SOMETHING UNDERSTOOD

6.05AM, 11.30PM, RADIO 4 ★★★ Many of us, banged up in lockdown, have had dealings with that unwelcome guest, the ‘noonday demon’. Here, John Mccarthy looks at accounts of boredom through the ages, and at ways of counteracting that listlessness that comes upon even the most disciplined of us, stripping the world and our lives of all meaning.