Illuminated

In the 1930s a group of researchers descended on the northern mill town of Bolton to observe the natives. They christened their chosen case-study 'Worktown'. It was a ground breaking study of working class culture - and one thing they wanted to know was what makes people happy.
The people of Bolton were asked a simple questions "What is happiness to you and yours?" The letters written in response reveal a snapshot of the innermost thoughts and feelings of ordinary people, living ordinary lives almost a century ago.
Katharine Longworth returns to Bolton to discover whether this town still holds the secret to happiness. Exploring the town centre, markets, pasty shops and pubs; she asks the same question, bringing the original letters to life as modern day Boltonians reflect on the insights of their predecessors.
We knock on the doors of those who live in the same spot as the original correspondents, linking them to the past through the words of the letters, and hearing their own reflections on happiness. Have things changed? Is it more difficult to be happier today? And is Bolton the happiest town on earth?
Original letter written by:
J.E. Nelson
G. Taylor
J. Warburton
Joseph Roberts
A. Thornley
F. Fielding
L. Bollington
E. Horrocks
Producer: Katharine Longworth
Sound Design: Michael Smith
Actors: Paul Brennan, Jasmine Hyde and Mike Rogers
With thanks to Professor Jerome Carson and Dr Sandie McHugh at The University of Greater Manchester.

Time is a journey - the future ahead of us, the past behind.
Our burdens are a weight that we carry, our problems are a puzzle that we solve.
Metaphor is at the heart of how we understand our existence. In a period of huge change and global uncertainty, are we outgrowing the metaphors we have lived by?
The poet Jack Underwood is offering his services as a metaphor consultant, for a very reasonable fee.
Featuring conversations with poet and psychoanalyst Nuar Alsadir; Dr Stephen Flusberg, the Director of the Framing, Reasoning And Metaphor (FRAME) Lab at Vassar College; computer scientist Melanie Mitchell; the philosopher Dr Julia Ng; and the linguist and author of Metaphors We Live By, George Lakoff.
Location recording by Mitra Kaboli, Kristina Loring, Gustavo Martinez and Donelle Wedderburn
Produced by Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

For decades, Nigerian hall parties have been the hub for communities in the UK, it was the place where they could bring a little bit of home and be transported through music, food and fashion. Full of extravagance, warmth and culture, the word Owambe, both noun and adjective, directly translates to ‘everything is there’. Now, first generation British Nigerians continue this tradition, their way.
Presenter Bisi Akins takes us on a journey through an Owambe, exploring what that “everything” really means. We dive into the key elements of a successful Nigerian hall party, immersed in the sounds, smells, music, and traditions that bring an Owambe to life. We’ll hear from those who lived it, loved it, and how the next generation are keeping the tradition alive.
Bring your big beats, bold outfits, and dancing shoes – Into the Owambe for BBC Radio 4.
A Hill 5.14 production for BBC Radio 4

Bass guitarist and record producer Jah Wobble has had a lifetime’s immersion at the low end of the musical spectrum. Over four decades, his hypnotic bass riffs have powered music from punk to reggae, fusion to world music.
He relates his first experiences as a teenager attending blues dances where Jamaican sound systems played cuts of reggae dub where the bass felt like a force like gravity, and seeing Bob Marley and the Wailers where he was captivated by the playing of bassist Aston ‘Family Man’ Barrett, and on to his own involvement with Public Image Limited, where he brought a dub sensibility into their post-punk music. He discusses his long years as a solo artist, and collaborations with musical legends from Can’s Holger Czukay to Sinead O’Connor, and Primal Scream to Pharoah Sanders.
During these years, Jah Wobble has also been interested in the Science of Bass. So, he meets up with Dr Duncan Edwards of Salford University, to ask him about the special, physical properties of Bass Notes. How do they reach our brains and, once there, what psychological, emotional effects can they have on us? To understand this, he submits to an experiment where his head is wired up, and the Wobble brain waves measured.
After years lost in drink and drugs Jah Wobble turned to Buddhism and became fascinated by alternative explanations of his bass playing that this could give him. He interviews eminent teacher of Tibetan Buddhism, Lama Jampa Thaye, to find further enlightenment. And in a south London Prayer room, he listens to the extraordinary low-pitched chanting of exiled Tibetan monks, where one mantra has the awesome power of a bass note.
Presenter: Jah Wobble
Producer: Alastair Laurence
Sound Design: Jake Wittlin
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

What does Christmas Day mean to you?
This raw, kaleidoscopic audio portrait, made up entirely from voice notes recordings, tracks the emotional contours of the day as it unfolds.
Through midnight churchgoing and moments of quiet reflection to frenetic gift-giving, culinary chaos and karaoke, the programme evokes and questions our own multifarious experiences of what Christmas Day ‘means’.
Variously boozy, silly, sad, excited, warm, lonely, deeply spiritual and endearingly humanistic – the contributions chart a cross section of modern Britain, encompassing heartfelt-stories, accidental field recordings, impromptu songs and audio diary entries.
With special thanks to all those who recorded their Christmas Day for us in 2024. Original music and sound design by James Bonney.
Producer: James Bonney
Mix: Mike Woolley
Executive Producer: Olivia Humphreys
An Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4