They call Ben Cruachan in Argyll, Scotland “the Hollow Mountain”. In the 60s, using techniques that were revolutionary at the time, a void was created within that lump of 450-million-year-old granite in order to accommodate a power station. The idea was to pump water from the appropriately named Loch Awe below to the reservoir above during times of cheap “off-peak” electricity and then release it during the day to provide power as required.
This facility was opened 50 years ago this month. To mark the event, Artangel and Radio 4 have commissioned the writer Maria Fusco to devise a work based on the story of the project. In Open Art: Master Rock (Saturday, 10.15pm, Radio 4) French composer Olivier Pasquet performs the work, which involves three voices: the first is one of the tunnellers who achieved the apparently impossible; another is Elizabeth Falconer, an unknown artist whose great work is a mural inside the mountain; and the third is “the sound of the mountain” itself.
Book Of The Week (Weekdays, 9.45am, Radio 4) is John Le Carré: The Biography by Adam Sisman, which is read by Stephen Boxer in a tone that suggests his eyebrows are being raised at regular intervals. Le Carré is the pen name of David Cornwell, who learned the art of dissimulation early in life as he tried to get out from the shadow of his disreputable father, Ronnie. Cornwall senior misappropriated the funds of innocent people in order to live large. He once settled his son’s outstanding school fees with groceries. The guests at his lavish parties included the jockey Gordon Richards, the cricketer Don Bradman and – raise eyebrow here – “members of Scotland Yard’s Flying Squad”.
It’s difficult to believe that Ben Ashenden and Alexander Owen have never done a radio series before. Collectively known as The Pin (Wednesday, 11pm, Radio 4), they prove that it’s still possible to play with the conventions of the medium of sketch comedy. The sketch where they have some fun at the expense of the soundman standing by to ring the doorbell is one example. The one where Dec is mistaken for Ant is another. The one where they translate the same awkward social situation into French is a third. The Pin also has a property not shared by as many radio comedy programmes as you might wish. It may actually make you laugh.
Stuart Maconie (Monday, 1pm, 6 Music) presents the Radcliffe And Maconie show on his own. His guest is Ray Davies, who is celebrating the success of Sunny Afternoon, the musical based on his impressive parade of hits. The anniversary of the birth of Arthur Miller is marked by a production of A View From The Bridge (Sunday, 9pm, Radio 3) recorded in the US with a US cast headed by Alfred Molina as Eddie Carbone. This production is directed by Martin Jarvis, who can also be heard reading Kingsley Amis’s Lucky Jim (Weekdays, 2pm, Radio 4 Extra) in a reprise of a 1992 recording broadcast to mark the 20th anniversary of the author’s death.
Tom Sutcliffe returns with a new series of that hardiest of perennials Round Britain Quiz (Monday, 3pm, Radio 4). The Scottish team begin their defence of their title with a fixture against the Welsh. The first question calls upon them to know something about Shakespearean insults, stock-car racing trophies and the geography of London. It’s reassuring to know that the Scottish team not only sound Scottish, they are also called Roddy and Val. As if that weren’t enough, up against them are Myfanwy and David.
