Libby Purves meets biologist and stand-up Simon Watt; motoring journalist Martin Gurdon; hip-hop artist Baba Israel and journalist Cal Flyn.

Martin Gurdon is a motoring journalist. In his book, An Estate Car Named Desire, he recounts tales of his car-obsessed childhood in the 1960s - a lost world of Ford Anglias, Triumph Heralds and Morris Minors. During his dysfunctional years at boarding school cars were both his salvation and his undoing. An Estate Car Named Desire - A Life on the Road is published by Duckworth Overlook.

Baba Israel is a hip-hop artist. He will be performing The Spinning Wheel at the Roundhouse, as part of The Last Word Festival. The multi-media production explores the life of his father Steve Ben Israel, a New York-based poet, jazz musician, activist, stand-up comedian and member of the Sixties performance collective The Living Theatre. The Spinning Wheel is at The Roundhouse, London NW1.

Cal Flyn is a journalist whose book, Thicker than Water, tells the story of her great-great-great uncle, Angus McMillan. Mythologized as a dashing explorer and pioneer who left his native Scotland for Australia during the time of the Highland Clearances, he in fact led a number of gruesome massacres of indigenous people. As she traces his footsteps across Australia, Cal asks how a man could commit such terrible acts and considers the concept of intergenerational guilt. Thicker Than Water - History, Secrets and Guilt is published by William Collins.

Simon Watt is a biologist, stand-up, writer and broadcaster. His new comedy science podcast, Level Up Human, explores various ways to improve the human condition. Featuring guests from the worlds of comedy and science, the podcast asks whether we will soon be able to edit the human genome with so-called molecular scissors and examines the case for driverless transport and companion robots. Level Up Human launches at the Cheltenham Science Festival. Published on June 1, 2016.

Simon Watt, Cal Flyn, Martin Gurdon, Baba Israel

This week Libby Purves is joined by Paul Burns, Kit Chapman, David Cohen and Jane Davis.

Paul Burns is a former soldier who survived an IRA bomb at Warren Point in Northern Ireland on 27th August 1979. He went on to become the first disabled member of the elite Red Devils parachute display team, and was a member of "Time and Tide", the first ever disabled crew to sail around the world. His story is featured in the BBC One series My Story.

Kit Chapman is the owner of The Castle Hotel in Taunton, Somerset which his family have run since the 1950s. He was born into a long line of glamorous hoteliers: his grandfather Henry Pruger was once General Manager of London's Savoy and responsible for re-establishing the hotel's pre-eminence. His book My Archipelago is published by Mercer Books.

David Cohen is a writer and psychologist. When he was twelve he was abandoned by his parents. He knew he'd be put in an orphanage if anyone found out, so he made sure no one did. His book, Home Alone, is published by JR Books.

Dr Jane Davis is Director of The Reader Organisation, which she founded in 1997. Whilst working as a teacher at the University of Liverpool she began to develop the read-aloud and personal response model in her classes and she set up the first 'Get Into Reading' group in a small library in Birkenhead in 2001 with young single mums. There are over 230 'Get Into Reading' groups. The book, A Little, Aloud, edited by Angela Macmillan is published by Chatto & Windus. Published on September 29, 2010.

29/09/2010

This week Libby Purves is joined by Xander Rawlins, Jane Milligan, Mary Ward, Mark Logue and Matthew Kelly.

Xander Rawlins is a Captain in the Grenadier Guards. He releases his debut single '1000 miles Apart' this month, a song that was written whilst he was serving on the front line in Afghanistan's Helmand Province. He performed off-the-cuff concerts which he found was a way of bringing everyone together, and his two acoustic guitars travelled with him throughout his 6 month, 8000 mile tour of duty. 

Mark Logue is the grandson of Lionel Logue, the Australian speech therapist to King George VI, soon to feature in a film with Colin Firth. Mark is custodian of the Logue Archive and has written a book, 'The King's Speech', with Peter Conradi, based on recently discovered diaries of his grandfather. His grandfather was famously dubbed by one newspaper in the 1930s 'The Quack who saved a King'. 'The King's Speech is published by Quercus.

Jane Milligan is an actor and the youngest child of the comic genius Spike Milligan. Mary Ward OBE, a former teacher co-founded the theatre company Chickenshed in 1974 with the aim of involving everyone, often people who had been excluded from other places. Chickenshed will be performing the show Badjelly's Bad Christmas, based on the children's book Badjelly The Witch, which Spike Milligan wrote for his daughter Jane when she was six years old. It's on at the Rayne Theatre, Southgate, London, N14 4PE with a cast made up of performers aged from 7 to 50+ years.

Matthew Kelly is the award-winning actor who is playing King Arthur in Monty Python's Spamalot in Birmingham this Christmas. Winner of an Olivier Award for Best Actor for Of Mice and Men, he returned returned to acting after a successful television career presenting ITV's Stars In Their Eyes and Game for a Laugh. Spamalot is at the New Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham. Published on December 1, 2010.

01/12/2010

This week Libby Purves is joined by Professor Chris Rapley, Boyd Clack, Elisabeth Parry and Jamelia.

Professor Chris Rapley MBE is the Director of the Science Museum in London. Before that he was Director of the British Antarctic Survey. The new high tech, interactive 'Atmosphere' gallery opened last week and aims to outline the basics of climate science and explain about human activity and our impact on weather patterns. The Science Museum will be the first and only museum in the UK to display an Antarctic ice core, an object many scientists consider to be pivotal in the study of climate science. The 'Atmosphere' gallery is at the Science Museum, London SW7. 

Boyd Clack is a Welsh actor, writer and musician. In his memoir 'Kisses Sweeter Than Wine' he tells of how an ordinary lad from Tonyrefail via Vancouver learns to cope with the early loss of his father and abandonment by his widowed mother. After leaving the Welsh valleys to seek fame and fortune in Australia and Canada, it was a chance audition at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff that ultimately changed his life and set him on a course to become a cult actor. 'Kisses Sweeter Than Wine' is published by Parthian Books.

Elisabeth Parry sang with the Staff Band of the Royal Army Medical Corps as a soprano soloist during the Second World War and toured with them in Britain and the Middle East. She was voted Forces sweetheart for Paiforce (Pacific and Iraq Force). She went on to launch the Wigmore Hall Lunch Hour Concerts for young musicians, sang for a Glyndebourne First Night and set up and ran her own opera touring company for fifty-six years. Her memoir Thirty Men & A Girl - A Singer's Memoirs of War, Mountains, Travel, and always Music is published by Allegra.

Jamelia is the MOBO award-winning R&B singer songwriter. She features in a new Channel Four series 'The House That Made Me' in which celebrities examine how the past has shaped the person they are today. They visit their former homes, which have been transformed to look as they did when they were teenagers and are reunited with family and old friends and acquaintances, some of whom they haven't seen since they left home. 'The House That Made Me' is on Channel Four. Published on December 15, 2010.

15/12/2010

This week Anita Anand is joined by Jane Wernick, Douglas Edwards, Prof Gordon Turnbull and Anne Hunter. 

Jane Wernick is a structural engineer whose work has included the London Eye, the Treetop Walkway at Kew Gardens and the Young Vic Theatre. She is currently involved in 'Living Architecture', a not-for-profit organisation which designs and builds houses of outstanding architectural merit around Britain that can be rented for holidays, retreats or musical rehearsals.

Douglas Edwards became Google's first director of consumer marketing and brand management and was responsible for setting the tone and direction of the company's communication with their users. In his book, 'I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59', he takes us inside the hyper-energized world of the 'Googleplex'. 'I'm Feeling Lucky' is published by Allen Lane.

Professor Gordon Turnbull is recognised as one of the UK's leading practitioners in the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Now Lead consultant in PTSD at the Capio Nightingale Hospital in London, he has spent his career fighting for the disorder's official recognition. His work has included conducting unprecedented debriefings of British prisoners of war and British hostages released from Lebanon including John McCarthy, Jackie Mann and Terry Waite. His book 'Trauma' is published by Bantam Press.

Anne Hunter grew up in care and had a long career as a social worker. She responded to an appeal through the Leeds Metropolitan University for people who had spent part of their lives in foster/institutional care and who wanted to explore their lost heritage as part of a Heritage Lottery Funded exhibition. This exhibition accompanies a new play, 'Where's Your Mama Gone?', by Brian Daniels. Anne will be involved in hosting some of the the post-show discussions. 'Where's Your Mama Gone?' is at the New End Theatre, Hampstead. 

Producer: Chris Paling. Published on July 20, 2011.

20/07/2011

Midweek: Diverse Conversation

Diverse conversation with Libby Purves and her four guests. The focus of Midweek is personal experience, the story behind the story. A mix of the famous, the infamous, and first time broadcasters. Forty-five minutes of lively conversation to start the day.

BBC Radio 4: Midweek

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