Episodes

  • David Wilson - A Plot to Kill
    Aug 5 2023

    An author and English teacher, Peter Farquhar, was murdered by a much younger student, Ben Field. This happened in Maids Moreton in Buckinghamshire, the home of David Wilson.

    Peter Farquhar was a gay Christian who found it difficult to reconcile these two characteristics. This lead to his murder.

    The horrific event was the subject of a very well reviewed BBC drama series, The Sixth Commandment.

    The Wilson book was written after a Channel 4 documentary and a Radio Five Live programme but before the BBC One drama.

    It is a shocking story told in gripping detail in David Wilson's book 'A Plot to Kill'. The destruction that a psychopath can reak is appalling.

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    30 mins
  • Jeanette Winterson - Oranges are Not the Only Fruit.
    May 12 2024

    This interview is one I remember with huge affection. Mostly I would talk to an author for 20 minutes or so but this conversation is twice that. It was recorded in the spring of 1984 when 'Oranges are Not the Only Fruit' was first published.

    I was very fortunate because I was one of the very first broadcasters to interview Jeanette.

    I had been reading the book in bed the night before and was buzzing with enthusiasm for it when I met her.

    Hear the author talk about her life in religious Accrington and rejecting the faith will make reading the book essential

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    46 mins
  • Catherine Nixey - Heresy : Jesus Christ and other sons of God
    Apr 24 2024

    This new book is terrific - its a revelation.

    Catherine has studied texts written around the same time as the writings we know as the gospels.

    Some of these ancient documents tell the story of the bible characters we are familiar with in a totally different way.

    Listen to Catherine talk about her research and you will be surprised ..... probably very surprised!!

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    26 mins
  • Ashley Mullinger - My Fishing Life
    Apr 16 2024

    Ashley Mullinger is a commercial fisherman.

    She used to work in an office but found it dull and stressful. She decided to go on a half day fishing trip with a couple of her friends just to make a change.

    The friends sort of liked it but Ashley REALLY liked it and now does it as a full time job. She is so good at it she was awarded the title of 'Fisherman of the Year'.

    In this conversation she explains her passion for the life and her fears for the future of the whole commercial fishing industry.

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    24 mins
  • Rebecca Frayn - Lost in Ibiza
    Apr 14 2024

    There is an article in the Culture section of The Sunday Times about father and daughter Michael and Rebecca Frayn.

    Rebecca is a farmer and environmental activist and writer who lives in the north of Ibiza.

    Her new novel 'Lost in Ibiza' is coincidentally, about a young environmental activist who travels to Ibiza to meet her biological father for the very first time.

    It's a story of family drama, but it is also the story of a paradise island under threat.

    A great holiday read!

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    18 mins
  • Eric Bibb talks about his life in music
    Apr 11 2024

    Eric Bibb remembers his introduction into music via his dad Leon and the musical luminaries who visited the family home.

    Paul Robeson was his Godather, and a very young Bob Dylan gave him some sound advice.

    Now 72 Eric is still touring, playing, and writing songs. He is one of lifes gentlemen!

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    19 mins
  • Leslie Howard - The Celestial Wife
    Apr 5 2024

    This novel is set in the 1960s with a backdrop of The Beatles and other music of the time.

    It tells the story of Daisy Shoemaker who is 15 in 1964. She was born into a fundamentalist Mormon community on the US - Canada border.

    In a ceremony called Placement she is given as a teenage wife to a much older man. She finds this intolerable and runs away.

    The church official who makes the decisions is known as Bishop and he assures his followers that he has a direct line to God. Amazingly they believe him.

    It's a gripping and enraging read. It's fiction but events like the book describes are still happening today. The fundamentalist cult is vey much alive and well.

    There is a Netflix documentary about the group .. Keep Sweet : Pray and Obey.

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    19 mins
  • Angus Hanton - Vassal State
    Mar 25 2024

    This brand new book examines the astonishing extent of American ownership in UK business.

    Whether you are interested in 'taking back control' or how much of our day to day financial transactions happen via the US, you will find this fascinating and possibly horrifying.

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    22 mins