Mark Leckey

The 1970 England World Cup squad sing an earnest There'll Always Be an England. Jarvis wonders when, exactly, does summer begin? Then he's joined by Turner Prize-winning artist Mark Leckey. He explains why he thinks rock isn't as energetic and political as in the past: once music was a great way to communicate to the world and now there are many other ways to do that. He also suggests that youth movements develop very differently now that we have the internet, and warns against nostalgia and aligning yourself with an era that never really existed. There's a spoken word piece by rockabillies Heavy Trash, The Pill. Jarvis thinks about the summer again and plays the sound of twittering greenfinches. And Wilco: Are They Any Good? Birthdays: Levi Stubbs and Brenda from Toronto.

Adam Curtis (1)

Chirruping tree frogs from Jarvis's jungle journey begin the show. On This Day, Joan of Arc burned at the stake, Evel Knievel jumped 16 cars, Henry VIII married Jane Seymour — and we hear all about Big Ben's chiming debut. Jarvis talks to journalist and film-maker Adam Curtis. He remembers his creatively inspiring schooldays. His early career at That's Life taught him how to tell stories in film, incorporating humour. He shares a recording of Afghanistan's only rock festival, in 1975. It's very rough and ready, and includes a cover of Kung Fu Fighting. Adam's interested in the mythologies Afghanistan and the West dreamed up about each other. He suggests that nowadays, we've stopped knitting events together into proper stories, making the news fragmentary, contextless and alarming. Birthdays: Topper Headon, Harry Enfield, Leigh Francis, Agnès Varda, Mel Blanc and Devendra Banhart. Valete: Dennis Hopper, Boris Pasternak, Mickie Most and Voltaire.

Tate at 10

Jarvis celebrates the Tate Modern's 10th birthday: peppered throughout the show are interviews with non-profit art groups at the No Soul for Sale exhibition in the Turbine Hall. James Brett of the Museum of Everything has made an open call for works of Outsider Art - we hear the judging panel and documentation process at work. Artists from the Kling & Bang Gallery's Tower of Now talk about their installation Circus - a much-loved bar which they reconstructed when it was sold, freezing it in time. Jarvis describes a messy work which has scattered rubbish everywhere and one revealing the music of plants, and he reads out a quiz he was handed, called Are You Independent. On This Day, Bonnie and Clyde were executed and the accordian was patented. Birthdays: Michel Colombier, Robert Moog, Phil Selway and Bob Dylan tomorrow. Valete: Patrick Cargill (reciting a song about his dog).

Barbara Windsor Reads Cinderella

We're all 'tangled up in blue' for the foreseeable... On This Day, Marie Antoinette married Louis XVI, Edgar Allen Poe married his 13-year-old cousin, the first Academy Awards were held and Motown Records was established. Alex Turner reads his story, A Choice of Three. We hear two spoken word tracks called Grey, by Alan Parker, Urban Warrior and Ken Nordine. Julie Andrews and Moondog celebrate nursery rhymes from around the world - then Barbara Windsor reads some of Cinderella, marking the anniversary of Charles Perrault's death. Birthdays: Nicky Chinn, Henry Fonda, Roy Hudd, Max Miller, Jonathan Richman, Liberace, Billy Cobham, Studs Terkel (talking about interviewing ordinary people) and Robert Fripp. Valete: Lena Horne and James Agee (an excerpt from Night of the Hunter, which he screenwrote).

Arthur Lowe Reads Mr Noisy

Jarvis saw Iggy and The Stooges play with Suicide this week — we get to hear Iggy preaching to the crowd. On This Day, Thomas Blood tried to steal the Crown Jewels, Buffalo Bill opened his Wild West Show in London and the first contraceptive pill was launched (so we hear the intro to Valley of the Dolls). The incomparable Arthur Lowe delights the listeners with his narration of Mr Noisy by Roger Hargreaves. Plus Alan Bennett performs the comedy sketch The Telegram, Miranda July shouts a surprising rock intro, and John Selwyn Gummer tells us to 'just shut up!' And we find out whether Richard Thompson Is Any Good. Birthdays: Dave Gahan, Paul Heaton, Paul McGuigan, Glenda Jackson, JM Barrie (who invented celebrity cricket), Roger Hargreaves, Albert Finney, Billy Joel, Richard Adams and Alan Bennett.

Michael Palin

Jarvis couldn't go abroad because of the ash cloud, so he visited his mum and nicked her records - we get to hear the results. On This Day, Tennessee Williams won the Pulitzer and Bill Clinton made an important decision concerning GPS. We hear about the customs of May and the meaning of Mah - the Japanese concept of 'positive emptiness'. Michael Palin drops in, chatting about his childhood in Sheffield and where he liked to cycle. Jarvis asks about the musical bits of his career: writing lyrics for Monty Python, compering a pop showcase and his brief songwriting career. Michael also talks about his travelling and his enthusiasm for Hemingway. Then he reads a Hemingway essay about a seedy Parisian cafe and answers listeners' questions about happiness and stunt chips. Birthdays: Lorenz Hart and Engelbert Humperdinck. Valete: Alan Sillitoe (we hear one of his caustic quotes).