22/12/2009

Synopsis

With Jane Garvey.

Eighteen months ago Maths teacher Natasha Hunt was unfit and had a gym membership she barely used. She decided the time had come to do something about it and this time, when she returned to her local gym she met a sports coach. Rob Parsons was a man on a mission to find an 'ordinary' member of the public to train up for the London Olympics. Despite having never taken part in any competitive sport before, Natasha leapt at the chance. She and Rob join Jane to talk about how they decided on not one sport, but five, and how she made the leap to get in training for the modern pentathlon.

Hundreds of pictures of men in women's clothing have been posted online by Iranian opposition supporters to protest against what they say is an attempt by the authorities to embarrass Majid Tavakoli, a reformist student leader who was recently arrested, by photographing him in a head scarf. So what is the symbolic and political significance of these acts of 'cross-dressing'? Baroness Haleh Afshar and Professor Hamid Dabashi explain what they make of this unusual gesture of support.

Pioneering French fashion designer Coco Chanel declared that she drank it on only two occasions: when she was in love and when she wasn't. Cassanova said that it was 'essential for seduction'. And Madame de Pompadour, Louis XV's mistress, claimed that it was 'the only wine that leaves a woman beautiful after drinking it'. Jane discusses the merits of the fizzy stuff with Francoise Peretti from the Champagne Bureau and Jane MacQuitty, wine expert from The Times. How has the image of champagne changed over the years? Who are some of the women behind the brands? And what is the difference between champagne and fizzy wine?

Jane talks to jeweller and goldsmith Jessica Poole, who is off to Belgium in the New Year to study the highly specialised technique of 'micro pavé' - the art of setting minute diamonds into pieces of jewellery. She hopes to bring her knowledge back to Britain, where very few people know how to do it.