BBC Radio Cumbria

Sally Brampton

Sally Brampton is a former fashion journalist turned newspaper agony aunt. In 2001 she fell into a bout of clinical depression which lasted 4 years. she was in hospital 3three times and tried to take her own life.

The depression came back again for eight months last year. She's written a book about it and has also been speaking at the Words by the Water Festival in Keswick.

Our reporter Belinda Artingstoll asked her what it's like in the depths of severe depression.

Melvyn Bragg

The Cumbrian writer Melvyn Bragg has based his last few books on his formative years in Wigton and his time at university.

The books are a mixture of fact and fiction. The latest one, Remember Me, is based on the events leading up to the death of his first wife, she sadly took her own life.

For a while after the book was published he found it difficult to do interviews about it but he did agree to talk to BBC Radio Cumbria's reporter Belinda Artingstoll at the Words by the Water festival in Keswick.

James Fergueson

Belinda Artingstoll's been speaking to James Fergueson, author of 'A Million Bullets'- a book about British forces in Afghanistan.

James told her about his time with both the British squaddies and the Taleban.

The Maid of Buttermere

Keswick's Theatre by the Lake might be in full literary swing with Words by the Water at the moment, but behind the scenes actors will be working hard in preparation for the spring production.

Melvyn Bragg's novel The Maid of Buttermere will have it's world premiere when it hits the stage on 21st March, and as well as the company of professional actors local amateurs will be treading the boards too.

Ian Forest is the Artistic Director at Theatre by the Lake and co-director of The Maid of Buttermere...

Vesna Maric

Seventeen years ago Vesna Maric left war-torn Bosnia and eventually arrived in Penrith. She was 16 and her sister was 19 and they had taken the difficult decision to leave the rest of their family behind.

She was only in Cumbria for nine months but this week she's back in the county at the Words by the Water Festival in Keswick to talk about a book she's written about her experiences. BBC Radio Cumbria's Belinda Artingstoll asked her what the conditions were like in Bosnia before she left...

You'll be glad to know that she and her family were re-united after the war. Vesna's book is called "Bluebird...A Memoir" and is out now.

Grandma's Remedies

Belinda Artingstoll's been chatting to Cherry Shappell  who's brought together a lot of old-fashioned cures in a new book called Grandma's Remedies. But should they all be left in the past?

She got many of the remedies after appealing through newspapers and magazines and Belinda asked her for a few examples...

Cherry Shappell's book "Grandma's Remedies - A Guide to Traditional Cures and Treatments" is out now.

The drugs don't work!

Doctor Druin Burch has written a book about the history of the drugs industry and he says that even now he doesn't know if some of the drugs he prescribes actually work!

Before he got onto that he told Belinda Artingstoll how it was even worse before the 1930s...

My Year in the Eighteenth Century

How do you fancy going back to life the way it was more than 200 years ago and doing things like making your own candles and shampoo?

That's what historian Fiona Houston did as she took on the role of an 18th Century schoolteacher's wife for a whole year!

It involved leaving her large comfortable house in southern Scotland and moving across her yard to a specially converted out-building.

When she spoke to Belinda Artingstoll at the Words by the Water festival in Keswick she was in her 18th Century costume, and she started by describing what she was wearing...

Ivver Sen

Keith Richardson's book "Ivver Sen" celebrates the men and women who work on the Cumbrian fells.

Belinda Artingstoll has been chatting to him and also to Keith Bowen who provided the  pastel illustrations for the book. Keith Richardson explains the idea behind the book..

Pru Leith

Belinda Artingstoll's been chatting to Pru Leith. She started life as a cook and food writer and you might have seen her on the Great British Menu when she was judging the top chefs competing to cook for the Queen a year or so ago.

But she's also turned her hand to writing fiction; before Bel asked her about that, she asked Pru if the Great British Menu had been as "hard" as it looked!

Walter Poucher

Have you heard of Walter Poucher?

He was a photographer from the south of England who became very well-known for his photos and guidebooks of the Lakes. He eventually moved to live in Cumbria.

But there was another, very surprising side to this man who has been described by some as the photographic equivalent of Alfred Wainwright.

Roly Smith has written a book about Poucher and when BBC Radio Cumbria's Belinda Artingstoll spoke to him at the Words by the Water Festival in Keswick she asked how big a name Poucher was in his hey-day.

Percy Kelly

Percy Kelly was one of seven children born into a working class family in Workington. He died in 1993 and his paintings of industrial West Cumbria are now worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

He also did amazing illustrations on letters to friends and family and these letters keep on appearing in the strangest places!

Chris Wadsworth has written a book about the latest batch of letters to come to light and she's been talking to Belinda Artingstoll at the Words by the Water Festival. She started by explaining how special Percy's work is...

Michael Buerk

A grumpy Michael Buerk vents his spleen to Belinda Artingstoll about the miseries of life today ...