1. Out of Louis

As a gawky teenager from the backstreets of America's ragtime capital, Josephine Baker teaches herself to dance - and makes it to Broadway.

She danced and sang her way from the American slums of St Louis to fame and riches in 1920s Paris.

Josephine went on to take the world by storm with her spellbinding dances.

Biography of this extraordinary performer written and abridged in five parts by Ean Wood.

Read by Josette Simon.

Producer: Sara Davies

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2001.