TODAY’S RADIO My House 50 Things That Made The Modern Economy

11.30AM, RADIO 4 (FM)

The Manchester International Festival is under way and, this year, includes a charming little project. Various Mancunians will be holding Festival In My House events. Nija Dalal-Small takes a look at some of these tiny festivals, and hears from the comperes about the music and art being offered in front rooms and back gardens. 12.04PM, RADIO 4 (FM)

Back in the Middle Ages, you didn’t need a passport to get into a port. Travellers, traders and sailors expected to be able to dock and stay there, unhindered by bureaucracy. If they wanted to venture beyond the port, they needed some kind of documentation or signed letter of transit. In the penultimate part of his series, Tim Harford looks at the evolution of the passport.

Lost In France

2.15PM, RADIO 4 (FM)

Phyllida Law and one of her two thespian daughters, Sophie Thompson, star in this comedy drama written by Alice Burden and Harriet Collings. The play follows a career girl who leaves her former life behind to make a fresh start. She leaves her job, her boyfriend and her home – and heads to the Dordogne. The pace of life is very different in ‘la France profonde’, but, as she discovers, it is not entirely trouble-free.

The Essay: A Tale Of Restoration Murder

10.45PM, RADIO 3

On a February Sunday in 1682, three men shot Thomas Thynne dead in Pall Mall. Thynne, whose young and unwilling wife had bolted to Holland, was mired in intrigue. Tom Charlton tells the story of the aristocrat who inspired the mock epitaph: ‘Here lies Tom Thynne of Longleat Hall/Who ne’er would have miscarried/Had he married the woman he slept withal/ Or slept with the woman he married.’

Thanks A Lot, Milton Jones

11PM, RADIO 4

In this final show of a repeated sixpart series, wild-brained comedian Milton Jones takes it upon himself to become a bodyguard, and gets himself into a sticky situation with a South American diva – and a great deal of jam.

Phyllida Law (2.15pm, Radio 4)