PICK OF TODAY’S RADIO

THE FORUM: SAMURAI, 10.06AM, 12.06AM, BBC WORLD SERVICE

HERE in the West, we have a romantic notion of samurai warriors as being men of high standing and great honour, who lived a priestlike life, perfecting their lethal skills and pledging undying loyalty to their lords. Rajan Datar gathers together professors and experts who cast doubt on that image, which was co-opted and burnished by Japan’s 20th-century imperial regime. We learn that, in medieval Japan, samurai could in fact be lowly foot soldiers and mercenaries — and many of them were not to be trusted in any circumstances.

A CACOPHONY of hissing and whistles greets Ian Marchant on the streets of Camborne in this week’s

OPEN COUNTRY (3PM, RADIO 4). It’s Trevithick Day, and the Cornish town is filled with steam traction engines as it celebrates its most famous son, Richard Trevithick (pictured), inventor of the first steam-powered vehicle. Ian hears how Trevithick’s innovations have had an impact the world over — and sees how they have left their mark on the British landscape.