TODAY’S RADIO

ASHLEY BLAKER: 6.5 CHILDREN

11.30AM, RADIO 4 ★★★★ The comedian Ashley Blaker has had a pretty tough lockdown. Gigs were cancelled and, like so many parents, he’s had to home-school his children. For Ashley and his wife, things were particularly hard as they have six children, two of whom have autism, plus one with Down’s syndrome. In the final programme of his comedy series, Ashley, with heroic humour, gives us an insight into his home life.

PAUL IS DEAD

2.30PM, RADIO 4 EXTRA ★★★★ In 1969, gullible fools – their eyes rolling around like marbles on a plate – would insist that Paul Mccartney had died and been replaced by a double. They’d find all kinds of hidden clues on the cover for Abbey Road, and play the band’s albums backwards – over and over again – to hear cryptic references to Paul’s demise. This archive show hears how millions of fans believed all this nonsense.

BBC PROMS 2021

7.30PM, RADIO 3 ★★★★★ This opening concert for the Proms season heralds six weeks of live music, and features work that has a poignant significance. The BBC Symphony Orchestra, under principal guest conductor Dalia Stasevska, will open the bill with Vaughan Williams’s Serenade To Music, written in praise of Henry Wood, the first conductor of the Proms. The world premiere of James Macmillan’s When

Soft Voices Die is also on the bill.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF FAILURE

9PM, RADIO 4 ★★★ John Otway’s musical career has been one of poor record sales and cancelled tours, but the English singer-songwriter and guitarist has become a bit of a cult with a loyal, if ironic, fanbase. The American satirist Joe Queenan includes Otway’s story in this latest archive round-up. SJ