Richard Coles and Sandi Toksvig with maritime and naval historian Brian Lavery, the Inheritance Tracks of Caroline Quentin, the sound of Anita Tedder's coffee grinder, Harriet Tuckey talking about her father's unsung and pivotal role in the 1953 Everest expedition, Jake Wilson who played songs inspired by Captain Scott's diary in the actual hut Scott and his team set off from on their South Pole adventure, John McCarthy exploring the hidden tunnels and grottoes of Dewstow Gardens near Chepstow a...
May 25, 2013•1 hr 25 min
Sian Williams & Richard Coles with writer Caitlin Moran, poet Murray Lachlan Young, and Andy Miller and his recording of Jimi Hendrix & Jim Morrison playing together. John McCarthy travels to Kosovo, JP Devlin drops in on Wolverhampton, listeners Joy Jones and Gillian Scott-Wood explain why their family has been sending each other the same birthday card for 64 years & Bonnie Tyler shares her Inheritance Tracks. Producer: Dixi Stewart.
May 18, 2013•1 hr 25 min
Sian Williams and Aasmah Mir talk to US political philosopher Michael Sandel who argues that how much we define society by monetary value challenges the very core of our moral selves. Sian and Aasmah also explore notions of death- not in any morbid sense- but firstly with JP Devlin who brings us a 'guerrilla report' from Nunhead Cemetery in London. And secondly they find out about the increasingly popular 'Death Cafés where people meet for tea, cake and a jolly discussion about mortality, all ru...
May 11, 2013•1 hr 25 min
Sian Williams & JP Devlin with Dame Evelyn Glennie, teenage novelist Beth Reekles and her mum Claire, and snooker player Katie Henrick. Gardener Monty Don takes a Daytrip to the Courtauld Institute in London to look at Cezanne's Mont Sainte-Victoire; travel writer Sara Wheeler explores Dundee; son of Skegness Mark Johnson explains how he became the voice of the Kentucky Derby; & Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett shares his Inheritance Tracks. Producer: Dixi Stewart.
May 04, 2013•1 hr 25 min
Sian Williams and Richard Coles with broadcaster and composer Howard Goodall, the Inheritance Tracks of cookery writer Mary Berry, a visit to Kosovo with John McCarthy, a trip around Sussex admiring stiles in the company of the Monday Group who build and maintain them, a chat with opera singer Nicky Spence who turned down a million pound contract, local newspaperman and lifelong Newcastle United fan John Gibson talking about his life and work, and a jolly singalong in a public house. Producer: C...
Apr 27, 2013•1 hr 25 min
Sian Williams and Richard Coles with the writer Eoin Colfer, poet Luke Wright, strict grammarian Mr Gwynne, and a father and son dealing with facial disfigurement. There's travel with Ben Fogle, young butcher Charlotte Harbottle describes her favourite sound, Pippa Diggle explains how she came to be the subject of an iconic Norman Parkinson photograph, and Petula Clark shares her Inheritance Tracks. Producer: Debbie Sheringham.
Apr 20, 2013•1 hr 25 min
Sian Williams and Richard Coles with author Lindsey Davis, creator of the much loved Roman detective 'Falco', the Inheritance Tracks of Graham Fellows- the creator of John Shuttleworth-the story of Dorit Oliver-Wolff who hid in Budapest during WW2, became a famous singer and now tours schools telling young people about her experiences, Ben Fogle exploring explorer Colonel John Blashford-Snell's house, the pleasure of digging with trowels and conductor John Lubbock founder of the Orchestra of St ...
Apr 13, 2013•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles and Sian Williams with actress Imogen Stubbs, and poet Mr Gee. There's a Thing About Me feature about Mary Horsley's Rolling Stones LP, Maire Doyle from York tells the story of finding a bundle of her parents' love letters, Clare Scott explains how she moved house by barge, Frank Griffiths recalls stumbling onto a filmset with Richard Burton and Sophia Loren, Saturday live listeners say thank you for random acts of kindness and Fleetwood Mac's Mick Fleetwood shares his Inheritance ...
Apr 06, 2013•1 hr 25 min
Suzy Klein and JP Devlin with author Sebastian Faulks; Kerry Katona's Inheritance Tracks; resuscitation doctor Sam Parnia, traveller Olly Burton on Senegalese music, John Edser on being part of Dr Beeching's team who changed the map of the British Rail Network, Judith Bowen who has as 56 year old Easter egg and Phil Gould and Glyn Shipman on their tribute songs to Cremola. Producer: Harry Parker.
Mar 30, 2013•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles and Sian Williams with author Mark Haddon, Will Hadcroft who has Asperger's, and Richard & Alison Warden who remarried each other after 50 years. Travel Writer Sara Wheeler takes a tour of Dunfermline, two Southend schoolgirls explain why they wish they'd grown up in the 80s, there's a Soundsculpture of rowing, Saturday live listeners say thank you for random acts of kindness and Duran Duran's John Taylor shares his Inheritance Tracks. Producer: Dixi Stewart.
Mar 23, 2013•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles and Sian Williams talk to Alain de Botton about his new 'Manifesto for Atheists' and his desire to popularise challenging subjects like science, philosophy and architecture- amongst other things. They hear from two former Birmingham gang members about how they got out of the vicious cycle of gang life, meet Devon based composer David Haines and find out about how he brings popular engagement with science through song- he's the songwriter in residence at the MIT science festival in ...
Mar 16, 2013•1 hr 25 min
Sian Williams and JP Devlin with businesswoman and Director of the Football Association, Heather Rabbatts; a young woman from the Easterhouse estate in Glasgow who went from being a notorious bad girl to helping other young people turn their lives around, David St John who is the UK's most prolific TV Quiz contestant, and Anthony Cooper who maps sink holes in the UK. There's a Soundsculpture of dressmakers scissors, and a Thing About Me feature from baritone Christopher Purves. Inheritance Track...
Mar 09, 2013•1 hr 25 min
Sian Williams and Richard Coles with writer and broadcaster Judy Finnigan, Adam who suffers from auditory verbal hallucinations- hearing voices, poetry from Kate Fox, a glimpse inside the film 'Lincoln' with one of the historical advisors Professor Catherine Clinton, a sound sculpture from a Cornish cave, The Thing about Me- a listener's momento from Stalag Luft lll ( The Great Escape ) is a wooden dog and The Inheritance Tracks of Jeff Lynne from ELO Producer: Chris Wilson.
Mar 02, 2013•1 hr 25 min
Sian Williams and Richard Coles with Deborah Moggach, cocktail pianist Cathy Kinley and former city trader Geraint Anderson. Sara Wheeler visits the Forth Rail Bridge and Ian Hunter shares his Inheritance Tracks . Producer: Harry Parker.
Feb 23, 2013•1 hr 25 min
Sian Williams & Richard Coles with musician Billy Bragg who also plays live; Bernadette Russell who did a good deed every day for a year and photographer Giles Duley who lost three limbs on assignment in Afghanistan. John McCarthy looks in on the Arirang Games in North Korea, composer Debbie Wiseman plays snooker with JP Devlin; a listener tells us about her discovery of Chicken Spectacles and writer and broadcaster Dawn O'Porter shares her Inheritance Tracks. Producer: Corinna Jones....
Feb 16, 2013•1 hr 25 min
Sian Williams and Richard Coles with Dr Michael Dixon, the Director of the Natural History Museum, The Inheritance Tracks of singer Katie Melua, the sounds of a 20 ton Wurlitzer organ in a Chorleywood living room, a trip around the Powell-Cotton Museum in Kent, a ramble up and across Dunkery Beacon on Exmoor, the story of a woman who was abandoned in Hong Kong as a baby in the 1960's and sent to the UK for adoption, a couple with Albinism discussing their condition and JP Devlin talking to a gra...
Feb 09, 2013•1 hr 25 min
Sian Williams & Richard Coles live from the BBC Radio Theatre in London's Broadcasting House with screenwriter & director Richard Curtis, poet Murray Lachlan Young, Annie Hutchinson who arrived in the UK 10 years ago with just £62 to her name and is now turning neglected houses into comfortable homes for children and their families, and Edward Adoo whose love of London buses led him to a career as a DJ. John McCarthy talks to Antarctic explorer Meredith Hooper, Sylvia Hopwood describes t...
Feb 02, 2013•1 hr 25 min
Sian Williams and Richard Coles with comedian and writer Sean Hughes, 100 year old Violet Coleman palliative care nurse Katherine Hopkins, and Marc Roberts who had brain surgery while fully conscious. There's a feature on the British Water Tower Appreciation Society, John McCarthy with explorer Robin Hanbury-Tenison, a Crowdscape from Portsmouth and Tamasin Day-Lewis's Inheritance Tracks. Producer: Harry Parker.
Jan 26, 2013•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles and Sian Williams talk to cartoonist Martin Rowson, hear from Jess Eaton, an artist who reconstructs road kill as fashion items, speak to Stephen Hook, the Sussex dairy farmer who's the star of a film at the Sundance Festival in Utah, listen to the wonderful warbling of a whistling busker on the London Underground, enjoy the Inheritance Tracks of Radio 4's Charlotte Green who is leaving the BBC after a distinguished career, revel in the quiet spaces of London with John McCarthy and...
Jan 19, 2013•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles and Sian Williams with former Attorney General Baroness Scotland, art detective Christopher Marinello who has recently recovered a Matisse that has been missing for 25 years, and Giselle Eagle and Richard Brown who are about to be castaway on a remote island. JP Devlin takes a Daytrip with Arlene Phillips CBE, and Patricia Purvis tells the story of a locket lost and found. John McCarthy goes in search of the bits of Stratford-upon-Avon that aren't dominated by Shakespeare and direc...
Jan 12, 2013•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles and Sian Williams with businesswoman and lawyer Margaret Mountford, plus an actress who lost lots of weight and then found her work had dried up, the Inheritance Tracks of Madness front man Suggs, a look behind the scenes at 'The Famous' a menswear shop in Cheltenham that's closing its doors after 126 years, a builder whose family company is still around after 422 years, the evocative sound of an Italian coffee machine, Benedict Allen talking to his cousin Charles about their mutua...
Jan 05, 2013•1 hr 25 min
John McCarthy and Suzy Klein with journalist and broadcaster Aggie MacKenzie, Martin Green who was Head of Ceremonies at the 2012 Olympics and Andrew Parker who was 'the human bridge' during the Zeebrugge ferry disaster. Felicity Finch reveals the Secret Life of the Archers, poet Luke Wright offers a festive rhyme, travel writer Adrian Mourby describes Kosice, one of the 2013 European Capitals of Culture, singer Ralph McTell takes us by the hand and leads us through the streets of London, and ce...
Dec 29, 2012•1 hr 25 min
Sian Williams and Richard Coles talk to actor and writer Sanjeev Bhaskar who's appearing in a Christmas TV special of 'Outnumbered', hold a poetry prescription surgery to solicit listeners requests for poems about solitude with William Seighart the founder of National Poetry Day, hear from Derek Amato who hit his head in a swimming accident, lost part of his memory and awoke able to play the piano brilliantly, dig the furious sound of the 'fuzz box' in our regular feature 'soundsculpture', liste...
Dec 22, 2012•1 hr 25 min
Sian Williams and Richard Coles with comedian Lee Mack talking about his life before and after he made it as comic and Paul O'Grady on his enthusiasm for home remedies. Paul Hodgkinson walked to all 92 Football League grounds as his sight deteriorated and John McCarthy travelled on Leighton Buzzard's miniature steam railway with travel writer Monisha Rajesh who journeyed round India by train. Michael Sanderson explains why he stockpiles goods and necessities for a terrible eventuality, Ruth Keel...
Dec 15, 2012•1 hr 25 min
Sian Williams and Richard Coles meet Pam Ayres, talk to artist Annie Morgan who can't stop painting, etching and sculpting- a compulsion that began after she tried to take her own life by jumping under a train, hear from former Flt Lt Alan Pollock who remembers his time in the RAF- he abruptly left in 1968 having decided to fly his Hunter fighter bomber under Tower Bridge on the river Thames, follow up on last week's discussion about squatting with former squatter Rosie Ellis, find out why on ea...
Dec 08, 2012•1 hr 25 min
Sian Williams and Richard Coles with broadcaster Richard Madeley, and a man who's spent many years pretending to be him and his 'Uncle' Stan Madeley, a woman who believes the secret to happiness lies in the Hawaiian hula dance, a rock and roll history in poetic form from Murray Lachlan Young, a father and son who've revived the sound and style of the original Proms orchestra, a couple who have both been diagnosed with terminal diseases, John McCarthy in Maastricht and the Inheritance Tracks of m...
Dec 01, 2012•1 hr 25 min
Sian Williams and Richard Coles talk to comic, writer, children's author, winner of celebrity masterchef and fan of noir Danish cop show 'The Killing', Emma Kennedy, hear about former investment banker and farmer Jan McCourt's 'love letter' to the NHS after he narrowly escaped death under the wheels of his own tractor, remember the first ordination of women in the Church of England with the Revered Jane Hayward, squeal as JP Devlin recreates James Bond's wet shave with a cut throat razor, enjoy ...
Nov 24, 2012•1 hr 25 min
Sian Williams and Richard Coles with crime writer Val McDermid and ex-offender Junior Smart who is helping gangsters escape a life of crime, Tony Lynn investigates the mystery of the Saltburn yarnbomber, broadcaster Jeremy Vine talks about his early career on Drainpipe Radio, TV presenter Ulrika Jonsson reveals her Secret Life, John McCarthy continues his exploration of Utrecht and Squeeze's Glenn Tilbrook shares his Inheritance Tracks. Producer: Dixi Stewartv.
Nov 17, 2012•1 hr 25 min
Sian Williams and Richard Coles talk to tenor Alfie Boe, find out about a World War Two Lancaster Bomber airman's letter from his daughter which was lost in France during the War then found again, hear from the British Legion's youngest member, talk to a man who has recorded everyday day of his son's 21 years with a camera, shudder to the sound of a TVR sports car exhaust, thrill to the commanding presence of a circus ringmaster, enjoy Andrew Motion's Inheritance Tracks and travel with John McCa...
Nov 10, 2012•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles and JP Devlin with actress and impressionist Jan Ravens Producer: Harry Parker.
Nov 03, 2012•1 hr 25 min
