Radio choice Charlotte Runcie

Four Thought RADIO 4, 9AM

Rufaro Mazarura, who finished her university degree in the spring, should have been, like all students normally would, celebrating with parties after a period of hard work and exams. Instead, she merely submitted a dissertation by email and then travelled home alone just before lockdown. She has made a podcast about her fellow graduating students in the Class of 2020, and shares here what she and her peers have learned this year about education, community, and graduating on the brink of a changing world.

Book of the Week: Tom Stoppard: A Life RADIO 4, 9.45AM

This week’s book of the week, read by Alex Jennings, is Hermione Lee’s illuminating biography of the playwright Tom Stoppard. Today, the focus is on one of Stoppard’s best-known plays, Rosencrantz and

Guildenstern Are Dead, from its writing to its ensuing, rapturous reception. Lee’s biography is meticulous, and its perspective is informed by interviews with Felicity Kendal, John Boorman, Trevor Nunn and Steven Spielberg, as well as extensive conversations with Stoppard himself from across several years.