RADIO CHOICE

ALL this week, the writer and photographer Bella Bathurst has been talking about the impact losing her hearing has had on her life. In the final episode of SOUND (RADIO 4, 9.45AM (FM), 12.30AM), after 12 years of deafness, Bella visits an audiologist, and receives news that could change her life.

WHEN George Bernard Shaw wrote Pygmalion, he had Mrs Patrick Campbell in mind for the role of Eliza Doolittle. Eliza is meant to be 19, and Mrs C was 49 when she undertook the role. Rehearsals for the play were stormy and often interrupted by tantrums and hissy fits. Pygmalion opened in 1913 and had a good run, despite ongoing rows over the ending, along with complaints about the word ‘bloody’ being used in the dialogue. THE ‘B’ WORD (RADIO 4, 2.15PM),

written by and starring Alistair McGowan, follows the behind-thescenes shenanigans for a play that had a second life as My Fair Lady.

FRIDAY NIGHT IS MUSIC NIGHT (RADIO 2,

8PM) brings Bollywood to Brum as Adil Ray’s Citizen Khan (pictured) presents a mixture of pop anthems and film classics in a concert by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, with a back-up team on sitar, tabla and mandolin. The music includes the James Bond theme, plus a Bolly/ Brum version of Madonna’s Papa Don’t Preach.