RADIO CHOICE

THEY don’t, as far as June Brown is concerned, speak proper Cockney in EastEnders. Her character, Dot Cotton — like many oldschool Cockneys — speaks clearly and vividly; June thinks that what now passes for an East End accent just sounds slovenly and cliched. Cole Moreton presents THE LOST COCKNEY VOICE (4PM, RADIO 4), asking what happened to the accent — sometimes called the Queen’s Cockney — that his grandmother, Gladys, and Dot Cotton share.

HERTHA AYRTON was extraordinary. Her father, a watchmaker, died when she was young, leaving Hertha to help to bring up a large family. Hertha was bright and went to Cambridge — where she read maths, led a choir, set up a fire brigade and engineered the first of many inventions. In 1884, she patented her drawing

instrument known as the line-divider. For this week’s GREAT LIVES (4.30PM,

RADIO 4), Helen Arney tells the story of the Victorian mathematician, embroidery teacher, engineer, inventor, mother and suffragette.

BARRY HUMPHRIES (pictured) is a bit of an obsessive. This leads him, among other things, to track down rare recordings and great lost songs. BARRY’S FORGOTTEN MUSICAL MASTERPIECES (10PM, RADIO 2) includes some splendid stuff, such as Rudy Vallee’s powerful version of Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?.