TODAY’S RADIO

COMPOSER OF THE WEEK

12 NOON, RADIO 3 ★★★★ Ralph Vaughan Williams was 42 when the First World War broke out. He was too old to be called up, but enlisted as an ambulance driver. His horrific wartime experiences gave him a longing for peace – a longing that’s reflected in his music. Donald Macleod tells the story of Vaughan Williams’s war, and plays compositions that arose from the trauma of conflict.

SIDEWAYS

4PM, RADIO 4 ★★★★

A mother is sent to prison for killing her two children, but one piece of evidence that played a big part in her trial hinges on a statistical probability. Matthew Syed begins his new series that takes a sideways look at past events with two stories that raise serious questions about the way we look at perceived facts.

GOSSIP AND GODDESSES

6.30PM, RADIO 4 ★★★ Meera Syal returns to her role as Ummi Kumar, the matriarch in the TV series The Kumars At No 42. The Kumars’ grandma is now hosting a radio chat show from the Wembley Community Centre, and will be inviting some inspirational women along to talk about their lives. Samira Ahmed is on Ummi’s guest list for this spoof show. Samira gets the tone between seriousness and comedy just right, but the rest of the show sounds messy and awkward.

THE POWER OF CELIBACY

9PM, RADIO 4 ★★★★ Mourning geckos are almost always female, and their eggs develop without being fertilised by sperm. These lizards are found in the South Pacific islands, the Americas and Hawaii. Here,

Lucy Cooke visits the Hawaiian island of Oahu, where she finds a colony of these self-cloning sisters, and hears about the advantages and disadvantages of virgin birth for a species. SJ

Meera Syal (6.30pm, Radio 4)