Libby Purves meets folk singer Peggy Seeger; cartoonist Stanley McMurtry; composer Milton Mermikides and director Alex Mermikides and auctioneer James Buchanan. Stanley McMurtry MBE, otherwise known as MAC, has been the Daily Mail's cartoonist for the past 46 years. He started out as an animator before becoming a cartoonist, producing daily images for the Daily Sketch and latterly the Mail. Mac views his role as making "dreary news of the daily paper brighter by putting in a laugh". In all of hi...
Oct 28, 2015•42 min
Libby Purves meets writer and comedian Dawn French; Egyptologist Professor Joann Fletcher; Wilfred Frost, son of Sir David Frost and wing walker Nikita Salmon. Professor Joann Fletcher is based in the Department of Archaeology at the University of York where she teaches world mummification and funerary archaeology. Her book, The Story of Egypt, tells Egypt's ancient story by looking into the lives of its working people, as well as the pharaohs, to investigate this ancient society through its peo...
Oct 21, 2015•42 min
Dawn Rose started out as a session drummer with bands including 90s group Right Said Fred before becoming a psychologist and music therapist. She is performing in The Happiness Project at the Roundhouse which was devised by a company of young artists, scientists and academics to explore our understanding of happiness and well-being. Dawn will perform a drum duet with one of the teenagers during the performance. The Happiness Project is at the Roundhouse, London. At 12 Gulwali Passarlay was sent ...
Oct 14, 2015•42 min
Libby Purves meets actor Brian Blessed; midwife Mark Harris; artist Alinah Azadeh and environmentalist and peace campaigner Satish Kumar. For 20 years Mark Harris has worked as a qualified midwife, delivering hundreds of babies. He is one of just a small number of male midwives currently practising in the UK. Mark is also founder of the birth education programme Birthing For Blokes, a service providing antenatal classes designed to prepare men for fatherhood. Men, Love and Birth by Mark Harris i...
Oct 07, 2015•42 min
Libby Purves meets writer Frederick Forsyth; entertainer Sir Bruce Forsyth; costumier Tim Angel and stonemason Louise Tiplady. Tim Angel OBE runs Angels Costumiers which has been dressing the entertainment business for 175 years. The company has supplied costumes for television, theatre and film productions from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Star Wars to The Iron Lady and Morecambe and Wise. The exhibition, Dressed by Angels, tells the history of the costumier and features bespoke costumes made fo...
Sep 30, 2015•42 min
Libby Purves meets children's writer Julia Donaldson; author Iain Sinclair; QC Gary Bell and journalist and food writer Michael Booth. Michael Booth is a travel and food writer who became something of a a cultural phenomenon in Japan after his book Sushi and Beyond became a bestseller. The book, which traces his culinary journey across Japan, was transformed into a cartoon series on Japanese television featuring Michael and his family as characters. Michael is attending this year's Hyper Japan F...
Jul 08, 2015•42 min
Libby Purves meets musician Richard Thompson; writer and broadcaster Peter York; Julie Nicholson - whose daughter Jenny was killed during the 7/7 attacks - and novelist Toby Clements. Peter York is an author, broadcaster and management consultant. His show How To Become A Nicer Type Of Person is at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It's his personal guide to navigating modern life from what to say, what to think to what to wear - he's definitely not fond of what he calls "sports-derived clothing." ...
Jul 01, 2015•41 min
Libby Purves meets former Formula One boss and privacy campaigner Max Mosley; television presenter Jerry Springer; comic and actor Josie Lawrence and adventure cameraman Keith Partridge. Josie Lawrence is a comedian and actor. She is appearing in the improvised panel show Whose Line Is It Anyway? Live along with Greg Proops and Colin Mochrie. She is also performing with the Comedy Players at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. The Players finish their show with a six-person improvised Shakespeare play ...
Jun 24, 2015•42 min
Alfie Moore is a policeman who is also a stand-up comedian. In his radio series, It's A Fair Cop, he swears his audience in and takes them through a real life scenario to see what sort of officers they'd have made. Alfie began telling jokes about life in the force as a hobby when he was working as a detective for Humberside Police in Scunthorpe. He is currently on sabbatical from the force and is about to embark on a national tour. It's A Fair Cop is broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Lucy Saxon writes f...
Jun 17, 2015•42 min
Libby Purves meets Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood; brewer Jaega Wise; former hostage Robin Plummer and historian Nick Barratt. Jaega Wise is head brewer at Wild Card Brewery. She founded the company with two friends after leaving Loughborough University where she studied chemical engineering. She was inspired by her aunt who brewed different types of beer and wine. Wild Card Brewery now produces over 4,000 litres of beer a week. Wild Card Brewery, Walthamstow, London E17 9HQ. Dr...
Jun 10, 2015•42 min
Libby Purves meets Graham Fellows and his alter ego John Shuttleworth; poet and naturalist Matthew Oates; artist and writer William McLellan and fight director Kate Waters. Graham Fellows is an actor and musician who is best known for creating the character John Shuttleworth. John is a fictional singer and songwriter from Sheffield whose back catalogue includes the track Pigeons in Flight. Graham is also the man behind Jilted John who had an eponymous hit in 1978. John Shuttleworth hosts A Knigh...
Jun 03, 2015•42 min
Libby Purves meets Ingrid von Oelhafen who was taken from her family in Yugoslavia as a baby and brought up as an Aryan child in the Nazi Party's notorious Lebensborn programme; photographer turned top hat seller Colin Rosie; musician Chi-chi Nwanoku and Tristan Gooley, writer and expedition leader. Colin Rosie is a photographer turned top hat seller. In 2013 he found himself homeless after the collapse of his business. He spent months sleeping rough until financial help from a charity enabled h...
May 20, 2015•42 min
Lucy Branch is a conservator. She specialises in the conservation of sculptural and architectural bronze and contemporary materials. She has worked on high-profile projects including Eros, Nelson's Column and the Queen Victoria Memorial. She has led the conservation work on some of Britain's best known contemporary sculpture including Ron Arad's The Big Blue and Wendy Taylor's Conqueror. Her novel, A Rarer Gift Than Gold, is published by Clink Street. She is director of the company Antique Bronz...
May 13, 2015•42 min
Libby Purves meets singer and actor Anita Harris; polar explorer Paul Rose; art historian Vanessa Nicolson and Zoe Phillips, assistant armourer at the Royal Opera House. Zoe Phillips is senior assistant armourer at the Royal Opera House. She makes and maintains weaponry for opera and ballet productions. Her work ranges from knives, swords, and retractable daggers to leather holsters and scabbards and she is currently working on items for a new Royal Opera House production of Rossini's William Te...
May 06, 2015•42 min
Gillian Potts is a former army officer and civil servant turned amateur garden designer. She is taking part in BBC television's The Great Chelsea Garden Challenge which offers one amateur designer the chance to design and build a garden on the Main Avenue at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The Great Chelsea Garden Challenge is broadcast on BBC Two. Bruce Fogle is an author and clinical veterinarian who co-founded Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. Born and raised in Toronto, he spent holidays by Lake Ch...
Apr 29, 2015•27 min
Libby Purves meets director Polly Findlay; writer Huan Hsu; comedian and performer Deborah Frances-White and Jane Dolby, founder of the Fishwives Choir. Huan Hsu is a journalist and academic. In his book, The Porcelain Thief, he tells the story of his great-great-grandfather Liu, a scholar in the late 19th century who lived in the village of Xingang in China. In 1938, as the Japanese army approached, he buried his collection of prized porcelain in a vault in the ground before fleeing with his fa...
Apr 22, 2015•41 min
Carl Davis CBE is a composer and conductor, best known for his film and television music including The World at War; Pride and Prejudice and The French Lieutenant's Woman. He has also created symphonic scores for a range of Charlie Chaplin's movies such as The Gold Rush and City Lights. He conducts a live orchestra in London and Birmingham at the screening of two classic silent movies: Buster Keaton's The General and Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times. Philharmonia at the Movies: The General is at R...
Apr 15, 2015•42 min
Libby Purves meets wildlife presenter Steve Backshall; writer and academic Mary Chamberlain; pickpocket entertainer James Freedman and retailer Trevor Pickett. James Freedman is a pickpocket entertainer whose new show, Man of Steal, exposes how criminals operate and how people can avoid becoming victims of street crime. The show incorporates his sleight of hand trickery and reflects his lifelong study of criminology and the psychology of thieves. James is also an advisor and educator on the subj...
Apr 08, 2015•42 min
Libby Purves meets headmaster and writer Sir Anthony Seldon; former rock critic Richard Goldstein; chocolatier Paul Wayne Gregory and singer and songwriter Kimmie Rhodes. Paul Wayne Gregory is an award-winning chocolatier who provided chocolates for the Queen's 80th birthday celebrations. He trained as a pastry chef before learning the art of chocolate artistry in France and Spain under chefs Jean Valentine and Oriol Balaguer. He is currently working on a chocolate art exhibition which will feat...
Apr 01, 2015•42 min
Libby Purves meets archaeologist Deirdre O'Sullivan of the Greyfriars Research Team which discovered and excavated Richard III; pilot Mark Vanhoenacker; Frances Ross the great-granddaughter of engineer Sebastian de Ziani Ferranti and Penny Horner and Howard Jameson who co-founded the Jermyn Street Theatre. Deirdre O'Sullivan is an archaeologist at Leicester University. A specialist in medieval archaeology and friaries, she is academic advisor to the Greyfriars Project which discovered and excava...
Mar 25, 2015•42 min
Libby Purves meets cartoonist Gerald Scarfe; former journalist Eimear O'Callaghan; actor Greg Wise and rock climber Ben Moon. Eimear O'Callaghan is a former BBC news editor whose book Belfast Days is based on the diary she kept in 1972 at the height of the Troubles. The book records her and her family's experiences throughout this turbulent year. From the inconvenience of British Army check-points and power cuts to the horror of shootings, bombings and almost 500 killings, her teenage jottings c...
Mar 18, 2015•42 min
Mariella Frostrup meets entrepreneur Michelle Mone; comedian and writer Tony Hawks; singer and songwriter Doug Seegers and actor and director Lillete Dubey. Michelle Mone OBE is an entrepreneur and motivational speaker. In her memoir, My Fight to the Top, she tells of growing up in the tough East End of Glasgow and launching a global lingerie business. As a child she had a poster of Richard Branson on her bedroom wall and a paper round at 10. Her company made millions, she mixed in elevated circ...
Mar 11, 2015•42 min
Libby Purves meets pianist Nicholas McCarthy; actor and director Clarke Peters; shepherdess Amanda Owen and chef and restaurateur Raymond Blanc. Nicholas McCarthy is a pianist who is making his debut at London's Purcell Room at Southbank Centre. Born without his right hand, he went on to study at the Royal College of Music and is the only one-handed pianist to graduate from the institution. At his concert he will perform a wide variety of repertoire including Chopin, Bach, Strauss, Liszt and Ger...
Mar 04, 2015•42 min
Libby Purves meets retail guru Mary Portas; opera singer Noah Stewart; glass artist Peter Layton and florist Rosemary Hughes. Peter Layton is an artist and glassmaker known as the grandmaster of glass. His new exhibition, Young Masters, showcases work by some of Britain's best young glass artists working today. Peter began his career in ceramics but was drawn to the immediacy and spontaneity of glassmaking in the Sixties. In 1976 Peter opened London Glassblowing and today it is one of Europe's f...
Feb 25, 2015•41 min
Libby Purves meets actor Mark Strong; former rugby player Maggie Alphonsi; artist Daphne Todd and blues and jazz singer Carol Grimes. Carol Grimes is a jazz and blues singer and songwriter. Her new show, The Singer's Tale, recreates her life story through spoken word and original music. Carol spent her early life as a busker in London before eventually coming to prominence in 1969 as a member of the band Delivery. The Singer's Tale is at St James Studio Theatre, London. Mark Strong is a film, te...
Feb 18, 2015•41 min
Libby Purves meets actor Pam St Clement; academic and journalist Professor John Sutherland and his son Jack; swimmer Adam Walker and concert pianist Sam Haywood. Adam Walker is the only British swimmer to have completed the Ocean's 7 Challenge - seven open water swims including the English Channel, the Strait of Gibraltar and the Molokai Channel in Hawaii. He started the swims in 2008 and faced sharks, whales, treacherous sea conditions and dozens of bouts of sickness during the challenge. Adam ...
Feb 11, 2015•42 min
Libby Purves meets actor Bonnie Langford; Nick Wisdom, son of Norman; Tom Vaughan, co-founder of Juliana's Discotheque; Dr Aaron Rosen who devised the Jewish Museum London's exhibition called Love and student Zack McGuiness. Zack McGuinness is a student at Kings College, London where Aaron Rosen lectures in sacred traditions and the arts. Aaron devised the Jewish Museum London's new exhibition called Love which features everyday objects, historic artefacts and works of art inspired by love. For ...
Feb 04, 2015•42 min
Libby Purves meets actor Cathy Tyson; Sir Tim Smit, co-founder of the Eden Project; singer and songwriter Adam Cohen and designer Rupert Harry Miller. Cathy Tyson is a television, film and theatre actor. She plays the title role of Marie Curie in Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie by Alan Alda. She starred opposite the late Bob Hoskins in the 1986 film Mona Lisa for which she was nominated for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe award. She appeared on television in Band of Gold and Grange Hill and on s...
Jan 28, 2015•42 min
Libby Purves meets Barbara Winton, daughter of Sir Nicholas Winton who orchestrated the Kindertransport rescue mission; Lord Alf Dubs who was one of the rescued children; actor Anne Reid; inventor Dr John C Taylor and horticulturalist and mixologist Lottie Muir. Dr John C Taylor OBE is an inventor, businessman and collector. He recently designed a new chronophage clock featuring a dragon that waves its tail and swallows a single pearl at the top of every hour. He holds 400 patents and an estimat...
Jan 21, 2015•42 min
Libby Purves meets hypnotist and self-help writer Paul McKenna; theatre director Jonathan Church; chef Judy Joo and Rear Admiral Kit Layman. Judy Joo is a Korean-American chef. Her new TV series, Korean Food Made Simple, explores South Korea's food markets, culinary traditions and street food. Judy graduated in engineering and worked in New York's financial district before enrolling at the French Culinary Institute. Based in London, she has worked at Claridges, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and Hesto...
Jan 14, 2015•42 min
