Excess Baggage

• Updated:
  Weekly

• Episodes available:
  Indefinitely

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Recent episodes (10)

• ExcessBag 11 Feb 12: Stones - Sacred places - Crazy River

  Sat, 11 Feb 12

  Duration:
  28 mins

  John McCarthy talks to artist Emily Young about her travels to find stone for her sculpture, to travel writer Martin Symington about his venture in search of Britain's sacred places and to Richard Grant about his exploration of the Malagarasi River in East Africa.

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• ExcessBag 04 Feb 12 : Antarctica

  Sat, 4 Feb 12

  Duration:
  29 mins

  John McCarthy visits 'The Heart of the Great Alone' an exhibiton of polar photography at The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace and, before an audience, introduces a discussion of Antarctica with the explorer David Hempleman-Adams and his daughter Amelia who have just returned from there,the author Meredith Hooper and Frozen Planet cameraman Doug Allan.

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• ExcessBag 28 Jan 12: Mongolia - Wild West - Calgary Stampede

  Sat, 28 Jan 12

  Duration:
  29 mins

  John McCarthy talks to Lord Sugar's right-hand man in The Apprentice Nick Hewer about his journey across Mongolia in an old Renault 4L; to documentary film-maker Tim Slessor about the American Wild West and to travel writer Kieran Meeke about the Calgary Stampede, in Alberta, Canada

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• ExcessBag 21 Jan 12: The West Bank

  Sat, 21 Jan 12

  Duration:
  29 mins

  John McCarthy looks at the delights and difficulties of visiting the occupied territories of East Jerusalem and the West Bank with writer Sarah Irving, circus performer China Fish and traveller Gail Simmons.

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• ExcessBag 14 Jan 12: Swimming - Land art - Sicily

  Sat, 14 Jan 12

  Duration:
  28 mins

  John McCarthy talks to writer Susie Parr about her quest to chart the history of outdoor bathing in the UK and how immersion in cold water inspired art and creativity; academic Amy Dempsey shares her love of large scale outdoor art and critic Andrew Graham-Dixon explains his abiding passion for the raw art of Sicily.

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• ExcessBag 07 Jan 11: Veteran hitchhiker; butterflies; Burma

  Sat, 7 Jan 12

  Duration:
  28 mins

  John McCarthy meets veteran hitchhiker Naomi Molten who recalls her 1950s travels; student Isobel Talks who tracked down the butterflies in Ecuador named after her and writer Felicity Goodall who travelled the 1942 Evacuation Route in Burma.

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• ExcessBag31 Dec11: England

  Sat, 31 Dec 11

  Duration:
  28 mins

  John McCarthy looks at the changing nature of the traditional attractions of England with historian John Julius Norwich, curator Lucy Worsley and journalist Martin Wainwright. Together they discuss the appeal of English places from Kensington Palace to Watford Gap and why we look for the past in palaces and cottages.

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• ExcessBag25Dec11: Christmas Travel Quiz

  Sun, 25 Dec 11

  Duration:
  29 mins

  Peter Curran presents an Excess Baggage special quiz for Christmas from the Radio Theatre with John McCarthy and Sandi Toksvig and their special guests Caroline Quentin and Arthur Smith answering questions on the world of travel and travelling the world.

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• ExcessBag24Dec11:Repeat Cheltenham Literature Festival

  Sat, 24 Dec 11

  Duration:
  28 mins

  John McCarthy discusses travel biography at the Cheltenham Literature Festival with eminent writers in the field; Sir Christopher Ondaatje, Sara Wheeler and Alexander Maitland.

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• ExcessBag17Dec11: Animal welfare - Plant hunting

  Sat, 17 Dec 11

  Duration:
  28 mins

  John McCarthy discusses animal welfare abroad with Caroline Yates CEO of Mayhew International which supports projects in Moscow, Peru, India and Afghanistan and Barbara Webb co-founder of the Himalayan Animal Rescue Trust in Nepal. He also talks to Phillip Cribb, a botanist and orchid specialist at Kew Gardens who has spent thirty years plant hunting in Western China.

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