Showing results by author "BBC" in All Categories

No game generates more passion, or stirs the emotions, like Rugby Union. No game enjoys itself more when the final whistle blows. And none has produced quite such a line of good talkers, on or off the subject. Here, from the BBC's unique Sound Archives, are memories of great teams, matches and tries, the wit and wisdom of some of the legendary characters to have graced the game and a few of its celebrated followers.

Get By in German is devised specifically for travellers. The 70-minute download will help you to get to grips with the basics of spoken German, and introduces the most relevant language you'll hear when you're there. Listen to the audio a couple of times to practise the key phrases and vocabulary, and familiarise yourself with German pronunciation.

Join world-leading scientists as they delve into the incredible stories behind 16 elements, including the dark and controversial history of gold; how a solar eclipse in 1868 led to the discovery of the periodic table's most notorious escape artist, helium; the role of iron in the rise and fall of human civilisations; why you might find iodine in British milk, but not necessarily anywhere else in the world; and how a discovery in boiled urine led to the trade union movement and a chemical weapon.

Comic icon Spike Milligan recollects highlights from his stellar career. The comic genius of Spike Milligan changed the face of radio comedy through The Goon Show. Here Milligan chooses and introduces classic clips from an astonishing career: readings from his books Puckoon and Adolf Hitler, My Part in his Downfall, poems, songs, sketches, extracts from Q6 and In the Psychiatrist’s Chair. He reminisces about India and Bexhill and reads his favourite poems, including 'Fred Fernakerpan'.

The TARDIS arrives on the storm-lashed planet of Peladon, just as it is being assessed for its suitability to join the Galactic Federation. Mistaken for Federation delegates from Earth, the Doctor and Jo become involved in a series of dramatic events at the conference. King Peladon's Chancellor has died in mysterious circumstances, and his High Priest is vehemently opposed to the Federation's advances.

Two BBC Radio programmes exploring President John F. Kennedy's shocking assassination on 22 November 1963. In Something Is Terribly Wrong, first broadcast in 2003, Alan Thompson charts the confusion and disbelief after the assassination. He returns to key sites in Dallas, and talks to eyewitnesses including Nellie Connally (ex-First Lady of Texas), Jim Leavelle (ex-Dallas detective), Jim Ewell (ex-Dallas Morning News correspondent), Aubry Rike (ambulance driver/witness).

Career highlights from one of this country’s funniest satirists and comedy men.

Willie Rushton’s career spanned decades, from the cutting edge satire of television’s That Was the Week That Was to the razor-sharp punnery and verbal wizardry of radio’s I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue.

Gardening can be both a challenge and a joy. Get it right, and it can provide boundless pleasure; get it wrong, and it is a source of infinite frustration. Help is at hand, however, in this specially recorded ‘Gardeners’ Question Time’ compilation, in which the regular team offers all-year round advice on everything from plants and planting to pests, diseases, design and seasonally topical tips.

In this film noir parody, Private Detective Howard Dick is called to Belfast to crack a case for his old flame.

Enter the delightful world of Bill and Ben the flowerpot men, and all their friends in this wonderful new version of a children's classic. Narrated by John Thomson, the stories are filled with humour and fun as they follow the antics of Bill and Ben and introduce us to all their friends in the garden.

This fascinating celebration of BBC Radio 4 features archive clips from some of the channel's best-loved programmes, including The Archers, Desert Island Discs, Today, Woman's Hour, Weekending, I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, The Now Show, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Just a Minute, and many more. Amongst the personalities heard from during this radio extravaganza are Dame Edna Everage, Sue Lawley, Neil Kinnock, John Humphrys, Humphrey Lyttelton, Douglas Adams, John Peel, Angus Deayton, Kenny Everett, and Roy Plomley to mention just a few.

Humphrey Lyttleton - Bandleader, cartoonist, writer, chairman of BBC Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, president of the Society for Italic Handwriting and doyen of jazz trumpeters. In conversation with June Knox-Mawer, Humphrey Lyttleton reflects on his extraordinary life; from schooldays at Eton and playing out Roll Out the Barrel outside Buckingham Palace on VE Day to the formation of this band in 1948 and his emergence as 'the godfather of British jazz'.

The TARDIS lands in the Wild West in this classic BBC TV soundtrack starring William Hartnell, with linking narration by Peter Purves. It's 1881 and, in the Wild West settlement of Tombstone, there are three strangers in town: "Doctor Caligari", "Steven Regret", and "Miss Dodo Dupont". They've arrived in a 20th Century blue police box, and they're about to wander into a whole heap of trouble.

Get By in Portuguese is devised specifically for travellers. The 70-minute download will help you to get to grips with the basics of spoken Portuguese, and introduces the most relevant language you'll hear when you're there. Listen to the audio a couple of times to practise the key phrases and vocabulary, and familiarise yourself with Portuguese pronunciation.

Humanity's journey to understanding the body has been a gory one; littered with unethical experiments, unintended consequences and unimaginable endurance. It's the story of catastrophic failures, at great human cost - but also successes which made history and saved countless lives.In The Human Subject, Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Julia Shaw investigate the threads connecting modern day medicine to its often brutal origins. With every episode they explore some of that dark history and ask - is our present day knowledge worth the suffering it took to get us here?

Get By in Japanese is devised specifically for travellers. The 70-minute download will help you to get to grips with the basics of spoken Japanese, and introduces the most relevant language you'll hear when you're there. Listen to the audio a couple of times to practise the key phrases and vocabulary, and familiarise yourself with Japanese pronunciation.

Series 1: Dan Antopolski, Nat Luurtsema, and Tom Craine piece together a selection of silly, clever, dark sketches. Produced by Colin Anderson.

Get By in Polish is devised specifically for travellers. The 80-minute download will help you to get to grips with the basics of spoken Polish, and introduces the most relevant language you'll hear when you're there. Listen to the audio a couple of times to practise the key phrases and vocabulary, and familiarise yourself with Polish pronunciation.

Get By in Greek is devised specifically for travellers. The 70-minute download will help you to get to grips with the basics of spoken Greek, and introduces the most relevant language you'll hear when you're there. Listen to the audio a couple of times to practise the key phrases and vocabulary, and familiarise yourself with Greek pronunciation.

Whoops! John Inverdale presents another hilarious selection of resounding clangers from the very sporting BBC Sports Department. Here are the gremlins, giggles, goofs and gaffes that can turn an innocent sports report into a commentator's nightmare - and a listener's dream. So 'corpse' with the Test Match Special team, relish 'own goal' innuendoes with guileless correspondents and ride the turbulent sound waves of technical disasters.