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103 : Creative Writing Groups (1)
first broadcast: Mon Feb 18 2008	3.30 pm  Radio 4	presenter: Maggie Fox	producer: Gillian Hush
"Mooncall", written by Karen Wolfe of Hornsea Writers. The full moon has a dramatic effect on Kenneth, which drives his sister to despair until a chance encounter with a nice old woman outside the butcher's brings a solution satisfactory to all.
104 : Creative Writing Groups (2)
first broadcast: Tue Feb 19 2008	3.30 pm  Radio 4	presenter: Rod Arthur	producer: Mark Whitaker
"St John the Better", written by Celia Burney of Hexham Writers, is set outside an abandoned tower block, where a group of local lads have set up an unorthodox clubhouse. When they reluctantly report a strange wailing noise coming from an upstairs window, their action has unexpected consequences.
105 : Creative Writing Groups (3)
first broadcast: Wed Feb 20 2008	3.30 pm  Radio 4	presenter: Lynn Bains	producer: Mike Hally
"Room Service" written by Cathy Bolton, of the Sheffield Hallam University Short Story Group. In which a chance encounter with a pregnant guest helps a bereaved hotel worker to move on after a terrible loss.
106 : Creative Writing Groups (4)
first broadcast: Thu Feb 21 2008	3.30 pm  Radio 4	presenter: Siobhan Finneran	producer: Mike Hally
In "Nature's Way", written by Helen Cadbury from York University's Centre for Lifelong Learning, 'Merrill' is stuck looking after her idle brother, just as her mother did before her. But she hesitates when she gets a chance to escape her drudgery.
107 : Creative Writing Groups (5)
first broadcast: Fri Feb 22 2008	3.30 pm  Radio 4	presenter: Delia Corrie	producer: Mark Whitaker
"Rowing Upriver from Bridge Cottage", written by Lesley Jackson of Sheffield Hallam University Short Story Group, shines a light on a long marriage through a river journey with changes of direction, arguments over destinations and the occasional sudden squall.
108 : North African Short Stories (1): The Crop
first broadcast: Mon May 5 2008	3.30 pm  Radio 4	presenter: Essam Edriss	producer: Mark Whitaker, Mike Hally, Gillian Hush
Written by Gamal el-Ghitani: an Egyptian farmer is dazzled by a proffered deal from a glitzy international hotel; his sons don’t trust it at all.
109 : North African Short Stories (2): The Furnace
first broadcast: Tue May 6 2008	3.30 pm  Radio 4	presenter: Alia Alzougbi	producer: Mark Whitaker, Mike Hally, Gillian Hush
Written by Rachida el-Charni: the degradations of work in a foreign-owned textile factory as experienced by a young Tunisian woman.
110 : North African Short Stories (3): If She Comes
first broadcast: Wed May 7 2008	3.30 pm  Radio 4	presenter: William El-Gardi	producer: Mark Whitaker, Mike Hally, Gillian Hush
Written by Tayib Saleh: a trio of middle-class young people fantasise that opening a travel agency will allow them to escape from their own culture in Sudan.
111 : North African Short Stories (4): Provisions of Sand
first broadcast: Thu May 8 2008	3.30 pm  Radio 4	presenter: Sherif Eltayeb	producer: Mark Whitaker, Mike Hally, Gillian Hush
Written by Said al-Kafrawi: an Egyptian man is ambushed by the past when he returns to the village of his childhood.
112 : North African Short Stories (5): You Taught Me To Love Life, Father
first broadcast: Fri May 9 2008	3.30 pm  Radio 4	presenter: Youssef Kerkour	producer: Mark Whitaker, Mike Hally, Gillian Hush
Written by Arousia Naluti: what his wife’s pain in childbirth teaches a young Tunisian man about his country
113 : Clair Patterson - Scourge of the Lead Industry
first broadcast: Mon Jul 14 2008	9.00 pm  Radio 4	presenter: Hermione Cockburn	producer: Mike Hally
The extraordinary story of one man’s discovery of the global contamination of the environment by man-made lead compounds -- a story of brilliant applied science, painstaking research and a refusal to bow to vested interests. Preview picture of Patterson is copyright Caltech
114 : Olympic Arts
first broadcast: Mon Jul 21 2008	11.02 am  Radio 4	presenter: Mark Whitaker	producer: Mark Whitaker
It was called the ‘Pentathlon of the Muses’, and at each Olympic Games between 1912 and 1948 there were medals for architecture, sculpture, painting, music and literature. But most serious artists are not ‘amateurs’, so these forgotten and controversial contests were eventually brought to an end. Preview picture (right) copyright Mark Whitaker
115 : Peer Review in the Dock
first broadcast: Mon Aug 4 2008	9.02 pm  Radio 4	presenter: Mark Whitaker	producer: Mike Hally
¨Peer Review¨ is supposed to be the ¨gold standard¨ of quality control for research projects and academic studies, yet evidence of its many deficiencies has been building up for over 20 years. That knowledge has been confined to the academic world until recently but now peer review’s tarnished image is being revealed to a wider audience. Rightly so, because this is no academic argument – when it comes to medicine, inadequate peer review of proposed new drugs and other treatments can be literally a matter of life and death.
116 : The Strange Story of Oliver Cromwell's Head
first broadcast: Wed Sep 3 2008	11.02 am  Radio 4	presenter: Mark Whitaker	producer: Mark Whitaker
September 3rd 2008 will mark the 350th anniversary of Oliver Cromwell’s death : but his severed head was only finally put to rest in 1960. This is the extraordinary story of what happened to it.
117 : Textbook Diplomacy
first broadcast: Mon Sep 8 2008	11.02 am  Radio 4	presenter: Mark Whitaker	producer: Mark Whitaker
Across Europe school history textbooks are being used to build bridges over deep fault lines of nationalist hatred or suspicion; but while it's proved easy enough to create a joint Franco-German textbook, the task is both more difficult and more urgent in a country such as Bosnia.
118 : Hamish Henderson - a Various Man
first broadcast: Tue Oct 14 2008	11.30 am  Radio 4	presenter: Fred Freeman	producer: Mike Hally
He's been called "the most important Scottish poet since Burns" but he's better known overseas than elsewhere in the UK. Nelson Mandela sought him out after his release from Robbin Island, Pete Seeger gamely attempted some of his Scots dialect poetry and E P Thompson called him "that rare man, a poet". This programme gives a flavour of the extraordinary life and work of Hamish Henderson.
119 : The Menin Gate
first broadcast: Sun Nov 9 2008	11.45 am  Radio 4	presenter: Mark Whitaker	producer: Mike Hally
The Menin Gate in the little Belgian city of Ypres is an extraordinary symbol of remembrance - the Last Post has sounded every night since 1929 (bar WW2) and it's the most visited site on the Western Front. This is a little cameo for Remembrance Day, following ''the Roots of the British Legion'' last year and ''the Roots of Remembrance Day'' the year before.