Go Wild: A BBC nature collection
About this audiobook
22 BBC radio programmes celebrating the great outdoors, introduced by Harriet Noble
Spending time in nature is good for both our bodies and minds - but with our hectic lives (not to mention the unreliable British weather), it can be hard to get outside as much as we'd like. But fear not: we've selected some of BBC Radio 4's best nature documentaries to transport you to the great outdoors - and encourage you to take your own trip into the wild.
Discover the tranquility of canoeing down the River Waveney; go rambling in the countryside with Clare Balding; explore al fresco cooking with the Food Programme team and learn the history of Cornwall's colourful flower fields. Or why not go surfing in Scotland, off-grid in Wales or on a journey of a lifetime with Paralympian cyclist Karen Darke?
These captivating programmes will let you experience the sights and sounds of nature - from an oak woodland to a rainforest canopy and a rock pool - and introduce you to some remarkable naturalists, such as filmmaker Roger Deakin, author Robert Macfarlane, pioneering ornithologist Emma Turner, writer and poet Nan Shepherd, and perfumer and mountain photographer Walter Poucher.
Whether you're an intrepid explorer, a weekend micro-adventurer or simply a nature lover, you're sure to be inspired - so step away from your screen, get out into the open air and enjoy the beauty of the natural world.
Contents
Cigarette on the Waveney - presented by Roger Deakin
Ramblings: In Search of the Old Ways with Robert Macfarlane - presented by Clare Balding
Open Country: Nan Shepherd's Cairngorms - presented by Helen Mark
The Food Programme: Outdoor Cooking - presented by Sheila Dillon and Simon Parkes
One to One: Isabel Hardman on nature and depression
Ramblings: George Monbiot in search of the wild - presented by Clare Balding
The Life Scientific: Sky at Night with Maggie Aderin-Pocock- presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Open Country: Off Grid in Mid-Wales - presented by Ian Marchant
A Guide to Coastal Wildlife: Rock Pools - presented by Brett Westwood and Phil Gates
Sound recordist: Chris Watson
Soundstage: The Oak Woodland
Sound recordist: Chris Watson
Costing the Earth: Cycle City - presented by Tom Heap
Open Country: Surfing on Scotland's North Coast - presented by Helen Mark
Journey of a Lifetime - Karen Darke: From Source to Sea via Me
Nature: The Rainforest Canopy
Recorded by wildlife cameraman John Aitchison
Nature: Emma Turner - A Life in the Reeds
Sound recordist: Chris Watson
The Flower Fields - presented by Michael Bird
The Perfumed Mountaineer - presented by Hayden Lorimer
Living World: Winter Seashore - presented by Trai Anfield
Open Country: The Boat Builders of Pin Mill - presented by Helen Mark
Ramblings: Bonding Walks: Stiperstones, Shropshire - presented by Clare Balding
Open Country: Somerset Wassail - presented by Helen Mark
Winter Starlings
Sound recordist: Chris Watson
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
(p) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
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About the author
Clare Balding (Author)
CLARE BALDING is an award-winning writer and broadcaster who has been at the forefront of sports presentation since 1998. She has been a key anchor at seven Olympic and six Paralympic Games as well as multiple Commonwealth Games and Winter Olympics. She was awarded a special BAFTA in 2012 for her work at the London Olympics and Paralympics. In 2023, she took over as the lead BBC TV presenter at Wimbledon. She was a key commentator on the BBC's television coverage of King Charles III's Coronation in 2023 and for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee coverage in 2022. She has presented the television coverage of Crufts for nearly two decades and Lost Dogs Live on Channel 5, which helps reunite missing dogs with their owners. During most of her childhood she thought she was a dog and has tried to live with the mentality of a Labrador puppy: be pleased to see everyone and treat every new task as an exciting adventure. Her first book, My Animals and Other Family, was published in 2012 and won the National Book Award for biography of the year. In 2013, she was awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List and in 2023 received a CBE for services to sport and charity in the Queen's final Honours List.
Robert Macfarlane (Author, Reader)
Robert Macfarlane's Sunday Times- and New York Times-bestselling books include Is a River Alive?, Underland, Landmarks, The Old Ways, The Wild Places and Mountains of the Mind, as well as a book-length prose-poem, Ness. His work has been translated into more than thirty languages, won prizes around the world, and been widely adapted for film, music, theatre, radio and dance. He has also written operas, plays, albums, choral works, and films including River and Mountain, both narrated by Willem Dafoe.
Macfarlane has collaborated closely with artists including Olafur Eliasson and Stanley Donwood. With the artist Jackie Morris he has co-created several internationally bestselling books celebrating the natural world in word and image: The Lost Words, The Lost Spells and The Book of Birds.
In 2017, the American Academy of Arts and Letters awarded him the E.M. Forster Prize for Literature, and in 2023 in Toronto he was the inaugural winner of the Weston International Award for a body of work in the field of non-fiction. He is a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and is presently working on a graphic novel re-telling of the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Roger Deakin (Reader)
Roger Deakin, who died in 2006, was a writer, filmmaker and environmentalist of international renown. He was a founder member of Friends of the Earth, and co-founded Common Ground. He lived for thirty-eight years in a moated farmhouse in Suffolk. Waterlog, which was first published in 1999, became a word-of-mouth bestseller, and is now an established classic of the nature writing canon.
Clare Balding (Reader)
When she was young, Clare Balding thought she was a dog. Disappointed to discover she was only human, she did her best to spend every waking hour with dogs and ponies. She could ride before she could walk and, growing up surrounded by racehorses trained by her father, she dreamt of winning the Grand National or riding for Great Britain at the Olympics. Those dreams never came true but the consolation prize hasn't been bad. As a television and radio presenter, Clare has worked at six Olympic Games, the highlight being London 2012, as well as the Winter Olympics, Paralympics, Commonwealth Games, the Grand National, Royal Ascot, Wimbledon and the Ryder Cup. Clare lives in London with her wife, Alice, their dog Archie and their cat, Button.
Jim Al-Khalili (Reader)
Professor Jim Al-Khalili, OBE FRS, is a physicist, author and broadcaster based at the University of Surrey. He received his PhD in theoretical nuclear physics in 1989 and has published over a hundred research papers on quantum physics.
His many popular science books have been translated into twenty-six languages. He is a recipient of the Royal Michael Faraday medal and the Institute of Physics Kelvin Medal.
In 2016 he received the inaugural Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication. He lives in Southsea, Hampshire, with his wife Julie.
Tom Heap (Reader)
Tom Heap is the creator and presenter of BBC Radio's flagship climate change podcast '39 Ways to Save the Planet'. He is also a regular presenter on BBC1's Countryfile specialising in the more investigative films and has made many BBC Panorama documentaries on food, energy and the environment. Tom also hosts BBC Radio 4's regular environment series 'Costing the Earth'. For fun he likes to ride bikes, chop wood, watch films, grow chillies and bodge carpentry.
