TODAY’S RADIO

ONE TO ONE

9.30AM, RADIO 4 HHH

During the summer months, it becomes abundantly clear just how many acres of tattooed flesh there are out there. Getting ‘inked’ has become normal, and for some, it’s almost a rite of passage. In this first of three programmes about body modifications, Helen Mort talks to tattooist Lou Hopper about the skill, delicacy and artistry of her work. They discuss why people choose to have tattoos, and what the designs they choose say about them.

FROM THE MAYFLOWER TO THE MOON (AND BACK AGAIN)

1.45PM, RADIO 4 HHHH Russian fur trappers once travelled widely across Alaska, and the sight of the onion domes

Church in Alaska (1.45pm, R4) of Russian Orthodox churches were not uncommon in that part of the world. Trade went back and forth across the Bering Strait, and for many years, Alaska was considered to be a part of Russia. In this second of his ten-part series, Joe Queenan looks at this period of Russian activity on the American mainland.

THE CLASSIC FM CONCERT

8PM, CLASSIC FM HHHH Some wonderful new recordings of classical favourites, made before lockdown, have been released. John Suchet plays some of them, including Rimsky-korsakov’s lively Capriccio Espagnol, performed by the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, and Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony, by the Aurora Orchestra.

SCIENCE STORIES

9PM, RADIO 4 HHHH

In 1864, a shower of rocks landed in Orgueil in southern France. The rocks, thought to have come from the sky, were like peat, and one was discovered to contain a seed. Did this supposed meteor shower demonstrate that life on Earth came from space? Phil Ball tells the story of a scientific argument that went on for a century. SJ