A Georgian Polyphonic Feast

With little fanfare, Glasgow has transformed itself into Europe's largest producer of small satellites.

The city - historically a global shipbuilding hub - is now a centre of expertise for designing and building modular spacecraft that orbit the Earth, and supply services to customers around the world.

This growth places Glasgow at the heart of a wider space industry cluster. Nearby businesses are developing rockets, satellite components and data services, while launch sites are being built elsewhere in Scotland, in hopes of creating an end-to-end space sector.

Despite this success, some of the sector's leading figures say Glasgow's position is no longer secure, as governments across Europe increase their investment in space.

They warn that, without stronger backing, this success story of UK high-tech manufacturing could lose its competitive edge.

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Presenter: Shiona McCallum
Producer: Katie Revell
Executive producer: Carys Wall
Mix: Joel Cox

With thanks to Patrick Wallace

A Bespoken Media Scotland production for BBC Radio 4.

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Click here to listen.

Our BBC Radio 4 documentary Able To Parent follows wheelchair-user Emily and her partner CJ as they decide whether they want to try for a baby. Producer: Leeanne Coyle. Listen in full: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000v2t4

After an incident of sexual assault, BBC Springwatch naturalist Lucy Lapwing tries to renew her love of being alone in nature. Listen here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00180d0 Produced by Jac Phillimore, with sound design by Joel Cox.

How do you tell the story of your life when you have no memory of the events that shaped you?

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At 15, Stephen McAll was a promising musician with a head full of songs. He was booked into a studio to record an album. Then, one night walking home from his girlfriend’s house in East Kilbride, he was attacked and beaten. The assault left him with serious head injuries and diagnoses of psychosis, excruciating cluster headaches, and PTSD.

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It also erased almost all of his memories. He says he could recognise faces and names of loved ones, but had lost every experience, event, or occasion in his life up to that point. He couldn't lay down new memories or hold onto information. He could read words on a page, but could not retain their meaning.

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Now in his early 40s, Stephen McAll is a successful music artist, and founder of critically-acclaimed folk band Constant Follower. This episode of Illuminated charts Stephen's decades-long journey from devastating injury and memory loss, back to hope and happiness.

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Producers: Katie Revell and Dave Howard
Sound design: Jonathan Webb
Executive producer: Dave Howard
Music: Stephen McAll
Excerpt of 'The Root of It' by Norman MacCaig, taken from album The Way I Say It, copyright Claddagh Records
Excerpt of 'Tourist and Landlord' by Norman MacCaig, from a film made for the Scottish Poetry Library called 'Norman MacCaig reads 2 Poems'
Thanks to Shaun Milne

A Bespoken Media Scotland production for BBC Radio 4

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Click here to listen.

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