Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, it's a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that at some level of genius. It also helps

that it's a long time ago, right? It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream

van plays music when it's out of ice cream. Listen to evil genius on BBC sounds.

This is a download from the BBC. For more information and our terms of use, go to BBC.co.uk slash radio three.

Expect eruptions and tremors on night waves tonight. Margaret Mountford, papyrologist and the really scary one off the apprentice, will be your guide to the wonders and the horrors of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

We'll measure the more subtle

shocks applied by the new picture from the mischievous French director Francois Azon,

and look at the latest work of a great British filmmaker, which, shockingly, turns out to be

his last. If you don't know the films of Mike Grigsby, stay with us, and you'll discover just what we've lost and the riches he's left us.

One of my first memories of his anger was one of the dogs was barking and he shot it.

A lot of anger.

There was a lot of tenderness too.

I don't want you to get, you know, misunderstand that part. There was a lot of tenderness, too. I don't want you to get, you know,

misunderstand that part. There was a lot of tenderness.

The daughter of a Vietnam veteran speaks in We Went to War. We'll put Mike Grigsby in the frame later.

First, though, James Wood, international man of letters. yes, chief book critic of the New Yorker,

yes, the most surgical, critical mind of his generation. Well, some would say that, but he probably wouldn't, partly because it's the kind of cliche he plucks from the work of others like a rotten

tooth. If he were reviewing his own new book, The Fun Stuff, he might say that this was a

collection of his journalism, just slapped between two covers. But I would say, James, don't be too

hard on yourself. There's a thrillingly disrespectful deconstruction here of one of America's

most revered novelists, Paul Oster. and there's a great opener about drumming.

Before James Wood came into the studio,

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