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English Heritage stage concerts in historic buildings with "appropriate" music, including a bourrée from a Handel sonata in G major. Michael Billington reviews a new translation of The Forest by Russian playwright Alexander Ostrovsky. Plus, Richard Evans defends Bing Crosby from accusations of cruelty made in the biography Bing Crosby: The Hollow Man by Don Shepherd and Robert F Slatzer, and plays an un-aired portion of an interview with Crosby about his days working with Mack Sennett: "It was always the same story: I was a crooner, the mother didn't approve because I didn't have a steady job and she was always chasing me around!"

Presented by Humphrey Carpenter.