Conversations

While working as an undercover cop, Nick Kaldas played a drug baron in the market for vast quantities of hemp oil, tracked a fugitive with a penchant for hair transplants, and posed as a hit man for a spurned lover.Nick was a 21-year-old immigrant lad from Egypt when he decided to join the NSW Police Force.He soon rose up the ranks from working as a junior constable on the beat, then as one of the first Arab-Australian undercover cops, to becoming one of the most senior police officers in Australia.While undercover, Nick tracked a fugitive with a hair transplant, bought hemp oil and heroin at the Sydney Hilton, and was hired as a hit man by a spurned lover.He then had stints as the head of the homicide squad, the gangs squad and led some of NSW's biggest criminal investigations as Deputy Police Commissioner. Nick's work also took him to Iraq to rebuild the police force after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime.Since leaving the NSW Police, Nick has continued his work in international law enforcement.This episode of Conversations explores crime, gangs, Egypt, migration, the Arab world, Syria, Iraq, Saddam Hussein, policing, law enforcement, corruption, inquiry, undercover cops, films, Batman, Northern Territory, NT Police Commissioner, Michael Murphy.Behind the Badge is published by Angus and Robertson.

Football tragic Andy Paschalidis was in his 50s when a dear friend and fellow player died during an over-35s soccer game. The tragedy inspired him to begin a whole new story for himself, and the sport (R)Andy grew up in Sydney's Balmain when it was a working-class suburb, full of migrant families. His parents had arrived in Australia from Greece a few years before, seeking a different life.Andy grew up to be one of the first Greek-Australian sports broadcasters on TV and radio on SBS and 2GB, and he never lost his zeal for football.When he was in his early 50s, Andy joined an ordinary weekend over-35s football game as he did each weekend.His friend and fellow player Matt Richardson had a heart attack on the pitch that day and died. He was just 42 years old. Then Andy discovered another friend had recently seen his teammate die exactly the same way. He decided to take six months off work to find a way to reduce the number of deaths in Australian amateur football. Since then Heartbeat of Football has saved many lives.This episode of Conversations explores grief, mateship, masculinity, male health, health and wellbeing, heart attacks, heart disease, cardiac arrest, signs of heart attack, exercise, football, FIFA, soccer, senior sports, older sports, amateur sports, deaths on the field, health, safety, migration, migrant Australians, first generation Australians, post-war migration, Sydney.When Andy's conversation with Richard first went to air, a listener named Kevin Whitby realised he was having a heart attack. Minutes later, he presented himself to the emergency department at Wollongong Hospital, where medical staff confirmed he needed immediate treatment.Since we last spoke with Andy, last year in Sydney alone, six footballers (the youngest of which was 13 years old) have been saved in the midst of on-field cardiac incidents by the defibrillators provided by Andy's charity.Learn more about the work of Heartbeat of Football.

Tim Winton, an acclaimed Australian writer famed for novels like 'Cloudstreet', shares insights from his latest work, 'Juice', depicting a dystopian future shaped by climate change. He discusses the harrowing realities of survival in a scorching world, including a gripping hostage scenario that explores human resilience. Winton reflects on the urgency of addressing climate issues, emphasizing the profound connections between art, politics, and the environment. The conversation also touches on the dangers of coral bleaching and the moral responsibilities of storytelling in times of crisis.

The Polish-French physicist and chemist is famous for discovering radium, but Marie Curie was more than her accomplishments. From 'the flying university' to great loves and losses, Dava Sobel investigates her extraordinary life.Marie Curie was the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize, and the first person to win a second Nobel Prize. But alongside her discovery of radioactivity, Marie’s life was marked by her fierce love for husband Pierre, a scandalous affair following his death, and feats of heroism during the First World War. Dava Sobel is one of the world's best loved science writers, who has written about revolutionary innovators from an 18th century clockmaker who changed marine navigation forever to Copernicus, Galileo's daughter.Now, Dava explores the extraordinary and surprising life of Marie Curie.This episode of Conversations touches on epic stories, origin stories, weird science, physics, chemistry, women in STEM, female scientists, family dynamics, grief, sudden death, modern history, human innovation, technology, military technology, medical technology, medical advancements, radium, polonium, the elements, Pierre Curie, University of Paris, academia, war.Dava Sobel's book about Marie Curie is called The Elements of Marie Curie: how the glow of radium lit a path for women in science, and is published by Harper Collins.This episode of Conversations was recorded in front of a live audience at Adelaide Writers' Week.

Would you want to live for longer? Forever? Have your mind preserved and uploaded into something non-human? And is it even possible? Neuroscientist Dr Ariel Zeleznikow explores challenging ideas about life and death.From adding a few decades onto a life span, to suspending the aging process altogether, and more radically, uploading a preserved brain and consciousness into an entirely different physical structure, Ariel's research is at the cutting edge of neuroscience.These seem like strange ideas, scientifically and morally, but Ariel says that with the advent of new techniques of brain preservation and the recent successful attempts at mapping consciousness, we could be looking at drastically longer lives in the future.This episode of Conversations explores weird science, epic stories, brain preservation, the aging process, how to stop ageing, getting older, brains, minds, souls, humanity, morality, lifespan, cancer, brain disease, Walt Disney, cryogenic freezing, genomes, biology, neurology, philosophy, ethics.The Future Loves You: How and Why We Should Abolish Death is published by Penguin.

Gold Coast lawyer Chris Nyst on his 45 years in criminal law, defending career criminals, going head to head with corrupt police, heroin addicts and a postcard bandit (R)When Chris Nyst finished studying law in the mid 1970s, he moved to a town by the beach to begin his life as a lawyer, not because it was a glitzy and glamorous city back then, but because he wanted to surf.But his nearly five decades as a criminal lawyer on the Gold Coast turned out to be a wild ride through crime, corruption, and shady characters.Chris has used some of the most dramatic chapters in his working life as inspiration for his crime fiction and for the film Getting Square.This episode of Conversations explores drug crime, surf culture, addiction, substance abuse, the justice system, the Fitzgerald Inquiry, the Fitzgerald Report, Tony Fitzgerald, Queensland corruption, cops, petty crime, bank robbing, robbery, murder, Australian crime, Brenden Abbott, career criminals.Millen is published by Angus and Robertson.

Durkhanai Ayubi and her family keep alive the stories and flavours they carried to Australia from Afghanistan, in the dining room of their 'accidental' and thriving restaurant (R)Durkhanai was two years old when she and her family came to Australia from Afghanistan.She grew up with stories of the old country from her parents, but her most powerful sensory connection to Afghanistan developed in the kitchen of her mother, Farida.Both her parents had other professions in their homeland, but in 2009, sensing an opportunity to share their culture's rich tradition of hospitality, they opened a restaurant.They named it Parwana, meaning butterfly, and serve traditional Afghan food cooked by Farida.This episode of Conversations explores migration, multiculturalism, cooking, food, history, the Silk Road, trade, refugee, war, civil war, family, parenthood, multicultural Australia, origin stories, epic journeys.Parwana: Stories and Recipes From an Afghan Kitchen (by Durkhanai Ayubi with recipes by Farida Ayubi) is published by Murdoch Books.

Writer Geraldine Brooks on love, grief and letting go after her husband died in a shocking and unexpected way.In 2019, Australian writer Geraldine Brooks was forced into a world of practicalities when her beloved husband, Tony, collapsed on the street in the United States and died.She had to immediately manage finances and family life, organise a funeral and work out what had happened for Tony to so suddenly and unexpectedly die.As time went by, Geraldine realised she had never let herself properly grieve his loss and the loss of their imagined future together.So she rented a shack on Flinders Island in the Bass Strait to face what had happened, to reflect on their big, itinerant life together, and to finally feel peace again.This episode of Conversations explores grief, grieving a loved one, death, how to cope with an unexpected death, marriage, death of a spouse, letting go, origin stories, love stories, relationships, writing, books, America, Australia, politics, journalism, war correspondence, Syria, Israel, Iran, Palestine.Memorial Days is published by Penguin Random House.

It took a catastrophic car accident for the singer and actress to leave a decorated career in architecture and focus on her artistic ambitions, including a tribute show to her friends Sinead O'Connor, and Shane MacGowan of The Pogues.Irish-French singer and performer Camille O’Sullivan grew up in County Cork, with her Irish father and French mother.Although she sang throughout her youth, she was persuaded to become an architect and went on to win awards for her work.But after she nearly lost her life in a harrowing car crash, she decided she had to be honest with herself and become the singer she always wanted to be. Camille has brought her unique voice to the songs of Jacques Brel, Edith Piaf, Nick Cave and Radiohead.In her newest show, she’s honouring two late Irish singers who were her friends: Sinead O’Connor and Shane MacGowan from The Pogues. This episode of Conversations touches on epic life stories, origin stories, Ireland, Irish singing, Jacques Brel, friendship, songwriting, poetry, and performing.

Lindsey Fidler’s quest to find her biological father started with jazz and an American Air Force Base. It ended with a trip to the U.S. through a disastrous free flights promotion run by the British division of Hoover Vacuums.Sociologist Lindsey Fidler’s parents met and married in the 1960s in East Anglia, United Kingdom.They would go to jazz clubs and socialise with the men from the American Air Force base nearby.Lindsey’s father was known as The Typewriter King because he could fix any typewriter in the area.He had contracts to repair machines on the nearby base, and even in London, where he was responsible for some of the Royal typewriters.This was the world Lindsey knew — the one she was born into. However, she was always separated from it somehow.Adults behaved strangely around her, and she felt she didn’t fit in.She was 22 when her parents sat her down and told her why.This episode of Conversations touches on biological fathers, family secrets, secrets we keep, epic life stories, belonging, identity, race, infidelity, siblings, affairs, being mixed race, blended families, biological parents, step parents, sociology, finding dad, personal stories, origin stories, typewriters, jazz, U.S. military, motherhood and self.