TODAY’S RADIO

INSIDE MUSIC 1PM, RADIO 3

★★★

Fred Astaire was worried about singing with Petula Clark in the film Finian’s Rainbow, while Petula was a bag of nerves about dancing with Fred. Finian’s Rainbow is a whimsical tale of pots of gold, magic spells and a leprechaun (played by Tommy Steele). The soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn includes a track by Clark from the film in this programme of stories behind the music.

MUSIC PLANET 4PM, RADIO 3

★★★

Norma Waterson had a wealth of old ballads and parlour songs in her repertoire that she had learned from her grandmother. As a young woman, Norma was a member of a family skiffle band, before becoming a major presence

in the British folk scene. Kathryn Tickell pays her respects to a musical matriarch this afternoon.

ARCHIVE ON 4: SELF ON SEBALD

8PM, RADIO 4 ★★★ The late W.G. Sebald’s books are set in a grey area between fact and fiction, and in a multilayered world where landscapes and buildings retain and are marked by human experiences. Sebald’s a bit of a cult figure, and Will Self – who’s given to hanging about scrubby bits of marginal land like a long, thin wraith – is a big Sebald fan. In this programme, Self hovers around some of Sebald’s old stamping grounds, and explores Sebald’s archive.

MICA’S GOSPEL GOLD 9PM, RADIO 2

★★★★

Mica Paris continues her series on gospel music with a look at the spirituals that gave slaves, torn from Africa and transported to America, the heart and courage to survive. Mica plays some of these songs of endurance, as well as tracks by Mavis Staples, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, in this selection of music of protest and freedom. SUSAN JEFFREYS

Marvin Gaye (9pm, Radio 2)