

Saturday Live
BBC Radio 4
Join Adrian Chiles for a Saturday morning full of remarkable people with extraordinary stories.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Sep 22, 2012 • 1h 25min
Clarissa Dickson-Wright, John McCarthy in Lyme Regis, Murray Lachlan Young on pasties, Harry Belafonte's Inheritance Tracks
Sian Williams and Richard Coles with cook and food historian Clarissa Dickson Wright, Daniel Bond and Stacey Drinkwater who can't afford a house so they live on a double-decker bus, Linda Cruse who experienced a bout of blindness which changed her life, and former Captain of the QE2, Nick Bates, who describes life on the ocean wave. There's a Sound Sculpture of a rugby ball from Andy Challis, a paean to the Cornish pasty from Murray Lachlan Young, and John McCarthy on location in Lyme Regis. Plus the Inheritance Tracks of the King of Calypso, Harry Belafonte.Producer: Dixi Stewart.

Sep 15, 2012 • 1h 25min
Charlie Higson, Michael Ashcroft's medals, John McCarthy in Kent, Tony Benn's Inheritance Tracks
Sian Williams and Richard Coles with studio guest Charlie Higson and the extraordinary transgender love story of Victoria and Emma Cantons. Conservative Michael Ashcroft shows off his medal collection, we debate rites of passage for one mum and her son, the inheritance tracks of former politician Tony Benn and John McCarthy visits Kent!
Producer Lisa Jenkinson.

Sep 8, 2012 • 1h 25min
08/09/2012
Sian Williams and John McCarthy with studio guest Edwina Currie reflecting on her public and personal life, two very different attitudes to burial from Mark Elliott and Wendii Miller, Spanish author Javier Marias who is the literary and literal king of the micronation Redonda, the pros and cons of procrastination from Steve Swift, Talitha MacKenzie on why her song caught on in Serbia, the musings of Mancunians and the Inheritance Tracks of Big Issue founder John Bird.
Producer: Harry Parker.

Sep 1, 2012 • 1h 25min
Lynda Bellingham, chimp circus, cameraphone inventor, Claire Grogan, anaesthetic awareness, Robert Cray's Inheritance Tracks
Suzy Klein and Richard Coles with studio guest Lynda Bellingham. This weekend in 1939 more than 400,000 pets were killed at the outbreak of World Ward Two. We talk to Dr Hilda Kean who's researched this forgotten piece of history. Fifteen years ago Philippe Kahn invented the camera phone which has revolutionised the way we view the world and communicate. Nicholas McCarthy, who has only one hand, talks about his life as a concert pianist, Sally Pearson shares her experience of waking up on the operating table, Singer Clare Grogan takes a daytrip around North London with JP Devlin, and the Inheritance Tracks of blues guitarist Robert Cray.
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson.

Aug 25, 2012 • 1h 25min
Neil Oliver, Anne Marie Ward, Spitfire pilots, face blindness, Emma Thompson's Inheritance Tracks
Sian Williams & John McCarthy with archaeologist and broadcaster Neil Oliver; Anthony Weir tells the story of his failed attempt to live with a pygmy tribe; open-water swimmer Anne Marie Ward reveals her plans to swim the Bering Straits; Alison describes her experience of living with face-blindness; Jackie Palmer explains why she loves the sound of a telephone exchange; a group of former Spitfire pilots share their wartime memories, and actress Emma Thompson shares her Inheritance Tracks.Producer: Harry Parker.

Aug 18, 2012 • 1h 25min
Tamsin Greig, Sally Becker, Ray Davies, Benjamin Grosvenor Inheritance Tracks.
Richard Coles & John McCarthy with actress Tamsin Greig; listener Lalage Cambell who sealed a friendship thanks to a washed-up wallet; Sally Becker, aka the Angel of Mostar, who carried the Olympic flag at the Opening Ceremony; Sophie and Louis Staley who organised their parents' wedding; and Dan Fox who sprang his friend from a Kabul gaol with the aid of a kipper tie. We meet the 90 year old Tottenham barber whose shop was trashed during last year's riots, JP Devlin gets a tour of The Kinks recording studio with frontman Ray Davies; and piano prodigy Benjamin Grosvenor shares his Inheritance Tracks. Producer: Dixi Stewart.

Aug 11, 2012 • 1h 25min
11/08/2012
Richard Coles & John McCarthy with broadcaster Joan Bakewell; listener Kirsteen Steel who turned detective to recover her father's stolen submarine bell; Jeremy Marks who in the 1980s ran a course to help gay people suppress their sexuality; moon rock investigator Joe Gutheinz; Olympic cycling pace setter Peter Deary; JP Devlin talks to the last surviving crew member of the Enola Gay which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima; there's a poem from the Edinburgh Festival; and agony aunt and author Virginia Ironside shares her Inheritance Tracks. Producer: Dixi Stewart.

Aug 4, 2012 • 1h 25min
Gerald Seymour, James Partridge, Ming Campbell's Inheritance Tracks
Sian Williams & Richard Coles live from the Olympics with newsman turned novelist Gerald Seymour, and James Partridge who founded of the disfigurement charity Changing Faces; JP Devlin mingles with the Olympic crowds; archer Tony George sets us aquiver with his Sound Sculpture; listener Arnold Gordon tells the tale of singing along to Over The Rainbow with Judy Garland in a bar during the Tokyo Olympics; John McCarthy gets out his bucket and spade in Weymouth; and Olympic athlete turned politician Ming Campbell shares his Inheritance Tracks. Producer: Dixi Stewart.

Jul 28, 2012 • 1h 25min
Barry McGuigan, Tattoo guerrilla report, Zeb Soanes on his path to recovery after suffering a paralysed vocal chord.
Suzy Klein and Richard Coles with boxer Barry McGuigan. Radio 4's Zeb Soanes on his path to recovery after suffering a paralysed vocal chord. Inheritance Tracks from Leo Sayer, update from Hazel Parry on her trip to the Congo where her parents were murdered in the sixties. Foundling Andrew Rowan on finding out about his roots and making contact with his half brother Ronnie Finlayson, a guerrilla report on the tattoo industry, John McCarthy takes a barge on the Trent and Mersey canal, World Open Water Swimming Woman of the year Anne Marie Ward.
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson.

Jul 21, 2012 • 1h 25min
Tanni Grey-Thompson; John McCarthy punting in Cambridge; Gary Kemp's Inheritance Tracks
Sian Williams and Richard Coles with paralympian Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson; former beautician Georgina Blackwell who took on a local legal battle and has just graduated with a First in Law; Azzy B who is now friends with the boy he used to bully; Peggy Chadwick who secretly took the place of her twin sister in the choir at the closing ceremony of the 1948 Olympics; John McCarthy goes punting in Cambridge; Anne Jones explains why a snuff box is the thing about her; Michael Turner describes how he's travelled the world in the footsteps of Sir Francis Drake; and pop star Gary Kemp shares his Inheritance Tracks. Producer: Lisa Jenkinson.