RADIO CHOICE

THE juice of poppies has been used since Neanderthal times to relieve pain, insomnia and anxiety. Opium has been a blessing on battlefields and deathbeds, and a source of creative inspiration to poets and artists. It has also caused addiction, misery and death. Lucy Inglis’s book about the drug, MILK OF PARADISE (RADIO 4, 9.45AM (FM), 12.30AM) is read all this week by Anita Vettesse.

THE imperial courtesan Lady Shonagon attends to the Empress, who is in labour. Meanwhile, her sometime lover, Lieutenant Yukinari, is with the Emperor — and an evil plot is afoot — in this stylish thriller drama THE PILLOW BOOK (RADIO 4, 10.45AM, 7.45PM) set in tenth-century Japan.

A HAT for a monarch must be special. It has to be carefully crafted,