RADIO CHOICE

‘BEING rich is the freedom to buy any book you want without looking at the price.’ Book addict Kathy Burke is very taken by this sentence in film-maker John Waters’s memoir, which is comedian Tom Allen’s choice for A GOOD READ (RADIO 4, 4.30PM). Kathy picks Patrick Hamilton’s bleak masterpiece Hangover Square, set just before World War II, and explains why it’s played a big part in her life.

DAVID SEDARIS has a deservedly huge fanbase. His readings sell out as soon as tickets go on sale, and audiences roll in the aisles at his sly, sardonic and frank accounts of his odd journey through life. This first of a new series of MEET DAVID SEDARIS (RADIO 4, 6.30PM) has him sharing some diary entries from 1977-2002. A cracking piece of radio — but not for the easily shocked.

RANDY NEWMAN (pictured) is one of America’s greatest songwriters, with a vast canon of music. His songs include the sleazily charming You Can Leave Your Hat On, the jocular Simon Smith And His Amazing Dancing Bear and the bitter Rednecks. He comes from a dynasty of Hollywood musicians and composers and has won Oscars for film compositions. Beginning on U.S. Independence Day, his two-part series RANDY NEWMAN’S AMERICA (RADIO 2, 10PM) celebrates American songs.