TODAY’S RADIO

WHIPPED 11.30AM, RADIO 4 ★★★★

A ‘whipper in’ was an 18thcentury hunting term for a man who kept the hounds in a pack, preventing them going off in their own direction. What with one thing and another, including the pandemic and Partygate, the Government’s Whips’ Office has been losing control of the pack. Ben Wright reports.

RAMBLINGS 3PM, RADIO 4

★★★★ Winchelsea, in East Sussex, has a ghost twin. Old Winchelsea was a busy port and naval base, employing thousands of people. In 1287, waves engulfed the town, so a new Winchelsea was built on higher ground. This place thrived, becoming a centre of the European wine trade, but suffered

from pirates, plagues, raids and fires. Clare Balding is joined by the historian Matthew Green to look for signs in the landscape of Winchelsea’s rackety past.

BIG PROBLEMS WITH HELEN KEEN 6.30PM, RADIO 4

The science writer Helen Keen is joined by John Culshaw and

Susy Kane and, together, they’ll try to solve some of humanity’s more pressing problems. This series, full of facts and research, is also optimistic and funny. Today, the team will look at the matter of personality, wondering if our environment shapes our personality and if different brains give us different personalities.

RADIO 3 IN CONCERT 7.30PM, RADIO 3

★★★★ When Shostakovich was told by Stalin to write a symphony, the dictator made it clear exactly how the work should sound. Somehow, as you’ll hear in this concert given by the BBC Concert Orchestra, Shostakovich found a way to produce a great work, full of hidden messages, that kept Stalin happy and Shostakovich from a death sentence.

John Culshaw (6.30pm, Radio 4)