Blitz - "The Blitz on the industrial town of Clydebank, seven miles from the centre of Glasgow, was one of the most intense, deadly and remarkably unknown of the war. Well over 1200 people were killed in the Clydeside area and at least the same again were seriously injured by the bombing on the nights of the 13th and 14th March 1941. The destruction in Clydebank was so severe that only seven properties were left undamaged by the bombing and the population was reduced from almost 60,000 to little more than 2000.

The awful truth about the scale of destruction and the number of casualties never hit the headlines as wartime censorship meant that the whole event was effectively 'hushed up'. But the stories still live on in the minds of some of the children that survived the raid and in The Clydebank Blitz, they tell their own harrowing stories of what was one of Britain's worst bombing raids and Scotland's biggest civilian disaster."


Friday 10th

Channel 4 - Unreported World: Indonesia's Wildlife Warriors - "Unreported World travels to Indonesia to meet young environmental activists battling to save endangered species such as orang-utans and sea turtles. Reporter Aidan Hartley and producer Rodrigo Vazquez visit a vast market where critically endangered animals are sold as pets or for the Chinese medicine trade, and uncover allegations of corruption and harassment of the campaigners.

Borneo has one of the planet's last big forests, but every hour an area the size of three football pitches is cut down to be used for palm oil production. The Unreported World team joins one team of young, local environmentalists who are trying to rescue the orang-utan, which, because of the loss of its habitat, is heading for extinction.
They arrive at a rescue operation for orang-utans kept illegally by local people as pets. The local chief tells Hartley that the loss of forest has brought people into conflict with orang-utans. A farmer who captured one baby orang-utan says he thinks they are a nuisance.
Environmental activist Ali tells Hartley that some palm oil farmers see orang-utans as vermin and that local people collect a $10 reward when they bring in an orang-utan's head or severed hand. He says the few infants that are spared end up in cages or are sold as pets in private zoos across Asia, and that middle men can pay just US$25 to a poacher or plantation worker for a baby orang-utan, which, if smuggled to Thailand, is worth about US$25,000... "

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*This applies to staff members and students 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.