TODAY’S RADIO

THE LOST WOMEN OF BRITISH JAZZ 2.30PM,

RADIO 4 EXTRA ★★★★

Black American soldiers brought jazz to Europe during the Second World War, and the post-war years saw British nightclubs flourishing as the nation became a hotbed of jazz. In those heady days, women musicians took to this new music, as we hear in archive clips from the era.

Here, Janine H. Jones tells the story of an all too brief period of women’s equality in the jazz world.

OPEN COUNTRY

3PM, RADIO 4 ★★★ Underwater landslides in Norway caused a massive wave to surge southwards, sweeping away for ever the land bridge that once connected Britain to Europe. All this happened 8,000 years ago, but you can still see evidence of the tsunami on the Northumberland coast. Helen Mark hears stories of revelation, respect, fear, horror, wonder and inspiration about the sea and the coast.

RADIO 3 IN CONCERT

7.30PM, RADIO 3 ★★★★

The profoundly moving sound of live music comes from Glasgow’s City Halls this evening with a programme of music full of solemnity by Benjamin Britten. His Nocturne and Death In

Venice Suite are on the bill.

THE KNEEBONE BONANZA

11PM, RADIO 4 EXTRA ★★★★ Much more praise and many awards should have been heaped on this eccentric, funny sitcom, set in the world of scrap metal in the West Country. The cast, which includes Michael Shelford as Slick Kneebone, follows the fortunes of the Kneebone siblings, who have inherited debts, a crumbling house and the promise of a legacy from their father, Jed Kneebone. The cast play the whole thing straight, letting the mad, funny script – by Cornish writer Carl Grose – supply the laughs. SJ

Benjamin Britten (7.30pm, R3)