PICK OF TODAY’S RADIO

OUT OF THE ORDINARY, 11.30AM, RADIO 4

A MYSTERY team of six young North Koreans registered, at the last minute, for the 28th World Memory Championship, held in the Chinese city of Wuhan in 2019. Up till then, the Chinese had been expected to sweep the board for prizes in a competition that includes memorising numbers, faces and playing cards. The North Koreans smashed previous world records, went home to Pyongyang with a hoard of medals, and have not been heard of since. Jolyon Jenkins goes on their trail.

BEETHOVEN’S Piano Trio No 1 gets off to a spirited start, but then things take a turn for the eerie. The piece has been nicknamed the Ghost Trio, and it’s included in a RADIO 3 LUNCHTIME CONCERT (1PM) given by the pianist Alice Sara Ott (pictured), with the violinist Ray Chen and cellist Pablo Ferrandez. Also on the bill is Shostakovich’s equally ghostly Piano Trio No 2, which was written just as the composer heard of the death of a close friend.