91Èȱ¬

9am
A selection of music, including the Essential CD of the Week: Suppe & Auber Overtures - Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Paul Paray, MERCURY LIVING PRESENCE 434309

9.30-10.30am
A daily brainteaser, and performances by the Artists of the Week, the Amadeus Quartet.

10.30am
Rob Cowan's guest this week is the author, journalist and radio/television presenter Martin Sixsmith. From 1980 to 1997 Martin was a 91Èȱ¬ correspondent in Moscow, Washington, Brussels and Warsaw. He then worked for the Government as Director of Communications and Press Secretary first to Harriet Harman, then to Alistair Darling and finally to Stephen Byers.

He is the author of two novels: Spin, and I Heard Lenin Laugh. Martin's recent non-fiction books include The Lost Child of Philomena Lee (2009); Putin's Oil (2010); and Russia: A 1,000-Year Chronicle of the Wild East (2011). In February 2008 he worked on two 91Èȱ¬ documentaries exploring the legacy of the KGB in today's Russia and also presented a 91Èȱ¬ radio programme, The Snowy Streets of St. Petersburg, about artists and writers who fled the former Eastern bloc. Most recently, in 2011, he presented Russia: The Wild East, a 50-part history of Russia for 91Èȱ¬ Radio 4. Martin works as an advisor to the 91Èȱ¬ political sitcom The Thick of It.

11am
Dowland: A survey of his music, with a selection of recordings as recommended on last Saturday's CD Review.