Russian about

Controller Radio 4 Gwyneth Williams is on a Russian roll - and it'll be interesting to see RAJAR figures for the week of 12th of September; a week of drama, features and special programmes featuring the work of "household name" (BBC press release) Vasily Grossman.

OK, he was a Russian war correspondent - and the centre piece of the exercise will be an eight-hour dramatisation of his 1959 novel "Life and Fate", about Stalingrad, commissioned before Gwyneth was appointed. The schedule ties in with a week of public events at St Peter's College Oxford (where, spookily, the previous Controller, Mark Damazer, is now Master); the press release doesn't actually mention that other universities are also available.

Start the Week will be recorded in the College.  The full listings are not yet to hand, but I imagine You and Yours will be discussing Putin's vain attempt to rehabilitate Stalin's reputation in the JCR; Money Box will consider the pros and cons of collectivisation in the 21st Century, with input from the College bursar; and Jenni Murray will be learning how to cook okroshka in the College kitchens. на здоровье!