TODAY’S RADIO

AFTERNOON CONCERT 2PM, RADIO 3

★★★★

A steady pulse of hope runs through Carl Nielsen’s Fourth Symphony. The Danish composer wrote the piece in the dark days of the First World War, wanting to express the elemental will to live. He more than succeeded as you can hear in this performance by the Suisse Romande Orchestra, playing the symphony that is now known as The Inextinguishable.

WHO IS ALDRICH KEMP?

2.15PM, RADIO 4 ★★★★ Nicola Walker is among the cast for this five-part series written by Julian Simpson, whose radio credits include The Lovecraft Investigations and other spooky dramas. It’s a gripping story that takes us into a world of Eurovillains and murderous

housekeepers, where the body of a man thought to have died seven years ago washes up with the tide.

THE ART AND SCIENCE OF BLENDING 2.45PM, RADIO 4 ★★★

The Victorians liked perfumes that smelled of violets, but the Edwardians preferred something a little more exotic. Coco Chanel used synthetic ingredients to bring layers of subtlety to perfumes, but that subtlety was overpowered by those throat-catching scents popular in the 1980s. In this third of a five-part series, Barry Smith hears how our noses use their highly developed sense of smell to blend perfumes, and how music – as much as fashion – has a bearing on perfume.

AND THE ACADEMY AWARD GOES TO…

6.30PM, RADIO 4 EXTRA ★★★★

In this first of his repeated series looking back at some of the stories behind Oscar-winning films, Paul Gambaccini hears how Lawrence Of Arabia, David Lean’s complex, sand-filled wartime epic, caught the public’s imagination and won seven Oscars in 1963. SJ

Nicola Walker (2.15pm, Radio 4)