TODAY’S RADIO

Deborah Frances-White Rolls The Dice

11.30AM, RADIO 4 ★★★★★ This is a great piece of radio. The comedian Deborah Frances-White was adopted, had a happy childhood, and then decided to search for her birth mother. She tells the story in a series of sketches that are funny and emotional – but never sentimental.

Radcliffe & Maconie

1PM, BBC 6 MUSIC ★★★ The Canadian-born, Dakota-raised singer-songwriter Haley Bonar is on today’s show. Haley’s 2014 album Last War went down well; she’s now on tour, and has a new album out called Impossible Dream. Haley talks about the making of the album, and plays a couple of tracks.

The News Quiz

6.30PM, RADIO 4 ★★★★ Miles Jupp returns with a new, eight-part series of the topical

BBC Proms 2016

7.30PM, RADIO 3 ★★★★★ Verdi’s Requiem seemed so operatic and dramatic when it was first heard that many critics thought it unsuitable for church performances. The BBC Proms Youth Choir and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, under the baton of Marin Alsop, perform this mighty and emotional work.

The Essay

10.45PM, RADIO 3 ★★★ The psychologist John B. Watson published an account in 1920 of an experiment he had run to instil a phobia in an emotionally stable child. ‘Albert’ was just nine months old when the experiment began. He was conditioned to recoil in fear from a white rat, and eventually recoiled from any white fluffy object. Matthew Sweet uncovers the tragic story behind this dubious piece of research work.

6 Music Recommends

12 MIDNIGHT, BBC 6 ★★★ MUSIC Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have a new album out; it’s called Skeleton Tree. Mary Anne Hobbs will host this listening party for the Australian alternative rock band’s 16th studio album.

Miles Jupp (6.30pm, Radio 4) satirical quiz show. The panel for this opening show consists of Jeremy Hardy, Vicki Pepperdine, Andy Hamilton and Kerry Godliman.