Month: December 2013

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Start the Week - Michael Gove on teaching history

Andrew Marr discusses the teaching of history with the Government's Education Secretary Michael Gove. The new history curriculum for schools has been hotly contested and the Minister explains his views on whether facts and dates trump historical analysis. He's joined by Margaret MacMillan who will present a real-time countdown to the outbreak of WWI in the coming year, the academic and tv historian Simon Schama, and Tom Holland who has recently translated Herodotus, considered to be 'the Father of History'.

Producer: Katy Hickman.

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More or Less: Behind the Stats - WS MoreOrLess: The numbers of 2013 – part 1

A guide to 2013 in numbers - the most informative, interesting and idiosyncratic statistics of the year discussed by More or Less interviewees. Contributors: David Spiegelhalter, Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk at Cambridge University; Linda Yueh, BBC Chief Business Correspondent; Simon Singh, author of The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets. Producer: Ben Carter. This programme was first broadcast on the BBC World Service.

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More or Less: Behind the Stats - Numbers of the year

A guide to 2013 in numbers - the most informative, interesting and idiosyncratic statistics of the year discussed by More or Less interviewees. Contributors: David Spiegelhalter, Winton professor for the public understanding of risk at Cambridge University; Linda Yueh, BBC chief business correspondent; Simon Singh, author of The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets; Dr Pippa Malmgren, president and founder of Principalis Asset Management; Paul Lewis; presenter of BBC Radio 4's Money Box programme; Dr Hannah Fry, Centre of the Advanced Spatial Analysis at University College London; Merryn Somerset-Webb, editor-in-chief of MoneyWeek; Helen Arney, comedian. Producer: Ben Carter.

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Start the Week - Clive James

In a special programme Andrew Marr looks back over the long career of Clive James. Even at the height of his fame as the star of weekend television, Clive James was always writing: poetry, essays and a series of memoirs. Now in his 70s and suffering from serious illness, he has been nominated for an award for his translation of Dante's The Divine Comedy. James explains how this last phase of his life has brought him a new seriousness; 'a late sublime'.

Producer: Katy Hickman.

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More or Less: Behind the Stats - Britain’s 80,000 homeless children

About 80,000 children will wake up homeless on Christmas Day, according to the charity Shelter. What exactly does that mean? Tim Harford explores the statistic. Plus, he fact-checks the news reports of a global wine shortage; and a magician, who exploits the maths of card shuffling, attempts to read his mind. Also, are the four festive football fixtures as crucial to Premier League teams as many claim? And, in tribute to the former BBC economics editor, Stephanie Flanders, listen to what was perhaps her finest broadcasting moment.