TODAY’S RADIO

The Danube Ain’t Blue, It’s Green

11.30AM, RADIO 4 Joseph Goebbels thought Strauss’s Blue Danube waltz would be just the perfect piece to include in a wartime New Year’s Eve concert. First, though, Goebbels had to wipe all traces of Jewish ancestry from the Strauss family history. Rainer Hersch tells the story.

Britain’s Black Past

1.45PM, RADIO 4 Ignatius Sancho was born on a slave ship in 1729. His mother died and his father, ashamed of being made a slave, killed himself. The orphan ended up as a servant in Britain, but went on to become a composer, an actor and a writer. Gretchen Gerzina tells the story of the first black Briton to vote in a British election.

Tracks

2.15PM, RADIO 4 This nine-part conspiracy thriller, written by Matthew Broughton and starring Romola Garai, ends today.

Romola Garai (2.15pm, Radio 4)

It has been a dark affair, full of mysterious characters – including a man with no heart, a woman with no face and an enigmatic medical organisation. It has kept up the pace throughout the series, taking its listeners on a strange journey along the margins of death and deep into the human brain.

Ed Reardon’s Week

6.30PM, RADIO 4 A pompous, pipe-smoking man shambles towards us through the groves of Academe. Who can it be? Why, it’s the ill-tempered hack Ed Reardon! Ed has worked out that if he takes out a student loan and does a three-year BA course, followed by a two-year MA add-on, he will graduate at 65 – past the age when he has to pay back the loan. Good to have the old curmudgeon back for this six-part comedy series.

Late Junction

11PM, RADIO 3 The band Stick In The Wheel will play some old folk songs from the East End of London, and the Irish singer-songwriter Jennifer Walshe gives a studio session.

Listen To The Band

11.30PM, RADIO 2 Frank Renton launches this year’s Radio 2 Young Brass Award tonight, and features music from Derick Kane, the solo euphonium player with the International Staff Band of the Salvation Army.