Radio choice Charlotte Runcie

Bone Stories RADIO 4, 1.45PM

 Evolutionary biologist Ben Garrod traces the links between legendary Irish giants and people alive today who have been diagnosed with gigantism, in the first of a five-part series all this week billed as a series of “anthropological detective stories”. The premise is intriguing enough as it explores whether myths and legends might be explainable with studies of skeletons and modern science, but in this episode it’s the life experiences of people living with gigantism that provide the most interesting moments.

Salman Rushdie In Conversation

RADIO 4, 11.30PM

 As we approach midnight tonight, the build-up to a day-long commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the independence of India and Pakistan begins on Radio 4 with an interview with Salman Rushdie. It’s immediately followed (at 11.45pm) by The Birth of a Nation, part of an epic dramatisation of Rushdie’s novel Midnight’s Children. Broadcast in several parts throughout the day tomorrow, it tells the story of Saleem Sinai, born on the stroke of midnight at the exact moment that India becomes independent.