TODAY’S RADIO

50 Things That Made

The Modern Economy

12.04PM, RADIO 4 (FM)

Tally sticks – pieces of wood or animal bone that were carved with notches – were used as long ago as the Palaeolithic period as a memory aid and a record. A refined version – common in the Middle Ages – called the split tally stick allowed a sophisticated economic record. Tim Harford looks at tally sticks in this last of a week-long series on inventions, ideas and innovations.

Friday Night Is Music Night

8PM, RADIO 2

Len Goodman presents a selection of some of his favourite dance music from around the world, including smooth waltzes, tangos, sambas and paso dobles.

The Full Works Concert

8PM, CLASSIC FM

You can hear some brilliant playing in this selection of performances from the final of this year’s International Van Cliburn Piano Competition. This prestigious event from Fort Worth, Texas, is a wonderful showcase for solo players. Tonight, we will hear the winning performance – from Yekwon Sunwoo, of Dvorak’s Piano Quintet In A Major – plus work by Beethoven, Rachmaninov and a piece by Phil Coulter, performed by Barry Douglas, called Home Away From Home.

Does Time Really Exist?

8.30PM, WORLD SERVICE

Our days, and the days of all living creatures and organisms, are numbered. The clock ticks, the sun rises and sets, our bodies age and, sooner or later, the end comes. Despite this, there are many thinkers and physicists who put forward the theory that time does not really exist. In this programme, Anand Jagatia looks into the mysteries of time, and wonders what happens to time inside a black hole.

The Essay: Dining With The Nightmare

10.45PM, RADIO 3

Joseph Johnson was an 18th-century bookseller and publisher who was interested in politics, religion and medicine. His support of the French Revolution earned him a six-month stretch in jail, and he played a key role in the early days of English romanticism. Daisy Hay tells the story of Johnson’s life tonight.

Len Goodman (8pm, Radio 2)