Midweek: Diverse Conversation

• Updated:
  Weekly

• Episodes available:
  Indefinitely

Show recent episodes (10)

All episodes (80)

• guests include Omid Djalili 23 May 12

  Wed, 23 May 12

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by actor and comedian Omid Djalili; 'Chyna' who was in a girl gang but now helps others to escape that life; travel writer Brian Jackman; and folk musician Tim Edey.

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• guests include Angela Rippon 16 May 12

  Wed, 16 May 12

  Duration:
  43 mins

  Libby Purves is joined by journalist Angela Rippon; fashion photographer Jim Lee; Marian Partington whose sister Lucy was found to one of the victims of Rosemary and Fred West and In her book, ‘If You Sit Very Still’, she explores the territory of traumatic loss, and the restoration of the human spirit and musician & song writer Vusi Mahlasela.

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• guests include Hannah Rothschild 9 May 12

  Wed, 9 May 12

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by bat expert Dr Rodrigo Medellin; filmmaker Hannah Rothschild; playwright Michael Ashton; and former diplomat Sir Roger Carrick.

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• guests include Maria Friedman 2 May 12

  Wed, 2 May 12

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by food writer Ruth Joseph; musical theatre star Maria Friedman; BBC documentary maker Michael Cockerell; and grandson of Agatha Christie Mathew Prichard.

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• guests include James Cracknell 25 Apr 12

  Wed, 25 Apr 12

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Olympian turned adventurer, James Cracknell; actor and children's author, Susannah Corbett; lawyer Nick Freeman aka Mr Loophole; and chef Gennaro Contaldo.

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• guests include Barry Briggs 18 Apr 12

  Wed, 18 Apr 12

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Dacre Stoker, great great grand-nephew of Bram Stoker; Barry Briggs, former 4 time World Speedway champion; actors Roberta Taylor and Peter Guinness; and bridge maker Richard La Trobe-Bateman.

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• guests include Sir Trevor McDonald and Greg Doran

  Wed, 11 Apr 12

  Duration:
  42 mins

  Libby Purves is joined by Dick Robinson who has published his great aunt's diaries from the First World War;Greg Doran who is the RSC's Artistic Director designate;broadcaster and presenter Sir Trevor McDonald and Lord and Lady Fitzalan Howard who live at Carlton Towers, near Selby in Yorkshire and feature in a new series about stately home owners who open their doors as a corporate and wedding venue.

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• guests include Gavin Turk 4 Apr 12

  Wed, 4 Apr 12

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by composer and arranger Barbara Moore; Falklands veteran Tony Banks; writer and journalist Donald McRae; and artists Gavin Turk and Deborah Curtis.

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• guests include Alvin Hall 28 Mar 12

  Wed, 28 Mar 12

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by financial expert Alvin Hall; singer and songwriter Alkinoos Ioannidis; foreign correspondent Alex Crawford; and owner of Dartmoor Zoological Park, Benjamin Mee.

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• guests include Timothy Spall 21 Mar 12

  Wed, 21 Mar 12

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Shane and Timothy Spall, who sailed their barge Matilda around Britain; Barrie Rutter, founder and Artistic Director of Northern Broadsides theatre company; biologist Juliane Koepcke who was the only survivor of a plane crash in Peru in 1971; and musician and producer Grant Gordon who tells of how he and his father's relationship was cemented by their shared love of golf.

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• guests include Sugar Ray Leonard 14 Mar 12

  Wed, 14 Mar 12

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by singer/songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan; former boxer Sugar Ray Leonard; dancer and actor Adam Cooper; and scenographer Pamela Howard OBE.

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• guests include David Essex 7 Mar 12

  Wed, 7 Mar 12

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by singer David Essex; fashion designer Ozwald Boateng; conservationist Dame Daphne Sheldrick and actor and wildlife artist James Burke-Dunsmore.

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• guests include Pauline Quirke 29 Feb 12

  Wed, 29 Feb 12

  Duration:
  9 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by comedian Shelley Bridgman, winner of the Silver Stand Up award for the over 55's; actor Pauline Quirke on her book 'Where Have I Gone?'; Palestinian director Amir Nizar Zuabi who is directing 'A Comedy of Errors' as part of the World Shakespeare Festival; and photographer Dennis Morris on his book 'Growing Up Black' in which he charts the history of the black British experience during the 60s and 70s.

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• Libby Purves is joined by Hans Klok

  Wed, 22 Feb 12

  Duration:
  43 mins

  Libby Purves is joined by illusionist Hans Klok, reputedly 'the fastest magician in the world'; Adrian Jackson who is a writer and director.His latest play ‘A Few Man Fridays’ tells the story of how the British government evicted 2000 islanders from the Chagos islands in the Indian Ocean during the cold war to make way for a US military base. Sabrina Jean's family were part of that community & she joins in with her story. Scholar Mary M Talbot's latest book 'Dotter of her Father's Eyes' is part biography and part personal history; Dave Kelly lost his sight fifteen years ago and after two years of struggling to adjust to his condition, he was inspired to set up his own charity, Daisy UK. The charity runs sports sessions for the disabled, including blind football and wheelchair basketball.

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• Anthony Sher 15 Feb 12

  Wed, 15 Feb 12

  Duration:
  42 mins

  Libby Purves is joined by Professor Sean Street who is an historian, writer, presenter and poet and his new book is 'The Poetry of Radio - The Colour of Sound';Jazz saxophonist and composer Barbara Thompson and her husband, the drummer Jon Hiseman who feature in a BBC Four documentary 'Playing Against Time'which shows how she copes with Parkinson's disease; Sir Anthony Sher who is starring in Nicholas Wright's new play 'Travelling Light' at the National Theatre and biographer Jonathan Croall who had been investigating his father's life as actor in the 'silent' films and beyond.

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• Clare Balding 8 Feb 12

  Wed, 8 Feb 12

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by actor Katherine Kelly; Dr Steve Peters, psychiatrist with the British Cycling Team; former US army chief Rhonda Cornum; and BBC presenter Clare Balding.

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• is joined by Lord Baker 02 Feb 2012

  Wed, 1 Feb 12

  Duration:
  43 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Lord Baker who is a cartoon enthusiast and is also Vice-Chairman of the Cartoon Museum. A new exhibition HER MAJ: 60 Years of Unofficial Portraits of the Queen is at the Cartoon Museum; Rudi Richardson is the founder of Streetlytes a charity for the homeless, which he set up after 33 years drifting in and out of addiction, prison and life on the streets; Ishy Din,a taxi-driver from Middlesborough who now writes plays. His new one is entitled Snookered, about young Asian men struggling to find their identity in modern Britain and Michele Hanson who is a columnist and writer. She writes a weekly column in the Guardian’s Women section called A Certain Age. Her memoir What The Grown Ups Were Doing is published by Simon and Schuster.

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• guests include Peter Tatchell 25 Jan 12

  Wed, 25 Jan 12

  Duration:
  43 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by micro-graver Graham Short whose latest work was to engrave The Word of God, the first chapter of the Qur'an, onto the head of a pin; Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell on his 45 years of campaigning; former banker Gary Mulgrew, one of the 'NatWest Three' who spent time in prison in the US for fraud; and Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace, stars of BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, who bring their creation, Midnight Tango to London's Aldwych Theatre.

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• guests included Sandy Gall 18 Jan 12

  Wed, 18 Jan 12

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Antony Woodward, author and microlight pilot who features in BBC Two's Wonderland: The Real Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines; journalist, broadcaster and former ITN news presenter Sandy Gall on his book 'War Against The Taliban - Why It All Went Wrong In Afghanistan'; Nick Coleman, a music journalist who has to relearn how to listen to music after suffering from Sudden Neurosensory Hearing Loss; and musician turned comedian Rosie Wilby on her show 'How (not) to make it in Britpop'.

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• guests include Tasmin Little 11 Jan 12

  Wed, 11 Jan 12

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by violinist Tasmin Little talking about a new BBC Four documentary about Vaughan Williams' Lark Ascending; filmmaker John Akomfrah on his new film 'The Nine Muses' which looks at the history of mass migration to post-war Britain using Homer's poem The Odyssey as a starting point; retired vet Dr Andrew Higgins who was posted to Oman in 1974 during the Dhofar War as one of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps to help win the hearts and minds of the local population; and Sir Stephen Waley-Cohen on the 60th Anniversary of the play, The Mousetrap.

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• guests include Simon Russell Beale 28 Dec 11

  Wed, 28 Dec 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Frank and Winnie Tovey who spent sixteen years in India where Frank was a medical missionary; actor Simon Russell-Beale is currently playing Stalin in the National Theatre production of 'Collaborators' by John Hodge; Noo Saro-Wiwa, daughter of the political activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was murdered in Nigeria in 1995, writes about her own journey back there; and Anne Wallace, has branched out from fish and chips to a coffee shop offering IT courses to the elderly.

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• guests include Martha Fiennes 21 Dec 11

  Wed, 21 Dec 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Alistair Sutcliffe, a GP who became the first man to summit the highest mountain on each of the seven continents at the first attempt, but subsequently suffered a near fatal brain haemorrhage; filmmaker Martha Fiennes who has created her first digital installation, Nativity, based on the Christmas Nativity scene, on display in a specially constructed chalet in Covent Garden piazza; Celia Imrie who is currently in Michael Frayn's 'Noises Off' at the Old Vic; and Prof Amanda Vickery who presents a BBC Two documentary 'The Many Lovers of Miss Jane Austen' which explores her enduring popularity through her plots and characters.

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• guests include Prof John Wallwork 14 Dec 11

  Wed, 14 Dec 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Susie McKenna, Creative Director of the Hackney Empire; Peter Bougourd was second Coxn of the St Peter Port lifeboat; Professor John Wallwork performed the world's first triple transplant and features in a BBC Inside Out documentary 'The Heartman'; and musician and composer Matthew Herbert whose latest work is an album called ONE PIG, which records the 24 week lifecycle of a pig from birth to table and beyond.

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• guests include Matthew Bourne 7 Dec 11

  Wed, 7 Dec 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Runa Khan Marre is winner of a Rolex Award for Enterprise, for preserving the unique cultural heritage of Bangladeshi boat-building; conductor Charles Hazlewood has created an orchestra from scrap for a BBC Four documentary, 'Scrapheap Orchestra'; chroeographer Matthew Bourne's ballet company New Adventures' returns to Sadler's Wells this Christmas with their much loved production of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker!; and Gebisa Ejeta is one of the world's leading scientists who has been developing drought-resistant crops for Africa and is in conversation for the BBC World Service's 'Exchanges at the Frontier' at the Wellcome Collection.

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• guests include Chris Mullin 30 Nov 11

  Wed, 30 Nov 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by extreme fisherman Jeremy Wade on his book 'River Monsters'; Jacqui Thompson, widow of an RAF Reservist killed in Afghanistan; Chris Mullin, former MP on the play 'A Walk On Part' based on his diaries; and Professor Roger Kneebone who is presenting 'Professor Kneebone's Incredible Inflatable, Pop-Up Anatomy Lesson' at the Wellcome Collection as part of the Performing Medicine season.

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• guests include Sir Willard White 23 Nov 11

  Wed, 23 Nov 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by actor Warwick Davis who is currently starring in the new BBC observational comedy 'Life's Too Short'; Sheena Byrom has written 'Catching Babies' which tells of her 35 years working as a midwife; Bass-baritone Sir Willard White is performing Bach's St Matthew Passion at Ambika P3, a disused concrete factory under London's Madame Tussauds for the charity Vocal Futures; and Sierra James is founder of Ba Futuru, a grassroots charity in Timor Leste which works with children, helping them with conflict resolution through art/creative therapies.

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• guests included Reginald D Hunter 16 Nov 11

  Wed, 16 Nov 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by choirmaster Gareth Malone from BBC2's The Choir: Military Voices; Stella Duffy, the novelist and playwright, who is directing 'TaniwhaThames', a new play about home and belonging at the Ovalhouse Theatre, South London; Reginald D Hunter, the American born, stand-up comedian on his new DVD; and Jessica Douglas-Home on her book 'A Glimpse of Empire' about her grandmother's journey to India for the 1911 Great Delhi Durbar.

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• guests include Antonio Carluccio 9 Nov 11

  Wed, 9 Nov 11

  Duration:
  41 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Simon Clothier, the ukelele playing builder; Max Zachs who is appearing in the Channel 4 series 'My Transsexual Summer'; Antonio Carluccio who is championing beetroot in the 'The Great British Food Revival' on BBC Two; and Arlene Phillips on her book 'Dance to the Musicals'.

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• guests include Gillian Lynne 2 Nov 11

  Wed, 2 Nov 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Ceri Levy, a film maker and co-curator of an exhibition, 'Ghosts of Gone Birds' which features work by famous artists of extinct or endangered species; actor Rita Tushingham on the 50th anniversary of her breakthrough movie, 'A Taste of Honey'; Gillian Lynne, the former ballerina and renowned choreographer, on her memoir 'A Dancer in Wartime'; and Gisli Örn Gardarsson, an Icelandic actor and director who is directing 'The Heart of Robin Hood' at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford.

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• guests include Sir Terry Wogan 26 Oct 11

  Wed, 26 Oct 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by actor Richard Rycroft who is appearing in The Office Party at the Pleasance Theatre; Sir Terry Wogan on his book, 'Wogan's Ireland'; Matt Croucher, a recipient of the George Cross on his book 'The Royal British Legion - 90 Years of Heroes'; and Kora virtuoso Sona Jobarteh who is performing at the Nour Festival of Arts.

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• guests include Michael Morpurgo 19 Oct 11

  Wed, 19 Oct 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Gloria Elliott, Chief Executive of the Noise Abatement Society and daughter of its founder, John Connell; stand-up comedian Des Bishop on his book and show 'My Dad Was Nearly James Bond'; Michael Morpurgo, the children's author on a new exhibition at the National Army Museum, 'War Horse: Fact & Fiction'; and celebrity booker Stanley Jackson on his book 'Get Me A Celebrity'.

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• guests include Buddy Greco 12 Oct 11

  Wed, 12 Oct 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Dr David M Wilson on his book 'The Lost Photographs of Captain Scott'; Fred Baier, the British maverick furniture maker who has an exhibition at the Craft Centre in Farnham, Surrey; Buddy Greco, the legendary singer and pianist who has just released the album Live At The Sands (recorded in Las Vegas in 1967); and Kathryn Tickell, a folk musician who is touring with her new show "Northumbrian Voices".

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• guests include Niamh Cusack 5 Oct 11

  Wed, 5 Oct 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Peter Brookes, the political cartoonist for The Times on his new book 'Hard Times'; writer Alexandra Fuller on her new book 'Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness'; Albie Sachs, former high-court judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa on his book 'The Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter'; and actor Niamh Cusack who is playing Widow Quinn in 'The Playboy of the Western World' at The Old Vic.

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• guests include gospel singer Muyiwa 28 Sept 11

  Wed, 28 Sep 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Angie Beasley, Director of the Miss England beauty pageant and a former Miss Cleethorpes; Neil Powell works with dogs - in mountain rescue, drowned victim recovery and drug detection; Muyiwa is a gospel singer and radio presenter of Premier Gospel radio station; and professional storyteller Hugh Lupton.

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• guests include Imran Khan 21 Sept 11

  Wed, 21 Sep 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by skydiver Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld; Imran Khan, former cricketer and captain of Pakistan, now politician; Freer Spreckley, a former pupil at Summerhill, a progressive school in Suffolk; and columnist and agony aunt Virginia Ironside.

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• guests include Lucy Bailey 14 Sept 11

  Wed, 14 Sep 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Carol Mellin, a sheep dog trainer who is competing in the World Sheep Dog Trials; Steve Walker, a former addict and dealer who now works as Programme Director of the Ley Community, a successful drug rehabilitation centre; Lucy Bailey is joint Artistic Director of the Print Room, a converted warehouse - turned theatre; and aspiring chef Molly Birnbaum tells how she lost her sense of smell in a road accident.

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• guests include Nigel Havers 7 Sept 11

  Wed, 7 Sep 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Laura Whitfield who is appearing in the Channel 4 observational documentary series, 'Seven Dwarves', which follows the lives of seven dwarf actors as they live together and perform in pantomime; Alastair Hignell, former BBC rugby commentator on his book 'Higgy - Matches, Microphones and MS'; Matteo Pistono, writer and practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism on his book, 'In the Shadow of the Buddha'; and actor Nigel Havers on his new comedy play 'Basket Case'.

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• guests include Prof Gordon Turnbull 20 Jul 11

  Wed, 20 Jul 11

  Duration:
  43 mins

  This week Anita Anand is joined by structural engineer Jane Wernick, who is involved in 'Living Architecture', a not-for-profit organisation which designs and builds houses of outstanding architectural merit around Britain; Douglas Edwards, Google's first director of consumer marketing and brand management on his book, 'I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59'; Professor Gordon Turnbull, recognised as one of the UK's leading practitioners in the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), on his book 'Trauma'; and Anne Hunter talks about growing up in care, pegged to a new play 'Where's Your Mama Gone? at the New End Theatre, Hampstead.

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• guests include Pauline Black 13 Jul 11

  Wed, 13 Jul 11

  Duration:
  43 mins

  This week Anita Anand is joined by actor/producer David Westhead and Thapelo Motsumi, a South African photographer talk about a photography exhibition at the Oxo Gallery in London, 'Wembley to Soweto' which features images taken by young people from townships South Africa; Kamin Mohammadi, who fled Iran in 1979 talks her book 'The Crypress Tree'; Pauline Black, lead singer with 2-Tone band The Selector on her life as a black child adopted by a white family in 50s Britain; and Paul Magid of The Flying Karamazov Brothers, the anarchic Californian jugglers, who are performing at London's Vaudeville Theatre.

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• guests include William Rees-Mogg 6 Jul 11

  Wed, 6 Jul 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Rev Nicholas Holtam, of St Martin in the Fields, talking about his new book 'The Art of Worship'; former US Marine Rye Barcott on his book 'It Happened on the Way to War'; William Rees-Mogg, former Editor of The Times who has written his memoirs; and Sue Tilly, muse to artist Lucian Freud on her 80s catwalk show at the Southbank's Vintage festival.

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• guests include Kenneth Cranham 29 June 11

  Wed, 29 Jun 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by singer, actor and performance artist Justin Vivian Bond, who is performing at the Soho Theatre; critic Ruth Leon, the widow of theatre critic Sheridan Morley, who writes about their life together in a memoir, 'But What Comes Next?'; Kenneth Cranham is the actor currently appearing in 'The Cherry Orchard' at The National Theatre; and Noel Tovey, choreographer and campaigner who is telling his life story 'Little Black Bastard', as part of the Origins - Festival of First Nations 2011.

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• guests include Henry Winkler 22 June 11

  Wed, 22 Jun 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by nursing sister Princess Campbell was one of a pioneering group of African-Caribbean workers who began to challenge barriers of prejudice in the UK; Simon Day is the stand-up comedian from 'The Fast Show' who publishes his memoirs, 'Comedy and Error'; Claire Peake, daughter of Mervyn Peake, who has written about her life with her father in 'Under a Canvas Sky'; and Henry Winkler, aka 'The Fonz' who is in the UK to promote a new newspaper for children, 'First News'.

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• guests include Bill Collison 15 June 11

  Wed, 15 Jun 11

  Duration:
  43 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by craftmaker Phil Davison who has revived the ancient art of cross-stitch; Sylvia Holder who founded the the Venkatraman Memorial Trust to help a village in India; Iris Krass, was fifteen when she was interned by the Japanese during the Second World War; and Bill Collison, of Bill's Produce Store on his new cookbook.

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• guests include Kate Allatt 8 June 11

  Wed, 8 Jun 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by opera singer Meeta Raval who is one of the contestants in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition; Kate Allatt's life was torn apart when she suffered a massive stroke leading to locked-in syndrome in which she was totally paralysed; Gene David Kirk is Artistic Director of London's Jermyn Street Theatre; and Nell Gifford is the founder of Gifford's Circus.

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• guests include Barry McGuigan 1 June 11

  Wed, 1 Jun 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Carol Furtado, lead dancer in 'The Merchants of Bollywood' at London's Peacock Theatre; Colour Sgt Simon Panter, who features in 'Our War' on BBC Three; singer Vince Hill on his memoir 'Another Hill to Climb'; and Barry McGuigan, the former World Featherweight boxing champion, known as 'The Clones Cyclone', on his memoir, 'Cyclone: My Story'.

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• guests include Bill Roedy 25 May 11

  Wed, 25 May 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Nicky Clayton, Professor of Comparative Cognition at Cambridge University and is an expert in bird behaviour; Bill Roedy, the former Chairman and Chief Executive of MTV; actor Edward Petherbridge; and Steve Greenhaugh, who worked as an RSPCA inspector for twenty-eight years.

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• guests include Vidal Sassoon 18 May 11

  Wed, 18 May 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Dr Kevin Jones, an NHS Consultant and and sometime comedian, on a new short film 'Dying for a Laugh', in which comedians reflect (and joke) about the taboo subject of death and dying; stuntman and director Vic Armstrong, stunt double for Indiana Jones, on his book 'The True Adventures of The World's Greatest Stuntman'; Vidal Sassoon on a new film 'Vidal Sassoon - The Movie' about his life from his East End routes, to his beginnings on Bond Street and ultimately to international success and celebrity.

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• guests include Suggs 11 May 11

  Wed, 11 May 11

  Duration:
  43 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Jon Cousins, who set up the website 'Moodscope' to help people manage their moods; Paul Broda, whose memoir 'Scientist Spies', centres on the lives of his mother, father and stepfather, the latter two spies who passed nuclear secrets to the Russians in the 1940s; Suggs, the Madness frontman who is performing his first solo show 'LIVE SUGGS! The Rambunctious Recollections of the Madness Front Man' on a UK tour; Patsy Rodenburg, Head of Voice at the Guildhall School who is about to direct Richard III.

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• guests include Baroness Jenkin 4 May 11

  Wed, 4 May 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Baroness Anne Jenkin who is taking part in 'Live Below the Line', which is challenging people to spend just one pound a day on food and drink for five days; Walter Schwarz, who was The Guardian's foreign correspondent from 1964 to the 1990s, talks about his memoir 'The Ideal Occupation'; actress Doreen Mantle, whose latest role is in a production of Ibsen's Little Eyolf at London's Jermyn Street Theatre; and make-up artist to the stars, Gary Cockerill, on his autobiography, 'From Coal Dust to Stardust.

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• 27 April 2011

  Wed, 27 Apr 11

  Duration:
  43 mins

  Libby Purves is joined by Wayne Bartholomew who is taking part in a Channel 4 series called The Hotel; singing coach Mary King; poet Roger Garfitt and landscape architect Randle Siddeley.

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• guests include Gary Wiltshire 20 April 11

  Wed, 20 Apr 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Dion Dublin, Robert Irwin, Gary Wiltshire and Molly Naylor.

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• guests include Linda Nolan 13 April 11

  Wed, 13 Apr 11

  Duration:
  43 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Indian musician Raghu Dixit who founded the Raghu Dixit Project, an open house for musicians and artistes from different genres to come together and collaborate; Beata Zatorska who returned to the village in Poland where she was brought up and rediscovered her grandmother's family recipes for her book 'Rose Petal Jam'; Linda Nolan, one of the Nolan sisters, on their memoir 'Survivors'; and Brian Deighton is Head Gardener at Castle Howard in Yorkshire, winners of the annual Christie's Historic Houses Association's 'Garden of the Year Award'.

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• guests include Tom Renouf 6 April 11

  Wed, 6 Apr 11

  Duration:
  43 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Joshua Foer who spent a year investigating memory for his book 'Moonwalking with Einstein'; Marianne Talbot talks about caring for her own mother who suffered from dementia in her book 'Keeping Mum'; Dr Tom Renouf, who served in the Black Watch during the 2nd World War on his book 'Black Watch'; and Lydia Carmichael, a former pupil of the Foundling Hospital, whose experiences of being brought up in care there are featured in a new exhibition at London's Foundling Museum.

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• guests include Prof Lewis Wolpert 30 Mar 11

  Wed, 30 Mar 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves meets Travis Meinolf, an 'action weaver' who travels the world engaging communities in interactive weaving; Vernon Rapley, Director of Security at the V&A who formerly led the Metropolitan Police's Art and Antiques Unit; Professor Lewis Wolpert is a developmental biologist and octagenarian whose new book, 'You're Looking Very Well' explores the scientific and social implications of getting old.

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• guests include David Wood 23 Mar 11

  Wed, 23 Mar 11

  Duration:
  43 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Ben Goddard who is currently playing Jerry Lee Lewis in the musical 'Million Dollar Quartet'; Dame Catherine, a Benedictine Nun who co-founded the Benedictine Nuns of Holy Trinity Monastery, East Hendred; Jeff Pearce, who went from the Liverpool slums to self-made millionaire without being able to read or write and has now written his autobiography, 'A Pocketful of Holes and Dreams'; and Children's dramatist David Wood, who's latest work is the play of 'Goodnight Mister Tom'.

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• guests include Sir Cameron Mackintosh 16 Mar 11

  Wed, 16 Mar 11

  Duration:
  41 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Jean-Marie Akkerman, founder of Cirque Nova, the only circus in the world working specifically with people with disabilities; theatre producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh talking about his new musical 'Betty Blue Eyes'; Katie Piper, badly scared after a horrific acid attack destroyed her face, on a new four-part documentary for Channel 4, 'Katie: My Beautiful Friends' in which she meets others coping with disfigurement; and Laura Lee is the CEO of Maggie's Centres, which gives support to anyone affected by cancer in buildings designed by top architects. The designs are currently featured in an exhibition at the V&A.

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• guests include Clarence B Jones 9 Mar 11

  Wed, 9 Mar 11

  Duration:
  43 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Clarence B Jones who was the co-author of the 'I Have a Dream' speech and a close confidant to Martin Luther King himself; Carodoc King is a leading literary agent who has written a memoir, 'Problem Child', in which he tells of his childhood growing up in the 1950s in a large and eccentric family in Essex; and Yangzom Brauen's grandmother was one of Tibet's youngest nuns, who escaped the Chinese invasion of her country with her young family.

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• guests include Mary Wilson 2 Mar 11

  Wed, 2 Mar 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Mary Wilson, one of the founding members of the Supremes who is on 20 date UK tour; actor Larry Lamb of Eastenders and Gavin and Stacey fame on his memoir 'Mummy's Boy'; born in Zimbabwe, Siza Mtimbiri's family was devastated by HIV/AIDS. He has founded a charity called 'Hope Academy and Medical Center' that will bring education and health care to communities in rural Zimbabwe; and Arthur Jeffes, whose father Simon founded the Penguin Cafe Orchestra in the 70s but died in 1997. Arthur has reformed the band and will be touring in May.

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• guests include Izzeldin Abuelaish 23 Feb 11

  Wed, 23 Feb 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Eva Petulengro, one of the last generation of true Romany gypsies who has written a book 'The Girl in the Painted Caravan' telling of her childhood on the road; Izzeldin Abuelaish is a Palestinian doctor and infertility expert who witnessed the deaths of his three daughters and neice when their home in Gaza was shelled; Rebecca Peyton is the sister of Kate Peyton, the BBC producer who was shot dead in Mogadishu, Somalia, on assignment; and Mark Todd, Chief Executive of Ocean Youth Trust South which takes over 450 young people sailing each year, two thirds from disadvantaged and vulnerable backgrounds.

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• guests included David Morrissey 16 Feb 11

  Wed, 16 Feb 11

  Duration:
  43 mins

  This week Sian Williams is joined by Shaun Foggett, the UK's answer to 'Crocodile Dundee'; Andrew Barrow is author of the book 'Animal Magic' much of which is based around his brother Jonathan, who died in a car crash aged 22, leaving a manuscript of a novel in which he prophesised his own death; Magsie Hamilton-Little, author of 'Dancing with Darkness' which tells of how her life changed after witnessing the carnage of the 7/7 London bus bomb; and actor David Morrissey who is about to star in the BBC One drama 'South Riding'.

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• guests include Raymond Gubbay 9 Feb 11

  Wed, 9 Feb 11

  Duration:
  43 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Fiona Stanford, author of 'Don't Say Goodbye', which is the story of the men and women who are left behind when their partners go to war; Mark Henderson, who was kidnapped in the Columbian jungle talks about his film 'My Kidnapper' in which he travels back to confront his kidnapper; Anglican priest Father Ray on Channel 4's 'First Cut' film which follows him as he shares a personal secret with his congregation: that he is gay; and theatre producer and impressario Raymond Gubbay on his latest production of 'Madam Butterfly' at the Royal Albert Hall.

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• guests include Sophie Thompson 2 Feb 11

  Wed, 2 Feb 11

  Duration:
  43 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by actor Sophie Thompson on her role in the play Clybourne Park; Patrick Cockburn, Iraq correspondent for the Independent who has written a book with his son Henry, who suffers from Schizophrenia, 'Henry's Demons'; Kevin Skelton on his book 'Sent By An Angel' which tells of how, after the death of his wife in the Omagh bombing, he and his family rebuilt their lives; and Fred Sirieix, can currently been seen in BBC Two's Michel Roux's Service, training and mentoring eight young people for a career in front-of-house.

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• guests include actor Greg Hicks 26 Jan 11

  Wed, 26 Jan 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by photographer Bran Symondson, also an Army Reservist, talking about an exhibition of his photographs of the Afghan National Police at Idea Generation gallery; former nurse Joan Woodcock on her book 'Matron Knows Best - the true story of a 1960s NHS nurse'; actor Greg Hicks, who is playing King Lear in the RSC Roundhouse season; and sculptor Phillip King on his exhibition of fifty years of his work at Flowers Galleries.

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• guests include Janet Street-Porter 19 Jan 11

  Wed, 19 Jan 11

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by David M Lutken, Lee Mack, David Threlfall and Janet Street-Porter.

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• guests include Dame Kelly Holmes 12 Jan 11

  Wed, 12 Jan 11

  Duration:
  43 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Lorraine Pascale, a former model turned baker and patissiere; Wilbert Rideau, a former prisoner on death row who went on to edit the award-winning prison magazine; the double Olympic gold medal athlete Dame Kelly Holmes; and pianist and composer Stephen Hough.

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• guests include John Sergeant 29 Dec 10

  Wed, 29 Dec 10

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by John Sergeant, Rufus Sewell, Wasfi Kani and Tom Pey.

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• guests include Reece Shearsmith 22 Dec 10

  Wed, 22 Dec 10

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Gordon Buchanan, Les Persaud, Reece Shearsmith and Vicki Amedume.

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• guests include Jamelia 15 Dec 10

  Wed, 15 Dec 10

  Duration:
  43 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Jamelia, Boyd Clack, Elisabeth Parry and Jamelia.

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• guests include Sir Patrick Stewart 8 Dec 10

  Wed, 8 Dec 10

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Klaus Kruse, director of 'Cart Macabre' at the Old Vic Tunnels; Bryn Terfel on his new CD 'Carols & Christmas Songs'; Sir Patrick Stewart who stars in Macbeth on BBC Four; and Becky Unthank, of the group 'The Unthanks'.

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• guests include Matthew Kelly 1 Dec 10

  Wed, 1 Dec 10

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Capt. Xander Rawlins, Mark Logue, Jane Milligan and Mary Ward OBE, and Matthew Kelly.

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• guests include Nina Conti 24 Nov 10

  Wed, 24 Nov 10

  Duration:
  43 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by ventriloquist Nina Conti on her new show 'Talk to the Hand' at the Soho Theatre; Anne Downie, a Scottish actor in 'Men Should Weep' at the Lyttleton theatre; veteran photographer John Stewart on his first UK retrospective at the Lichfield Studios; and pianist Ann Martin-Davis on new work by lost composer Peter Pope.

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• guests include Brendan Cole 17 Nov 10

  Wed, 17 Nov 10

  Duration:
  41 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Samantha Bond, Seckou Keita, Ryan Bingham and Brendan Cole.

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• guests include Giles Coren 10 Nov 10

  Wed, 10 Nov 10

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Chelsea Pensioner Michael Allen; Giles Coren, the writer, critic and TV presenter; pianist and composer Ludovico Einaudi; and the court artist Priscilla Coleman.

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• guests include Michele Dotrice 3 Nov 10

  Wed, 3 Nov 10

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Jo Wilding, Michele Dotrice, Ronald Blythe and Jane Green.

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• guests include Alan Titchmarsh 27 Oct 10

  Wed, 27 Oct 10

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Sheridan Smith, Sir Johnny Scott, Andrew Sharp and Alan Titchmarsh.

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• guests include actress Sheila Steafel 20 Oct 10

  Wed, 20 Oct 10

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Simon Fisher Turner, Maggi Hambling, Sheila Steafel and Rumer.

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• guests include Derren Brown 13 Oct 10

  Wed, 13 Oct 10

  Duration:
  39 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Vicki Butler-Henderson, Derren Brown and Dave Spikey.

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• guests include Mary Coughlan 6 Oct 10

  Wed, 6 Oct 10

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Segun Lee-French, Ray and Vi Donovan, Mary Coughlan and Simon Winchester.

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• guests including Kit Chapman 29 Sept 10

  Wed, 29 Sep 10

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Paul Burns, David Cohen, Kit Chapman and Jane Davis.

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• guests include Alexei Sayle 22 Sept 10

  Wed, 22 Sep 10

  Duration:
  42 mins

  This week Libby Purves is joined by Philip Townsend, Alexei Sayle, Tony Fitzjohn and Harriet Mead.

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