RADIO CHOICE

NIKOLA TESLA thought he heard the voices of the dead in his laboratory. Thomas Edison was determined to be the first person to build a ghost telephone. Marilyn Monroe rises from the dead to sell us make-up and perfume. In the last of

A NATURAL HISTORY OF GHOSTS (RADIO 4, 1.45PM),

Kirsty Logan (pictured) investigates spectres of the modern world and, as she has done throughout this series, delivers a spinetingling listen — as well as a rational interpretation of some truly spooky events.

DOOMED to walk in the margins between the lives of mortals and immortals until the end of time, William Palmer (Paul Hilton) spends his endless existence mediating between these two worlds. In the concluding part of the Halloween special

PILGRIM: THE TIMBERMOOR IMP (RADIO 4, 2.15PM), Palmer finds his work made all the harder thanks to a vindictive teenager. n BEN SCHOTT writes almanacs and quirky books that are full of wit and humour. He is also a big fan of P.G. Wodehouse, and has written a novel that includes Wodehouse’s great comic creation, Jeeves. Ben joins the poets Ian McMillan and Kate Fox and the comedian Grainne Maguire on this week’s edition of THE VERB (RADIO 3, 10PM) to talk about humorous writing in difficult times.