It's the deepest of the classical symphony orchestra's woodwind instruments, and it's been around for over three hundred years - yet surprisingly few people know what a bassoon looks or sounds...

The English language in India. Despite being the imposed language of the imperial power, English also had the power to unite the nation. The story of the English language in India is also the...

On 4 January 2011, millionaire businessman and governor of Punjab Salmaan Taseer was shot to death. He had been leading a campaign to amend Pakistan's blasphemy laws, after an illiterate Christian...

From the BBC Radio 4 series presented and written by Nick Robinson that explores how prime ministers have used their power and responded to the great challenges of their time and how they made the...

Like its subject matter, the Telstar satellites, Joe Meek's track was pioneering and otherworldly. We now take global communication and entertainment for granted, but in the early 1960s it was...

Alfred Wainwright's unique hand-drawn and hand-written Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells have been an inspiration to walkers for over 40 years. Yet despite many bestselling books and three...

Dr. Geoff Bunn presents a journey through 5000 years of our understanding of the most complex thing in the known universe: the brain, in this major ten-part BBC Radio 4 series.In Episode 1,...

For most of the time between 1906 and 1914 a young Englishwoman by the name of Millie Graham Polak, together with her husband, shared the same house in South Africa as Mahatma Gandhi and his...

To mark the 400th anniversary of this ‘noblest monument of English prose’, James Naughtie tells the story of how and why James I (VI of Scotland), commissioned a new translation of...

Former British Lions, England and Harlequins hooker Brian Moore looks back on his career.

In this fascinating BBC Radio series, Katie Hickman examines the lives of 'diplomatic women' through their letters and diaries. From the first exploratory expeditions into foreign lands, through...

Ghost Town was certainly one of the strangest and bleakest number one singles ever. And yet its success was no doubt due to the fact that it chimed perfectly with the times: providing a perfect...

West Ham legend Sir Trevor Brooking talks to Danny Kelly about his life on and off the pitch.

Stephen Fry explores the highways and byways of the English language in these four programmes, as heard on BBC Radio 4.'The Trial of Qwerty' The 'Qwerty' keyboard faces charges of conspiracy...

Former rugby league star Martin Offiah talks to Danny Kelly about the highs and lows of an extraordinary career which spanned 14 years, over 5 tries and a highly successful spell with Wigan Warriors.