RADIO CHOICE

THE six-times-married Hedy Lamarr (pictured) made an early film appearance in a Czechoslovakian film called Ecstasy. She then fled from the Nazi pogroms — and her husband — arriving in Hollywood in 1938. She changed her name and became a big star, described by her studio as ‘the most beautiful woman in the world’. Hedy was also an inventor, whose designs included a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes in World War II. Suzy Klein tells Hedy’s exotic story for this week’s GREAT LIVES (RADIO 4, 4.30PM).

AS HE continues his series THANKS A LOT, MILTON JONES! (RADIO 4, 6.30PM), the fast-talking, mad-haired comedian, with a seemingly endless stock of good gags, delivers comic advice on the matter of pest control and clearing vermin.

An unsavoury subject, but Milton makes it funny.

BARRY MANILOW — THEY WRITE THE SONGS (RADIO 2, 9PM) continues to bring Broadway’s longforgotten musicals back into the limelight. This week, Barry looks at three shows that he considers unjustly neglected masterpieces: The Happy Time by Kander and Ebb, Coco by Lerner and Previn, and House Of Flowers by Arlen and Capote. Barry plays rare recordings of music from these shows and enthuses charmingly about the lost songs — though we might not all find them quite as thrilling as he does . . .