One to One - podcast cover

One to One

BBC Radio 4www.bbc.co.uk

Series of interviews in which broadcasters follow their personal passions by talking to the people whose stories interest them most

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Episodes

Growing Up with a Gay Dad

David Gregory-Kumar is a BBC journalist, and a gay dad. For this edition of One to One, he speaks to Sophie Mei Lan about her experience of growing up with a gay dad and step-dad. Sophie Mei Lan is a journalist, blogger and vlogger in her early 30s. She grew up, from the age of 3, partly with her gay dad and step-dad. She talks to David about the severe bullying she faced in high school, and how she learned to cope. But she also recalls the lighter, if rather excruciating, moment when she was mi...

Jul 30, 201914 min

Being a Gay Dad

David Gregory-Kumar talks about parenting with fellow gay dad, Chris Hurlston. David is a BBC journalist, and he's also a gay dad. Across three editions of One to One he is exploring different aspects of gay parenting. Today he meets Chris Hurlston whose children were carried by surrogate mothers, one from India and the other from Nepal. David and Chris discuss their different experiences of surrogacy, the challenges of raising a daughter, and the protests against teaching LGBT equality in the c...

Jul 23, 201916 min

A Surrogate's Story

David Gregory-Kumar is a BBC journalist, and he's also a gay dad. Across three editions of One to One, he's exploring different aspects of gay parenting. Today he speaks to DaJon, the surrogate who carried his, and his husband Suraj's, baby girl. Producer: Karen Gregor

Jul 16, 201915 min

Emma Freud meets Rukmini Callimachi

Broadcaster, journalist and producer Emma Freud had a dream to work in hard news. She talks to Rukmini Callimachi from the New York Times and presenter of the podcast 'Caliphrate' about her investigations into Islamic State. She asks Rukmini how fear doesn't stop her; why she seeks to understand those who join IS; and whether there is anything that would make her stop. Producer: Sara Coneky

Jul 09, 201913 min

Emma Freud talks to Christina Lamb

Broadcaster, columnist and producer Emma Freud always wanted to be a news journalist but never had the confidence or courage to pursue it. She talks to Chief Foreign Correspondent for The Sunday Times Christina Lamb about the realities of the job, to discover if she could ever have achieved her dream. Producer: Sara Conkey

Jul 02, 201914 min

Emma Freud talks to Emily Maitlis

Broadcaster, columnist and producer Emma Freud dreamed of being a news journalist. She felt she never had the courage to pursue it, but still wonders if she had what it takes. Emma talks to Newsnight's Emily Maitlis about the adrenaline of the job; whether she ever has self-doubt - and what really drives her. Producer: Sara Conkey

Jun 25, 201914 min

Life in prison: Alan Rusbridger talks to Dr Sohom Das

Former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger meets Dr Sohom Das, a consultant forensic psychiatrist. His job is to assess, treat and rehabilitate mentally ill offenders. Dr Sohom discusses the effect that a life behind bars has upon the mind, tells Alan about the times when he has made a difference, and talks about the challenges of treating mentally ill offenders inside jail. Producer: Camellia Sinclair

Apr 16, 201914 min

Life in prison: Alan Rusbridger talks to CJ Burge

In her early twenties, CJ Burge was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison for importing drugs into Japan. She went on to spend six years in jail, first in Japan and then in the UK. Today, with a first class Law degree earned through study in prison, she is a different person. CJ talks to Alan Rusbridger about life in prison in two different countries and reveals the effect that imprisonment had on her mental state. She tells him about being grateful for incarceration and about how she use...

Apr 09, 201914 min

Life in prison: Alan Rusbridger talks to Jonathan Aitken

In 1999, Jonathan Aitken was sentenced to 18 months for perjury and perverting the course of justice. He went on to spend seven months behind bars, in three different prisons. At the time, Alan Rusbridger was his adversary. Then editor of The Guardian newspaper, Alan had reported Jonathan to the police for perjury after a high profile libel trial. Twenty years on, Alan sits down with Jonathan, now a chaplain at Pentonville Prison, to find out what he learned from life behind bars, how the experi...

Apr 02, 201914 min

Mourning – traditions in Hinduism

Euella Jackson meets Dr Girdari Bhan who is actively involved in the Interfaith Network for the UK and past President of the World Hindu Council UK, to hear about the structured approach to death and mourning practised in Hinduism. Having a Jamaican heritage, and a traditional way of mourning called Nine Nights, Euella is keen to find out what we can learn from other cultures and faiths to help us through the grieving process. Producer Sarah Bunt

Mar 26, 201914 min

Mourning – traditions in Judaism

Euella Jackson meets Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis to hear about the structured approach to mourning offered in Judaism which aims to guide the mourners through their loss and ease them back into the world beyond grief. Having a Jamaican heritage, and a tradition of mourning called Nine Nights, Euella is keen to find out what we can learn from other cultures and faiths to help us through the grieving process. Producer Sarah Blunt

Mar 19, 201914 min

Mourning - Nine Nights

Euella Jackson explores how we navigate grief with fellow Jamaican Maaureesha Shaw as they discuss the tradition of nine nights - the period that is spent in mourning prior to the funeral. Do rituals help? What can we learn from the rituals and traditions of other cultures and beliefs? Producer Sarah Bunt

Mar 12, 201914 min

Rachel Johnson talks to Absent Mothers: Sarah

Rachel Johnson is fascinated how mothers are often judged more harshly for their parenting choices than men. She meets Sarah, who chose to live away from her two children for some months in order to deal with her drug-taking. This is something Rachel knows something about as her own mother left the family home during an episode of mental illness when she was a child. Rachel explores the effect of this separation on both the children and the mother. Produced in Bristol by Sara Conkey

Mar 05, 201914 min

Working Too Hard? Busy and important

The New Statesman's Helen Lewis meets Brigid Schulte from the Better Life Lab, and author of "Overwhelmed: How to Work, Love and Play When No One Has the Time". Brigid argues that we confuse being busy with being important, and that a lot of our so-called work time is time wasted. So what's the alternative? Producer: Chris Ledgard

Feb 19, 201914 min

Working Too Hard? The Gig Economy

Helen Lewis, associate editor of the New Statesman, meets Deliveroo and Uber Eats rider, Aaron Tatlow. What's it like to work for an app on your phone, when your boss is an algorithm? Some customers are very friendly, Aaron says - one man just lowers a basket for the food from his second floor window. And what about the dangers of the job, and the physical demands? Last year, Aaron cycled more than 10,000 miles delivering food to customers in York. Producer: Chris Ledgard

Feb 12, 201913 min

Working too hard? The four-day week

Helen Lewis meets the distinguished economist Robert Skidelsky, who's been asked by the Shadow Chancellor to lead an inquiry into a four-day working week. Lord Skidelsky is a biographer of John Maynard Keynes, who predicted we'd be working 15 hours a week by 2030. So what has happened to the Keynesian dream? And, as he approaches his 80th birthday, why is Lord Skidelsky still working so hard? Producer: Chris Ledgard

Feb 05, 201914 min

MSN Messenger

Tech journalist Jack Dearlove grew up with Microsoft Messenger. Back in the early 2000s, it was vital for teen communication. Jack is nostalgic about it, and he’s not alone. Here he speaks to software developer Jonathan Kay who has tried to keep MSN Messenger alive even after Microsoft tried to kill it off. Producer: Jolyon Jenkins

Dec 18, 201814 min

The last space shuttle

In 2011, tech journalist Jack Dearlove was at university and won a competition to go to the Kennedy Space Center to "live tweet" the last American Space Shuttle. As a self-confessed space nerd, it was one of the most exciting - and emotional - days of his life. But what was it like for the astronauts on board? Here he talks to Doug Hurley, one of the four on board. Now in his fifties, Doug is still planning one last mission into space, with Elon Musk's new generation of space craft. If successfu...

Dec 18, 201814 min

Lynne Truss on travel: Walk or Pilgrimage?

In the last of three programmes exploring our experiences of travel and why we do it, Lynne Truss joins Will Parsons, co-founder of the British Pilgrimage Trust on a short pilgrimage along the Old Way in East Sussex. They begin under the ancient Yew tree in Mary and St Peter’s Church in Wilmington and walk via the Long Man and Saint Peter of Vincula in Folkington to St Andrews’ Church in Jevington. The journey offers Lynne a chance to discover what a pilgrimage is and how it differs from a walk....

Nov 27, 201814 min

Lynne Truss on travel: A year in a camper-van

In the second of three programmes about travel and why we do it, Lynne Truss talks to Jillian Moody about her experiences of travelling across the world in a campervan with her husband and three young daughters. The family bought a second-hand campervan prior to the trip which had no shower and no toilet and after a terrible first night, reality took its toll as they realised their itinerary would have to change. They were faced with many challenges en route but after 38,000 miles, there's no do...

Nov 20, 201814 min

Soumaya Keynes meets Stephen Machin

The Economist's Soumaya Keynes continues her quest to find out why the study of economics is so dominated by men. Does that affect the kind of economics we get, and why does that matter? In her second programme, Soumaya meets Professor Stephen Machin, Director of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics, who thinks it's a problem some in his profession are failing to recognize. Producer: Chris Ledgard.

Nov 16, 201814 min

Lynne Truss on travel: Is it worth it?

When it comes to travel is the expectation greater than the realisation? Lynne Truss has been a writer for over 25 years and without making it a conscious ambition she has travelled to a huge number of destinations. But if you ask her if she likes travelling, she will say "Absolutely not, I hate it. I find its utterly stressful." This has made her curious as to why we travel. In an age when we have access to the world at the click of a button on the internet or the TV, why do we still want to ph...

Nov 13, 201814 min

Inheritance: Give it up or pass it on?

Bronwen Maddox meets the environmentalist Tom Burke, who plans to pass on the majority of his legacy to his passion: supporting bird life. Tom was brought up on a council estate in Plymouth, and didn't inherit any money from his parents. He says hard work, luck and the property price boom have given him a substantial amount to pass on. But he believes leaving too much money to younger family members is the wrong thing to do - and he doesn't want it to go to the state. Producer: Chris Ledgard...

Nov 09, 201814 min

Inheritance: When It Gets Complicated

Bronwen Maddox talks to Lancaster solicitor and stepfather Gary Rycroft about solving disputes. Our family structures are getting more and more complicated, we're getting more and more demanding, so how can we avoid inheritance disputes? He talks about what writing wills in his professional life has led him to do in his own personal family life. Producer: Chris Ledgard

Nov 09, 201814 min

Inheritance: Who Gets the Farm?

Who gets the farm? Bronwen Maddox goes to Wicton Farm in Herefordshire to meet Claire Howlett. Claire runs the farm with her brother Daniel, while her parents still live in the farmhouse. Succession is a big issue in farming, and Claire explains how she and her family handled the difficulties of passing on the management of this farm from one generation to the next. Producer: Chris Ledgard

Nov 09, 201814 min

Soumaya Keynes meets Beatrice Cherrier

The story of women's under-representation in economics: from the 1920s to #MeToo - how much progress has there really been in the last 100 years? The Economist's Soumaya Keynes talks to Beatrice Cherrier from the French National Centre for Scientific Research, who writes, blogs and tweets on the history of economics studies. Producer: Chris Ledgard.

Nov 09, 201813 min

Soumaya Keynes meets Claudia Goldin

Does economics have a problem with women? The Economist's Soumaya Keynes shares experiences with Harvard's Claudia Goldin, a former president of the American Economic Association.

Nov 09, 201813 min

Coming Back From the Brink

Community Radio Awards 2016 Female Presenter of the Year, Primrose Granville talks to the Jamaican chef Henroy Brown about his near death experience as a young man in his twenties, when he was diagnosed first with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, and then with the near fatal Steven Johnson syndrome. She herself came through a very traumatic point in her own life. In 2003 she was an Early Years/Special Needs practitioner with dreams of becoming a Head Teacher, married with a young son. A freak incident end...

Nov 05, 201814 min

Young Dads: Gary Meikle

Becoming a parent is a challenge at any age, but imagine becoming one before the age of 20. We hear a lot about teenage mothers, but very little about or from the teenage Dads who play an active part in their children's lives. What is it like for young men to find themselves responsible for a child at such a young age? How do they cope? In this series of frank discussions between young Dads, Michael Jenkins who became a father aged 18 talks to other young men who have gone through similar experi...

Oct 31, 201814 min

Michael Jenkins meets Adam James

Michael Jenkins became a Dad unexpectedly aged 18. In this series he's been talking to other men who were also teenage fathers. They talk frankly and openly about the challenges of parenthood at such a young age. Adam James admits to having very little focus in his life and was half heartedly going to college when he discovered aged 18 that his partner was pregnant. Becoming a Dad has meant learning responsibility, discipline and patience and he's now 24 and has two children. He talks to Michael...

Oct 31, 201814 min
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