Midweek

Actor Dame Harriet Walter; writer and director Richard Curtis; singer and songwriter Suzi Quatro and former jockey Declan Murphy join Libby Purves for the final edition of Midweek. Richard Curtis CBE is a writer, director and campaigner. His films include Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones's Diary, Mr Bean, Love Actually and The Boat That Rocked. His television comedies include Blackadder and the Vicar of Dibley. He is vice-chair of Comic Relief which he co-founded after visiting Ethiopia during the 1985 famine. He has co-produced the Red Nose Day Live night for the BBC since 1988 and the charity has made over £1 billion for projects in Africa and the UK. Red Nose Day USA is broadcast in May. Declan Murphy is a former jockey who survived a catastrophic fall at Haydock Park in May 1994. His injuries were so severe that the Racing Post published his obituary. In his memoir, Centaur, he recounts his upbringing in rural Limerick, his life as a leading amateur jockey and riding winners in the Champion Chase and Gold Cup. Eighteen months after falling from Arcot and following his painstaking recovery, he got back in the saddle to ride his final winner Jibereen at Chepstow. Centaur by Declan Murphy with Ami Rao is published by Doubleday. Dame Harriet Walter is an actor, acclaimed for her work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. She recently played Julius Caesar, Henry IV and Prospero in The Tempest in Phyllida Lloyd's celebrated all-female Donmar Shakespeare Trilogy. She stars in the new film The Sense of an Ending alongside Jim Broadbent and Charlotte Rampling which is based on the Julian Barnes novel. Other roles include the Duchess of Malfi, Hedda Gabler, Cleopatra and Lady Macbeth. Her book, Brutus and Other Heroines - Playing Shakespeare's Roles for Women, is published by Nick Hern Books. Suzi Quatro is a singer and songwriter. Born in Detroit, she made her debut on stage playing bongos in her father's jazz band, The Art Quatro Trio. Her first hit Can the Can reached number one in May 1973 and she went on to become a regular fixture in the British charts with tracks including 48 Crash, Too Big and Devil Gate Drive. In the late Seventies she turned to acting, appearing in Happy Days and starred in the West End in Annie Get Your Gun in 1986. She is a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio 2. Suzi is appearing in the Legends Live tour alongside David Essex; the Osmonds and Hot Chocolate.

Tenor Alfie Boe, poet John Agard, writer Allan Jenkins, and comedian and writer Katy Brand join Libby Purves. Alfie Boe is one of our most popular tenors. He is starring as Billy Bigelow in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel alongside Katherine Jenkins at ENO's London Coliseum. He has performed in opera and musical theatre alike, from Baz Luhrmann's La Boheme on Broadway to leading the cast of Les Miserables in the West End. The youngest of nine children, he left school to work as a mechanic before being plucked off the shop-floor to stardom. Carousel is at ENO's London Coliseum. John Agard is a poet. Winner of the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, his new show Roll Over Atlantic is a reimagining of the voyage of Christopher Columbus and his discovery of the 'New World'. Born and educated in Guyana, John came to the UK in 1977. His most famous poems explore identity and belonging and he writes for children as well as adults and is well known for his skill in performing poetry. Roll Over Atlantic is on tour. Allan Jenkins is the editor of the Observer Food Monthly. In his memoir, Plot 29, he recounts his life growing up in foster care with his brother Christopher. Their foster father introduced them to the joys of growing flowers which triggered Allan's lifelong love of gardening. As the boys grew up, their lives took different paths and Allan began to search for the answers to questions about his past. His book follows the course of a year in which he traces the story of his birth parents and finds solace tending his London allotment. Plot 29 - A Memoir is published by Fourth Estate. Katy Brand is an award-winning comedian, writer and actor. She is taking part in the Red Nose African Convoy acting as one of the outriders to a convoy of HGVs travelling from Kenya to Uganda to deliver supplies to Comic Relief funded projects. Katy's show I Was a Teenage Christian explores her youthful fascination with evangelical Christianity. The Red Nose African Convoy is broadcast on BBC One. I Was a Teenage Christian is on tour from May. Producer: Annette Wells.

Comedian and actor Omid Djalili; playwright Jack Thorne; fitness expert Diana Moran and singer and presenter Dashni Morad join Libby Purves. Diana Moran is well known as The Green Goddess who, back in the 1980s and clad in emerald green lycra, encouraged television viewers to shape up. Her new book Sod Sitting, Get Moving! urges people in their 60s, 70s and 80s to exercise and eat healthily to help with fitness, strength and suppleness in their later years. The former catwalk model discovered the joy of keeping fit in her 30s as she convalesced from a major operation, devising her own exercise regime to help her recovery. Sod Sitting, Get Moving! By Diana Moran and Muir Gray is published by Green Tree. Dashni Morad is a television presenter and singer. She is a former Kurdish refugee whose family fled from Iraq and Saddam Hussein's persecution when she was five. The family finally settled in the Netherlands where her broadcasting career blossomed. Dashni set up a charity, Green Kids, which helps children affected by conflict and has established two libraries at refugee camps across Iraqi Kurdistan. She is donating the proceeds of her new single, Love Wins, to Green Kids. Jack Thorne is an award-winning writer whose work spans theatre, film, television and radio. His new musical Junkyard is inspired by the true story of the Lockleaze playground in Bristol - known as 'The Vench' - which was established over 30 years ago and is still operating today. Jack's father built the Vench as part of an outreach scheme to encourage creativity and inventiveness and to give children a taste of manual labour. Jack's theatre credits include Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Hope and Let the Right One In and his television work includes National Treasure and This is England. Junkyard is at the Bristol Old Vic and then on tour. Omid Djalili is an award-winning comedian and actor born in London to Iranian parents. He's currently on a UK tour with Schmuck for a Night in which he tries to make sense of the world around him. He will make his Chichester Festival Theatre debut playing Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof in July. His stage credits include Oliver! and What the Butler Saw in the West End and films include The Infidel, Shaun the Sheep and Gladiator. Schmuck for a Night is currently on tour. Fiddler on the Roof is at Chichester Festival Theatre. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Singer and songwriter Loudon Wainwright III; reggae DJ David Rodigan; former detective Jackie Malton and writer Hisham Matar join Libby Purves. David 'RamJam' Rodigan MBE is a DJ, famed for his selections of reggae and dancehall music. He has played on stations from Capital 95.8 and Kiss to BBC 1Xtra and Radio 2 and is a regular on the club and festival circuit. A 65-year-old white man from Oxford who speaks in RP, he seems the very antithesis of the music that he loves and represents. In 2012 he won the highest reggae sound system honour by winning the World Clash Re-Set contest in New York. His autobiography, Rodigan: My Life in Reggae is published by Constable. Hisham Matar is a Libyan writer and the son of Jaballa Matar, a prominent political activist who opposed Colonel Gaddafi's regime. When Hisham was 19 his father was kidnapped while the family were living in exile in Cairo. Hisham would never see his father again. After the fall of Gaddafi in 2011 Hisham was finally able to return to Libya to try to discover what happened to his father. In his memoir, The Return, he recounts his physical and psychological journey to find his father and rediscover his country. The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land In Between, is published by Penguin. Jackie Malton is a former detective chief inspector in the Metropolitan Police, best known for being the inspiration for the character of DCI Jane Tennison in the Prime Suspect drama written by Lynda La Plante. Her police career started in Leicestershire and in the Met she went on to work in the Flying Squad of the 1980s. As an openly gay women in the police force during that time she found herself at odds in a male world but went on to forge a successful career before retiring to become a script consultant and addiction counsellor. Loudon Wainwright III is a Grammy award-winning singer and songwriter. In his one man show, Surviving Twin, he connects some of his best songs with the writings of his late father Loudon Wainwright Jr, the highly regarded Life Magazine columnist. The show, which has never been performed in the UK, explores issues such as birth, loss, parenthood, pet ownership and mortality and Loudon intersperses a selection of his father's compositions with songs from his own catalogue. Surviving Twin is at the Leicester Square Theatre. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Singer Patti Boulaye; dancer David Toole; actor Charlie Condou and costume designer Tracy Tynan join Libby Purves. David Toole is an actor and dancer who played a starring role in the 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony. Born without the use of his legs, he turned his back on a job with the post office to study at the Laban Centre of Movement and Dance and follow his dream of becoming a dancer. He is performing with Stopgap Dance Company in The Enormous Room, a new touring piece about grief and the relationship between a father and daughter. The Enormous Room is at Lilian Baylis Studio, Sadler's Wells before heading off on tour. Patti Boulaye OBE is a singer and actor. Her autobiography, The Faith of a Child, charts her life growing up in Nigeria during the Biafran War to her West End debut in the musical Hair. In her new show, Billie and Me, she considers the parallels between Billie Holiday's troubled life and her own - at times difficult - experiences. The production starts its UK tour at the Pheasantry in London. The Faith of a Child - The Autobiography is published by Bipada Academy Ltd. Tracy Tynan is a costume designer and writer. The daughter of theatre critic Kenneth Tynan and actor and writer Elaine Dundy, she recounts her story of growing up amid the wreckage of her parents' disintegrating marriage. The couple were at the epicentre of a glamorous show business world - their social circle included Laurence Olivier, Orson Wells and Tennessee Williams. But the bohemian, hard drinking environment came at a cost and Tracy - who describes her life then as being "in a movie with lots of crazy people" - writes candidly about a childhood where the drama happened offstage. Wear and Tear: The Threads of My Life by Tracy Tynan is published by Duckworth. Charlie Condou is an actor best known for his role as midwife Marcus Dent in the British soap opera Coronation Street. He stars in a touring production of The Crucible playing the witch hunter Reverend Hale. In recent years Charlie has written extensively about his experiences co-parenting - he and his partner care for their children with a friend who is also the children's mother. The Crucible starts its tour at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Actor Sir Patrick Stewart; comedian and writer Shappi Khorsandi; medic Oscar Duke and charity worker Mischa Pearson join Libby Purves. Mischa Pearson set up the Teapot Project in Ipswich, Suffolk. The charity collects good food from restaurants and supermarkets that would otherwise go to waste and distributes it to the local homeless through charities, youth hostels and churches. As a teenager Mischa was homeless for two years and spent time living in hostels before finding employment in the catering business. Around 4,000 people a month benefit from meals provided by the Teapot Project and there are plans to open a new café with an adjacent food boutique offering ''pay as you feel' produce in the heart of the town. Sir Patrick Stewart is an actor. He plays Professor Charles Xavier in Logan, the latest in the American superhero series of X-Men films. Patrick has appeared on Broadway and West End stages in productions ranging from A Life in the Theatre, The Master Builder, and The Tempest. He recently joined forces with his X-Men co-star Sir Ian McKellen in Harold Pinter's No Man's Land. Perhaps best known as Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation, his screen appearances include Dune, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, ConspiracyTheory, Extras I, Claudius, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Logan is on general release from March 1st. Dr Oscar Duke is currently training to be a GP. He presents Born Too White on BBC Two which explores the discrimination and persecution of people with albinism in East Africa. Born with the genetic condition of Albinism himself, Oscar discovers that there have been 170 attacks on people with albinism in Tanzania in the last 10 years and 70 of these attacks were fatal. Many are killed for their body parts which are believed to have magical powers. Born Too White is broadcast on BBC Two. Shappi Khorsandi is a comedian and writer. She is currently touring her show, Oh My Country! From Morris Dancing to Morrissey in which she celebrates the 40th anniversary of her arrival in Britain from Iran. She describes the show as reclaiming her patriotism by sending a love letter to her adopted land. She also appears on television in Live At The Apollo, Have I Got News for You and Q.I. Her latest novel, Nina Is Not OK, is out in paperback. Oh My Country! From Morris Dancing to Morrissey tours the UK until June. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Broadcaster Michael Mosley; singer and actor Camille O'Sullivan; Baptist minister and writer Peter Laws and artist Pradyumna Kumar join Libby Purves. Peter Laws is an ordained Baptist minister who has written his debut crime novel, Purged. The protagonist is Matt Hunter, a sociology professor who also assists the police tackle religiously-motivated crimes. Peter also hosts a podcast and YouTube show, The Flicks That Church Forgot, which reviews horror films from a theological perspective. Purged by Peter Laws is published by Allison and Busby. Pradyumna Kumar, known as PK, was born in a remote part of Orissa in eastern India. His childhood as an untouchable was one of hardship and prejudice. Yet during these years, he kept a palm leaf bearing an astrologer's prophecy: 'You will marry a girl who is not from the village, not even from the country; she will be musical, own a jungle and be born under the sign of the ox'. It was a prophecy that would come true, but only after a 7,000 mile journey that would take him across continents, on a second-hand bicycle, to be with the woman he loved. The Amazing Story of the Man Who Cycled from India to Europe for Love by Per J Andersson is published by One World. Camille O'Sullivan is a French-Irish singer and actor who is known for her dramatic interpretations of the narrative songs of Jacques Brel, Nick Cave, David Bowie and Radiohead. As an actor she appeared in the Royal Shakespeare Company's Rape of Lucrece, for which she also created original music with Feargal Murray. She also starred in Mrs Henderson Presents alongside Judi Dench and Will Young. She is touring the UK with her new show The Carny Dream, starting in Oxford on 3 March. Michael Mosley is a journalist and presenter. In his new series The Secrets of Your Food he joins James Wong to celebrate the physics, chemistry and biology at work inside the food we eat. Born in India, Michael worked as a banker in the City of London before studying psychiatry. He then joined the BBC, producing a range of science programmes and later moving in front of the camera. He begins his new series in the laboratory where he deconstructs breast milk and travels to Mexico to study the intake of a professional Lucha Libra wrestler - it involves 50 eggs a week. The Secrets of Your Food is broadcast on BBC Two. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Explorer and writer Levison Wood; author Kimberley Chambers; journalist and writer John de St Jorre and performer and playwright Annie Siddons join Libby Purves. Kimberley Chambers is a former market trader, DJ and minicab driver who is now a best-selling author. She came to fiction late in life, writing during her down time as a cabbie. Inspired by her 'colourful life', the books are gritty crime novels with a twist of dark humour set in and around London's East End and featuring a cast of spirited characters. Her latest release, Backstabber is published by Harper Collins. John de St Jorre is a journalist and writer. In his memoir, Darling Baby Mine, he writes about the search for his mother who was erased from the family history. Unable to find so much as a photo of her, the distant memory of a woman laughing while smoking is the only image of her he has. He grew up in wartime Britain under the care of his father and stepmother and it wasn't until he reached adulthood that he began to piece together his mother's tragic story. Darling Baby Mine is published by Quartet. Annie Siddons is a playwright, performer and musician. Her new show How (Not) to live in Suburbia is based on her own experiences of loneliness when she felt adrift as a single mother living in what she calls one of London's 'most married' suburbs. Annie takes a poignant and humorous look at what it is like to live in a community where you don't fit in, the compromises people make for the sake of their children, how chronic loneliness manifests itself and her own personal quest to cure it. How (Not) to live in Suburbia is at the Soho Theatre and later on tour. Levison Wood is an explorer, photographer and author. He spent ten years in the British Army and led expeditions on five continents. He has travelled in over 80 countries and spent a number of years living in the wilds of Africa and Asia. For his most recent expedition, he set out to trek 1800 miles from Mexico to Columbia which was filmed for the Channel 4 series, Walking the Americas. Beginning in the north-eastern tip of Mexico, he tackles the entire length of Central America, through eight countries before attempting to cross the treacherous Darien Gap into Colombia and South America. His book Walking the Americas is published by Hodder and Stoughton. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Actor Stephen Boxer; writer Sheila Kohler; psychiatrist and poet Professor Femi Oyebode and composer Heloise Tunstall-Behrens join Libby Purves. Heloise Tunstall-Behrens is a composer and bee-keeper. Her new work The Swarm, a 60-minute opera performed by the Quorum, follows a swarm of bees in their search for a new home as they encounter a deadly extractor fan, a thunder storm and a fierce debate over two potential sites on which to build a hive. Inspiration for the piece came after Heloise inserted a recording device into her hives during a particularly dynamic phase of swarming. The Swarm is at the Vault Festival, The Vaults, London SE1 . Professor Femi Oyebode is professor of psychiatry and head of department at the University of Birmingham. Winner of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Lifetime Achievement Award, he has also written six volumes of poetry. Professor Oyebode believes medicine is increasingly technology-based, meaning the patient can easily get lost, and he regards medicine as an art rather than a science, a profession in which you apply skills to people. "Every person is different," he says. "As psychiatrists, we are trained to understand human beings and this includes understanding ourselves." Sheila Kohler is a writer. In her memoir, Once We Were Sisters, she tells the story of growing up in the suffocating gentility of 1950s South Africa with her sister Maxine. Her sister's death in a car accident in 1976 galvanised Sheila to start writing as a way of dealing with her grief. The author of 14 works of fiction, her new book addresses her relationship with her sister and, more broadly, the violence underpinning much of her homeland. Once We Were Sisters is published by Canongate. Stephen Boxer is an actor best known for his roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company including Titus Andronicus and King Lear and portraying CS Lewis in Shadowlands. He is currently in Raising Martha, a new dark comedy by award-winning writer David Spicer. The play tackles terrorism, animal rights, and six-foot frogs! Raising Martha is at the Park Theatre, Finsbury Park, London N4. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie; comedian Milton Jones; writer and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo and novelist Arno Geiger meet Libby Purves. Evelyn Glennie is an award-winning percussionist. She played the first percussion concerto in the history of The Proms at the Albert Hall in 1992, which paved the way for orchestras around the world to feature percussion concerti. She also played a leading role role in the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Profoundly deaf since childhood, she set out to use her body as a resonating chamber, 'hearing' partly through her bare feet on the floor. As part of the Celtic Connections Festival she is playing a new piece marking the 70th anniversary of the partition of India alongside fellow percussionist Trilok Gurtu. The Rhythm in Me premieres at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. Xiaolu Guo is a Chinese born writer and film-maker. In her memoir, Once Upon a Time in the East, she recounts her tumultuous life from meeting her parents for the first time at six and living in grinding poverty with her illiterate grandparents in a fishing village on the East China Sea. Her story takes her from a run-down shack to film school in a rapidly changing Beijing, navigating the complexities of modern China - censorship, underground art and Western boyfriends. Once Upon a Time in the East: A story of Growing Up is published by Chatto & Windus. Arno Geiger is an Austrian novelist. In The Old King in his Exile he tells the story of his late father August's struggle with Alzheimer's disease. The book is a deeply moving account of his father's illness but also stresses how it brought the two closer together. A remote figure, August didn't talk to his family much about his past - a frugal childhood and wartime experiences as a child soldier - but as his dementia took hold his son discovered more about the man and his character. The Old King in his Exile is published by And Other Stories. Milton Jones is a stand-up comedian, known by many as the king of the one-liners. He's a regular panellist on BBC Two's Mock the Week and Live at the Apollo and , Thanks a Lot Milton Jones! on Radio 4. Later this year he embarks on a new tour, Milton Jones is Out There, taking a philosophical look at his life so far with his 'manifesto of nonsense'. Milton Jones is Out There 2017 tour begins in September at the Richmond Theatre. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Writer Lady Antonia Fraser; comic and actor Stephen K Amos; travel writer Christopher Somerville and poet Inua Ellams join Libby Purves. Stephen K Amos is a comedian and actor. His Radio 4 series What Does the K Stand For? tells the story of his teenage years in 1980s South London. Stephen's parents came from the same town in south-west Nigeria, but met as adults in Lagos and emigrated to the UK in the late 1960s. Stephen is currently performing his new stand-up show. He has performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe every year since 2003, after making his début in 2001. During the 2006 Fringe, he performed the revealing solo show All of Me, in which he publicly acknowledged his own homosexuality to his audience for the first time. What Does the K Stand For? is broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Antonia Fraser is a writer and award-winning biographer. In 1978 she made a trip to Israel with her late husband, the playwright Harold Pinter. In her book, Our Israeli Diary, she recalls their experiences visiting the country during the 30th year of its founding - the first time either of them had travelled to Israel. She writes about the underlying tensions facing the country and their experiences spending time at some of its historically significant sites, revealing insights into the couple's relationship along the way. Our Israeli Diary - Of That Time, Of That Place is published by Oneworld. Christopher Somerville is a travel writer and the walking correspondent for The Times. In his latest book, The January Man, he retraces the paths he first walked along with his late father, John. His father was a senior civil servant at GCHQ in Cheltenham who never spoke about his work or his wartime experiences, but was a great walker. It was through their shared love of walking that father and son developed a bond that lasted until John's death. The January Man - A Year of Walking Britain is published by Doubleday. Inua Ellams is a poet and playwright who won the Edinburgh Fringe First Award in 2009 with his play The 14th Tale. Born in Nigeria to a Muslim father and a Christian mother, his latest one-man show, An Evening with an Immigrant, tells his story - of leaving Nigeria to performing solo shows at the National Theatre, all the while without a country to belong to or place to call home. An Evening with an Immigrant is touring the UK beginning at Brighton Dome. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Presenter and producer Richard Osman; campaigner Peter Willcox; playwright and actor Rikki Beadle-Blair and conservationist Sacha Dench join Libby Purves. Sacha Dench is a conservationist. She's the first woman to cross the English Channel in a motorised paraglider during a 4,500-mile journey following migrating birds from the Russian tundra to Britain. She made her trip to highlight the problems facing the endangered Bewick's swan population. Illegal hunting, newly erected power lines and loss of wetlands all play a part in the swan's dramatic decline in numbers which have almost halved over the last 20 years. Rikki Beadle-Blair MBE is a playwright, actor, producer and choreographer. The artistic director of multi-media production company Team Angelica, he is directing Hashtag Lighty which opens at the Arcola Theatre. Other projects include writing and directing Legendary Children in the House of Fierce and Summer in London which features an entire cast of transgender actors. Born in Bermondsey, he wrote the screenplay for the award-winning film Stonewall and he wrote, directed and performed in the Channel 4 series Metrosexuality. Hashtag Lighty is at the Arcola Theatre, London; Legendary Children in the House of Fierce is at the Old Vic Workrooms, London and Summer in London is at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, London. Peter Willcox has been a Captain with Greenpeace for over 30 years, making him the most experienced captain in the organization. An activist for most of his life, at 12 he marched from Selma to Montgomery behind Martin Luther King Jr. Captain Willcox estimates he's sailed over 300,000 miles in virtually every corner of the globe. In his new book he writes about his adventures confronting naval ships, being bombed by the French secret service and serving time in a Russian jail for protesting against Russian oil drilling in Antarctica. Greenpeace Captain: Bizarre Wanderings on the Rainbow Warrior by Peter Willcox is published by Sandstone Press. Richard Osman is a presenter and producer. Alongside Alexander Armstrong he co-hosts the quiz show Pointless which celebrates its 1000th episode this year. He is team captain on the series Insert Name Here - each episode is about people who share the same first name, and two teams compete to decide the greatest ever bearer of that week's chosen name. During his 20-year career in production Richard worked on shows from Total Wipeout and Deal Or No Deal to Whose Line is it Anyway? Insert Name Here is broadcast on BBC2. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Singer-songwriter Katie Melua, chef Tom Kerridge, writer Alex Wheatle and actor Nigel Havers join Libby Purves and the audience in the BBC Radio Theatre. Katie Melua, the singer and songwriter, was born in Georgia, when it was part of the Soviet Union, and moved to Belfast when she was nine. She returned to her homeland to make her new album, In Winter, working with the Gori Women's Choir. Katie recalls her early years in Georgia, and the very different life she found in Belfast, and she and the 24 members of the Choir perform two songs. Writer Alex Wheatle won this year's Guardian children's fiction prize for his young adult novel Crongton Knights, set around an inner-city estate. Born in 1963 to Jamaican parents living in Brixton, Alex spent much of his childhood in care, and says that a short stint in prison after the 1981 Brixton riots led to a passionate interest in literature, thanks to the advice of a fellow prisoner. Actor Nigel Havers rose to fame as Lord Lindsay in the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire, and is renowned for playing charmers, cads and conmen. He's currently playing the Lord Chamberlain in panto at the London Palladium, and his varied career includes roles in Coronation Street, Downton Abbey and a high-profile cameo earlier this year in The Archers. Tom Kerridge is chef and co-owner of The Hand and Flowers pub in Buckinghamshire - the first pub in the world to receive two Michelin stars. He is about to publish Tom Kerridge's Dopamine Diet, which draws on his own experience: he found himself very overweight, a result of the late-night lifestyle of the professional kitchen, and lost more than eleven stones after he devised a diet which remained true to the ideas which underpin his cooking. Producer Paula McGinley.

Actor Sophie Thompson; writer Jonathan Franklin; musician Leon Bosch and actor Brian Wheeler join Libby Purves. As a boy Jonathan Franklin rescued two orphaned tawny owlets and kept them with him at boarding school. His book, Two Owls at Eton, was first published when he was 16 and tells the story of Dee and Dum who lived with him during the summer of 1959. They trashed his room, made him late for many classes and caused mayhem at every turn yet Dum and Dee charmed the entire faculty. The school cat, famous for his mouse-catching prowess, became an unlikely ally and meal provider. Two Owls at Eton is published by John Blake Publishing. Brian Wheeler is an actor who plays 'Brian' in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Born with achondroplasia, he has appeared in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and four Harry Potter films as a banker in Gringotts Bank. His acting career started when he saw an advert for men under four feet six to take part in a film. He applied and ended up getting a part in Star Wars - Return of The Jedi playing an ewok and a jawa. He also spent several years as a clown as part of Gandeys Circus. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is produced by Evolution Pantomimes and is at the Alban Arena. Sophie Thompson is an Olivier Award-winning actress. Her films include Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Emma and Four Weddings and a Funeral. Her theatre credits include Guys and Dolls, Clybourne Park and Stephen Sondheim's Into The Woods. The daughter of actors Phyllida Law and Eric Thompson and younger sister of actor and screenwriter Emma, Sophie recently turned her hand to writing children's books. Illustrated by Rebecca Ashdown, her new book Zoo Boy and the Jewel Thieves is the story of eight-year-old Vince who can talk to animals and lives next door to a zoo. Zoo Boy and the Jewel Thieves is published by Faber and Faber. Leon Bosch is a double bassist who is performing a trio of concerts with his chamber ensemble, I Musicanti featuring world premieres from South Africa and chamber works by Mozart and Schubert. South African born, Leon arrived in the UK in 1982 after time spent as a political prisoner under South Africa's apartheid regime. He was granted refugee status in the UK. Leon Bosch performs at St John's Smith Square, London. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Novelist Ken Follett; scientist Dr Joseph Cook; musician Hannah Peel and Roman Catholic Priest and singer Fr David Delargy join Libby Purves. Fr David Delargy is a Roman Catholic priest and a member of the classical singing trio, the Priests. The group recently released a new album, Alleluia, and manage to balance the responsibilities of parish life in Northern Ireland with a global music career. Friends from an early age, the three later studied in Rome as seminarians and have sung together for 40 years. They grew up during the Troubles and speak of music as a unifying force that brings together people of all faiths. Alleluia by the Priests is released on Sony Red Essential. Dr Joseph Cook is research associate at the University of Sheffield who studies glacial microbiology. He is one of the winners of the Young Laureate award - a category of Rolex's Global Awards for Enterprise 2016. Through his Ice Alive mission, Joseph is exploring polar ice microbes in the vast 'frozen rainforest' of the Greenland ice sheet and communicating how these microbes influence, nutrient and carbon cycles and other aspects of the world and its systems. Ken Follett is an author of thrillers and historical novels whose titles include Eye of the Needle, Edge of Eternity and Fall of Giants. In Granta Magazine he remembers his upbringing and his parents who were members of the Plymouth Brethren church. As a small boy he was barred from watching television and listening to music which led him to reject all forms of faith in later life. After writing his book The Pillars of the Earth, about the building of a fictional medieval cathedral, he returned to his own version of spirituality. Bad Faith by Ken Follet is published in Granta Magazine. Musician Hannah Peel's new album, Awake But Always Dreaming, was inspired by her grandmother who suffered from dementia. The album is about memory - the formation of memories and the devastating loss or slow, insidious damage caused by dementia. This Christmas, Hannah's music also accompanies Alzheimer's Research UK's charity appeal, animated by Aardman and narrated by Stephen Fry. She has also launched Memory Playlist, a project inviting participants to make playlists of their lives. Awake But Always Dreaming is released on My Own Please Label. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Television reporter and writer Tom Mangold; death row survivor Nick Yarris; rally car driver Catie Munnings and Professor Vanessa Toulmin of the National Fairground Archive join Libby Purves. Catie Munnings is an 18-year-old rally car driver. She won the FIA European Rally Championships Ladies' trophy 2016 after only her first season in the sport. At 13 she could execute a perfect handbrake turn and then followed her father Chris, a former rally driver who ran the London Rally School at Brands Hatch, into the sport. When she isn't training in the gym or on the track, Catie has been campaigning to encourage more girls to get into motorsport. Tom Mangold is a television reporter and author who worked as an investigative journalist on the BBC's current affairs series Panorama for 26 years - its longest serving reporter. In his memoir, Splashed!, he recounts his years in the 1950s and 60s on some of Fleet Street's most ruthless newspapers - a time when chequebook journalism ruled. During his career he covered stories from the Profumo Affair to conflicts around the world including Vietnam and Northern Ireland. Splashed! - A Life from Print to Panorama is published by Biteback. Nick Yarris spent 23 years in prison, 22 of them on death row, before DNA evidence finally cleared him in 2003. In 1982 Yarris, a 21-year-old car thief and drug addict from Philadelphia, was sentenced to death for the abduction, rape and murder of a young woman. He spent the next 22 years - much of it in solitary confinement - enduring the casual brutality routinely dished out by guards and inmates. During his time in prison he read up to three books a day and studied the details of his own legal case. Later, as the technology developed, he pressed for post-conviction DNA testing which eventually led to his acquittal. The Fear of 13 Countdown to Execution: My Fight for Survival on Death Row by Nick Yarris is published by Cornerstone. Professor Vanessa Toulmin is director of City and Cultural Engagement at the University of Sheffield. She is also research director of the National Fairground Archive and her collection of circus and fairground material features in a new exhibition at the university. Born into a fairground family herself, her archive also includes material relating to early cinema, world's fairs, magic, wild west shows, menageries, variety, seaside entertainment, and amusement parks. The Spectacle and Wonder exhibition is at the University of Sheffield Library. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Actor Bradley Walsh; novelist Salley Vickers; literary agent Ed Victor and Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers join Libby Purves. Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers is community educator at the Movement for Reform Judaism. Formerly a rabbi at the West London Synagogue of British Jews, she is performing stand-up comedy for the first time at the JW3 Jewish Comedy Festival. She is a regular contributor for Radio 2's Pause for Thought, and has appeared on 4ThoughtTV. The JW3 Jewish Comedy Festival, West Hampstead, London NW6. Salley Vickers is the author of seven novels including Miss Garnet's Angel and The Cleaner of Chartres. She was born in Liverpool where her parents were active members of the Communist Party. She has worked as a university teacher of literature and as a psychoanalyst which triggered her interest in the effects of trans-generational trauma. Her new novel, Cousins, is about the secrets that emerge after a so-called 'night climber' at Cambridge University falls to his death. The story is told through the eyes of three women who were close to him. Cousins is published by Viking. Bradley Walsh is an actor, presenter and comedian. A familiar face on television, he presents the Chase, Keep it in the Family and Live at the London Palladium. His work as an actor includes Coronation Street and Law and Order UK in which he played the lead role of detective sergeant Ronnie Brookes. He has now turned to music, recording a collection of his favourite crooning songs including one he co-wrote - Chasing Dreams. Chasing Dreams is released on Sony Music. Ed Victor is a literary agent who represents a client list including Nigella Lawson, Alastair Campbell, Keith Richards and Rupert Everett. His agency celebrates its 40th birthday this year and he is generally acknowledged to be a game changer in the world of book publishing - elevating agents to key players in the publication process. During his career he nurtured the talents of Douglas Adams and Iris Murdoch who would go years without contacting him and then would call him up every couple of years to say "Ed, I've written a novel." Producer: Paula McGinley.

Singer and songwriter Melanie C; actor and director Douglas Hodge; Ironman competitor John McAvoy and football referee Howard Webb join Libby Purves. Melanie Chisholm, otherwise known as Melanie C, is a singer and songwriter. Formerly one of the Spice Girls, she went solo in 1999 and has enjoyed two number one singles and released four albums. In 2004 she launched her own label, Red Girl Records. She has also starred in musical theatre including Jesus Christ Superstar and Blood Brothers, for which she was nominated for an Olivier Award. Melanie C is touring the UK in 2017 and her new album, Version of Me, is released on Red Girl Records. John McAvoy is a former prisoner who is now a long-distance triathlete. Born into a family which was no stranger to crime, his uncle was a member of the Brink's-Mat robbery gang, John served two prison sentences for armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery before he was 30. In prison he discovered the indoor rowing machine and turned his back on his criminal past. After his release he competed in Ironman competitions, reaching times close to the world record of 7 hr 45 minutes, and is hoping to turn professional. Redemption - From Iron Bars to Ironman by John McAvoy with Mark Turley is published by Pitch Publishing. Howard Webb MBE followed his referee father into football at the age of 18, becoming a Premier League referee in 2003. He went on to take charge of some of the biggest matches in the footballing calender including the FA Cup final, the Champions League final and the 2010 World Cup Final in South Africa. In his memoir, Man in the Middle, he reveals what it is like to be at the heart of the action in the modern-day game and how he dealt with the most challenging situations from receiving death threats to dealings with elite managers and players. Man in the Middle is published by Simon and Schuster. Douglas Hodge is an award-winning actor as well as a director, singer and composer. He is performing in New Songs 4 New Shows - a gala night taster for the musicals of tomorrow. The event features four individual shows and Douglas appears in Wigmaker for which he wrote the music and lyrics. He started out at the National Youth Theatre and recently played Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Other work includes Albin in La Cage aux Folles which won him a Tony Award for Best Actor and for ten years he worked almost exclusively with Harold Pinter as both actor and director. New Songs 4 New Shows is at the Lyric Theatre, London. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Ken Clarke MP, jazz saxophonist Soweto Kinch, historian Melanie Lamotte and writer and puzzle-historian Alex Bellos join Libby Purves. Alex Bellos is a writer and broadcaster who writes a maths blog and a puzzle blog for the Guardian newspaper. His book Can You Solve my Problems? reveals the story of the puzzle through 125 of the world's best brainteasers, from ancient China to medieval Europe, Victorian England to modern-day Japan, with stories of espionage, mathematical breakthroughs and puzzling rivalries along the way. He has also written a children's book, Football School, which uses football to explain everything from maths to zoology and English to fashion. Can You Solve my Problems? is published by Guardian Faber. Football School is published by Walker Books. During his 46 years as the MP for Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire, Ken Clarke has been at the very heart of government under three prime ministers. In his memoir, Kind of Blue, he charts his progress from working class scholarship boy to high political office, including four years as Chancellor of the Exchequer. His position on the left of the Conservative party often led Margaret Thatcher to question his true blue credentials, and his passionate commitment to the European project has led many fellow Conservatives to regard him with suspicion - and cost him the leadership on no fewer than three occasions. Kind of Blue - A Political Memoir, is published by Macmillan. Melanie Lamotte is a Junior Research Fellow in history at Newnham College, Cambridge, studying slavery, ethnic prejudice and early modern French colonialism. Born in Paris, she studied at the Sorbonne and at the University of Cambridge. Her fascination with history began ten years ago when she started to investigate her Caribbean origins and reconstructed her family tree, tracing it back three centuries to her slave ancestor, who was taken from the coast of Senegal to work on a sugar cane plantation on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. Soweto Kinch is a jazz saxophonist, bandleader, composer, rapper and presenter of Radio 3's Jazz Now. He is also a double MOBO-award winner and Mercury Prize nominee. He releases his new album Nonogram, which takes its cue from the language of mathematics and geometry. The album's concept revolves around a nine-sided wheel, or nonagon, with each musical point along the wheel exploring a different number or shape. Nonogram is released on Soweto Kinch Recordings. Producer: Annette Wells.

Physicist Helen Czerski; composer Odaline de la Martinez; actor Paapa Essiedu and geologist and gold prospector Jim Richards join Libby Purves. Physicist and oceanographer Helen Czerski studies the bubbles underneath breaking waves and their effects on weather and climate. In her book, Storm in a Teacup, she explains how the same scientific principles behind the little everyday things we see all around us link to some of the most important science and technology of our time because the patterns of physics are universal. She argues that knowing some of the basic principles of physics gives us a new way of looking at and being in the world that surrounds us. Storm in a Teacup - The Physics of Everyday Life by Helen Czerski is published by Bantam Press. Paapa Essiedu is an actor who plays Edmund in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of King Lear, opposite Antony Sher's Lear. He was on course to study medicine when he decided to change direction and follow his true passion to study drama. His first job was a minor role in the Merry Wives of Windsor for the RSC but he made waves when he stepped up to play Edmund opposite Simon Russell Beale's Lear when the actor he was understudying lost his voice. Last year Paapa played the RSC's first black Hamlet, drawing on his background growing up in London and the cultural references of his Ghanaian family. King Lear is at the Barbican, London. Jim Richards has been a gold prospector, miner and geologist and is currently a mining executive in Australia, working on graphene and sustainable energy. A former geology student and officer in the British Army, he gave up a promising career to pursue his dream of mining for gold in Brazil. In his book, Gold Rush, he recounts tales of piranha-infested rivers in South America, blazing deserts in Australia, the war-torn jungles of Laos, and how his passion cost him numerous relationships and money. Gold Rush - How I found, Lost and Made a Fortune is published by September Publishing. Odaline de la Martinez is a Cuban-American composer and conductor and was the first woman to conduct at the BBC Proms in 1984. She established the London Festival of American Music ten years ago to promote the work of established American composers who were less well known to UK audiences. She also founded her ensemble Lontano which champions new music and celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. The London Festival of American Music is at The Warehouse, London. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Sleep coach Nick Littlehales, Adele Bellis, a survivor of an acid attack, actor Adrian Edmondson and chef Marcus Wareing, join Libby Purves. Nick Littlehales is a sport sleep coach to some of the biggest names in sport including the British Cycling team, top Premiership and International football squads, and Olympic and Paralympic athletes. In his book, Sleep, he explains the strategies we can all use to get a better night's sleep by debunking the myths including why we might need less sleep than we think and the power nap - how we can nap with our eyes open in room full of people. Sleep is published by Penguin Life. Adele Bellis was 22 when she suffered an acid attack arranged by her ex-boyfriend. She was left partially bald and lost her right ear. In her book, Brave, she recounts her experience and her recovery and how she hopes to turn it into a positive experience by educating young people about how to avoid abusive relationships. Brave - How I Rebuilt My Life After Love Turned to Hate is published by Harper Element. Adrian Edmondson is an actor and comedian, best known from The Young Ones, Bottom, and The Comic Strip Presents, with his friend and collaborator, the late Rik Mayall. More recently he has appeared in TV series including One of Us and War and Peace, and in the West End in Waiting for Godot and Neville's Island. He stars in a new adaptation of William Leith's bestselling novel, Bits of Me are Falling Apart, a one-man play about the complexities of middle-age, adapted by himself and Steve Marmion, who directs. Bits of Me are Falling Apart is at the Soho Theatre. Marcus Wareing is the chef of the two Michelin-starred Marcus at The Berkeley, The Gilbert Scott and Tredwell's in London. He has won numerous awards including Young Chef of the Year, a Michelin star at the age of 25, Restaurateur of the Year, and the winner of the first Michelin star for the Savoy Grill in the hotel's history. He is also a judge on MasterChef: The Professionals on BBC Two. His new book, Marcus At Home is published by Harper Collins. Producer: Annette Wells.

Milliner Stephen Jones; professor of Volcanology Clive Oppenheimer; filmmaker Karen Guthrie and former MI5 operative Tom Marcus join Libby Purves. Clive Oppenheimer is professor of Volcanology at the University of Cambridge. He presents Werner Herzog's documentary Into the Inferno which is inspired by Clive's book Eruptions that Shook the World. In the film presenter and director travel to Indonesia, Iceland, Ethopia and North Korea to investigate not only the volcanoes but also the people who live with them and have created their own myths and customs around these foreboding mountains. Into the Inferno is released on Netflix. Karen Guthrie is an artist and filmmaker. She directed the documentary The Closer We Get, a haunting portrait of her family. When her mother Ann suffered a devastating stroke in 2008 Karen returned to the family home and, along with her siblings, helped care for her. In a surprise twist her long absent father, who had been separated from Ann for years, also came back to help look after his former wife. In her film Karen shines a light on the complexities and secrets which underpin her parents' relationship. The Closer We Get is available on DVD. Tom Marcus, who uses this pen name to protect his identity, is a former MI5 surveillance officer. In his book, Soldier Spy, he recounts how he was recruited to the service following a stint in the army which he joined at 16. The book, written with the co-operation of MI5, gives a vivid account of the life of an undercover operative tracking down those who pose a threat to our national security. Soldier Spy is published by Penguin. Milliner Stephen Jones OBE has been creating exquisitely crafted hats for the last 40 years. His clients include rock stars and royalty - from Boy George to Diana, Princess of Wales. His book, Souvenirs, traces the origins of his creativity as a youngster growing up in Liverpool to his days at Saint Martin's School of Art, his arrival on London's street fashion scene and success on the world's catwalks. Stephen Jones: Souvenirs by Susannah Frankel and Stephen Jones is published by Rizzoli New York. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Politician and writer Rory Stewart; Italian musician Zucchero; cellist Nina Plapp and SAS trainee recruit Efrem Brynin join Libby Purves. Nina Plapp is a cellist and winner of the Royal Geographical Society and BBC Journey of a Lifetime award. Together with her cello Cuthbert she sets off from the Isle of Wight to Romania and India in search of the roots of gypsy music. Along the way Nina and Cuthbert join a chorus on a train through the desert, get locked inside a cupboard with singing girls in a Rajasthani village and play with the gypsy musicians at a wedding. Her story is told in Journey of a Lifetime on BBC Radio 4. Rory Stewart OBE is MP for Penrith and The Border and Minister of State at the Department for International Development (DFID). After a period in the army, he joined the Foreign Office, serving in Indonesia and the Balkans and becoming deputy-governor of two provinces in Southern Iraq. His father Brian was a keen walker who accompanied his son on many of his journeys from Iran to Malaysia. Their final walk together takes them along the Marches - the frontier that divides their two countries - Scotland and England. The Marches by Rory Stewart is published by Jonathan Cape. Efrem Brynin is one of the recruits featured in the Channel 4 series SAS: Who Dares Wins in which team of ex-SAS instructors take 25 rookie soldiers deep into the Amazon rainforest. The men take part in a customised version of the jungle phase of SAS Selection which is designed to find a unique kind of soldier for an elite unit. Efrem's son James, a soldier who was killed in Afghanistan in 2013, was due to embark on SAS training before his death and Efrem's aim is to honour his son's ambitions. SAS: Who Dares Wins is broadcast on Channel 4. Zucchero is an Italian musician and songwriter. Born Adelmo Fornaciari, he was nicknamed Zucchero - meaning sugar - by his schoolteacher. In a career spanning three decades, he has achieved international success, not least through his collaborations with artists including Eric Clapton, Miles Davis, Ray Charles, B.B King, Sting, Jeff Beck and Andrea Bocelli. His new album Black Cat features contributions from Bono and Elvis Costello and the guitar work of Mark Knopfler. Black Cat is on Wrasse Records. Zucchero performs at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Jeremy Paxman; Priscilla Presley; ballet dancer Thiago Soares and writer and photographer iO Tillett Wright join Libby Purves. Priscilla Presley is an actress. She starred in the Naked Gun series of films, the television series Dallas and for the last few years has appeared on the British stage in pantomimes including Aladdin and Snow White. Married to Elvis Presley from 1967 to 1973, she is executive producer of the Wonder of You, an album featuring Elvis's voice with an orchestral accompaniment by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Priscilla also appears as part of a UK arena tour in which Elvis is on screen - accompanied by the orchestra - performing songs including If I Can Dream and Suspicious Minds. The Wonder of You is released on Sony Music. If I Can Dream - Elvis in Concert with The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra starts in Glasgow at the SSE Hydro. Jeremy Paxman is a journalist and broadcaster. In his memoir, A Life in Questions, he looks back on his career including his long stint as the combative presenter of the BBC's current affairs programme, Newsnight. His working life has been defined by questions and the book features many of his legendary encounters with politicians, musicians, Hollywood stars and esteemed writers. A Life in Questions is published by William Collins. iO Tillett Wright is a photographer, writer, film maker, activist and actor who is currently co-hosting a new MTV show called Suspect with Nev Schulman. In his memoir, Darling Days, he recounts his tumultuous life growing up during the 1980s and 1990s in the urban bohemia of New York's Lower East Side. Born female, he describes how, at the age of six, he adopted a new persona - a boy named Ricky. His TED Talk, 50 Shades of Gay, has been watched by more than two million people. Darling Days is published by Virago. Thiago Soares is a Brazilian dancer and a principal of The Royal Ballet. Born in Rio de Janeiro, he initially was drawn to hip hop before taking up ballet aged 12, joining the Royal Ballet in 2002. He is dancing the role of Rasputin in the Royal Ballet's production of Anastasia by Kenneth MacMillan. It tells the true story of Anna Anderson, who claimed to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia, youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II and sole survivor of the brutal assassination of the Russian Royal Family in 1918. Anastasia is at the Royal Opera House, London. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Broadcaster Nicholas Parsons; chef and writer Ken Hom; author Jacqueline Wilson and comic Scott Gibson join Libby Purves Comedian Scott Gibson swapped his job in a call centre for the stand-up stage after surviving a brain aneurysm at the age of 24. Winner of the best newcomer award at the lastminute.com Comedy Awards in 2016, his show Life After Death explores his illness and recovery. Scott Gibson is appearing at the Fringe Comedy Awards Shows at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London. Nicholas Parsons OBE is a broadcaster who has chaired BBC Radio 4's comedy panel game Just a Minute since its inception in 1967. He is also a keen horologist and presents The Incredible Story of Marie Antoinette's Watch on BBC Four which celebrates the work of a master of the timepiece, Abraham Louis Breguet. Nicholas goes in search of the most expensive and exquisite watch ever made - The Marie-Antoinette - also known as The Queen - a case watch designed by Breguet in the 18th century. The Incredible Story of Marie Antoinette's Watch is on BBC Four. Dame Jacqueline Wilson is a writer of children's literature. Her new book Clover Moon tells the story of a young girl trying to survive in Victorian London. Publication also marks the launch of the Jacqueline Wilson Creative Writing Prize which encourages children to take up writing fiction. One of Jacqueline's most successful and enduring creations has been the famous Tracy Beaker who first appeared in 1991. A former Children's Laureate, Jacqueline's books have sold over 40m copies in the UK and have been translated into 34 languages. Clover Moon is published by Doubleday. Ken Hom is a chef and food writer. A leading authority on Chinese cuisine, his first book on the subject was published in 1981 and his first programme for BBC television was broadcast in 1984. In his new autobiography, My Stir-Fried Life, he writes about his childhood in Chicago's Chinatown where he worked in his uncle's restaurant at the age of 11 and how he found social acceptance through food and cooking for others. My Stir-Fried Life is published by Biteback Publishing. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Politician Lord David Owen; singer and harmonicist Paul Jones; sound artist Amie Slavin and origami expert Samuel Tsang join Libby Purves Amie Slavin is a sound artist. She is the director of the Sonophilia Festival - Lincoln's Festival of Sound - which will offer eight days of live music, sound art installations and other activities across the city. Born with a rare form of eye cancer she lost her sight in 1997 and uses her work to stimulate audiences to appreciate the various ways in which sound can represent and illuminate ideas, issues and voices. Sonophilia Festival: Lincoln's Festival of Sound is at various venues across Lincoln. David Owen was foreign secretary under James Callaghan from 1977 until 1979 and later co-founded and went on to lead the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He now sits as an independent social democrat in the House of Lords. In his new book, Cabinet's Finest Hour, he writes about the cabinet meetings of 1940 and examines how Churchill's coalition government worked behind closed doors to bring the war to an end. Cabinet's Finest Hour - the Hidden Agenda of May 1940 by David Owen is published by Haus Publishing. Samuel Tsang has been practising origami since he was old enough to fold. A London city worker by day and origami ninja by night, his book explains how origami can help concentration and memory and lead to mindfulness - or mindFOLDness as he puts it. The Book of Mindful Origami and The Magic of Mindful Origami are published by Yellow Kite. Paul Jones is lead singer of the Manfreds and former lead vocalist and harmonicist of Manfred Mann. Formed in 1962, Manfred Mann's hits include Do Wah Diddy; Pretty Flamingo; Sha La La; and 5-4-3-2-1. Paul turned to acting in 1966 appearing in films and on stage at the National Theatre in the Beggar's Opera and Guys and Dolls. Maximum Rhythm and Blues with the Manfreds is on tour. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Garden writer and broadcaster Monty Don; journalist Ian Hislop; marine biologist Joanna Barker and pastor Gethin Russell-Jones join Libby Purves. Joanna Barker is a marine biologist who works for the Zoological Society of London and specialises in marine and mammal conservation. Her work includes carrying out annual population counts of grey and harbour seals in the Greater Thames Estuary and conserving the European eel population - London's iconic eel which is classified as critically endangered. There are 98% fewer elvers - juvenile eels - arriving in London than in the 1980s. Joanna also developed the Angel Shark Project in the Canary Islands to safeguard the future of endangered angel sharks. Ian Hislop is a journalist and broadcaster. He is the co-writer - with Nick Newman - of a new play, The Wipers Times. Based on their award-winning film, the play tells the story of the satirical newspaper which originated in the spring of 1916. A group of soldiers of the 24th Division of the Sherwood Foresters, led by Captain Fred Roberts, discovered a printing press in the bombed out ruins of Ypres, or, as it was known by the Tommies unable to pronounce it, Wipers. It poked fun at the high command and saluted fallen comrades, using spoof advertisements, agony aunt columns and cod music-hall routines. The Wipers Times is at the Watermill Theatre. Gethin Russell-Jones is a Baptist pastor and writer. In his book, Conchie - What my Father didn't do in the War, he tells the story of his pastor father John who chose to be a conscientious objector during World War Two. At the same time his fiancée was cracking German codes at Bletchley Park. As an adult Gethin investigated his father's story and discovered what led him to make his momentous decision. Conchie - What my Father didn't do in the War, is published by Lion Hudson. Monty Don is a garden writer and broadcaster. His new book, Nigel - My Family and Other Dogs, is the story of his golden retriever and the other dogs who have shared his life over the years. Beloved by the public, Nigel receives fan mail and birthday cards and has inspired social media fan sites. The book is also a tribute to Longmeadow, the Herefordshire garden Monty has created over the last 25 years. Nigel - My Family and Other Dogs is published by Two Roads Books. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Libby Purves meets actress Glynis Barber; flamenco composer and guitarist Paco Pena; Pastor Lorraine Jones and champion long distance swimmer Diana Nyad. Diana Nyad was a champion swimmer in her twenties, setting the record around Manhattan Island. In 1978 she made her first attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida, but failed to get across. In her sixties she made four further attempts, finally achieving her dream at the age of 64. Her memoir, Find a Way - One Untamed and Courageous Life, is published by Pan McMillan. Pastor Lorraine Jones lost her son Dwayne Simpson just short of his 21st birthday when he was fatally stabbed in Brixton. Dwayne had created a boxing club for young people to divert them from joining gangs. After his death his mother relaunched the boxing scheme as Dwaynamics. She recently won a Points of Light Award which recognises outstanding individual volunteers. Paco Pena is a flamenco composer and guitarist. His new work Patrias is an exploration of the emotional and cultural impact on Spain of the civil war and the death of one of its most prominent victims, Federico Garcia Lorca. Born in Cordoba, Paco taught himself to play the guitar as a child. Patrias is at Sadler's Wells, London. Glynis Barber is an actress who is best known for her role in the crime series Dempsey and Makepeace. She is appearing in Stalking the Bogeyman based on the story of journalist David Holthouse who was the victim of a violent rape when he was a child. Glynis's television work includes EastEnders and Emmerdale. Stalking the Bogeyman is at Southwark Playhouse, London. If you have been effected by anything you heard on the programme: Survivors UK (www.survivorsuk.org) Napac (napac.org.uk) Safeline (www.safeline.org.uk) Producer: Paula McGinley.

Libby Purves meets illustrator and author Liz Pichon; pianist Melvyn Tan; travel writer Dan Richards and food writer Meera Sodha. Dan Richards is a travel writer. In his book Climbing Days, he is on the trail of his great-great aunt, Dorothy Pilley, a pioneering mountaineer of the early twentieth century. Using Dorothy's 1935 memoir Climbing Days as a guide, Dan begins to travel and climb across Europe, ending up at the serrate pinnacle of his aunt's climbing life, the mighty Dent Blanche in the high Alps of Valais. Climbing Days is published by Faber. Meera Sodha is a food writer and cook. In her book Fresh India she celebrates Indian vegetarian dishes. Many of the recipes were passed down through her family, her mother in particular who was brought up in Uganda but came to the UK after Idi Amin ordered the expulsion of the Asian minority in 1972. The recipes in Fresh India are inspired by Meera's childhood in Lincolnshire: by the rainbow chard that her aunt and uncle used to grow on their allotment, the cabbage that grew in fields behind her house and the mushrooms that were plentiful in her garden. Fresh India is published by Penguin. Melvyn Tan is British Singaporean-born pianist. To celebrate his 60th birthday this year he is exploring a new spectrum of compositions including a new score written for him by Jonathan Dove which he is including in his Cheltenham Music Festival recital. Born in Singapore, Melvyn came to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School at 12. In 1980 he made the decision to specialise in fortepiano and more recently began exploring works on the modern concert grand piano. Melvyn is performing at the Cheltenham Music Festival. Liz Pichon is an illustrator and author. Her 10th book in the Tom Gates series, Super Good Skills (Almost...), is a colourful doodle-your-own extravaganza. After studying graphic design Liz started her career in the music industry, working as an art director before turning her hand to the world of children's books. She later went on to create the bestselling Tom Gates series which has sold over 2m books in the UK alone and has been translated into more than 40 languages. Super Good Skills (Almost...) is published by Scholastic Children's Books. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Libby Purves meets farmer and broadcaster Adam Henson; writer Paul Spike; pilot Tracey Curtis-Taylor and theatre student Joe Langdon. Tracey Curtis-Taylor is a pilot who last year followed Amy Johnson's flight from the UK to Australia in her classic open cockpit biplane, Spirit of Artemis. Earlier this year the self-styled bird in a biplane attempted a round-the-world flight which ended when her vintage biplane lost power and crashed after take-off in the Arizona desert. She plans to be back in the skies when her plane is fully repaired. Paul Spike is a writer and journalist. His book Photographs of My Father was first published in 1973, seven years after his father, The Reverend Robert - Bob - Spike, was murdered. Bob Spike was a US church minister who was active in the civil rights movement in 1960s America alongside Martin Luther King Jr. His murder was never solved. Published by Knopf, Photographs of my Father has been reissued to mark 50 years since Bob Spike's death. Joe Langdon is studying theatre studies at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London. His interest in drama was piqued when he was an inmate at a young offenders' institution. He attended workshops organised by the Bristol Old Vic as part of its outreach programme which helps young and disenfranchised people express themselves. This year the Bristol Old Vic celebrates its 250th anniversary. Adam Henson is a farmer and presenter of Adam's Farm on the BBC's Countryfile programme. He took over the Cotswold farm from his father, Joe, who as a champion of rare breeds, opened the Cotswold Farm Park in 1971 and was founder chairman of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. In his memoir, Like Farmer, Like Son Adam delves into his family's theatrical lineage - his grandfather was comedian and actor Leslie Henson and his uncle is the actor Nicky Henson. Like Farmer, Like Son is published by BBC Books. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Libby Purves meets Olympic cyclist Chris Boardman; writer Rex Pickett; writer and academic Bella Merlin and performer Natalie James. Bella Merlin is an actor, writer, and professor of acting and directing at the University of California, Riverside. In her book, Facing the Fear, she draws on her own and other actors' personal experiences to address the issue of stage fright and how the complex relationship between the actor and the audience affects the condition. Drawing on neurological research, she also offers practical tips from physical wellbeing to performance strategies. Facing the Fear An Actor's Guide to Overcoming Stage Fright is published by Nick Hern Books. Natalie Nicole James is dancer and circus performer. She plays Mowgli in Metta Theatre's new adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. The story of a child raised by wolves has been transposed to a contemporary urban jungle featuring street dancing monkeys, a beat-boxing bin man Baloo and graffiti artist Bagheera. The Jungle Book is at Cork's Midsummer Festival and at London Wonderground Festival, Southbank. Chris Boardman MBE won an Olympic gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics – the first British cyclist to win for 75 years. He went on to become the first British rider since Tommy Simpson in 1967 to wear the race leader's yellow jersey in the Tour de France. Now a commentator and presenter, his endeavours both on and off the bike have made him the founding father of the current gold generation of British cyclists. His memoir, Triumphs and Turbulence My Autobiography, is published by Ebury Press. Rex Pickett is a writer and the author of the novel Sideways which became an award-winning film directed by Alexander Payne. Now a play, adapted by the author, Sideways is the story of Miles and Jack, best friends facing their own personal crises who head off to Santa Barbara for a week of wine tastings. Sideways is at the St James Theatre, London. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Libby Purves meets biologist and stand-up Simon Watt; motoring journalist Martin Gurdon; hip-hop artist Baba Israel and journalist Cal Flyn. Martin Gurdon is a motoring journalist. In his book, An Estate Car Named Desire, he recounts tales of his car-obsessed childhood in the 1960s - a lost world of Ford Anglias, Triumph Heralds and Morris Minors. During his dysfunctional years at boarding school cars were both his salvation and his undoing. An Estate Car Named Desire - A Life on the Road is published by Duckworth Overlook. Baba Israel is a hip-hop artist. He will be performing The Spinning Wheel at the Roundhouse, as part of The Last Word Festival. The multi-media production explores the life of his father Steve Ben Israel, a New York-based poet, jazz musician, activist, stand-up comedian and member of the Sixties performance collective The Living Theatre. The Spinning Wheel is at The Roundhouse, London NW1. Cal Flyn is a journalist whose book, Thicker than Water, tells the story of her great-great-great uncle, Angus McMillan. Mythologized as a dashing explorer and pioneer who left his native Scotland for Australia during the time of the Highland Clearances, he in fact led a number of gruesome massacres of indigenous people. As she traces his footsteps across Australia, Cal asks how a man could commit such terrible acts and considers the concept of intergenerational guilt. Thicker Than Water - History, Secrets and Guilt is published by William Collins. Simon Watt is a biologist, stand-up, writer and broadcaster. His new comedy science podcast, Level Up Human, explores various ways to improve the human condition. Featuring guests from the worlds of comedy and science, the podcast asks whether we will soon be able to edit the human genome with so-called molecular scissors and examines the case for driverless transport and companion robots. Level Up Human launches at the Cheltenham Science Festival.

Libby Purves meets poet and artist Frieda Hughes; composer Christopher Gunning; puppeteer Ronnie Le Drew and horticulturalist and gardening judge Jim Buttress. Ronnie Le Drew is a puppeteer. Over his long career he has operated Muffin the Mule, Sweep and Zippy from the children's television series Rainbow. He discovered puppetry as a small boy, performing glove puppet shows for his friends on the south London council estate where he grew up. His biography Zippy and Me, written with Duncan Barrett and Nuala Calvi, will be published by Unbound. Ronnie is performing the Snitchity Titch Show at the Little Angel Theatre, London. Christopher Gunning is an award-winning composer, best known for his theme music to Agatha Christie's Poirot as well as Porterhouse Blue and La Vie en Rose. He started out writing music for commercials and early on in his career he worked as assistant to the late Dudley Moore, who became a regular pianist on a variety of Christopher's jingles and documentary scores. Christopher's latest work is a violin and cello concerto, inspired by his love of Wales. Violin Concerto/Cello Concerto/Birdflight is released on Discovery Records. Frieda Hughes is a poet and artist. The daughter of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, Her book, Alternative Values, is the story of her life told through a series of abstract paintings which accompany her poetry. Frieda wrote and painted from an early age and for many years has been a children's writer. She is talking about her life and work at the Salisbury International Arts Festival. Alternative Values is published by Bloodaxe Books. Jim Buttress is a gardener, horticulturalist and RHS judge, known for his trademark bowler hat and clipboard. He has presided over flower shows including Chelsea and Hampton Court and the Britain in Bloom competition for over 25 years. In his memoir, The People's Gardener, he recounts his garden memories including his ten years as superintendent of the Central Royal Parks - on one occasion looking after some elephants which had taken up residence in Hyde Park. His memoir, The People's Gardener, is published by Sidgwick And Jackson. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Libby Purves meets wine writer Oz Clarke; photographer Johnny Fenn; playwright Brian Mullin and Emma Sherlock, curator of free-living worms at the Natural History Museum. Emma Sherlock is senior curator of annelids - free-living worms - at the Natural History Museum. She's also co-founder and president of the Earthworm Society of Great Britain. A zoology graduate, she is passionate about changing the public's perception of the humble earthworm. Her current project is studying the Asian worms in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew. Foreign species of worms are often inadvertently imported into Britain along with plants. There are 34 exotic species living here - mainly in greenhouses - which outnumber the 26 native species. The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD. Brian Mullin is an American-born playwright who is writer in residence at Theatre503. His debut play, We Wait In Joyful Hope, is inspired by the story of his aunt, a former Catholic nun, who brought him up after the death of his mother. She founded one of the first shelters for homeless women in New York City. We Wait In Joyful Hope is at Theatre503, The Latchmere, 503 Battersea Park Road, London SW11. Johnny Fenn was a Gurkha officer for 15 years before becoming a professional photographer. A week after the devastating earthquake in Nepal in 2015, he returned to the middle valleys of the country with his camera. In this area, the main recruitment region for Gurkha soldiers, he photographed local people left devastated after the disaster, recording their courage and dignity in the face of such turmoil. His book, Light and Life in the Middle Hills, is published by Unicorn. Oz Clarke is a wine critic, broadcaster and writer. He combines wine and song in Drink to Music - a festival tour with the Baroque ensemble, Armonico Consort. The show investigates the links between wine from around the world and the music of the Baroque from Bach, Purcell and Vivaldi to the dance music of South America. Oz and Armonico Drink to Music is on tour. Producer: Paula McGinley.

The poet Lemn Sissay meets naturalist and broadcaster Chris Packham; singer and songwriter Ralph McTell; actor and director Ian Ogilvy and paleoanthropologist and stand-up comedian Ella Al-Shamahi. Ian Ogilvy is an actor who is best known for playing Simon Templar in the 1970s TV series The Return of the Saint. He has also appeared in Upstairs Downstairs, I Claudius and films including No Sex Please, We're British. He has written a series of children's books about his hero, Measle Stubbs, which has been translated into over 20 languages. His autobiography, Once a Saint - An Actor's Memoir, is published by Constable. Ella Al-Shamahi is a geneticist turned paleoanthropologist who also performs stand-up comedy. She is a Neanderthal expert who specialises in cave digs in hostile environments including the Yemen and Iraq. Her latest project is to set up her own cave excavation in the Yemen to test the theory that early humans left Africa not only via Egypt and then Israel but also via islands or land bridges in the Red Sea. She is a National Geographic 2015 Emerging Explorer. Chris Packham is a naturalist, filmmaker, writer and photographer, best known as presenter of the children's nature series, The Really Wild Show during the 1980s. He has presented the BBC's Springwatch programme since 2009. His memoir, Fingers In The Sparkle Jar, reflects on being an awkward and unusual child with an intense fascination for wildlife who found solace in the natural world. Fingers In The Sparkle Jar is published by Ebury Press. Ralph McTell is a singer and songwriter who made his debut in 1968 with the album Eight Frames a Second. In 1974 the release of 'Streets of London' earned him an Ivor Novello Award. He is celebrating 50 years on the road with a special performance at the Royal Albert Hall in which all the songs will be chosen by his fans. Ralph McTell's Loyal Command Performance is at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Libby Purves meets singer and songwriter Chris Rea; artist Chris Dobrowolski; former railway detective Graham Satchwell and actor Rosa Hoskins, daughter of Bob. Chris Dobrowolski is an artist and sculptor who spent three and a half months in Antarctica as artist in residence for the British Antarctic Survey. Chris lived and worked alongside scientists, medical professionals, researchers and crew members. Armed with boxes of Antarctic-themed toy figures, including plastic penguins, he set out across the polar ice to capture the essence of this southern wilderness. In his show Antarctica, he tells of his adventures. Antarctica is on tour. Chris Rea is a singer and songwriter and blues guitarist. Born in Middlesborough to an Anglo-Italian family who ran an ice-cream business, he didn't take up the guitar until he was 21. His hits include Fool If You Think It's Over, The Road To Hell and Josephine. He has released a new edition of La Passione, a film and soundtrack based loosely on his dreams as a young boy growing up in the industrial North East and his love of Formula 1. La Passione - Artist's Edition box-set is released on Jazzee Blue. Actor and writer Rosa Hoskins is the daughter of the actor Bob Hoskins, star of The Long Good Friday and Mona Lisa. In her memoir, It's All Going' Wonderfully Well, she recalls some of the life lessons her father taught her such as laugh, be yourself, get angry and love with all your heart. It's All Going Wonderfully Well - Growing Up with Bob Hoskins is published by Hutchinson. Graham Satchwell is a former detective superintendent with the British Transport Police. In his memoir, An Inspector Recalls, he writes about his early days in the police force in the Sixties and Seventies and some of the prevailing attitudes he brushed up against. He describes investigating the Southall Rail crash in 1997 and a highly charged encounter with John McVicar, one time convicted armed robber. An Inspector Recalls - Memoirs of a Railway Detective is published by The History Press. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Libby Purves meets writer Hunter Davies; artistic director Daniel Evans; poet Henry Normal and forager and cook Fiona Bird. Fiona Bird is a forager, writer and cook. A former finalist on Masterchef, her new book Let Your Kids Go Wild Outside is full of enthusiasm for the natural world and aims to encourage children to get off the sofa and explore the great outdoors. Fiona lives on the Isle of South Uist where she forages for seaweed which she features in a range of dishes from casseroles and soups to bread and biscuits. Let Your Kids Go Wild Outside is published by CICO Books. Hunter Davies OBE is an author, journalist and broadcaster. He is the author of over 50 books, including biographies, novels, children's fiction and several books about the Lake District.. He wrote the only official biography of the Beatles. In his memoir, The Co-Op's Got Bananas! he reflects on his childhood and coming of age in post-war Britain. The Co-Op's Got Bananas! is published by Simon and Schuster. Daniel Evans is the outgoing artistic director of Sheffield Theatres who is taking on the same role at Chichester Festival Theatre. As a director at Sheffield Theatres his productions include The Effect, The Full Monty and An Enemy of the People. As an actor, his work for the company includes Company, The Pride, Cloud Nine and The Tempest. His performance in Sunday in the Park with George won him his second Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical and a Tony Award nomination. His production of Show Boat is at the New London Theatre. Henry Normal - whose real name is Peter Carroll - is a comedian, producer and poet. As a writer and producer he has won awards for his work on The Royle Family, Gavin and Stacey and the Mrs Merton Show. He also wrote and produced the Oscar-nominated film Philomena. He is performing his poetry at the Stratford-Upon-Avon Literary Festival and his programme A Normal Family, about his son who has autism, returns to BBC Radio 4 later this year. The Stratford-Upon-Avon Literary Festival is at the Stratford Artshouse. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Libby Purves meets actor Maureen Lipman; writer and comedian Paul Whitehouse; tightrope walker Chris Bull and farmer Desmond MacCarthy. Chris Bull - otherwise known as Bullzini - is a funambulist or tightrope walker. He is recreating the tightrope walk of Carlos Trower, The African Blondin, at A Day at the Lake in Staffordshire. Trower walked across the lake 100 feet above the water in 1864 and again in 1878, drawing huge crowds 30 years after the abolition of slavery in the UK. Chris first became interested in circus skills as a teenager and learned to juggle while at school. He trained for 12 years seeking out the best artists and teachers in Brazil, Cuba, France and Belgium. A Day At The Lake is at Rudyard Lake in Staffordshire. Maureen Lipman CBE, is an actor and comedian, best known for her homage to Joyce Grenfell in Re:Joyce; as Aunt Eller in Oklahoma and for her role in the Oscar-winning film, The Pianist. Her latest part is in Charlotte Keatley's play, My Mother Said I Never Should at the St James' Theatre, about the relationships between mothers and daughters spanning four generations. She is also appearing in the ITV2 comedy PLEBS. My Mother Said I Never Should is at the St James Theatre, London SW1. Desmond MacCarthy is a gentleman farmer struggling to keep his 17th century manor, Wiveton Hall, afloat while holding on to the country traditions of his childhood. He stars in the television series Normal for Norfolk which follows him as he tries to ensure his café turns a profit, supervises his fruit farm and gets stuck in with the renovation of a dilapidated cottage - which doesn't go at all smoothly. Normal for Norfolk is broadcast on BBC Two. Paul Whitehouse is an actor, performer and writer who has been involved in many of the best-loved comedy shows over the last 25 years including The Fast Show and Harry And Paul. In the comedy drama Nurse, created by Paul Whitehouse and David Cummings, a community mental health nurse makes her rounds to visit her patients in their homes. Most of these patients are played by Whitehouse himself and range from an agoraphobic ex-con; a manic ex-glam rock star and ageing rake Herbert, who hoards his house with possessions and memories. Nurse is broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Libby Purves meets poet Wendy Cope; performer Julian Clary; poet Patrick Deeley and actor and playwright Carmen Aguirre. Wendy Cope OBE is a poet. A former teacher and television critic, she has written on a variety of topics including education, romance, religion, television and psychoanalysis. She has been commissioned by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to write poems to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the playwright's death. In 2011 she donated her archive of correspondence and diaries to the British Library. Her book Life, Love and the Archers is published by Two Roads. Patrick Deeley is an Irish poet and former teacher and principal. He has published six collections of poetry including Decoding Samara and The Bones of Creation. In his memoir, The Hurley Maker's Son, he tells of growing up in rural Ireland with a wood worker father who made hurley sticks in his Galway workshop. The Hurley Maker's Son is published by Doubleday Ireland. Carmen Aguirre is an actor and playwright. She is the daughter of Chilean revolutionaries who, from the age of six, lived in exile in North America and as a young adult actively fought the Chilean dictatorship herself. In her memoir, Mexican Hooker #1: And Other Roles Since the Revolution, she tells of her personal struggles to find her own identity after the revolution. Mexican Hooker #1: And My Other Roles Since the Revolution is published by Portobello Books. Julian Clary is a comedian, performer and writer. He became a household name in the late 1980s and has appeared on numerous TV shows including Strictly Come Dancing, Have I Got News For You and is a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4's Just a Minute. He has starred in West End productions of Taboo and Cabaret, and appears in panto most years. He is on tour in his one man show, the Joy of Mincing and new children's book, the Bolds to the Rescue, is published by Anderson Press. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Nick Davies is professor of behavioural ecology at the University of Cambridge and an expert on cuckoos. Based at Wicken Fen, the National Trust reserve in Cambridgeshire, Davies has unravelled some of the key mysteries of this trickster of the bird world using stuffed cuckoos and dummy birds eggs. Cuckoos are so swift in laying their eggs (only one is laid per nest and the process is over in as little as 10 seconds), and so clever at disguising their eggs, that host birds are often uncertain whether an odd egg in the clutch is a cuckoo egg or one of their own. Cuckoo - Cheating By Nature by Nick Davies is published by Bloomsbury. Patricia Rozario OBE is an opera singer who is starring in Clocks 1888: the greener which is based on the true histories of ayahs or nannies in India who were employed by British colonials to look after their children and sometimes brought back to England. Born in Mumbai, Patricia studied at the Guildhall School of Music and at the National Opera Studio. She has enjoyed a wide-ranging career in opera, concert work, recording and broadcasting. Her voice has inspired many of the world's leading composers to collaborate with her, notably Arvo Pärt and Sir John Tavener, who alone wrote over 30 works for her. Clocks 1888: the greener is on tour. Lachlan Goudie is an artist whose late father was the Scottish figurative painter, Alexander Goudie. Distinguished as a portrait painter, Alexander painted the Queen, lord chancellors and celebrities including Billy Connolly. He was also notorious for a series of nude self-portraits in which he took on the guise of mythical figures including Bacchus and Neptune. A retrospective of his work is being exhibited at London's Mall Galleries. An artist in his own right, Lachlan spent five years at the Govan shipyard in Glasgow recording the construction of Britain's new aircraft carrier the Queen Elizabeth. Alexander Goudie RP RGI - A Retrospective is at Mall Galleries Sita Brand is a storyteller and founder and director of Settle Stories which runs the annual Settle Stories Festival in Yorkshire. Born in India, she moved to the UK as a teenager. She learned her love of storytelling from her mother, a school librarian, and her father who was a refugee in World War 2. She is passionate about using stories to promote understanding between people and their cultures. She performs Down the Rabbit Hole at the Settle Stories Festival 2016.

Libby Purves meets actor and writer Meera Syal; writer and director James Runcie; former soldier Elliot Ackerman and Philip Hoare, author, broadcaster and whale chaser. Philip Hoare is a writer and broadcaster. He narrates Chasing the Whale, a show inspired by the 19th century journeys of whaling ships from Britain to the South Seas. Philip's stories delve into the log books of history to tell of the dangers and hardships endured by the crews on their epic voyages. The author of the award-winning Leviathan and the Whale, he also recalls his own memories of swimming alongside whales. Chasing the Whale is on tour. James Runcie is a writer, director and filmmaker. He is the author of The Grantchester Mysteries series about full-time priest and part-time detective, Sidney Chambers. Inspired in part by his father, the former Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie's experiences, the series is set in the 1950s. James is visiting professor at Bath Spa University. The second series of Grantchester, based on The Grantchester Mysteries, is on ITV with James Norton as Sidney Chambers. Sidney Chambers and The Problem of Evil is published by Bloomsbury. Elliot Ackerman is an author who spent eight years in the US military as an infantry and special operations officer. He served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan and is the recipient of the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor and the Purple Heart. His novel Green on Blue tells the story of an Afghan boy who joins a US-funded militia after his parents are killed and who finds himself trapped in a savage and complex war. Green on Blue is published by Daunt Books. Meera Syal CBE is an actor and writer. Her third novel, The House of Hidden Mothers, deals with the themes of late parenthood and surrogacy. Her first novel Anita and Me is based on her life growing up in Wolverhampton and is now a national curriculum set text. She has starred in the TV series The Kumars at No. 42 and Goodness Gracious Me. Her theatre work includes Beatrice in the RSC's Much Ado About Nothing and Zehrunnisa in David Hare's play, Behind the Beautiful Forevers at the National Theatre. She is appearing with Kenneth Branagh's theatre company as the nurse in Romeo and Juliet at London's Garrick Theatre. The House of Hidden Mothers is published by Black Swan. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Libby Purves meets Richard Hines whose story inspired the novel A Kestral for a Knave; novelist Fay Weldon; cartographer John Hessler and actor Ed Zephyr. John Hessler is a specialist in modern cartography at the Library of Congress in Washington DC. He is the founder of the Scaling Lab, a geographical and mathematical collective that uses the theory of complex networks to study geographical and network phenomenon and he has written on data visualization, map design and the foundations of geographical information systems (GIS). He is consulting editor of MAP: Exploring the World which brings together over 300 maps from the birth of cartography to digital maps of the 21st century. MAP: Exploring the World is published by Phaidon. Ed Zephyr is an actor who attended a transgender acting course at London's Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Drawing on his own experiences of transitioning, he is involved in media outreach activities promoting diversity in the arts. He is taking part in BFI Flare - the BFI's LGBT film festival in London. Richard Hines has worked as a teacher, documentary filmmaker and lecturer. His book, No Way But Gentlenesse, tells how his boyhood love of hawking turned his life around. Richard's story inspired the 1968 novel A Kestrel for a Knave written by his elder brother Barry about a young boy's relationship with a kestrel. The book became the film Kes, directed by Ken Loach. No Way But Gentlenesse - A memoir of how Kes, my Kestrel, Changed My Life is published by Bloomsbury. Fay Weldon started out as an advertising copywriter before becoming a writer. She is the author of 34 books including The Life and Loves of a She Devil and The Cloning of Joanna May. Her new novel, Before the War, is a tale of love, death and aristocracy in inter-war London. Fay Weldon is professor of creative writing at Bath Spa University. In 2001 she was awarded a CBE for services to literature. Before the War is published by Head of Zeus. Producer: Paula McGinley.