The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Review
On My Wavelength
Aquarter of a century since his death, the life of Nigerian poet and campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa continues to inspire activists around the world. In
The Documentary (today, World Service, 12.06pm), his daughter, Noo, introduces his “last testament” (poems smuggled out of prison in the run up to his execution in 1995) and explores the legacy of his campaign to stop the environmental destruction of the Niger Delta.
Poetry and politics combine also in the electrifying Let Us Believe in the Dawn of the Cold Season (Sunday, Radio 4, 3pm), exploring the life of Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad. Barely known in Britain but a “rebel, feminist icon and Iran’s most beloved poet of the 20th century” according to presenter Maryam Zohdi, we’re startled from the outset with the story behind her explosively candid 1954 poem, Sin.
Cricket fans won’t want to miss Book of the Week: It’s Always Summer Somewhere (Mon-Fri, Radio 4FM, 9.45am) serialising Felix White’s warmly funny, engaging memoir of his lifelong obsession with the sport. Best known as the guitarist with indie rockers The Maccabees, White co-presents Radio 5 Live’s popular Tailenders cricket podcast with Greg James and his entertaining, sometimes heartbreaking book wittily sums up how an allconsuming passion can punctuate and enhance just about every aspect of a life.
A special treat for contemporary music fans in Radio 3 in Concert (Tuesday, 7.30pm), when Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra, in their first concert of 2022, perform the world premiere of a new work by the muchadmired South Korean composer Unsuk Chin. Soloist Leonidas Kavakos gets the evening off to what’s sure to be a thrilling start with Violin Concerto No2 (Shards of Silence) in a programme that also features Bartók and Sibelius.
In this week’s Oti Mabuse’s Dancing Legends (Wednesday, Radio 4, 11.30am) the Strictly pro invites American ballet legend Misty Copeland to look back at the inspirational life and work of Raven Wilkinson, who smashed the racist conventions of 1950s
USA to become the first professional African American ballet dancer. Together they explore how Wilkinson went on to carve out a 50-year career in dance that became a beacon of encouragement for later generations of dancers.
A blood-chilling edition of Crossing Continents (Thursday, Radio 4, 11am) invites us to imagine a scenario in which, having escaped the inhumane horrors of civil war, a refugee encounters the person who once tortured them, in the street. The stuff of nightmares, it’s happening regularly to Syrian refugees in Europe. Reporters Chloe Hadjimatheou and Michael Ertl explore how Syrian security thugs are using fake refugee status as a route to a new life in Europe
– and what’s being done to bring them to justice in European courts.
Tim Hayward brings his gleeful deep dive into the world of mushrooms Fungi: The New Frontier (Friday, Radio 4, 11am) to a satisfying close this week. Fearlessly meeting a “bodysnatcher fungus” that kidnaps and enslaves ants and visiting a research lab growing medicinal mushrooms in Finland, he also explores the science behind claims that psilocybin, a psychedelic compound commonly found in fungi, could revolutionise treatments for addiction, depression, dementia and more.