Front Row - 05/11/2009

Ben Elton's latest novel, Meltdown, charts the rise and fall of the career of a City trader as the global financial crisis hits. Elton discusses the comic novel and his habit of looking for the humorous side of situations. The poet Tom Paulin reads from the latest batch of TS Eliot's letters to be published, dating from the 1920s and including his work on The Waste Land, while the conductor John Eliot Gardiner reviews Benjamin Britten's early diaries, charting the time he studied at The Royal Academy of Music under Vaughan Williams. Today sees the launch of a National Theatre of Wales - a theatre without walls - that will not be located in any one building but will produce theatre in different venues right across Wales, including an old coal exchange, Swansea library, the beaches of North Wales and Brecon Military Range, where soldiers are trained in counter-insurgency techniques. The American rock band REM have just released a live album with a difference. Live at The Olympia was recorded in Dublin in 2007, where the group showcased a number of songs as work in progress, many of which went on to make up their most recent album, Accelerate. Music critic John Harris joins Mark to review the new release and discuss the merits of live albums.