David Hepworth on a Yorkshire youth, Greer's green project, C-pop stars and new panel-show podcasting
Highlight of the week is journalist and novelist Andrew Martin's return to The Essay slot with *England Ejects* (Weekdays, 10.45pm, R3), an unhasty recapitulation of the things you didn't do if you were growing up in Yorkshire in the 60s. You didn't show off, talk about food, go shopping on Sunday, fasten the top or bottom button of your suit jacket and you certainly didn't leave the chuck key in the lathe in the woodwork shop at school. All these are jumping-off points for his stimulating ruminations on change. This is the first time I've heard Martin on the radio and he's a natural, particularly for Radio 3, where they don't expect a laugh at the end of every line and a word like "preponderate" doesn't get blue pencilled. Listeners in the south of England will find themselves thinking of Alan Bennett when he talks, and probably fancying a scone, which they will incorrectly rhyme with stone. Those who went to school in the north will be reminded of those blissful occasions when they got their favourite teacher off the subject. Such tangents were generally more educational than the syllabus. This is in the same honourable tradition.
At the age of 62, looking for somewhere to store her papers, unsure how long she could go on earning her living with pen and tongue and keen to do her tiny bit towards restoring some of the damage done to her native land in the previous 200 years, Germaine Greer set out to restore 60 hectares of former dairy farm in Queensland. She tells the story in *White Beech: The Rainforest Years* (Weekdays, 9.45am, R4) and she tells it well, with no trace of the pained tone people traditionally adopt when they're complaining about having to clear up after the party they didn't get to attend.
Everyone in the music business knows that the acts that get the big push aren't always the ones that make it. Does that still apply if it's the Chinese state that's doing the pushing? National pride and understandable impatience with K-pop means the race is on for a home-grown superstar there, too. The chosen one, Ruhan Jia, is the subject of *China's Global Pop Stars* (Friday, 8pm, BBC World Service), which is part of the BBC World Service's Freedom2014 season.
*The Warden* (Sunday, 3pm, R4) is the first in a series of new dramatisations of Trollope's Barchester Chronicles. The story of how the life of the blameless Mr Harding was thrown into chaos when his prospective son-in-law decided that he is not fair and equitable in his administration of the local almshouse, it maintains Trollope's claim to be the Victorian novelist who would adapt most easily to the requirements of Sunday evening on ITV.
*Do The Right Thing* (iTunes Podcasts) is a good idea for a Radio 4 panel show, which is no doubt where they'd like to be. For now, the programme – hosted by Danielle Ward and featuring Sarah Millican as a panellist – is a free podcast. Until they get picked up by a network, they will continue to swear more than is strictly necessary, which is a sign of trying too hard.
While we're on the subject of podcasts, estimable journalist Pete Paphides talks to American songwriter Jimmy Webb in the first of a series of refreshingly rambling conversations with musical heroes under the *Long Player* shingle. Paddy McAloon, Clint Mansell, Lloyd Cole and Neil Finn are some of the guests promised for the near future. You can find them at mixcloud.com/longplayer. Reported by guardian.co.uk 21 hours ago.
Highlight of the week is journalist and novelist Andrew Martin's return to The Essay slot with *England Ejects* (Weekdays, 10.45pm, R3), an unhasty recapitulation of the things you didn't do if you were growing up in Yorkshire in the 60s. You didn't show off, talk about food, go shopping on Sunday, fasten the top or bottom button of your suit jacket and you certainly didn't leave the chuck key in the lathe in the woodwork shop at school. All these are jumping-off points for his stimulating ruminations on change. This is the first time I've heard Martin on the radio and he's a natural, particularly for Radio 3, where they don't expect a laugh at the end of every line and a word like "preponderate" doesn't get blue pencilled. Listeners in the south of England will find themselves thinking of Alan Bennett when he talks, and probably fancying a scone, which they will incorrectly rhyme with stone. Those who went to school in the north will be reminded of those blissful occasions when they got their favourite teacher off the subject. Such tangents were generally more educational than the syllabus. This is in the same honourable tradition.
At the age of 62, looking for somewhere to store her papers, unsure how long she could go on earning her living with pen and tongue and keen to do her tiny bit towards restoring some of the damage done to her native land in the previous 200 years, Germaine Greer set out to restore 60 hectares of former dairy farm in Queensland. She tells the story in *White Beech: The Rainforest Years* (Weekdays, 9.45am, R4) and she tells it well, with no trace of the pained tone people traditionally adopt when they're complaining about having to clear up after the party they didn't get to attend.
Everyone in the music business knows that the acts that get the big push aren't always the ones that make it. Does that still apply if it's the Chinese state that's doing the pushing? National pride and understandable impatience with K-pop means the race is on for a home-grown superstar there, too. The chosen one, Ruhan Jia, is the subject of *China's Global Pop Stars* (Friday, 8pm, BBC World Service), which is part of the BBC World Service's Freedom2014 season.
*The Warden* (Sunday, 3pm, R4) is the first in a series of new dramatisations of Trollope's Barchester Chronicles. The story of how the life of the blameless Mr Harding was thrown into chaos when his prospective son-in-law decided that he is not fair and equitable in his administration of the local almshouse, it maintains Trollope's claim to be the Victorian novelist who would adapt most easily to the requirements of Sunday evening on ITV.
*Do The Right Thing* (iTunes Podcasts) is a good idea for a Radio 4 panel show, which is no doubt where they'd like to be. For now, the programme – hosted by Danielle Ward and featuring Sarah Millican as a panellist – is a free podcast. Until they get picked up by a network, they will continue to swear more than is strictly necessary, which is a sign of trying too hard.
While we're on the subject of podcasts, estimable journalist Pete Paphides talks to American songwriter Jimmy Webb in the first of a series of refreshingly rambling conversations with musical heroes under the *Long Player* shingle. Paddy McAloon, Clint Mansell, Lloyd Cole and Neil Finn are some of the guests promised for the near future. You can find them at mixcloud.com/longplayer. Reported by guardian.co.uk 21 hours ago.