RADIO CHOICE

‘IF THERE’S a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet,’ said the author Toni Morrison, ‘then you must write it.’ Toni practised what she preached, publishing an impressive list of novels, children’s books, plays and essays, including her bestseller Beloved. Toni (pictured) died in 2019 but, as Bridget Kendall and a panel of literati agree in

THE FORUM (BBC WORLD SERVICE, 10.06AM, 12.06AM), her books are still bursting with life.

THIS week’s RAMBLINGS (RADIO 4, 3PM) find Clare Balding between a rock and a hard place as she goes for a walk on the Isle of Mull. Her companion is Wendy Lloyd, who organises pilgrimage routes, following in the footsteps of saints and sages through some challenging terrain. Clare scrambles over slippery rocks and battles her way through shoulder--

high bracken but, when she sees the view at the end of her ordeal, admits it was worth the struggle.

THE CLASSIC FM CONCERT (8PM) gets off to a bold start with the British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade in A minor, in a performance by Chineke! — the orchestra of top-class players from ethnically diverse backgrounds — recorded yesterday at the Royal Albert Hall. The concert ends with Chineke! pulling out all the stops and letting loose the cannons for Tchaikovsky’s great warhorse, The 1812 Overture.