Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir are joined by Lord Sugar's longstanding Apprentice advisor Nick Hewer, PhD student Hannah Earnshaw who's on the shortlist for a one-way ticket to Mars, and Lois Pryce who rode her motorcycle three thousand miles around Iran on her own. British Empire Medal winner Annie Chapman describes how she's raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for cancer research astride her tractor, lawn bowls player Andrew Newell explains why he wants to get Team Jamaica to the next Commonw...
Jul 19, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are in the studio with Britain's best-selling author, children's writer Julia Donaldson, who created the character of the Gruffalo. Also, Matt Lewis, who as a young marine biologist was shipwrecked in the Antarctic seas and has written about the experience in "Last Man Off", busker Catrina Davies, who travelled 11,000 miles with her cello, and the captain of the Cheshire cricket team attempting to save face after the humiliation of being bowled out for three in a lea...
Jul 12, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Suzy Klein and Richard Coles with American singer-songwriter Ben Folds, Wayne Ingram who as soldier in Bosnia met and helped Stefan Savic, who was born with a facial cleft, the family who've lived in the same house for five generations, 12 year old Liverpool schoolgirl Millie Courtney who's topping the charts in Nashville, and black hat Wimbledon steward David Spearing. JP Devlin delivers a Tour de France Crowdscape from the Yorkshire Dales and last year's winner Chris Froome shares his Inherita...
Jul 05, 2014•1 hr 22 min
Tony Parsons joins Richard Coles and Suzy Klein. Tony talks about his new crime novel, The Murder Bag, and about his first foray into the genre of crime writing. He also talks about boxing, his Father and the importance of his family. Ian Boughton is the Grandson of Rutland Boughton, originator of the very first 'Glastonbury Festivals' and the composer of 'The Immortal Hour'. The festivals, which ran from 1914 to 1926, inspired Michael Eavis to start his own Glastonbury Festival and Ian talks ab...
Jun 28, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles and Suzy Klein are joined by Bridget Jones creator Helen Fielding, seventh Python Carol Cleveland, and Stuart J Cole who was abandoned as a baby, sent to Jamaica to live with family he had never met, and who turned his life around during a spell in prison. We go to Glyndebourne to meet Caroline and Andrew Thomson and Sandra and Ian Pusey who found real-life love at the opera, radiator salesman Phil Neville tells us what it's like to be a victim of mistaken identity and has a go at ...
Jun 21, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir with Britain's poster girl for transgender acceptance Paris Lees, tsunami orphans Rob and Paul Forkan whose flip-flop company funds a foundation to help other survivors of the 2004 tsunami, teenage champion Jenni Herd who won an apology from The Times after she challenged negative stereotypes of young people in the paper, and garage owner Errol McKellar who's saved 24 lives by offering his customers a discount if they'll take a test for prostate cancer. With less tha...
Jun 14, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Rev Richard Coles and Suzy Klein with the chairman of The National Trust, Sir Simon Jenkins, talking about the National Trust and his new book 'England's 100 Best Views', Francesco Da Mosto sharing his views of Venice and elsewhere, Tony Bennett, the 'VisitBritain' and 'Countryside is Great' Take a View Landscape Photographer of the year 2013 on the perfect landscape photograph, Ang Zangbhu, a supporter of the Himalayan Trust UK and a former sherpa in the foothills of Everest who now flies jets ...
Jun 07, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir with broadcaster Jeremy Paxman, homeless athlete Joel Hodgson, wingsuiter Geraldine Fasnacht and 14 year old record-breaking fisherman Will Sudders. JP Devlin visits the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire and Arianna Huffington shares her Inheritance Tracks. Jeremy Paxman's book Great Britain's Great War is available now. Joel Hodgson sold The Big Issue before he started working for Freshfields and training for the Commonwealth Games with Inspired by Sports...
May 31, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles and Suzy Klein with adventurer Ed Stafford whose latest book 'Naked and Marooned' charts 60 days completely alone with nothing but a camera. Ed discusses his world travels and the profound psychological impact enforced, albeit self imposed, solitude, had on him. Lady Catherine Meyer lost both of her sons when her former husband abducted them and took them to Germany against the ruling of a British court. Years of legal battles ensued but Catherine couldn't get the boys back. Years ...
May 24, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Suzy Klein and Aasmah Mir with singer song-writer Lulu. Also Iain Stewart, a charity worker from Scotland who is recording an album with Rwandan musician Jean-Paul Samputu on the theme of forgiveness and reconciliation. Plus, foster couple Mick and Angela, who despite being in their 70s, now only take in babies. Ronan Keating shares his Inheritance Tracks. Singer-songwriter and 60s icon Lulu talks about 50 years in the music business, a career in acting and her new life as a gran. Lulu has an an...
May 18, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir with actor Tyger Drew-Honey, the world's leading maze designer Adrian Fisher, dad and daughter cheerleading team Darren and Amy Peacock, Ann Hunt and Elizabeth Hamel who are the world's longest separated twins, and Sofi, Melanie, Amanda and August von Trapp, great-grandchildren of the Captain in The Sound Of Music. To mark its 20th birthday there's a Crowdscape from the Channel Tunnel, and Coleen Nolan shares her Inheritance Tracks. JP Devlin has tales of embarrassin...
May 10, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles in London and Suzy Klein in Bristol from the Bristol Food Connections Festival with food writer Jay Rayner, The Inheritance Tracks of Julian Lloyd Webber, Nick Hunt following in the footsteps of Patrick Leigh Fermor on his 2,500 mile walk from Rotterdam to Istanbul, JP Devlin meeting urban gull expert Peter Rock on a Bristol rooftop, poetry from Elvis McGonagall, Vicky Harrison who is knitting Bristol in miniature and Romy Gill, chef and restaurant owner on the immeasurable joys of...
May 03, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Rev Richard Coles and Andrea Catherwood with maths writer Alex Bellos, English-speaker Caroline Sarll who decided to bring her children up to be bilingual, Charlie Corr whose childhood dream came true when he met Pele, Frank McCauley from lowly Salford City FC who've caught the eye of Manchester United's famous 'Class of '92', Ken Jones who was caught in an avalanche, and Simon Duncan and Mark Atkinson whose band's name earned them a Banksy. Plus the Inheritance Tracks of writer and broadcaster ...
Apr 26, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Anita Anand and Andrea Catherwood are joined by British designer Bruce Oldfield OBE, best known for his couture and bridalwear designs. Tom Mackenzie recalls his experiences as the last child to be admitted to the Foundling Hospital, a charity run on strict Victorian values that brought up children born outside marriage. Lynne Moore is an war artist who was embedded with the British Forces in Helmund, Hannah Rochell writes the En Brogue blog describing the joys of wearing brogues. Plus JP Devlin...
Apr 19, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir are joined by TV presenter and novelist Fern Britton. Tom Hart Dyke recalls his traumatic kidnap experience in the jungles of Colombia and how it led to the creation of a world garden, Gary Enstone relishes his job as a conservator of Kipling's old home and Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent explains why she rode the Ho Chi Minh Trail alone on a pink motorbike. Jimmy Osmond chooses his inheritance tracks, JP meets an Abba super-fan and a bunch of city lawyers get down and dirt...
Apr 12, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir are joined by agony aunt Irma Kurtz. 10 year old blogger Harry Hamer talks about missing his grandparents when they moved abroad, Jean Singfield describes why a set of rosary beads are the Thing About Her, Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark reveals her secret love of tapestry, author Stephen Armstrong celebrates Ibiza, comedian Jack Whitehall shares his Inheritance Tracks, and veteran servicemen Darren 'Swifty' Swift discusses his reinvention as an actor, and listeners ...
Apr 05, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles and Suzy Klein with comedian Paul Whitehouse, Lady Churchill's secretary Heather White-Smith, polar explorer Ben Saunders, pargetting plasterer Martin Ward and Francis Urquhart's Inheritance Tracks. Plus JP Devlin in the BBC Radio Theatre with audience members from The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. Producer: Dixi Stewart.
Mar 29, 2014•1 hr 8 min
John McCarthy and Suzy Klein meet veteran photographer Don McCullin to talk about wars zones, life in Somerset and how being born and raised in Finsbury Park shaped his life. John Wildey is a seventy seven year old grandfather who took over the controls to land a plane when the pilot took ill. Felicity Warner is a soul midwife who helps people have a peaceful death. There are tales of homelessness from the streets of London, Claudia Winkleman shares her Inheritance Tracks and we hear how the hel...
Mar 22, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles and Suzy Klein are joined by tv presenter Kate Humble, Mark Boyle who lived without money for 3 years, and Philip Geddes who brought a stuffed penguin from Antarctica to Hampshire. Pop Idol judge Nicki Chapman shares her love of dressage, John McCarthy takes a dip in the baths of Budapest and Desmond Morris shares his Inheritance Tracks. Produced by Lizz Pearson.
Mar 15, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles and Anita Anand with writer Lynne Truss, poet Luke Wright, actress Tina Malone who had two children 32 years apart, Guy Anderson whose paraglider crashed in the desert, Jill Goldston who is possibly Britain's most prolific film and TV extra, and Bill Smith who raised Donald Campbell's Bluebird from the depths of Coniston on this day 13 years ago. Harry Stone describes the sounds of golf, opera singer Danielle de Niese shares her Inheritance Tracks and JP Devlin interviews a dog cal...
Mar 08, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles and Anita Anand meet former Spice Girl, Mel C who talks about two decades in the spotlight, on being a Mum to five-year-old Scarlet and how she's finally learned to chill out. JP Devlin talks to TV presenter and naturalist Chris Packham about collecting chairs, aviator Tracey Curtis Taylor on her historic flight from Capetown to Goodwood in an open topped plane, performer Patti Boulaye shares her Inheritance Tracks, Zhenia Klochko talks about the family she left behind in the Ukrai...
Mar 01, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles and Andrea Catherwood meet chef and cookery writer Yotam Ottolenghi who talks about his life and work, JP Devlin meets a quilting group, travel writer Rory MacLean celebrates the volatile and extraordinary city of Berlin, the step sister of Anne Frank, Eva Schloss, shares her Inheritance Tracks, Alison Maguire talks about the loss of her young daughter to the rare and devastating disorder Mitochondrial Disease, Anne Olivier Bell, a 'Monuments Woman', talks about her work in 1945 tr...
Feb 22, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Suzy Klein and Richard Coles with comedian, actor and musician Ade Edmondson, professional basketball player Alex Owumi who found himself playing for Colonel Gaddafi, Caroline Brealey who's just been named the world's number one matchmaker, Samuel Johnson who's living his childhood dream as a Lego designer, and Bob Davenport who found some old tapes of him singing alongside folk legend Pete Seeger. JP Devlin hits the slopes at the snow centre in Hemel Hempstead, we visit a hospice in Berkhamstea...
Feb 15, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles and Suzy Klein with adventurer and TV presenter Simon Reeve. Judith Keppel, the first person to hit the jackpot on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, contemplates luck; food and travel writer Michael Booth explores Scandinavia; cricketer and columnist Ed Smith reflects on managing maverick talent; Andrew Cotton describes the thrill and skill of surfing a big wave; toxinologist Dr Zoltan Takacs explains why he's charmed by snakes and their venom; Marjorie Wallace shares her Inheritance ...
Feb 08, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles & Anita Anand with special guest actress, writer and Costa Book award judge Natascha McElhone on her unthespian roots and the sudden death of her husband. They hear the Inheritance Tracks of singer Graham Nash and Ron Moody's Secret Life of 'ombrage'. Flood victim Trixie Webber tells them how she recovered from the Boscastle flood of 2004 and Louise Ashley and Jason Liostatos reflect on how their relationship fared with no fixed abode. Peter Caton revisits the train journeys of...
Feb 01, 2014•1 hr 25 min
The Reverend Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir talk to singer/songwriter Tracey Thorn.
Jan 25, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Suzy Klein and JP Devlin with BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz who talks about his unpromising beginnings in the arts and a project to find the Art of the Nation. Appropriately they also hear the Inheritance Tracks of popular artist Jack Vettriano and why the mandolin is so widespread from musician Simon Mayor. Zoe Lemon tells what happened to a message in a bottle she threw into the sea twenty three years ago and Brian Conaghan explains how the late diagnosis of Tourette's syndrome affected his li...
Jan 18, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Writer and comedian Rob Newman joins Richard Coles and Suzy Klein to talk about his return to comedy. His latest show - Rob Newman's New Theory of Evolution - looks at the controversies surrounding evolutionary biology and is his first complete show in 7 years. Also on the programme, forget the 7.39am, we meet two commuters who met and fell in love on the 5.35am from Gillingham, Dorset to London Waterloo. As a memento of the moment when lightning struck they have the train seats they were sittin...
Jan 11, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles and Suzy Klein with lawyer and founder of the Rosenblatt Opera Recitals Ian Rosenblatt, the Inheritance Tracks of comedian Jennifer Saunders, the story of Roger Mason who along with a friend and fellow veterinary surgeon, took much needed animals to the Falkland Islands after the 1982 War in an old converted fishing boat, the delights of Riga in Latvia with travel writer Adrian Mourby, one of Britain's leading forensic scientists, Mike Silverman, talking about a life in forensics, ...
Jan 04, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Anita Anand and JP Devlin with philosopher Angie Hobbs, poet Murray Lachlan Young, 11 year old popster Fynnjan Leach-Verhoeven and his mum Su, Saturday Live listener Ted Chance who made it into the Culture Club Christmas video in 1983, international football coach Paul Watson, 4th generation Salvation Army member Janet Martin, Andy Miller who's just finished a song he started 35 years ago, and the Inheritance Tracks of Boycie from Only Fools and Horses. Producer Dixi Stewart.
Dec 28, 2013•1 hr 25 min
