What constitutes success and failure, particularly in the creative industries? And who gets to make that judgement anyway? Rosie Millard has reported on people following their dreams and striving for success in the unpredictable world of the creative arts throughout her 30 years as an arts journalist and broadcaster. She says in many cases there is the same narrative arc, that luck and persistence will win the day. All you need to do is follow your dream, and success will be yours. But this is j...
Jan 25, 2021•14 min
Rosie Millard has reported on people following their dreams and striving for success in the unpredictable world of the creative arts throughout her 30 years as an arts journalist and broadcaster. In the background, there lurks the same narrative arc: that luck and persistence will win the day. All you need to do is follow your dream, and success will be yours! But nothing's ever simple. Many people don't ever achieve the success they wanted or expected, for others it’s just a long hard slog, and...
Jan 25, 2021•14 min
18 year old Mya-Rose Craig, aka Birdgirl is a very keen birdwatcher having seen over half the world’s’ birds in her global travels. What she doesn’t see as a British Bangladeshi are many like herself in the forests, fens, mountains and other rural landscapes in the UK. In recent years she has run Nature Camps to actively encourage Black and Visible Minority ethnic people outdoors. In this, the second of two programmes, she shares her experiences and challenges with Zakiya Mckenzie: postgraduate ...
Sep 29, 2020•14 min
In the first of two programmes exploring how we can increase diversity outdoors in the rural landscape, 18 year old Mya-Rose Craig, aka Birdgirl talks to Rhiane Fatinikun about Black Girls Hike which she founded about a year ago to enable black women to benefit from the comradery of other black women and enjoy the tranquillity of rural areas. Mya-Rose Craig is a very keen birdwatcher having seen over half the world’s birds in her global travels. But what she doesn’t see as a British Bangladeshi ...
Sep 22, 2020•14 min
Poet and runner Helen Mort talks to retired Olympic track and field athlete Anyika Onuora about body image in sport. In the last of three programmes about body modification and the relationship between how we present ourselves physically to the world and how we feel, Helen swaps experiences with Anyika about striving for ’the perfect image‘ and the effects training and competitive sport have on the body’s shape. Anyika reveals her lack of confidence about her body and how she managed this whilst...
Sep 15, 2020•14 min
How significant is our hair when it comes to projecting an image of ourselves and how we feel? In the second programme about body modification, poet Helen Mort talks to hair stylist Niamh Kavanagh about the role of hair in expressing our personality. Throughout her life Helen has changed the colour and style of her hair and also had her head shaved. She is fascinated by people’s responses to hair and what it says about them and us. Niamh has also experimented with her own hair as well as cutting...
Sep 08, 2020•14 min
Tattooed poet Helen Mort talks to Tattooist Lou Hopper about “getting inked”. In the first of two programmes about body modifications, Helen explores the body as a canvas and tattoos as an art form. Why do people choose to decorate their skin with tattoos? How do they make the wearer feel? What responses do tattoos evoke ? Are tattoos a way of projecting our personality? What do visual modifications reveal about an individual? Producer Sarah Blunt
Sep 01, 2020•14 min
What are you: an introvert or an extrovert? Russell Kane is a comedian, so he has always assumed he's a textbook loud-mouthed extrovert. But now he's not so sure. Across this series of interviews, Russell explores exactly what we mean by the terms "introvert" and "extrovert". He questions whether it is useful to define people in this way and whether we have a cultural bias towards one personality type over the other. In this third and final interview, Russell talks to fellow comedian Angela Barn...
Aug 25, 2020•14 min
What are you: an introvert or an extrovert? Russell Kane is a comedian, so he has always assumed he's a textbook loud-mouthed extrovert. But now he's not so sure. Across this series of interviews, Russell explores exactly what we mean by the terms "introvert" and "extrovert". He questions whether it is useful to define people in this way and whether we have a cultural bias towards one personality type over the other. In this second of three parts, Russell talks to author Jessica Pan about her ye...
Aug 18, 2020•13 min
What are you: an introvert or an extrovert? Russell Kane is a comedian, so he has always assumed he's a textbook loud-mouthed extrovert. But now he's not so sure. Across this series of interviews, Russell explores exactly what we mean by the terms "introvert" and "extrovert". He questions whether it is useful to define people in this way and whether we have a cultural bias towards one personality type over the other. In this first of three parts, Russell asks psychotherapist and author Mark Vern...
Aug 11, 2020•14 min
Having celebrated her 81st birthday this year and her 70th with a high speed boat ride down the River Thames, Diana Davies has no intention of leaving her own bungalow and moving in to a retirement home. Age, she argues, is a number not a condition. But how do you keep control of your life if very well meaning family and friends try to persuade you to be less independent as you get older? In this, the last of three conversations about taking control of your life, paralympic athlete and adventure...
Jun 30, 2020•14 min
How do you take control of your life when you find yourself facing a crisis or unexpected events turn everything that is familiar and certain upside-down? In the second of three conversations about taking control of your life, Paralympic athlete and adventurer Karen Darke talks to single mother and property developer Justine Shuttleworth. Six years ago Justine became very ill. She sought medical advice but her condition didn't improve. She felt isolated and fearful as the physical and mental eff...
Jun 16, 2020•14 min
How do you take control of your life when you find yourself facing a crisis or unexpected events turn everything that is familiar and certain upside-down? Paralympic cyclist and athlete Karen Darke began her working life as a geologist until a climbing accident resulted in her paralysis from the chest down. Overnight her life radically changed but today she’s a full time athlete and became Paralympic Champion in Rio in 2016. In the first of three conversations about taking control of your life s...
Jun 09, 2020•14 min
Since she was a university student, Katya Adler has been fascinated by the idea of personality - how personalities are formed, how they can change, and whether we even really have a fixed set of characteristics. For the third and final part of this One to One series about personality, Katya speaks to Wiebke Bleidorn, professor of social and personality psychology and head of the Personality Change Lab at the University of California, Davis. Wiebke talks to Katya about how the field of personalit...
May 19, 2020•14 min
For the second in this interview series about personality - what it is, how it's formed and how it can change - Katya Adler talks to Simon Hattenstone, features writer at The Guardian newspaper. For over two decades, Simon has interviewed famous personalities, pulling back their masks to reveal the essence beneath - what motivates them, what drives them, what they are really like. Katya talks to Simon about how he tries to get under the skin of his interviewees, how the personalities of his inte...
May 05, 2020•14 min
For more than twenty years, from war zones to the seats of political power, Katya Adler has interviewed, observed, told people's stories. And she's always been fascinated by what makes people tick - their personality. Can we change or fake it? In the first of three programmes, Katya meets Olympic athlete and vice-president of Headway, James Cracknell, who suffered an injury to the brain a decade ago which caused some of his personality traits to change. Katya and James discuss the impact of the ...
Apr 28, 2020•14 min
Elsie Owusu meets Lord Chris Smith, the former Secretary of State for Culture and chair of the Millennium Commission, to discuss what he feels is his architectural legacy: from the Eden project to the Dome and beyond. Across three editions of One to One, Elsie - an architect - has been exploring the connection between architecture, art and justice. In today's discussion Lord Smith mulls over his time in office and discusses what he's proudest of: the reintroduction of free museum entrance, and w...
Feb 24, 2020•14 min
The artist, Yinka Shonibare CBE, talks to the architect Elsie Owusu about his ambitious and challenging project in Nigeria where he is building two residential centres for artists. One will be in Lagos, the other in the rural setting of Ijebu, which will be based on a working farm. Yinka is a wheelchair user, and he discusses his idea of "enabling architecture", as well as the importance of providing employment for local people, and spreading the word about Nigeria's vibrant cultural life. Produ...
Feb 18, 2020•14 min
Architect Elsie Owusu discusses the refurbishment of the Supreme Court building with Lady Hale. The creation of the Supreme Court in 2009 was a defining moment in UK legal history. And in architectural history, too. It was decided to refurbish the century-old Middlesex Guildhall which stands in London's Parliament Square. At the time it housed seven Crown Courts and was, according to Lady Hale, 'cluttered and gloomy'. Lady Hale, who has recently retired as the first female President of the Supre...
Feb 11, 2020•17 min
What happens when you become obsessed by words? What happens when this obsession becomes so severe that your life becomes a frenzied narrative filling your every waking moment ? How do you escape? Verity Sharp meets Tim Parks who shares his experiences of a painful chronic condition brought about by a constant mental and physical tension, related to his work as a writer. When doctors couldn’t explain his symptoms, he was forced to look elsewhere. He didn’t give up writing. He has learned to be i...
Feb 04, 2020•14 min
Could idling help free us from the treadmill of work and increase our creativity? Is boredom conducive to creativity? In the first of two programmes we hear from psychoanalyst, Professor of Modern Literary Theory at Goldsmiths University of London, author and practising idler Josh Cohen. He talks to Verity Sharp about the value of idling, how a much more relaxed attitude to life is not a hindrance but can encourage creativity and why being bored can be positive! Producer Sarah Blunt
Jan 28, 2020•14 min
In 2015 Arabella Dorman hung a boat upside down in a Piccadilly church. The boat had been carrying refugees in the eastern Mediterranean, but now it was a piece of art, a symbol of 'exile and desperation' as well as courage and hope. Cartoonist Gerald Scarfe, who reported from Vietnam and Northern Ireland, wants to know if there is a different way to report the news, so here he talks to Arabella about whether her boat worked. The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde
Jan 14, 2020•13 min
When photographer Paul Conroy was injured during a Syrian rocket attack in 2012, his first thought was probably not how this might change reporting of the war. Two other journalists died in the same attack - Remi Ochlik and Marie Colvin. Paul survived, wrote a book which became the basis for a famous documentary, and then worked as consultant on a major film, A Private War. Does his story represent a more powerful way of understanding the war? Five decades ago Gerald Scarfe went to Asia for The ...
Jan 07, 2020•14 min
What does it mean to "look at" something? Do an artist and a scientist look at a sunset in the same way? Jay Elwes talks to the artist Simon Periton, whose work includes the installations in the new Farringdon Crossrail station. Simon explains how he looks for ideas in everyday objects, taking inspiration from windows, leaves and even empty tin cans. Producer: Chris Ledgard
Nov 18, 2019•14 min
How do different people look at the world around them? Do a scientist and an artist see a sunset the same way? In the first of two programmes, we meet the Nobel prize winning astrophysicist, John Mather. Dr Mather is the Senior Project Scientist on the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to the Hubble. He talks to the journalist Jay Elwes about the "telescope of the imagination", and how technology can help us look back through space and time to picture our universe in its early days. Prod...
Nov 18, 2019•13 min
Acclaimed gardening writer, Alys Fowler, tries to work out where she wants to live, in the city or the countryside, with the help of poet, Gregory Leadbetter. Alys grew up in deepest rural England but for years has found happiness in the city of Birmingham, her small garden and local allotment. But she's starting to feel the pull of the countryside again, and the access to the natural world it offers. However, Gregory - through the lens of poetry - discusses how paying close attention to nature ...
Nov 12, 2019•14 min
Acclaimed gardening writer, Alys Fowler, tries to work out where she wants to live, in the city or the countryside, with the help of outdoor counsellor, Dr. Ruth Allen. Alys grew up in deepest rural England, but for years has lived in Birmingham. She loves the city, and her small garden and allotment, but is starting to feel a pull to return to her roots. But should she? If she does, will the countryside offer her what she feels is missing from her life, a deeper connection with nature, or does ...
Nov 05, 2019•14 min
In approximately half of couples experiencing difficulty conceiving, part of the problem lies with the male. Despite this, male infertility is a largely under-researched and taboo subject. To find out why, and what needs to be done, Benjamin Zephaniah meets consultant urologist Kevin McEleny, who leads the Male Fertility Service at the Newcastle Fertility Centre in the International Centre for Life. Producer Sarah Blunt. Support Organisations Fertility Network UK offers information, advice and s...
Oct 15, 2019•14 min
Terri Clothier discusses how her husband’s fertility problems affected her and their relationship. When Terri married Richard (who we heard from in the previous programme ) she knew she wanted a family. They both did. Terri imagined life with two children. But this hasn’t happened. They were unaware that Richard had a fertility problem. Whilst friends and family were starting their own families Richard and Terri felt alone and isolated. A feeling they describe as grieving. Producer Sarah Blunt. ...
Oct 08, 2019•13 min
Benjamin Zephaniah is infertile. This is not something you hear men readily admit. It has been a taboo subject. This has resulted in many men with fertility problems feeling isolated and guilt-ridden whilst also grieving for the child they cannot have by natural methods. Richard Clothier describes his experiences. Benjamin meets Richard’s wife Terri in the next programme. Producer Sarah Blunt Support Organisations Fertility Network UK offers information, advice and support for anyone suffering f...
Oct 01, 2019•13 min
