Saturday Live

Richard Coles and Michelle Ackerley are joined by writer Joanne Harris; broadcaster Peter Snow; wildlife journalist and wasp expert Ben Aldiss and chef Joshna Maharaj.Born in Barnsley, writer Joanne Harris MBE was a teacher for 15 years during which time three of her novels were published including Chocolat in 1999 which was made into an Oscar-nominated film starring Juliet Binoche. Since then, she has written 15 more novels, two novellas, two collections of short stories, a Dr Who novella, guest episodes for the game Zombies Run, the libretti for two short operas, several screenplays, a musical and three cookbooks. She is guest director of this year's Yorkshire Festival of Story and her new book Orfeia is out in September. You can find more information about the festival via yorkshirefestivalofstory.comMost of us get as far away as possible when we spot a wasp, but Ben Aldiss does just the opposite. A wildlife journalist and teacher who was known as Dr Wasp by his students, Ben studied wasps for his doctorate and is an expert in their behaviour and what provokes them to sting. He joins us to discuss some of the myths people believe about the insects, how to avoid getting stung, and some of his own experiences working closely with them.Joshna Maharaj is a chef who lost her sense of smell about six years ago. She talks about the devastating effect of anosmia, how she coped with her loss in the kitchen environment and why she kept it a secret for many years. She is now undergoing smell training to help her regain her lost sense and talks about her olfactory experiments and how smell is directly connected to memory and emotion. Take Back the Tray by Joshna Maharaj is out now.There isn’t much ground that broadcaster, journalist and historian Peter Snow hasn’t covered in his career: the first presenter of Newsnight when it launched in 1980, and the face of the election swingometer - he’s since moved on to making documentaries with his son, Dan, and now, writing books with his wife, Canadian journalist Ann MacMillan. He joins us to chat about their new book which uses 50 documents to illustrate global history. He also reminisces about his career as a journalist, surviving a plane crash and the story of his unwitting audition for the role of James Bond. Treasures of World History: The Story of Civilisation Told Through the 50 Most Important Documents by Peter Snow and Ann MacMillan is out now.Writer Matt Haig chooses his Inheritance Tracks: Don't You Want Me by the Human League and It's Quiet Uptown from the Hamilton soundtrack. And there's a thank you to a stranger who saved a dog's life.Producer: Paula McGinley Editor: Eleanor Garland.

Richard Coles and Michelle Ackerley are joined by Bob Harris. He has been whispering on our airwaves for 50 years: starting at Radio 1 and going to TV’s Whistle Test, Radio Luxembourg, Radio 2, BBC 6 Music, numerous local radio stations, back to Radios 1, 2 and 6 Music… all the time touring with musicians, interviewing them and listening to them – his passion for introducing music to the masses earning him numerous awards, and an OBE. We'll also speak to Alice Dearing. She is one of the most successful young British swimmers in Britain, usually found competing in open water marathon events around Europe, but for much of lockdown she has not been able to swim. This meant she had time to focus on her activism, promoting access to swimming for black people and busting myths about swimming.When she was a child, SL listener Janet Haite’s grandmother would unroll her stockings to show off her tattoos which covered most of her body. Janet’s grandparents were pioneers in the tattooing world and her grandfather, George Burchett, not only inked soldiers going off to fight in the First and Second World Wars but also European royalty. She'll share her memories.And we'll have Mark Lane in the studio. Mark had a serious car accident which left him in considerable pain and unable to continue in his PR career. Getting out into the garden led him to pursue horticulture qualifications and to a successful and rewarding second career as a garden designer and the first presenter on Gardener’s World in a wheelchair.Fay Ripley chooses her Inheritance Tracks: Streisand/ Garland, Happy days are here again/ Get Happy and Nicky Mulvey, Fever to the Form. And we have your thank you.Producer: Corinna Jones Editor: Eleanor Garland

Jackie Kay is the national poet of Scotland and has taken her Makar duties seriously. She has written a weekly poem during lockdown, brought art into people’s homes with the broadcast Makar to Makar and written about the Black Lives Matter protests. She joins Richard Coles and Bridgitte Tetteh to discuss the timely reissue of her play The Lamplighter which follows five characters who are sold into the British slave trade.Emily Kolltveit was the lead singer of a goth metal band for nearly a decade before she joined the priesthood. Her tour schedule saw her perform in beautiful churches around Europe, awakening an interest in God. Emily has started her new role at a church in Primrose Hill, London where she wants to spread the message of social justice.Personal trainer Ben Mudge has always lived with the threat of a deadly lung infection, having grown up with Cystic Fibrosis. Despite this, he has been the cover model for Men’s Fitness magazine and, because he looks remarkably like the Marvel character Thor, he dresses up to inspire children and other people with Cystic Fibrosis.Writer and performer Amrou Al-Kadhi founded the drag troupe Denim, whilst studying at Cambridge. Amrou recently won the Somerset Maugham Award for young writers for their memoir Life as a Unicorn which describes their transformation from a god-fearing Muslim boy to a drag queen, strutting the stage in seven-inch heels and saying the things nobody else dares to.And we have the Inheritance Tracks of singer and ex-Spandau Ballet frontman Tony Hadley.Producer: Laura Northedge Editor: Eleanor Garland

Richard Coles and Bridgitte Tetteh are joined by Danielle de Niese who became the youngest ever winner of the Australian TV programme Young Talent Time at the age of 9. Her family relocated to Los Angeles, where Danielle made her professional operatic debut at the age of 15 with the Los Angeles Opera. She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera at 19 and now performs around the world. She will host the TV coverage of the Proms 2020 later this summer.Loyd Grossman claims he hasn’t had a career, he’s got a CV. It’s an extensive one; he was the presenter of TV programmes Through the Keyhole and the original MasterChef, he has been a punk guitarist, a journalist, a food critic and launched his own successful food line. And he is now a historian, having published a book about American artist Benjamin West in 2015 and now one on the Italian sculptor Bernini.Sally Coulthard was a busy TV producer in London until she was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue syndrome in her late 20s. She was forced to move back home to Yorkshire where she fell in love with rural life. Sally, who has her own flock of sheep, has now published a book on how the woolly creatures have shaped the world.Chris Steel was a bouncer in Blackpool when he returned to school to get his GCSEs. Unexpectedly, he fell in love with learning. Chris is about to embark on a PhD in cancer cell biology at Magdalene College, Cambridge.And ballet dancer Deborah Bull shares her Inheritance Tracks.Producer: Laura Northedge Editor: Richard Hooper

Richard Coles and Nikki Bedi are joined by TV presenter Richard Hammond, who has driven all kinds of vehicles all over the world. He discusses his passion for cars and motorbikes and how he dealt with life-changing injuries following a 300 mph crash in a jet-powered dragster. Kat Harbourne is one of the presenters of the Naked Podcast. She explains why she interviews people in the nude and whether it leads to a more revealing interview. Paul Wood is an expert in urban trees. His passion has led him to uncover a forest of exotic trees in London including Giant Redwoods and the peanut butter tree. Self-taught chef Asma Khan was born into a royal family in India. She moved to the UK to train as lawyer and eventually set up a successful restaurant with an all-women kitchen. Plus the Inheritance Tracks of singer-songwriter Jessie Ware who chooses 'I Get a Kick Out of You' by Ella Fitzgerald and 'Love is Stronger than Pride' by Sade.

Richard Coles and Nikki Bedi are joined by Graeme Garden - one third of the Goodies along with Bill Oddie and the late Tim Brooke-Taylor. In the classic BBC television show the trio played agents for hire and would do "anything, anywhere, anytime". Astride their trusty ‘Trandem’ – a three-seater bicycle – they tackled a giant kitten, parodied westerns with a Cornish version called “Bunfight at the OK Tea Rooms” and were chased by a giant Dougal from Magic Roundabout. Graeme also created I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, the long-running Radio 4 show on which he is still a panellist and, with producer Jon Naismith, devised the Unbelievable Truth on Radio 4.Jojo Moyes is a novelist and journalist. Her books include the bestsellers Me Before You, After You and Still Me and The Girl You Left Behind. Me Before You has now sold over 14 million copies worldwide and was adapted into a major film starring Sam Claflin and Emilia Clarke. JoJo’s latest novel, The Giver of Stars, is based on a mobile library service launched by Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1930s. The Pack Horse Library Project was an initiative in which female volunteers on horseback delivered paperbacks to families in rural Kentucky who did not have access to books. Giles Clark is a conservationist who is taking on the illegal wildlife trade and helping to build a pioneering new bear sanctuary in Laos, Southeast Asia. He'll be talking about rescuing sun and moon bears and the perils of having bears about the house. And Garry Crothers, who lost an arm in a motorbike accident, joins us to talk about his epic journey - a 4,000 mile solo voyage from the Caribbean to his home in Northern Ireland. Presenter and author Fern Britton chooses her Inheritance Tracks - Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer by Nat King Cole and (You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman by Carole King.Plus a listener says thank you to a stranger who helped her at a difficult time.Producer: Paula McGinley Editor: Richard Hooper

Richard Coles and Viv Groskop are joined by aesthetician and skin expert Caroline Hirons. She went from counter girl to being dubbed the most powerful woman in the beauty industry, her blog has clocked up over a hundred thousand views and her book has just become the second ever on beauty to go to number one in the charts.And furniture restorer Jay Blades, known for TV's The Repair Shop on why he cares so much about old things and the stories behind them.Annie Atkins is a graphic designer who inhabits a secret world - if you notice her work – it usually means she hasn’t done her job properly. She joins us to discuss her journey to Grand Budapest hotels and Boxtrolls.We also have Antony Barlow, a listener who contacted us about a secret he kept from his family until they opened a letter meant for him.and Martha Wainwright choose Me Myself I by Joan Armatrading and Going to a Town by Rufus Wainwright.plus your "thank you".Producer: Corinna Jones Editor: Eleanor Garland

Richard Coles and Viv Groskop talk to England football legend John Barnes who earned 79 caps over 12 years. His talent was spotted as a teenager and he began his career at Watford, going on to have huge success at Liverpool in the 1980s and 90s. He has been a coach, a football manager and even scored a number 1 single with his contribution to football song World In Motion, and now works as a commentator and pundit.DJ, raconteur, author, producer, broadcaster and Fun Lovin’ Criminal, Huey Morgan was born in New York and grew up listening to Latin American Music through his Puerto Rican heritage. He eventually became the frontman of rock band Fun Lovin’ Criminals and now has his own shows on Radio 2 and 6Music. Mudlark Lisa Woollett is a photographer who has always been drawn to beaches and riverbeds, combing and searching for objects left behind from other times. Lisa is particularly drawn to the Thames where she has unearthed the story of her mother’s side of the family, the Tolladays. Her book Rag and Bone charts the history of this family of dustmen and scavengers and shows that the things we discard often find their way to the surface again. Listener Jane Ferriday contacted Saturday Live to tell us the story of her birth parents, who met and fell in love during the Second World War, whilst they were based at an airbase in Berkshire. Her father was already married, and returned to his family in America and her mother placed her up for adoption. It was years later that Jane was able to find out what really happened and to piece together her story. And we'll have the Inheritance Tracks of actor and comedian Sally Phillips.Producer: Laura Northedge Editor: Eleanor Garland

Nikki Bedi and the Reverend Richard Coles are joined by Ellie Simmonds. Ellie Simmonds was the face of the 2008 Bejing Paralympics, winning two gold medals in the pool at the age of only thirteen. She followed that up with further gold medals at London 2012 and Rio 2016 and was preparing for the Tokyo Olympics until the games were postponed.Sand sculptor Jamie Wardley transforms tonnes of sand into objects of transient beauty and reveals how his art has enriched his life in an extraordinary way. Miles Leonard is a high flying music executive and landlord of a rural Somerset pub that has played host to some stellar names from the music business from Coldplay to Kylie Minogue. Also actor Denise Welch discusses her frank memoir about living with depression and the Inheritance Tracks of musician Norah Jones who chooses Blue Christmas by Elvis and Trenchtown Rock by Bob Wailers and the Wailers.Producer: Steven Williams Editor: Eleanor Garland

Nemone Metaxas and the Reverend Richard Coles are joined by Simon Le Bon. As lead singer of Duran Duran: a band that has sold over 100 million records, had 18 American hit singles and 21 UK Top 20 tunes, he continues to perform to sold-out audiences around the world. He married a supermodel, had a family and explored his passion for yachts - his life the epitome of glamour. Now a proud grandfather, Simon Le Bon will be live in the studio. We also have Ruqsana Begum, who is a Muay Thai world champion, the world’s first female Muslim boxing champion, who for five years kept her sport a secret from her family. and Cardiff based café owner Kemi Nevins, who was fostered as a baby, her parents advertising the opportunity in the local paper. It was the start of a relationship she treasured for life. And Andrew Cotter the sports commentator whose videos reporting on the behaviour of his dogs, Olive and Mabel, have accrued millions of views online. We'll have the Inheritance Tracks of actor Mark Strong who chooses Mr Soft by Cockney Rebel and Birgit Nilsson singing the aria Liebestod from Wagner’s Tristan & Isolde, and your Thank you.Producer: Corinna Jones Editor: Eleanor Garland