Christmas Eve radio choice Charlotte Runcie

A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols

RADIO 4, 3.00PM

It simply would not be Christmas without the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, live from the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge. This year’s service will be particularly poignant following the death of the long-standing director of music, Stephen Cleobury, last month. The festival will be conducted by his successor in the post, Daniel Hyde, and includes favourite carols such as Ding Dong Merrily on High and Silent Night as well as the annual new carol commission, which this year is by Philip Moore.

Arctic Sound Walk

RADIO 3, 4.30PM

The writer Horatio Clare wraps up warm for an adventurous trip to Greenland for a walk through the peaceful snowy wilderness of the Arctic Circle. In three “Slow Radio” programmes airing today, tomorrow and on Boxing

Day, and all recorded with pioneering audio techniques that promise to highlight the most minute sounds of nature, Clare (and three huskies) provide an atmospheric soundscape and music evoking the light and colours of the journey, while giving commentary on the history of Greenland, its culture and its wildlife.