Radio

Just when you thought there couldn't possibly be room for yet another hard-boiled private eye to go down those mean streets, step forward lennox, Craig Russell's tough investigator who, having survived the Second World War, finds himself tangling with razor gangs in 1950s Glasgow.

Russell has won awards for his acclaimed Jan Fabel series, set in Germany, and Lennox was widely acclaimed as gripping "Glasgow noir" when it was published two years ago. The first of five episodes is read by Grant O'Rourke tonight on Radio 4 Extra (catch it on BBC iPlayer if you miss it).

Also venturing outside are the stalwarts of street theatre, those guerrilla thesps who risk rain, hail, taunts or sheer apathy on pavements, in parks or shopping malls. In doing it in the street, actor and academic Martin Reeve, who still occasionally performs using the alter ego of Mr Lucky, The Man With the Raining Umbrella, surveys the history of street theatre since it emerged from the political protest of the 1960s.

Reeve, who first took on the Mr Lucky role 25 years ago, reviews the development of the art form, and how it can affect people's perceptions of the spaces around them. Street theatre, he concludes, packs more of a punch than you might think.

Freewheelin' troubadour Bob Dylan's 70th birthday continues to be celebrated on the airwaves with a welter of programmes including Mary ann kennedy's global gathering on Radio Scotland, a recording of the Forever Young concert at this year's Celtic Connections, with Dylan songs interpreted by the likes of Tim O'Brien, Rosanne Cash, Kris Drever and Nell Bryden.

Or, for something entirely different, try the pocket aa milne, which features three extracts from the Winnie-the-Pooh creator's lesser known essays from the pages of Punch. How to survive a country house weekend? Weather tedious dinner parties by becoming an expert on absolutely anything? Milne's your man.

Craig Russell – Lennox

Tonight, Radio 4 Extra, 11pm

Doing It In The Street

Thursday, Radio 4, 11:30am

mary ann kennedy's Global Gathering

Tuesday, Radio Scotland, 8:05pm

The Pocket AA Milne

Tues-Thurs, Radio 4, 3:30pm

• This article was first published in The Scotsman on May 21, 2011