Saturday Live

BBC Radio 4
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Oct 19, 2019 • 1h 25min

David Suchet

Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are joined by the actor David Suchet who has been taking photographs since he was eight when his Fleet Street photographer grandfather passed on his knowledge. His new book Behind the Lens: My Life is a collection of David’s photographs.Listener Kathryn Penny reports back from the 50th anniversary reunion of the Commonwealth Expedition which involved twenty coach loads of British students setting of for India. 'Serial innovator' Samantha Moyo wanted a break from her hedonistic lifestyle and organised the first Morning Gloryville 6am sober rave in 2013. They are now staged in 23 locations world wide.BBC weather presenter and meteorologist Simon King on his lifelong weather obsession and new book What Does Rain Smell Like? And we have the Inheritance Tracks of actor Kelly Macdonald who chooses You are My Sunshine by Jimmie Davis and I Love You by Woodkid.Producer: Laura Northedge Editor: Eleanor Garland
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Oct 12, 2019 • 1h 25min

Simon Reeve

Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are joined by travel documentary maker Simon Reeve who has come a long way since leaving school with no qualifications; he wrote a book on international terrorism and his latest series is on The Americas. Also, Kate Young who was homesick for her native Australia when she decided to cook a comforting dish described in Harry Potter. It led to more literary dishes, a blog and a book. Jeroen Olyslaegers is an award-winning author from Antwerp. His latest book Will was inspired by stories from his own family, in particular his Grandfather who was a Nazi collaborator during WWII. He joins us, along with Lucy Mathen who contacted us with her own extraordinary story - she was the first Asian reporter on Newsround, and went on to retrain as an ophthalmologist, founding a charity to treat eye problems in India. We have the Inheritance Tracks of TV stylist and presenter Gok Wan who chooses Top of the world by The Carpenters and Make your own kind of music performed by Cass Elliot. Producer: Corinna Jones Editor: Eleanor Garland
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Oct 5, 2019 • 1h 25min

Harry Connick Jr, Andrew Ridgeley

Harry Connick Jr, was brought up by lawyers in New Orleans, but it was the music of the city that inspired him. A child prodigy playing a Beethoven concerto at nine, a disaster singing to Sinatra at 22, then Harry Met Sally happened, and It Had To Be You, made him a star. He He is now celebrating the genius of Cole Porter. Paulette Constable grew up in Manchester, the youngest of eight children from a Windrush generation family. Following an early divorce, she became a club DJ in 1992, with residencies at The Hacienda, the Ministry of Sound, Heaven and Ibiza Rocks, but explains how family responsibility caught up with her and brought her home.Rachael Rogan gave up a career in marketing when she was diagnosed with cancer. She describes how, following treatment and strong community support, she decided to make a radical change to her life and to follow her passion – children’s books.Andrew Ridgeley - one half of Wham! recalls about meeting Georgios Kyiacos Panayiotou at school, discovering their shared passion for music, finding success and their enduring friendship.Danny Wallace shares his Inheritance Tracks - Sunshine on Leith by The Proclaimers, and Live Forever by Oasis.Producer: Louise Corley Editor: Eleanor Garland
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Sep 28, 2019 • 1h 24min

Martina Cole

Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir are joined by the British crime writer Martina Cole, known to her fans as the Queen of Crime, with twenty-four novels to her name, fifteen of which have been No.1 bestsellers and translated into twenty-nine languages. Thomas Harding ran a local newspaper in West Virginia before returning to the UK to research his family history, which in one direction took him to his uncle Hanns, a Nazi hunter who tracked down the Auschwitz commandant, Rudolf Hoess. Now he has turned his attention to the other half of his family, who created the famous Lyons Corner Houses. Emily Chung co-founded, with her sister Amy, the pop-up Rangoon Sisters Burmese Supper Club between their shifts as doctors in the NHS. Justin Hawkins was a jingle writer and jobbing musician before forming rock band The Darkness. They had chart success with hits including I Believe in a Thing Called Love and Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End) before the band disbanded in 2006. Five years later they reunited and have just released a new album Easter is Cancelled. Author and LGBT activist Armistead Maupin shares his Inheritance Tracks - Every Time We Say Goodbye by Cole Porter and sung by Ella Fitzgerald and Being Boring by Pet Shop Boys.Producer: Annette Wells
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Sep 21, 2019 • 1h 25min

Gerald Scarfe

Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are joined by Gerald Scarfe, one of our best known artists, caricaturing those in power, and also a production designer for theatre, ballet and opera and designer of animation sequences for Disney's Hercules and Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Liam Charles was the people’s champion of Bake Off 2017, and the youngest contestant in that series. He went from cake sales at sixth form to having his own cookery show, and presenting Bake Off The Professionals within three years. Goldie Puricelli has taught kids with dyslexia, dyspraxia and autism, for over twenty years, she’s also a member of the Magic Circle and incorporates those skills into her teaching work. Helen Zaltzman was an early adopter of the podcast, launching the award winning comedy podcast Answer Me This! with Olly Mann in 2007. In 2015 she began The Allusionist linguistics podcast, which was immediately named iTunes UK's best new podcast. Helen gave up her flat and has spent the last two years touring the world with her live show in which she uses her love of language to unpick gender stereotypes, crime reporting and vegan restaurant menus. We have your thank yous and folk singer Shirley Collins chooses Fantasia on Greensleeves by Ralph Vaughn Williams and A Denying - The Blacksmith performed by Shirley And Dolly Collins Producer: Corinna Jones Editor: Eleanor Garland
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Sep 20, 2019 • 1h 25min

Andy McNab, Axel Scheffler, Veronica 'Fancy Chance' Thompson and Roisin Conaty

Aasmah Mir and Rev Richard Coles talk to former SAS soldier Andy McNab. He was captured in Iraq while leading the Bravo Two Zero mission in 1991. His book on his ordeal became a bestseller - his first of many. His latest book "Get Me Out Of Here" is aimed at young readers. Children's book illustrator Axel Scheffler has given visual form to Julia Donaldson's characters The Gruffalo, Stick Man, Room on the Broom, A Squash and a Squeeze and many more. But if you find the Gruffalo scary, be aware that Axel's original version was even more menacing. His latest books are "Kind" and "The Smeds and the Smoos" - two stories about tolerance and inclusivity. Veronica Thompson goes by the stage name Fancy Chance when she performs aerial burlesque while hanging from her hair. Her show Flights of Fancy explores ideas of beauty and her feelings of alienation at having been abandoned as a baby on the doorstep of a South Korean police station. Actor and comedian Roisin Conaty shares her Inheritance Tracks. And listener Emma Wyatt-Haines talks about overcoming serious spinal injury to compete in an Iron Man contest.Presenters: Aasmah Mir and Rev Richard Coles Producer: Paul Waters
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Sep 7, 2019 • 1h 25min

Richard Ayoade

Richard Ayoade became famous for playing Moss in the IT Crowd and went on to present Gadget Man, Travel Man and The Crystal Maze. He was nominated for a BAFTA for directing his first feature film Submarine and has directed music videos for Artic Monkeys, Vampire Weekend and Radiohead. Despite that, he describes himself primarily as a writer and his third book Ayoade on Top has just been published.Choreographer, dancer and artistic director Kevin Turner was spotted for his talent as a child. However, as his career soared, his mental health suffered. He describes how he used dance to recover and now coaches other mentally ill people in how to use movement to heal.When Isabel Vincent was in her 40s and living in New York, her friend Valerie suggested that she meet up with her 91 year-old father for dinner. To Isabel’s surprise they had an immediate spark and became best friends. She went to have dinner with him almost every week for five years until he died at 95-years old.Actor Amanda Abbington became a national hero when, as Mary Watson, she took a bullet for Sherlock. Her new play, The Son, explores the domestic struggle of divorce and depression and she joins us in the studio.And singer Marty Wilde shares his Inheritance Tracks.Producer: Laura Northedge Editor: Eleanor Garland
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Aug 31, 2019 • 1h 25min

Timothy Spall, George Alagiah

Richard Coles and Suzy Klein are joined by the actor Timothy Spall whose latest role is as LS Lowry. He describes his own passion for painting, the relationship between Lowry and his mother, and that with his own mother - who supported his acting ambitions. Footballer, Eniola Aluko won more than 100 caps for England. She explains how she started playing football on an estate in Birmingham as the only girl amongst a team of boys who named her Eddie. The pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason was spotted by Elton John and is now embarking on a brilliant career as a soloist and ensemble player. She describes life as the eldest of seven gifted musicians including brother Sheku who played at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The broadcaster, journalist and writer George Alagaiah, discusses his first thriller, which is set in post-apartheid South Africa from where he once reported. The actor and comedian Doon MacKichan shares her Inheritance Tracks - Parigi o Cara Ah Gran Dio, from La Traviata, performed by Luciano Pavarotti and Joan Sutherland and What Is and What Should Never Be by Led Zeppelin.Producer: Louise Corley Editor: Eleanor Garland
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Aug 24, 2019 • 1h 24min

PP Arnold, John Eliot Gardiner

Kate Silverton and Luke Jones meet singer P.P. Arnold; artist Mackenzie Thorpe; poet Charly Cox and the Reverend Peter Allen. With Inheritance Tracks from conductor John Eliot Gardiner.Soul singer P.P. - Pat - Arnold found her voice as a young girl singing gospel songs in church. Her career took off when she joined the Ikettes - backing singers and dancers for the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. When the Revue arrived in London Pat -nicknamed P.P. by photographer Gered Mankowitz -became a fixture on the London music scene, collaborating with everyone from Rod Stewart to the Small Faces. Her new album The New Adventures of P.P. Arnold is out now.This year Middlesbrough-born Mackenzie Thorpe celebrates 30 years as an artist. He is best known for his 'Square Sheep' series of works and 'Waiting for Me Dad' - a tribute to the men who worked in the industry of the area who crossed the town's transporter bridge to get to work and the families who waited for their return. He was the official artist for the Tour de Yorkshire 2019 and collectors of his work include the actor Tom Hardy, JK Rowling and Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth. Mackenzie Thorpe’s 30th year exhibition opens at his gallery, Arthaus, in Richmond, North Yorkshire on 14th September and his book, Out of the Shadows, is available now.Charly Cox is a poet whose writing focuses on destigmatizing mental health and the coming-of-age of a young woman surviving the modern world. In January 2017 she published her first poem on Instagram; since then she’s raised money and awareness for charities which tackle mental health issues. Dubbed social media’s answer to Carol Ann Duffy, she is an ambassador for MQ Mental Health and was named by ELLE magazine as one of their 20 power players to watch out for in 2018. Her second book, Validate Me, is out in September. Listener Reverend Peter Allen served as chaplain at Sheffield Wednesday Football Club and chaplain for Sport in the diocese of Sheffield. During this time he opened up brand new chaplaincies in a variety of sports in the region including volleyball, ice hockey and boxing. He talks about his life in the church and how a youthful misdemeanour came back to haunt him.Conductor John Eliot Gardiner shares his Inheritance Tracks.Producer: Paula McGinley Editor: Eleanor Garland
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Aug 17, 2019 • 1h 25min

Skin, George RR Martin

Skin from Skunk Anansie made headlines this summer when it was pointed out that she was the first black British artist to headline the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury, not Stormzy. That was in 1999 and Skunk Anansie were five years into an incredible run of chart hits such as “Weak”, “Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good)” and “Charity”. Skin discusses her childhood, her career and what it was like being the only black, gay woman in the 1990’s music scene. Lisa Faulkner was scouted as a model at 16 before becoming an actor at the age of 20. She was well known for roles in Dangerfield, Brookside and Holby City before famously meeting a grisly end in Spooks. In 2010 she won Celebrity Masterchef, has since become a food writer and now co-presents John and Lisa’s Weekend Kitchen with her fiancé John Torode. She has published the memoir Meant To Be: My Journey to Motherhood which describes the death of her mother when Lisa was just 16 and her years navigating infertility, IVF and adoption. Joel Golby’s book Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant: Modern Life as Interpreted by Someone Who is Reasonably Bad at Living It describes how the journalist, whose father died when he was 15, became an adult orphan at the age of 25 when his mother died. He talks about the impact of the sudden and unwelcome intrusion of adult responsibility into his otherwise hedonistic life.Dr Dean Burnett is a neuroscientist, author and stand-up comedian. He wrote the international best -sellers The Idiot Brain and The Happy Brain. His new book for teenagers is called Why Your Parents Are Driving You Up The Wall and What To Do About It.Game of Thrones author George RR Martin shares his Inheritance Tracks.Producer: Laura Northedge Editor: Eleanor Garland

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