TODAY’S RADIO

THE LIFE SCIENTIFIC 9AM, 9.30PM, RADIO 4

★★★ Chi Onwurah was born in Britain, and spent some of her childhood in her father’s homeland, Nigeria, before fleeing back to Britain when the Biafran War broke out. She worked hard at school, studied electrical engineering at Imperial College, then forged an international career developing hardware and software. Chi tells Jim Al-khalili why she gave up the career she loved to become a Labour MP, serving Newcastle upon Tyne Central since 2010.

WHEN COURTNEY MET CHRIS 11AM, 9PM, R4 EXTRA ★★★

In this archive recording, we hear the British jazz musician and band leader Chris Barber, who died a year ago, talking to Courtney Pine about jazz, his life in music and

his deep admiration for blues music. Chris recalls how trad jazz filled the dance floors of 1950s Britain, and reveals the part he played in getting the likes of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Muddy Waters and Champion Jack Dupree to the UK. Van Morrison is also on the show, praising Chris’s contribution to the British music scene.

WATERLOO STATION 2.15PM, RADIO 4 ★★★

Waterloo Station is full of noise and bustle as travellers come and go, and people get on with their lives. None of them realises that, in a very short while, this noisy terminal will fall eerily silent. Ralph Ineson and Christine Bottomley star in this play about two strangers caught up in an incident just before the world turned upside down.

FREE THINKING 10PM, RADIO 3 ★★★

Bruce Lee died a month before the premiere of Enter The Dragon in 1973. This low-budget film became the most profitable martial arts film of all time and, as Matthew Sweet and his studio guests argue tonight, one of the most influential.

Ralph Ineson (2.15pm, Radio 4)