When a devastating injury ended Jack Beaumont's career as a jet fighter pilot, he decided to become a spy, in the French Secret Service. Jack Beaumont (not his real name) is a former intelligence operative and the author of several spy thrillers. Jack grew up in a turbulent family in Paris and when he got older he decided to train as a jet fighter pilot with the French Air Force. During a training dogfight at supersonic speed, Jack suffered a devastating injury that meant he could no longer fly ...
Sep 02, 2024•53 min
While struggling with PTSD, social researcher Rebecca Huntley chose an unconventional and underground path to healing — MDMA therapy. Rebecca Huntley is well known to many Australians for her formidable intellect and career as a broadcaster, an author and a social researcher. But despite her impressive public-facing life, in private, Rebecca's trauma from a difficult upbringing refused to leave her. At 50, she walked the Camino in Italy and realised that after 30 years of therapy, she was still ...
Aug 30, 2024•53 min
When Carolyn Blacklock's passport was confiscated from her in a foreign country she was faced with a scary reality that got wilder at every turn Carolyn Blacklock's passport was taken from from her at the Port Moresby International Airport when she was trying to get on a plane back to Australia. It was at that moment she realised just how much trouble she was in. Carolyn, who had headed up the national power company in Papua New Guinea and worked for the World Back there, had faced charges of co...
Aug 29, 2024•53 min
Kári Gíslason was 18 when he met a mysterious stranger called 'the Pirate' on the Greek island of Corfu. When he fled the island, he left behind a debt he promised to one day repay. When Kári Gíslason was 18, he came to the island of Corfu as a stony-broke traveller. But he quickly found work in a little town: lime washing walls and working as a builder’s labourer. The man who gave him the work was a mysterious figure known simply as ’the Pirate’. At first, Kári thought it was a nickname given t...
Aug 28, 2024•52 min
Andy McCarthy found passion for solar power as a high school dropout. He began one of Australia's biggest solar businesses, right in the heart of Victoria's coal country. But then a breakdown changed everything for Andy and his family Andy McCarthy dropped out of high school in year 10. He was a highly energetic kid but found it difficult to latch onto any one thing for long. Andy was happier out of school, and tried a whole lot of different jobs. Then at 19, he connected his first solar panel a...
Aug 27, 2024•53 min
In this two-part series, historian Paul Ham traces how our definition and understanding of the human soul has transformed over thousands of years. Humans have been probing their own invisible inner voice since the Stone Age. But where did the concept of the soul even come from? And is it really what separates the living from the dead? Historian and writer Paul Ham has traced how our definition and understanding of the human soul has changed over thousands of years. Human beings have been probing...
Aug 26, 2024•49 min
Suzie Miller's frugal and free range St Kilda childhood taught her to question almost everything. She grew up to become a trailblazing writer and lawyer (R) Suzie Miller grew up in St Kilda, and from early in life she had a number of part-time jobs. She became a trailblazing paper girl in her local area, when the role was usually only offered to boys. As a young woman Suzie trained as a lawyer and began working with homeless teenagers in Sydney’s Kings Cross. She then began to write stories and ...
Aug 23, 2024•53 min
Helen Vatsikopoulos' family never spoke about what happened to her aunt, Aspasia after the Greek Civil War. She uncovered a story of secret evacuation, exile and unknown family members. Helen Vatsikopoulos was born in a little mountain village on the northern border of Greece. She came to Adelaide as a young girl and grew up to become a TV journalist, covering big international stories for the ABC and SBS. When she was in her 30s, Helen and her husband were visiting her parents when her father s...
Aug 22, 2024•53 min
Artist Michael Galovic had been painting mysterious and mystical icons for decades before he truly understood the theology behind what he was doing — expertly and purposefully distorting reality to create a window into a heavenly and otherworldly realm
Aug 21, 2024•51 min
Dave Gleeson is known for his blistering performances in The Screaming Jets and The Angels, but he grew up singing at Mass in Cardiff, with a mum who opened their home to hundreds of foster children (R)
Aug 20, 2024•53 min
In this two-part series, historian Paul Ham traces how our definition and understanding of the human soul has transformed over thousands of years. Humans have been probing their own invisible inner voice since the Stone Age. But where did the concept of the soul even come from? And is it really what separates the living from the dead?
Aug 19, 2024•52 min
People travel from all over the world to learn about horses from Ken Faulkner. But after a life-threatening riding accident on his favourite horse, Smoke, Ken had to learn to walk and ride again, rediscovering himself in the process
Aug 16, 2024•53 min
In 2014, Ailsa Piper's husband's unexpected death cast her adrift in a sea of grief. Then bit by bit, life called her back. Ailsa Piper is a writer and a walker. She has used walking throughout her life as a meditative salve and a way to reflect on her life. In 2014 Ailsa's beloved husband Peter died suddenly, while she was interstate for work. His death cast her adrift in a sea of grief, but bit by bit life called her back. A few years ago Ailsa had her own life-threatening health scare, and no...
Aug 15, 2024•53 min
On Carol Perry’s communal farm there’s ‘no loneliness, and no mortgages’. It’s a long way from the life her parents expected her to lead, and she got there after an overseas motorbike tour and teaching in a war zone
Aug 14, 2024•50 min
Kim McKay is the Director and CEO of The Australian Museum, responsible for 22 million objects that tell the history of the world (Content warning: this episode discusses human remains held in museums and the repatriation process. Indigenous, Torres Strait Islander and Pacific Islander peoples, please listen with care.)
Aug 13, 2024•49 min
Like tracing the cultural history of breathing or love, it's difficult to pinpoint exactly when, how or why humans started making music. But composer and broadcaster Andrew Ford has uncovered the story of music, from pre-historic times to now
Aug 12, 2024•50 min
As a child, the superstar swim coach lived with a chronic lung condition, and had part of a lung removed. In 1956, a huge event held in his family's backyard changed the course of his life (R)
Aug 09, 2024•49 min
Jana Pittman became one of Australia's most famous athletes as a young woman. Then at age 30, she found herself at a painful crossroads (R)
Aug 07, 2024•53 min
The Tokyo Paralympics were Christie's seventh as a wheelchair racing competitor, but Christie almost gave up marathons after the 2013 Boston Marathon, and the most frightening experience of her life (CW: mention of suicide) (R)
Aug 05, 2024•51 min
Anna's stellar cycling career saw her smash Australian Olympic records and become the World Champion 11 times. Then to the surprise of many, she walked away from cycling for good, returning to the world stage as Australia's Chef de Mission for Paris 2024 (R)
Aug 02, 2024•53 min
Swimmer and entrepreneur Lisa Curry's life has been full of highs and lows both in and out of the pool. But it was the death of her daughter, Jaimi, that completely changed her. This is how Lisa fought to get her old self back after her unimaginable loss (R)
Jul 31, 2024•52 min
How a boy who grew up on a fishing trawler became the first man in Australia to run 100 metres in under 10 seconds (R)
Jul 29, 2024•50 min
Bruce McAvaney is the voice of Australian sport, with a commentating style built on his relentless work ethic and genuine passion. But if he hadn't chucked a sickie one day while working as a public servant, the past 50 years of Australian sport might have sounded very different
Jul 26, 2024•52 min
Writer Louise Kennedy grew up at the height of The Troubles, just outside of Belfast, where violence was ever-present. When her family's pub was bombed, they decided to move south, where Louise trained as a chef. But after decades of working in the kitchen, a chance invitation to a writer's group lead to an unexpected new career (R)
Jul 25, 2024•52 min
Tony Armstrong felt like a failure when his AFL career ended. But he found his feet again, falling upwards into a different life, calling footy matches, hosting live television, and now writing a children's book. This is why Tony isn't scared of failing anymore
Jul 24, 2024•50 min
Forced to flee West Papua, Lele's family wandered for years before coming to Australia. When they eventually received Australian citizenship and passports, the family was finally able to travel to West Papua. But Lele's homecoming journey was bittersweet, after tragedy struck
Jul 23, 2024•47 min
When writer Lily Brett went to visit Auschwitz, the death camp both her parents had survived, she couldn't help but start tidying up the place where so many of her family had been murdered, and touching the ashes of what was left
Jul 22, 2024•50 min
I Was Actually There is a new ABC podcast featuring gripping stories told by people who witnessed history first-hand. Hear what it was like to be a police sniper tasked with handling the gunman at the Port Arthur massacre; how it felt to be a teenager seeing The Beatles during their record-breaking 1964 Adelaide visit; and how one man survived being trapped 1km underground for 14 days, after the Beaconsfield mine collapse. Follow the I Was Actually There podcast on ABC listen. In this episode, R...
Jul 20, 2024•41 min
Monte Punshon was 103 years old when she was crowned the world's oldest lesbian, but that wasn't how she summed up her extraordinary life. Historian Tessa Morris-Suzuki charts Monte's adventures through underground bars and secret clubs At 103 years old, Ethel May Punshon, who was variously known as Miss Montague, Mickey and Monte, was crowned the 'world's oldest lesbian'. However, that wasn't how she summed up her extraordinary life. Historian Tessa Morris-Suzuki has researched Monte's long, my...
Jul 19, 2024•49 min
Winnie Dunn is the General Manager of Sweatshop Literacy Movement. Here she tells the story of how family and writing brought her home to Tonga, and gave Winnie the power to launch herself into the world on her own terms. Winnie grew up between her father and stepmother's house and the home of her grandmother — a brick home in Mount Druitt called the house of fe'ofa'aki, meaning “to love one another”. For years, Winnie's Tongan identity made her uneasy and instead of being a homecoming, her firs...
Jul 18, 2024•51 min
