Radio 4

The Louisville Lip

Up Next

20:00 - 21:00

Moral Maze

Are networks the glue of society or the architecture of privilege?

21:00 - 21:15

News

30/05/2026

21:15 - 22:00

The Food Programme

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22:00 - 22:30

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1. The Vicar I Corrupted

22:30 - 23:00

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8. Northern Ireland and England - Final

23:00 - 23:15

Midnight News

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23:15 - 23:48

Take Four Books

Deborah Levy

23:48 - 00:00

Shipping Forecast

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00:00 - 04:30

Selection of BBC World Service Programmes

31/05/2026

Muhammad Ali is widely regarded as the greatest sportsperson who ever lived, his battles for civil rights outside the ring as celebrated as his bouts inside it. Ten years on from his passing in 2016, his story is told largely in his own words, through rarely heard audio from the BBC archives.

Featuring interviews, commentary, poetry and song, we follow Ali, the fighter formerly known as Cassius Clay, from his rise to stardom at the Olympics, through his exile from boxing during the Vietnam War, to his extraordinary reclaiming of the heavyweight championship in Zaire. His command of language was so dazzling it earned him the nickname the Louisville Lip. We hear what lay behind it - the wit, the fury, the faith, and the convictions that made him, to so many, simply The Greatest.

Producer: Sean Allsop

Executive Producer: Jo Meek

A TBone production for BBC Radio 4