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Hear Clare presenting Famed For Its Knitting - a celebration of Woman's Weekly magazine - on BBC Radio 4 at 11.30am on Thursday 9th February.

Between the Ears: Cowdust Time, BBC Radio 3, 9pm Saturday 14th January 2012

An evocative sound portrait of Indian "cowdust time". The twilight hour when the cows come home from the fields, women cook, children play and birds return to their nests.

Dust rises from the hooves of cattle returning to a village at sunset. Smoke from open fires wreathes in ribbons across the fields. As the evening shadows begin to lengthen, people, animals and birds all return to their homes to rest.

This time of day is known in India as "godhuli bela", or "cowdust time". It is a sacred time - a time when Lord Krishna himself brought his cattle safely home. In paintings, he is often seen meeting his beloved Radha in the evening, as the peacocks call, the bright green parakeets chatter loudly in the neem trees, and the temple bells and muezzins call people of different faiths to prayer.

There are many devotional songs and poems devoted to this twilight hour. It is seen throughout India as an auspicious time for engagements, weddings, even business ventures. But it's also a time when mothers call their children home, to avoid evil spirits. And when those same children are told not to whistle, for fear of inviting evil in.

In this hypnotic sound tapestry - recorded in Gujarat, the Kumaon hills and Madhya Pradesh - we hear the sounds of cows and other animals being brought back to their village, the loud clamour of birds, the eerie noise of crickets.

"It is that fantastic time of day," says writer and academic Rajendrasingh Jadeja, "when the cowdust raised transforms the scene from stark, sharp light to a fantasy world."

That fantasy world has been captured in art, music and literature. Painter and art critic Amit Ambalal, poets Jayant Parmar and Mahek Tantarvi, and musician Sugna Shah, among others, talk about the religious and cultural significance of this time. We also hear the poetry, prayers, lullabies and ragas depicting this magical time - "when the earth does yoga”.

“Steam – a life on the railway” is a two CD audio collection of the memories of the last generation of men to work on the steam trains of Britain. The archive of voices was collected over a period of years by Graham Allen and George West who asked Janet Graves to listen. Record producer Pete Waterman – a lifelong steam enthusiast – introduced the collection and it was iTunes choice of their non-fiction downloads. The CD is available from Amazon or from www.audiogo.co.uk

Clare appeared on Radio 4’s Excess Baggage with Sandi Toksvig to talk about her love of India, where she is a regular visitor.

Martin Wainwright explored the history of the Morris Minor. Dave Brown from the comedy group The Mighty Boosh sang to his vintage car, and veteran racing driver Sir Stirling Moss remembered how fast he could drive the car – as long as it was downhill. Janet collected some recognisable noises from the car, including the exhaust, horn, suspension and windscreen wipers, and radio wizard and post-production expert Mike Thornton from One-Stop Digital wove them into a tuneful rendition of ‘Jingle Bells’ for the Christmas Eve broadcast. As a result, he’s been nominated for a Radio Independents Group (RIG) award for sound creation.