Why do so many of us feel inspired after we have retired and long to flex our creative muscles? Having recently retired from a demanding job in part because he wants to be more 'hands on' and creative, Fergus Keeling talks to Chartered Psychologist Professor Victoria Tischler about 'life after 60' and why it is that so many people feel creatively inspired after retirement. Released from the demands of busy schedules, deadlines and meetings, Fergus discovers that we are free to connect with the c...
Jun 19, 2018•14 min
Can you have a new creative life after you have retired? Having recently stepped back from a demanding job in part because he wants to be more 'hands on' and creative, Fergus Keeling talks to Bristol hat designer Tricia Hamilton about 'life after 60' and how she changed careers from being a teacher to designing hats. As Fergus discovers, there is much to be gained from flexing your creative muscles in later life. Producer Sarah Blunt.
Jun 12, 2018•14 min
Bristol film maker Michael Jenkins became a father unexpectedly, aged 18. He found it an overwhelming experience at first but eventually grew up and into the role of being a dedicated dad to his sons who are now 11 and 6. He wanted to talk to other young men who became fathers at a young age to find out how they have dealt with the pressures of teen parenthood. Kevin Makwikila was just starting his second year at college and was planning to train to be an architect when he found out he was going...
May 22, 2018•14 min
In his One to One series on race and identity, Jay Brave explores why he doesn't identify with the term "black" when it means so much to so many other people. In this episode, he talks to Christopher Sebastian McJetters about his experiences being a black and gay man both in the USA where he's from, and in Prague where he lives now. Producer: Toby Field.
Mar 06, 2018•14 min
Jay Brave speaks to the poet Lawrence Hoo about his upbringing in a small village near Weston Super Mare, and what it was like to then move to Bristol where other people noticed the colour of his skin. He talks about how his background informs his attitude towards race and identity, and why he is now done with race. Producer: Toby Field.
Feb 27, 2018•13 min
Rachel Johnson is fascinated by the idea that women are judged more harshly than men on their parenting choices. In this first episode of two One to Ones, she meets Susanna Thomas, an egyptologist living and working in Cairo, whose twin girls live in the UK with her brother and his wife. Rachel sent her own three children to boarding school and she wants to explore the emotional cost of 'outsourcing' child-care - for both the mother and the children. Produced in Bristol by Sara Conkey
Feb 26, 2018•14 min
Jay Brave is a spoken word artist and entrepreneur who doesn't identify as "black", arguing that an understanding of ethnic background is far more important than race. But actress, director and fitness instructor Kelechi Okafor has an almost opposite approach to identity and is proud to be, and to identify as, "black". Here they meet and discuss why they think the way they do, what their experiences have been, where their views meet, and how they see themselves as agents for change. Producer: To...
Feb 20, 2018•13 min
Decca Aikenhead explores how the loss of a parent effects a child. Decca herself was nine when her mother died of cancer, and three years ago, her partner drowned suddenly and unexpectedly, leaving her with their two young sons. She has had to raise them on her own and help them cope with his death. She talks to Sandra, who lost both her father and her husband suddenly, about what happens to children when a parent dies without warning. Producer in Bristol: Sara Conkey.
Feb 13, 2018•14 min
The Olympic rower, Helen Glover, speaks to Kriss Akabusi about 'life after gold'. Helen Glover is one of our most successful athletes. In a life devoted to rowing, she has won a phenomenal 21 Olympic, World and European gold medals. But now that she is considering retirement, a life away from competitive rowing feels as daunting as it is liberating. In this programme she speaks to Kriss Akabusi MBE, the larger-than-life, multiple medal-winning Olympic, World, Commonwealth and European sprinter a...
Feb 03, 2018•14 min
Decca Aikenhead explores being bereaved as a child. This week, she talks to Bridget, who, like Decca herself, lost her Mum to cancer when she was young. Decca wonders whether having time to prepare for a death makes bereavement for children easier or harder. Cruse Bereavement Care: www.cruse.org.uk Child Bereavement UK: https://childbereavement.org.
Jan 30, 2018•14 min
The Olympian, Helen Glover, speaks to world-class badminton player, Gail Emms, about the difficult time she has had since retiring from sport. Helen Glover is one of our most successful athletes. In a life devoted to rowing, she has won a phenomenal twenty one Olympic, World and European gold medals. But now she is contemplating retirement. And she is discovering that looking to the future - towards a life away from competitive rowing - is as daunting as it is liberating. Gail Emms, alongside he...
Jan 16, 2018•14 min
The Olympic rower, Helen Glover, speaks to Dame Kelly Holmes about 'life after gold' - how to cope after retiring from sport. Helen Glover is one of our most successful athletes; in a life devoted to rowing she's won a phenomenal 21 Olympic, World and European gold medals. But now that she's considering retirement, a future away from competitive rowing seems as daunting as it is liberating. She worries that, in her early 30s, her best days could be behind her. So, for this series, she is speakin...
Jan 09, 2018•13 min
Comedy writer Sian Harries and columnist and broadcaster Grace Dent discuss that strange taboo for women - ambivalence towards motherhood. Should Sian make the decision to have a baby or not to? And she wonders will she regret somewhere down the line not having them. She and Grace talk about how other people can make you feel when you haven't got children. As the successful writer of programmes like ' Man Down', 'The Now Show' and 'Dilemma', Sian Harries explores how a fear for her career might ...
Dec 19, 2017•14 min
Comedy writer Sian Harries and Isy Suttie discuss that strange taboo - women's ambivalence towards having children. Why is it that you're supposed to want to have children, what does it mean if you're really not sure that you do, and why it is that so many people feel they have the right to tell her she's wrong to feel the way she does? Sian Harries has written comedy for The Now Show, Greg Davies' 'Man Down' and she's worked closely with her husband, the comedian Rhod Gilbert. But despite her s...
Dec 12, 2017•13 min
Journalist and mother Samantha Simmonds meets Nicki Karet who like Samantha has children who frequently compete against one another and often over the most trivial things to explore how these situations arise, how intense they can become and the ways in which Nicki tries to deal with them. Producer Sarah Blunt.
Dec 05, 2017•14 min
When she was two years old, Joanna Briscoe's life as a single child changed forever when her mother came home with a new baby in her arms. From that moment, Joanna's early childhood was over-shadowed by the rivalry with her brother for her mother's attention. Whilst her brother rapidly grew stronger and could be more physically aggressive, Joanna fought back with her tongue. In this programme, she discusses how the rivalry escalated and what she has learned from the experience with journalist an...
Nov 28, 2017•14 min
Journalist and broadcaster Samantha Simmonds has two sons who compete with one another "over everything". It's something she thinks much about and wants to explore more. She speaks to Alison Pike, Professor of Child and Family Psychology about why sibling competition develops, how it can be channelled positively, and the potential long term effects. Is it such a bad thing? Producer Sarah Blunt.
Nov 21, 2017•14 min
Broadcaster Peter Curran talks to guests about the Northern Ireland they left behind - they grew up there but then came over to mainland UK. With them he explores how they perceive the people and the politics, now that they don't live there, and how their childhood affected their own world view.
Oct 31, 2017•13 min
Broadcaster Peter Curran talks to guests about the Northern Ireland they left behind - they grew up there but then came over to mainland UK. With them he explores how they perceive the people and the politics, now that they don't live there, and how their childhood affected their own world view. Peter first met Fiona Murphy when the two of them had recently arrived in Brixton from North Belfast in the 1980s. In the thirty years since they last saw each other Fiona has gone on to be a top human r...
Oct 24, 2017•14 min
Does being in nature aid our mental health? Isabel Hardman, Assistant Editor of The Spectator, discusses with Dr Alan Kellas, a psychiatrist who advises the Royal College of Psychiatry on the subject. Isabel struggled with depression, and found that developing an interest in plants and working outside has helped her to recover. Meeting Alan in the woods, they talk of exercising outdoors, of watching the seasons turn, and of having regular places to visit that take us outside ourselves, allowing ...
Oct 13, 2017•13 min
Isabel Hardman of The Spectator asks whether growing food can improve our mental health. John Kennington or 'JK', as he's known, is a recovering alcoholic. He shares his life story with Isabel at Feed Bristol, a project that reconnects city dwellers with nature, while she explains how she learned to manage her own from being outdoors and growing plants. Producer: Mark Smalley.
Oct 13, 2017•13 min
DJ and radio presenter Trevor Nelson grew up in London and came to find out he had half siblings on the Caribbean island of St Lucia. However, for Trevor and his three sisters who were raised by his parents in the UK, this was something that didn't really have an impact on his family life until much later when Trevor finally met his half siblings. It's something that has fascinated Trevor all his life, and now in this series of One to One, he meets people to uncover what it's like to have, or to...
Oct 03, 2017•14 min
Mark Steel is obsessed with sport. Obsessed! And he's certain there's a strong link between sport and stand-up comedy - risk taking, dealing with a hostile crowd, performance anxiety. In this programme he muses on his theory with the snooker player known as 'The Entertainer', John Parrott. For this series of three programmes, he also meets sports psychologist and former figure skater, Dr. Faye Didymus; and also the former Premiership and England footballer Graeme Le Saux. You can hear extra bits...
Jul 27, 2017•19 min
Mark Steel's guest this week is impressed by his flow-state, but would like him to reduce his dependence on ironing. She is sports psychologist, Dr. Faye Didymus, from Leeds Beckett University. Mark believes that his two addictions have much in common - they are stand-up comedy (his job) and sport (watching, playing, talking about it). He's sure that there is a link between the way comedians and sporting types deal with performance anxiety, crowd hostility, risk taking and more. Dr. Didymus, who...
Jul 20, 2017•14 min
Mark Steel has two addictions: stand-up comedy (his job) and sport (watching, playing, talking about it). He's certain that the two have much in common - risk taking, performance anxiety, dealing with crowd hostility and more. His guest this week is former Premiership and England footballer, Graeme Le Saux, whose strategies for coping with playing at the highest level are more similar than you might think to Mark's own experiences - especially when it comes to dealing with crowds who don't reall...
Jul 13, 2017•18 min
Single mum, Miranda Rae meets father of three, Andy Hill, to explore the challenges of being a single dad. Producer Sarah Blunt.
Mar 10, 2017•12 min
Miranda Rae meets Gill Sargent to explore the challenges of being a single mum with a child of dual heritage - something they both have in common. Life for any single parent is far from easy, but whilst trying to raise her son, Gill has also had to endure prejudice and racism in addition to exhaustion, isolation and homelessness. Producer Sarah Blunt.
Mar 09, 2017•12 min
Miranda Rae is a single mum with a young son who is 9 years old. Life is far from easy for any single parent, but in this programme Miranda meets mother-of-three, Josephine Pepper, who found herself on her own with 3 children under the age of three, when her husband died of cancer. Despite her grief at the death of her husband, Josephine's story is one of remarkable courage, resilience and joy in her children and in life itself. Producer Sarah Blunt.
Mar 08, 2017•12 min
Lucy Mangan avoids responsibility wherever possible. She's got cats instead of dogs because she can't face a needy pet; she only has one child 'and that's more than enough.' But she's always been fascinated by those who run towards responsibility rather than away from it. Today she talks to Reverend Claire Herbert about a life dedicated to helping others. One of the first women priests to be ordained, Claire was working as a rector at St Anne's church in Soho when the Admiral Duncan bomb explode...
Feb 28, 2017•14 min
Lucy Mangan feels she avoids responsibility whenever possible. She has cats instead of dogs because she can't face a needy pet; she only has one child which is 'more than enough'. But she's always been fascinated by those who run towards responsibility rather than away from it. She talks to Bea Harvie, a post-graduate student, whose father got ill when she was thirteen. Bea chose to take on a lot of caring duties towards her younger siblings while her Mother was busy caring for her Father. She d...
Feb 21, 2017•14 min
