RIDDLES OF THE BONE
Radio 4, 9pm
Edi Stark begins a two-part series chock full of “did you know?” moments, such as: did you know that during an average person’s average life he or she recycles their skeleton seven times? So, if you are 35, say, you are half-way through your quota of skeletons. It is all down to bone being a living tissue, of course. And there’s more. The skeleton has the strength of cast iron, but only a third of the weight. Besides coming up with such hot facts, Stark also talks to people whose business is bones, such as doctors and those who put their bones through abnormal stresses, such as dancers.
THE UPSETTER: THE LIFE AND WORKS OF LEE “SCRATCH” PERRY
Radio 2, 10pm
More hot facts, but this time about one of the great record producers. Lee “Scratch” Perry derived his distinctive nickname from his first hit single, a little something called Chicken Scratch in 1965. You can see why they went for the second half of the title. For the rest, Mark Lamarr gives a convincing impression of a man who has died and gone to Heaven as he tells the story of Perry (which is also the story of Jamaican music, by and large).