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Immortalised on vases and in plays and poems, Helen of Troy has excited man's imagination for thousands of years. Woman's Hour tries to uncover the real Helen with Bettany Hughes and Edith Hall.

Is there such a thing as acceptable behaviour during childbirth? Why do different communities encourage women to behave in a certain way? And whose interests does it serve: the mother, the baby, or a culture which may be deeply ambivalent about such a primeval event?

It's the season of mists and fogs and it's a pretty drab time for most gardens. Corinne Julius and Maggie Campbell-Culver, the author of The Origins of Plants, have been looking at ways of brightening things up on the dullest and dankest of days.

Eleanor Bron talks about her new play. 'Twopence to Cross' the Mersey is the title of author Helen Forrester's autobiography of her poverty-stricken childhood in Liverpool in the 1930's. Following a successful run last year the musical play of the book returns this Monday to the Liverpool Empire Theatre, this time starring Eleanor Bron as the older Helen.