Kenneth Cranham discusses and performs his favourite poems from Rudyard Kipling 's 1892 collection, Barrack-Room Ballads, which were inspired by the stories of enlisted soldiers and drew on the rhythms and style of music-hall songs. He considers modern-day discomfort with the poems: though classics such as Mandalay, Gunga Din and Tommy are still well-loved, they are steeped in the language of British Imperialism and are often charged with jingoism, racism and sexism. Producer Tim Dee Repeated on Saturday at 11.30pm