Broadcaster and author Dan Snow is the history guy - from first appearing on our screens with the 60th Anniversary of the Battle of El Alamein, with dad Peter to numerous other documentaries including the Rise of the Royal Navy, Battlefield Britain series and a documentary about his great great grandfather, former Prime Minister, Lloyd George. Alan Fell is Head of Props at the Royal Shakespeare Company - from severed heads to an armoured tank - creating weird stuff is part of the fun of his job. Louise Groves lost her parents and brother before she was sixteen and was placed in a foster family. She found the experience so positive, she became a foster parent herself and has fostered 48 children. Cookery writer Sumayya Usmani was a lawyer before following her true passion for food and is now an authority on Pakistani cuisine. She presents BBC Scotland's Kitchen Cafe. JP meets Saturday Live listener, Mike Farquhar, tells of a childhood event that he believes changed his life. Actor Josette Simon shares her Inheritance Tracks - Hit the Road Jack by Ray Charles and You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me by Gladys Knight and the Pips.
Mountain Berries and Desert Spice by Sumayya Usmani is published by Frances Lincoln. Josette Simon stars in Antony and Cleopatra at the Barbican in London until 20th January 2018. Dan Snow has recently launched new history channel, History Hit TV. Alan Fell is currently working on productions of The Duchess of Malfi, MacBeth, The Fantastic Follies of Mrs Rich and a First Encounters Schools project of Julius Caesar at the RSC, Stratford- upon Avon,.