The UK Supreme Court is replacing the House of Lords as the highest court in the land. Yet hardly anyone knows who its justices are, why the reform has been made and how it will change our lives. Joshua Rozenberg goes behind the scenes to talk to the judges and to visit their new court, and discovers from leading politicians how the new court was created. He also asks if Parliament will find the new judicial top dogs to be dangerous rivals for power
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R4Choice: Top Dogs 11 Sep 09
Tagged with radio 4 choice uk supreme court joshua rozenberg
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R4Choice: The Naming of Genes 14 Aug 09
Sue Broom cracks the code in this subtle game of scientific one upmanship. Kakapo, Cleopatra and Pavarotti are cryptic names for genes; the clue to what they do lies in their names. Chardonay, Hedgehog and Cheap Dates all have one thing in common. They are all names for genes, specifically of fruit fly or drosophilia genes. The trick is you have to guess what it is, so for example Amontillado is a allusion to the Edgar Allan Poe book where the hero is walled in alive; the gene amontillado refers to mutant larvae who can’t hatch. More seriously, worm, mice and human geneticists think they should tone down their gene names. But Kathy and her colleagues are resisting; it is part of their tradition, they say. A witty, whimsical or colloquial name can get a scientist lot of attention in the scientific community. Sue Broom looks at some of the more famous examples and charts the resistance to turning Van Gogh into a chain of numbers and letters.
Tagged with radio 4 choice naming of genes
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R4Choice: Frequently Asked Questions 31 Jul 09
Ian Samson traces the relationship between authors and their readers through the changing nature of the correspondence between them. He asks his fellow writers whether festivals, promotional tours and the advent of the internet have altered their role.
Tagged with radio 4 choice ian samson
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R4Choice: Walking on the Moon
To mark the fortieth anniversary of the moon landing in July 1969, Buzz Aldrin relives the dangerous and dramatic moments of the final descent to the lunar surface. The programme features unique oral archive from NASA, broadcast on British radio for the first time, and the recollections of people from around the world who remember the historic event.
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R4Choice: The Wreck of the Alba 10 Jul 09
Michael Bird, an art historian and surfer, uncovers the universal and local significance of one of the most popular pictures in the Tate, St Ives - The Wreck of the Alba by Alfred Wallis. He interviews people in St Ives who remember the disaster, when the steamer’s crew was wrecked on Porthmeor beach in January 1938. Michael also gains access to many recordings of people who knew Wallis, made in the 1960s by Dr Roger Slack, a St Ives GP, and speaks to Chris Stephens, senior curator at the Tate, and to people looking at the painting and surfers on the beach.
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R4Choice: Lenny Henry Plays Othello 20 Feb 09
Follow Lenny Henry as he prepares to take on the role of Othello at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, from coaching sessions and boot fittings to TV appearances and trips to Africa for Comic Relief. Lenny keeps an audio diary of his hopes and fears for the show and, as rehearsals get under way, the microphones inside the rehearsal room listen to the slow process of building performance and production, right up to the first night. The idea for Lenny to take on the challenge of Othello stemmed from the last radio encounter between Lenny and Barrie Rutter, who appeared in a pair of documentaries that the comedian made for Radio 4 called Lenny and Will. In these, Lenny discussed his previously fraught love-hate relationship with Shakespeare and, by way of expiation, was treated to three hours of intense work with the director on Othello. At the end of the session, Barrie offered Lenny the part, which is where the next stage of Lenny’s own personal odyssey began.
Tagged with bbc radio 4 choice othello