Choirmaster Gareth Malone describes working with pupils from Kensington Aldridge Academy to help them create a concert to mark the return to their school building next to Grenfell Tower. Listener Rev'd Alan Dodds recalls his life before ordination - playing guitar in a band with David Bowie. Mya-Rose Craig, aka 'birdgirl', has seen 5,000 species of bird and explains how she spends her weekends bird ringing. Jane Hasell-McCosh reveals some of the strange varieties of marmalade at the Marmalade Aw...
Mar 16, 2019•1 hr 24 min
Best-selling singer-songwriter Dido on her new album Still On My Mind, fame, life growing up and working with her brother. Wendy Gould and John Sandford talk about being reunited after many years – Wendy was taken from her parents’ front garden and dumped on the side of the road 20 miles from her home and John was the man who found her. Jerick Hoffer talks about creating alter ego Jinkx Monsoon – and becoming the winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race, season 5. Comedian Al Murray shares his Inheritance T...
Mar 09, 2019•1 hr 24 min
Richard and Aasmah are joined by Jo Malone CBE, who left school aged 15 with no qualifications and became a scent supremo and one of the UKs best known entrepreneurs. We also have comedian aka 'Badman' Humza Arshad who made his success online, took it mainstream and has written his first children's book: Little Badman and the Killer Aunties. There is Ishbel Holmes whose difficult upbringing prompted her, aged 21, to cycle the world rescuing street dogs and Saturday Live listener Catherine Spence...
Mar 02, 2019•1 hr 25 min
Aasmah Mir and the Reverend Richard Coles are joined by the writer Dame Jacqueline Wilson. She discusses her heroine Tracy Beaker who is now grown up with a daughter of her own and why she prefers writing for children to adults. Steve Bland talks about his late wife Rachael, the journalist and broadcaster who co-presented You, Me and the Big C, an inspiring podcast about living with cancer. The podcast tackled her illness with courage and humour and changed our thinking about the disease. Before...
Feb 23, 2019•1 hr 25 min
The actor Shane Richie, star of East Enders talks about his latest role, in the West End show ‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’. Chelcee Grimes describes how she combines her two careers, playing for Fulham Ladies and writing songs for the Grammy Award winner Dua Lipa and Kylie amongst others. Bethan Roberts grew up in the House of Elvis – not Graceland – but with a mum who loved The King so much that she had memorabilia and posters all over the house. Dr Jon Copley is a marine biologist and sci...
Feb 16, 2019•1 hr 24 min
Aasmah and Richard are joined by: Patrick Grant - he bought and revived a failing tailors in Savile Row in 2005, since then he’s been awarded Menswear designer at the British Fashion Awards, become a judge on The Great British Sewing Bee and promotes sustainable fashion. Adam Kay used to be a junior doctor, and left to become a writer and comedian. His book This is Going to Hurt was based on diaries written as a junior doctor, exposed the highs and lows of the job and became a bestseller. Nichol...
Feb 09, 2019•1 hr 25 min
Scientist and broadcaster Jim Al-Khalili shares his experience of growing up in Iraq, his passion for music and his first novel, which will be published in April. Eboni Beckford-Chambers talks about combining a career in law with being an England netball player. As the new Biggin Hill Memorial Museum opens today, Geoff Greensmith recalls his childhood growing in the area during WW II. Listener Stephen 'Abs' Wisdom explains how Robin Hood inspired his career; and playwright and actress Natasha Go...
Feb 02, 2019•1 hr 24 min
The actress, Brenda Blethyn, star of Vera; Monisha Rajesh recounts travelling around the world by train; Mo Gawdat on his happiness algorithm, and rugby international James Haskell shares his Inheritance Tracks. Brenda Blethyn, star of Vera, recalls working for British Rail, before launching her acting career. Mo Gawdat, Former Chief Business Officer, Google (X), explains his algorithm for happiness and how it helped him after the death of his son Ali. Saturday Live listener, Deborah Gould, shar...
Jan 26, 2019•1 hr 24 min
Trevor Nelson talks about how he became one of the country's leading R&B DJs; pigeon fancier Ian Evans sets the scene from The British Homing World Show of the Year in Blackpoool. Man Like Mobeen star and creator Guz Khan, who until recently was a Humanities teacher in the Midlands. Sharon D. Clarke shares her Inheritance Tracks. She has chosen Sweet Jamaica by Clancy Eccles and What’s Goin’ On by Marvin Gaye. Anatomist, author and broadcaster Professor Alice Roberts discusses her career and...
Jan 19, 2019•1 hr 25 min
Aasmah Mir and Konnie Huq are joined by Dame Kelly Holmes, double gold winner at the Athens Olympics in 2004. She talks about her life in the army, pursuing her dream of becoming an Olympian and adjusting to life after retiring from athletics. Jacquie Davis is one of the world's top female bodyguards. During her career she has protected royals and celebrities, rescued hostages and carried out undercover surveillance. She talks about the qualities required for the job and the power of being a cha...
Jan 12, 2019•1 hr 24 min
Aasmah Mir and Mobeen Azhar are joined by the actor and TV presenter Bradley Walsh. Currently starring in Doctor Who, he talks about going on a father and son road trip in the US, where he was pushed to his limits with cowboy training and sky diving! Former professional footballer and teacher, Len Johnrose, describes his small victories, silver linings and making the most of living with motor-neurone disease. Gary Budd is a chimney sweep and also the founder, head coach and chief coxswain of The...
Jan 05, 2019•1 hr 25 min
Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are joined by Gabrielle, THE pop star of the 90s – inspiring lyrics, cool image, intriguing eye patch, hit after hit, and then she went quiet. After time out as a mum of two she has just released her first album for 11 years, and she is back. Will Farmer’s life seems only to exist on a summer’s day surrounded by beautiful objects in the garden of an English stately home, for he is an expert on Antiques Roadshow. He’s joining us in the midst of winter to talk about au...
Dec 29, 2018•1 hr 25 min
David Gower talks about his life in cricket and how spending his early years in Africa inspired his passion for wildlife. Anne Atkins has been inspired to write about her son Alex, who has Asperger's. They discuss their relationship and how Alex has learnt how to read people. Clive Collins explains why Christmas trees are so important to him. Singer Lily Allen shares her Inheritance Tracks - she has chosen I’m Always on a Mountain When I Fall, performed by Merle Haggard and Fix You by Coldplay. ...
Dec 22, 2018•1 hr 25 min
The comedian and actor Hugh Dennis talks about being the son of a Bishop and his latest role in The Messiah. Former nurse, Christie Watson, recalls lessons of kindness and hospital Christmasses. Listener Stephanie Bouckley shares her Thank You story pegged to the 30th anniversary of the Lockerbie disaster. JP Devlin meets Arthur Spencer, a former teacher and WWII navigator, who has been recognised with the award of a Legion d’honneur from the French government. Jan Blake describes the timeless a...
Dec 15, 2018•1 hr 25 min
Prue Leith has been in our cooking consciousness for years but her appointment as a judge on TV's bake off has exposed her culinary expertise to a whole new audience and inspired a new cook book. She joins Richard and Aasmah along with: Marianne Power who was such a fan of self-help she decided to follow a book a month for a year. She joins us to reflect on her journey of self discovery. Former professional footballer Cherno Samba was tipped to be a superstar in UK football but whilst his career...
Dec 08, 2018•1 hr 23 min
Slade guitarist Dave Hill; Young People’s Laureate for London Momtaza Mehri; Listener Mary Diggory takes JP Devlin back to the woods that gave her sanctuary; Shona Davies on finding love as she sailed around the world. Joanne Froggatt shares her Inheritance Tracks: Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush and Proud Mary performed by Ike and Tina Turner. Dr Xand van Tulleken talks about combining medicine and presenting, with his twin brother. Producer: Claire Bartleet Editor: Eleanor Garland
Dec 03, 2018•1 hr 25 min
Comedian and writer Sandi Toksvig, former armed robber turned triathlete John McAvoy and bubble enthusiast, Dr. Helen Czerski and harmonica fan Ben Hewlett. With the Inheritance Tracks of Richard Blackwood. Sandi Toksvig joins Aasmah Mir and the Rev.Richard Coles, to talk about being a national “Trevor”, adapting Treasure Island, why baking makes her emotional, and honeymooning in the Arctic. Helen Czerski, expert in the physics of bubbles, has just returned from a trip to the High Arctic. She e...
Nov 24, 2018•1 hr 25 min
Stephen Fry joins Richard and Aasmah to talk about Greek Heroes and finding wedded bliss. We also have JoJo Wood who extolls the virtue of wood carving for mental health, and Dr Catherine Walker, a septuagenarian weightlifter and academic at Oxford university, and Bisi Alimi who is a LGBTQ rights campaigner and the first person to come out as gay on national TV in Nigeria. We have your thank you and broadcaster and writer Jenni Murray chooses her inheritance tracks: The Blue Danube by Strauss an...
Nov 17, 2018•1 hr 25 min
Michael Palin talks with Rev. Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir about travelling in the footsteps of a ship, Erebus, that went missing in the late 1840s and was only re-discovered in 2014. He also discusses the special relationship with his fellow Monty Pythons. Dani Crilly tells the story of the horse who she says saved her life. Vee Walker talks to us from Bavay in France, which was liberated by Vee’s grandfather Major Tom Westmacott in 1918. Beatboxer and composer Jason Singh explains how he works...
Nov 10, 2018•1 hr 25 min
Actor Tamsin Greig, quizzer and barrister Shaun Wallace, explorer Aldo Kane, RAF trauma nurse Sadie Melling and "Chabuddy G". With Stephen Mangan's Inheritance Tracks. Presented by Aasmah Mir and the Rev. Richard Coles. Tamsin Greig is Olivier Award winner, an Aldridge of Borsetshire, Malvolia in a Twelfth Night, and a keen trampolinist. She describes how her love of movement is being constrained in her current roles in Pinter 3 as part of the Pinter Season. Shaun Wallace aka “The Dark Destroyer...
Nov 03, 2018•1 hr 25 min
Aasmah Mir and the Rev. Richard Coles are joined by comedian Marcus Brigstocke, who reveals why he has a red painted head and blue horns for his first character-driven stand up show. Jodi Ann Bickley explains why she writes lovely letters to strangers in need – about 4,000 so far. After 65 years working at Waterloo Station, Don Buckley is thought to be Britain’s longest-serving railway worker. He enjoys helping people around the station and is so popular with passengers that one of them, Bernade...
Oct 27, 2018•1 hr 26 min
Comedian and writer Adam Hills is also the host of Channel 4's taboo busting comedy satire The Last Leg. He joins Richard and Aasmah along with: Georgina Lawton who grew up thinking she was white like her parents, then she found out about her black heritage. Claire de Lune is a ceramicist who recently found that her family had been working with clay for 700 years. And composer Shirley J Thompson on how modern history inspires her work. We have your thank you and the inheritance tracks of Manfred...
Oct 22, 2018•1 hr 25 min
Aasmah Mir and the Rev Richard Coles are joined in the Saturday Live studio by stand-up comedian Bridget Christie, digital artist and mental health campaigner Kirsty Latoya, milkman Ian Beardwell and etymologist Paul Anthony Jones, the author of Around the World in 80 Words. We also hear the Inheritance Tracks of dancer and choreographer Akram Khan - Mera Joota Hai Japani by Raj Kapoor & Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel. Presenters: Aasmah Mir & Rev Richard Coles Producer: Paul Waters...
Oct 16, 2018•1 hr 25 min
Former England football player and manager Kevin Keegan made his professional debut fifty years ago. He talks to Aasmah Mir and the Rev. Richard Coles about how a nun was his first mentor, the way Bill Shankly changed his life and seizing opportunities off the pitch. Christel Dee is a Dr Who fan - also known as a Whovian - whose life and career has been shaped by the show. British Olympian Archer Patrick Huston got in touch to tell us about the woman who inspired him to take up the sport. Fashio...
Oct 06, 2018•1 hr 25 min
She can dance, she can sing, she can ice skate and act in gritty London based soap EastEnders: all round showbiz star Bonnie Langford joins us to talk about her show business career spanning 5 decades and her return to the Theatre Royal Drury Lane where it all began aged 7. Aged 15 George Green was a talented footballer and signed by Everton. Money and success at such a young age led him to drug and alcohol abuse, and 4 years later he was let go. He joins us to tell his story of pulling himself ...
Sep 29, 2018•1 hr 25 min
Coming live from Stirling, Coast presenter and archaeologist Neil Oliver talks about his love of the British Isles; writer, musician and journalist Doug Johnstone takes time out from Stirling's Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival. Comedian and You-Tuber Bachala Mbunzama, better known as Bash the Entertainer, talks about his journey from the Congo to Glasgow. Orkney folk musicians Fara will be performing. Ken Bruce shares his Inheritance Tracks. He has chosen I’ve Got You Under M...
Sep 22, 2018•1 hr 21 min
Legendary keyboard player Rick Wakeman is known for his huge contribution to prog rock with the band Yes, his own innovative compositions, his flamboyant caped stage presence and his numerous piano arrangements. Bea Priestley is a 22 year-old wrestler in the ever growing woman’s wrestling scene. Bea got back into wrestling after brain surgery when she was 18 and now tours the UK and Japan. Eric Monkman and Bobby Seagull bonded over quizzing. They both found themselves internet sensations after a...
Sep 18, 2018•1 hr 26 min
Conversation from comedian Susan Calman, Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones aka The Black Farmer and about Simon's Cat. Naga Munchetty shares her Inheritance Tracks. Presented by Aasmah Mir and the Rev. Richard Coles. Comedian and actress Susan Calman explains why she gave up a successful career in corporate law for stand-up, she shares her memories of Strictly Come Dancing and reveals her love of cats. Simon Tofield, creator of Simon's Cat, recalls how the animation went viral. Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, best...
Sep 08, 2018•1 hr 21 min
Maggie Aderin-Pocock on her love of the moon and Nigerian heritage; Ali Payne tweeted to try and find the inscribed copy of Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist given to her by her late husband. She continues her search on Saturday Live. Celebrating 30 years of marriage, The Alarm's Mike and Jules Peters discuss working together and dealing with individual cancer diagnoses. Rehana Popal is the first practising female Afghan at the Bar. Coming to the UK as a refugee when she was five, Rehana talks about ...
Sep 01, 2018•1 hr 25 min
Singer songwriter Jim Kerr of Simple Minds talks about his love of walking in deserts and mountains, sustaining friendships over decades and his pop career. Atoosa Sepehr shares recipes from her cook book Persian Kitchen - authentic recipes and fabulous flavours from Iran - and talks about growing up in Iran & Italy. Nigerian crime fiction writer Leye Adenle reveals how "sunshine noir" authors are fighting back against the dominance of Nordic Noir. Gold medal-winning wheelchair dance duo Pau...
Aug 25, 2018•1 hr 25 min
