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BBC Radio 4•www.bbc.co.uk

Society & Culture

Lively and diverse conversation with weekly guests

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Episodes

24/11/2010

This week Libby Purves is joined by Nina Conti, Anne Downie, John Stewart and Ann Martin-Davis. Ventriloquist Nina Conti returns to London's Soho Theatre, following a sell out run at this year's Edinburgh Festival, with her new solo show, 'Talk to the Hand'. Familiar favourite, the incorrigible Monk is joined by a host of new characters, including poetry penning Owl, mischievous Granny and vodka swilling Lydia. 'Talk to the Hand' is at the Soho Theatre. Anne Downie is a Scottish actor and writer...

Nov 24, 2010•42 min

17/11/2010

This week Libby Purves is joined by Samantha Bond, Seckou Keita, Ryan Bingham and Brendan Cole. Samantha Bond is the actor, probably best known for her role as 'Miss Moneypenny' in the James Bond films starring Pierce Brosnan. She has appeared in many television series, including the BBC Comedy 'Outnumbered' as Aunt Angela and on stage in 'Amy's View' opposite Dame Judi Dench. She is currently playing the scheming Mrs Cheveley in Oscar Wilde's classic 'An Ideal Husband' at the Vaudeville Theatre...

Nov 17, 2010•41 min

10/11/2010

This week Libby Purves is joined by Michael Allen, Giles Coren, Ludovico Einaudi and Priscilla Coleman. Michael Allen is a Chelsea Pensioner who served in the the Royal Engineers and Royal Military Police for twenty-four years before becoming a Chelsea pensioner in 2007. During his career he served all over the world including Germany, France, North Africa, Borneo and Hong Kong and was a bodyguard to Sir Alec Douglas-Hume. He's one of the Pensioners performing on their new album 'Men in Scarlet'...

Nov 10, 2010•41 min

03/11/2010

This week Libby Purves is joined by Jo Wilding, Michele Dotrice, Ronald Blythe and Jane Green. In 2003 Jo Wilding spent several months in Iraq before, during and after the invasion, documenting civilian casualties and writing a weblog which became a book, 'Don't Shoot the Clowns'. She also set up and ran a small circus working with traumatised and internally displaced children there. A new play, Don't Shoot The Clowns, by Paul Hodson, inspired by Jo's book, is currently touring the UK. Michele D...

Nov 03, 2010•42 min

27/10/2010

This week Libby Purves is joined by Sheridan Smith, Sir Johnny Scott, Andrew Sharp and Alan Titchmarsh. Sheridan Smith is the actor probably best known for her many award-winning television roles which include the comedies Two Pints of Lager & A Packet of Crisps, Gavin and Stacey and Benidorm. She has recently taken the West End by storm in the hit musical Legally Blonde, playing the role of college sweetheart Elle Woods and has extended her run until next year. Legally Blonde: The Musical i...

Oct 27, 2010•42 min

20/10/2010

This week Libby Purves is joined by Simon Fisher Turner, Maggi Hambling, Sheila Steafel and Rumer. Composer Simon Fisher Turner is a former child actor and teenage pop idol. He has written a new score for the documentary The Great White Silence (1924) which is a record of Captain Scott's last Polar expedition (1910 -1912). The world premiere screening, newly restored by the BFI National Archive, is one of the highlights of the 54th BFI London Film Festival. Maggi Hambling is one of Britain's mos...

Oct 20, 2010•41 min

13/10/2010

Libby Purves is joined by Vicki Butler-Henderson, Derren Brown and Dave Spikey. Vicki Butler-Henderson presents Fifth Gear on Channel 5. As well as presenting, she is also well known for her racing, holding a Race International 'C' Class licence. Her first book, 'Vicki Butler-Henderson's 100 Sexiest Cars' is published by Carlton Books. Derren Brown has been dubbed the 'psychological illusionist'. He's a performer who combines magic, suggestion, psychology, misdirection and showmanship in order t...

Oct 13, 2010•39 min

06/10/2010

This week Libby Purves is joined by Segun Lee-French, Ray and Vi Donovan, Mary Coughlan and Simon Winchester. Segun Lee-French is a Nigerian/Mancunian a singer, poet, composer, playwright and film-maker. His latest work is an autobiographical play 'Palm wine and stout' which tells of his journey, with his mother, to a small Nigerian village to meet his dad who he'd only met once before. 'Palm wine and stout' is on tour. Ray and Vi Donovan's son Christopher was murdered in 2001. Since then they h...

Oct 06, 2010•42 min

29/09/2010

This week Libby Purves is joined by Paul Burns, Kit Chapman, David Cohen and Jane Davis. Paul Burns is a former soldier who survived an IRA bomb at Warren Point in Northern Ireland on 27th August 1979. He went on to become the first disabled member of the elite Red Devils parachute display team, and was a member of "Time and Tide", the first ever disabled crew to sail around the world. His story is featured in the BBC One series My Story. Kit Chapman is the owner of The Castle Hotel in Taunton, ...

Sep 29, 2010•42 min

22/09/2010

This week Libby Purves is joined by Philip Townsend, Alexei Sayle, Tony Fitzjohn and Harriet Mead. Philip Townsend is the celebrated sixties photographer who was renowned for taking the Rolling Stones' first ever photo shoot. In a new exhibition at The Lowry, over sixty images documenting the people, the style and the musical revolution of that decade will be on show, many for the first time including Grace Kelly, Twiggy, The Beatles and private fashion shows at Mary Quant's HQ. Mister Sixties: ...

Sep 22, 2010•42 min

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