RADIO CHOICE

DEBUSSY’S Prelude A L’Apres-Midi D’Un Faune is based on a poem about a faun falling into a languorous sleep after an exhausting session chasing nymphs around the woods. It caused quite a scandal when, in 1912, Nijinsky performed an erotic dance to the piece on the Paris stage. SOUL MUSIC (RADIO 4, 9AM, 9.30PM) hears from listeners charmed by the dreamy lyricism of the work.

IN THE heart of Vatican City lies the Archivum Secretum, often thought of as the Pope’s secret archive and rumoured to hold information about aliens, the Holy Grail, Jesus’s marriage to Mary Magdalene and other such fanciful notions. In fact, it is a vast collection of private papers of historical importance, on 53 miles of shelving. THE HISTORY OF SECRECY (RADIO 4, 9.30AM) joins

Tiffany Jenkins (pictured) for a visit to the archive as she explores the power of secrets in religion.

CLOCK faces as we know them — with minute hands — first appeared in the 1690s. Wristwatches with analogue faces came into common use in the 1860s, but weren’t considered manly and were mainly worn by women; all that changed during World War I. Now, more and more people tell the time using a digital display but, as Aatif Nawaz reports in INCONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION (RADIO 4, 3.30PM), the pleasing design of a clock face still survives.