RADIO CHOICE

JOHN FINNEMORE, the award-winning scriptwriter and comedian (pictured), is Rufus Hound’s guest this week for MY TEENAGE DIARY (RADIO 4 (FM), 6.30PM). As he shares extracts from his teenage diary — featuring entries about the six months he spent teaching English to schoolchildren in Poland — you’ll hear that the young John’s wit was already well sharpened.

LOST IN THE STARS was Kurt Weill’s last musical, and didn’t fare too well. Based on the novel Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton, the musical had a short run and, despite good reviews, an even shorter revival. BARRY MANILOW — THEY WRITE THE SONGS (RADIO 2, 9PM) takes a look at this musical oddity and shares some of the songs in the score. Barry also looks at the

musical Sinbad, which left audiences baffled and eager for the final curtain.

GYPSY ROVERS whistle and sing their way through the greenwoods, ships sail between the trees, and the wanton are given to disappearing into the green gloom in search of love. The folk singer Nancy Kerr makes her contribution to the week-long series

THE ESSAY: FORESTS

(RADIO 3, 10.45PM) as she tells presenter Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough why forests have provided such powerful metaphors of love and sex for generations of folk musicians.