TODAY’S RADIO

NATURAL HISTORIES 6.35AM, RADIO 4

HHH

The ancient Egyptians kept parrots. Pope Martin V had a special room in the Vatican for his parrots, and Henry VIII had a pet African grey that would call across the river to boatmen, who then had to be paid for their journey. This programme takes a look at the widely diverse and widely distributed parrot family, and the mimicry skills these birds have. Does their uncanny ability to sound like humans, the programme asks, prevent us from truly understanding their avian nature?

SOUNDS OF THE 70S 3PM, RADIO 2

HHHH

Chris Amoo, the lead singer of the British band The Real Thing, joins Johnnie Walker for this week’s celebration of the music of the

Parrot (6.35am, Radio 4)

1970s. Chris, who is also a highly successful dog-breeder and has been a judge for Crufts, supplied the vocals for the 1976 summer hit You To Me Are Everything.

BOOKCLUB 4PM, RADIO 4 HHH A gem called the Sea Of Flames, which is believed to have magical properties, is being kept from the Nazis in Anthony Doerr’s prize-winning book All The Light We Cannot See. Set during the Second World War in occupied France, the book follows a six-year-old blind French girl and an eight-year-old German boy who have a connection to the gem. Anthony Doerr talks to James Naughtie about the novel.

SUNDAY NIGHT IS MUSIC NIGHT

7PM, RADIO 2 HHHH Howard Jones, Nik Kershaw, Johnny Hates Jazz, Carol Decker and Jimmy Somerville get together for this celebration of 1980s music, presented by Gary Davies. Classic hits on the bill include Things Can Only Get Better, Never Can Say Goodbye, China In Your Hand, Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This and Don’t Leave Me This Way. SJ