TODAY’S RADIO

Little Women 10.45AM, 7.45PM, RADIO 4

It’s Christmas Eve and Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy sit round the crackling fire, knitting socks for soldiers, while the snow piles up outside. It will be a difficult Christmas for them – their father, an Army chaplain, is serving in the American Civil War – but, despite their sorrows, the girls share what they have with the less fortunate. Louisa May Alcott’s much-loved novel – her first about the March family – has been adapted for radio by Rhiannon Tise. Tom Wrigglesworth’s HangUps

11.30AM, RADIO 4

Tom Wrigglesworth likes to phone home once a week to make sure his parents are all right, to hear their news and to get some advice. This week, though, Tom is a little put out to discover they haven’t much time for him – his father has been training for the Sheffield Marathon – in this amiable sitcom. Little Women (10.45am, Radio 4) Trump: The

Presidential Precedents 1.45PM, RADIO 4

In the week of Donald Trump’s inauguration as US President, Adam Smith presents a week-long series looking at five other presidents who came to power on a wave of votes from Americans who felt they made up ‘the silent majority’. The series opens with Andrew Jackson, a man who brought a souvenirhunting mob to the White House. The Full Works Concert 8PM, CLASSIC FM

Jane Jones selects music to take us on this dark January night to the sun and scents of Spain. She opens with Spain Waltz by the French composer Emile Waldteufel. Rodrigo’s Fantasia Para Un Gentilhombre and Albeniz’s Iberia are also on the bill, and they are followed by another waltz, by Enrique Granados, called Valses Poeticos. Nell’s Kitchen 10PM, RADIO 2

Nell Bryden threw herself into her music career, taking a lot of risks along the way, which may have triggered her stress-induced alopecia. Happily, her career’s taken off, she has a family, and she’s got a new series that takes us on a musical journey of her home town, New York. Nell begins the journey with a trip to Harlem, world capital of jazz. SJ