Podcasts about from our own correspondent

The Incarcerations: Bk-16 and the Search for Democracy in India (OR Books, 2024) pulls back the curtain on Indian democracy to tell the remarkable and chilling story of the Bhima Koregaon case, in which 16 human rights defenders (the BK-16) – professors, lawyers, journalists, poets – have been imprisoned, without credible evidence and without trial, as Maoist terrorists. Alpa Shah unravels how these alleged terrorists were charged with inciting violence at a year's day commemoration in 2018, accused of waging a war against the Indian state, and plotting to kill the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Expertly leading us through the case, Shah exposes some of the world's most shocking revelations of cyber warfare research, which show not only hacking of emails and mobile phones of the BK-16, but also implantation of the electronic evidence that was used to incarcerate them. Through the life histories of the BK-16, Shah dives deep into the issues they fought for and tells the story of India's three main minorities – Adivasi, Dalits and Muslims – and what the search for democracy entails for them. Essential and urgent, The Incarcerations reveals how this case is a bellwether for the collapse of democracy in India, as for the first time in the nation's history there is a multi-pronged, coordinated attack on key defenders of various pillars of democracy. In so doing, Shah shows that democracy today must be not only about protecting freedom of expression and democratic institutions, but also about supporting and safeguarding the social movements that question our global inequalities. About the Author:  Alpa Shah is the Professor of Social Anthropology at Oxford, with a Fellowship at All Souls College. She has written and presented for BBC Radio 4 Crossing Continents and From Our Own Correspondent. She is a twice-finalist for The Orwell Prize for Political Writing for her 2018 book Nightmarch: Among India's Revolutionary Guerrillas and her 2024 book The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the Search for Democracy in India. About the Host:  Stuti Roy has recently graduated with an MPhil in Modern South Asian Studies at the University of Oxford. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The Incarcerations: Bk-16 and the Search for Democracy in India (OR Books, 2024) pulls back the curtain on Indian democracy to tell the remarkable and chilling story of the Bhima Koregaon case, in which 16 human rights defenders (the BK-16) – professors, lawyers, journalists, poets – have been imprisoned, without credible evidence and without trial, as Maoist terrorists. Alpa Shah unravels how these alleged terrorists were charged with inciting violence at a year's day commemoration in 2018, accused of waging a war against the Indian state, and plotting to kill the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Expertly leading us through the case, Shah exposes some of the world's most shocking revelations of cyber warfare research, which show not only hacking of emails and mobile phones of the BK-16, but also implantation of the electronic evidence that was used to incarcerate them. Through the life histories of the BK-16, Shah dives deep into the issues they fought for and tells the story of India's three main minorities – Adivasi, Dalits and Muslims – and what the search for democracy entails for them. Essential and urgent, The Incarcerations reveals how this case is a bellwether for the collapse of democracy in India, as for the first time in the nation's history there is a multi-pronged, coordinated attack on key defenders of various pillars of democracy. In so doing, Shah shows that democracy today must be not only about protecting freedom of expression and democratic institutions, but also about supporting and safeguarding the social movements that question our global inequalities. About the Author:  Alpa Shah is the Professor of Social Anthropology at Oxford, with a Fellowship at All Souls College. She has written and presented for BBC Radio 4 Crossing Continents and From Our Own Correspondent. She is a twice-finalist for The Orwell Prize for Political Writing for her 2018 book Nightmarch: Among India's Revolutionary Guerrillas and her 2024 book The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the Search for Democracy in India. About the Host:  Stuti Roy has recently graduated with an MPhil in Modern South Asian Studies at the University of Oxford. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

The Incarcerations: Bk-16 and the Search for Democracy in India (OR Books, 2024) pulls back the curtain on Indian democracy to tell the remarkable and chilling story of the Bhima Koregaon case, in which 16 human rights defenders (the BK-16) – professors, lawyers, journalists, poets – have been imprisoned, without credible evidence and without trial, as Maoist terrorists. Alpa Shah unravels how these alleged terrorists were charged with inciting violence at a year's day commemoration in 2018, accused of waging a war against the Indian state, and plotting to kill the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Expertly leading us through the case, Shah exposes some of the world's most shocking revelations of cyber warfare research, which show not only hacking of emails and mobile phones of the BK-16, but also implantation of the electronic evidence that was used to incarcerate them. Through the life histories of the BK-16, Shah dives deep into the issues they fought for and tells the story of India's three main minorities – Adivasi, Dalits and Muslims – and what the search for democracy entails for them. Essential and urgent, The Incarcerations reveals how this case is a bellwether for the collapse of democracy in India, as for the first time in the nation's history there is a multi-pronged, coordinated attack on key defenders of various pillars of democracy. In so doing, Shah shows that democracy today must be not only about protecting freedom of expression and democratic institutions, but also about supporting and safeguarding the social movements that question our global inequalities. About the Author:  Alpa Shah is the Professor of Social Anthropology at Oxford, with a Fellowship at All Souls College. She has written and presented for BBC Radio 4 Crossing Continents and From Our Own Correspondent. She is a twice-finalist for The Orwell Prize for Political Writing for her 2018 book Nightmarch: Among India's Revolutionary Guerrillas and her 2024 book The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the Search for Democracy in India. About the Host:  Stuti Roy has recently graduated with an MPhil in Modern South Asian Studies at the University of Oxford. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/south-asian-studies

The Incarcerations: Bk-16 and the Search for Democracy in India (OR Books, 2024) pulls back the curtain on Indian democracy to tell the remarkable and chilling story of the Bhima Koregaon case, in which 16 human rights defenders (the BK-16) – professors, lawyers, journalists, poets – have been imprisoned, without credible evidence and without trial, as Maoist terrorists. Alpa Shah unravels how these alleged terrorists were charged with inciting violence at a year's day commemoration in 2018, accused of waging a war against the Indian state, and plotting to kill the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Expertly leading us through the case, Shah exposes some of the world's most shocking revelations of cyber warfare research, which show not only hacking of emails and mobile phones of the BK-16, but also implantation of the electronic evidence that was used to incarcerate them. Through the life histories of the BK-16, Shah dives deep into the issues they fought for and tells the story of India's three main minorities – Adivasi, Dalits and Muslims – and what the search for democracy entails for them. Essential and urgent, The Incarcerations reveals how this case is a bellwether for the collapse of democracy in India, as for the first time in the nation's history there is a multi-pronged, coordinated attack on key defenders of various pillars of democracy. In so doing, Shah shows that democracy today must be not only about protecting freedom of expression and democratic institutions, but also about supporting and safeguarding the social movements that question our global inequalities. About the Author:  Alpa Shah is the Professor of Social Anthropology at Oxford, with a Fellowship at All Souls College. She has written and presented for BBC Radio 4 Crossing Continents and From Our Own Correspondent. She is a twice-finalist for The Orwell Prize for Political Writing for her 2018 book Nightmarch: Among India's Revolutionary Guerrillas and her 2024 book The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the Search for Democracy in India. About the Host:  Stuti Roy has recently graduated with an MPhil in Modern South Asian Studies at the University of Oxford. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/politics-and-polemics

The Incarcerations: Bk-16 and the Search for Democracy in India (OR Books, 2024) pulls back the curtain on Indian democracy to tell the remarkable and chilling story of the Bhima Koregaon case, in which 16 human rights defenders (the BK-16) – professors, lawyers, journalists, poets – have been imprisoned, without credible evidence and without trial, as Maoist terrorists. Alpa Shah unravels how these alleged terrorists were charged with inciting violence at a year's day commemoration in 2018, accused of waging a war against the Indian state, and plotting to kill the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Expertly leading us through the case, Shah exposes some of the world's most shocking revelations of cyber warfare research, which show not only hacking of emails and mobile phones of the BK-16, but also implantation of the electronic evidence that was used to incarcerate them. Through the life histories of the BK-16, Shah dives deep into the issues they fought for and tells the story of India's three main minorities – Adivasi, Dalits and Muslims – and what the search for democracy entails for them. Essential and urgent, The Incarcerations reveals how this case is a bellwether for the collapse of democracy in India, as for the first time in the nation's history there is a multi-pronged, coordinated attack on key defenders of various pillars of democracy. In so doing, Shah shows that democracy today must be not only about protecting freedom of expression and democratic institutions, but also about supporting and safeguarding the social movements that question our global inequalities. About the Author:  Alpa Shah is the Professor of Social Anthropology at Oxford, with a Fellowship at All Souls College. She has written and presented for BBC Radio 4 Crossing Continents and From Our Own Correspondent. She is a twice-finalist for The Orwell Prize for Political Writing for her 2018 book Nightmarch: Among India's Revolutionary Guerrillas and her 2024 book The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the Search for Democracy in India. About the Host:  Stuti Roy has recently graduated with an MPhil in Modern South Asian Studies at the University of Oxford. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Author Events Series presents Caroline Eden | Cold Kitchen: A Year of Culinary Travels REGISTER In Conversation with Jonathan Deutsch From the author of Red Sands, a New Yorker "Best Cookbook of the Year," a cozy, thoughtful memoir recalling food and travel in Eastern Europe and Central Asia from a basement Edinburgh kitchen, featuring a delicious recipe at the end of each chapter. A welcoming refuge with its tempting pantry, shelves of books, and inquisitive dog, Caroline Eden's basement Edinburgh kitchen offers her comfort away from the road. Join her as she cooks recipes from her travels, reflects on past adventures, and contemplates the kitchen's unique ability to tell human stories. This is a hauntingly honest, and at times heartbreaking, memoir with the smell, taste, and preparation of food at its heart. From late night baking as a route back to Ukraine to capturing the beauty of Uzbek porcelain, and from the troublesome nature of food and art in Poland to the magic of cloudberries, Cold Kitchen celebrates the importance of curiosity and of feeling at home in the world. Caroline Eden is a writer, book critic, and the award-winning author of Red Sands: Reportage and Recipes through Central Asia, from Hinterland to Heartland, a New Yorker Book of the Year; Black Sea: Dispatches and Recipes-Through Darkness and Light; and Samarkand: Recipes and Stories from Central Asia & the Caucasus. She has travelled extensively to countries such as Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, and Bangladesh, documenting her experiences across multiple publications including Financial Times, the Guardian, and the Times Literary Supplement, as well as on BBC Radio 4's "From Our Own Correspondent." She lives in Edinburgh. Jonathan Deutsch, Ph.D., CHE, CRC is Professor and Vice Chair of Health Sciences, which encompasses Culinary, Food, Nutrition, Exercise and Health Sciences at Drexel University. He is the Founding Program Director of Drexel's Food Innovation and Entrepreneurship Programs. He is past President of the Upcycled Food Foundation and previously was the inaugural James Beard Foundation Impact Fellow, leading a national curriculum effort on food waste reduction for chefs and culinary educators. He was named a Food Waste Warrior by Foodtank. Before moving to Drexel, Deutsch built the culinary arts program at Kingsborough Community College, City University of New York (CUNY) and the Ph.D. concentration in food studies at the CUNY Graduate Center and School of Public Health. At Drexel, he directs the Drexel Food Lab, a culinary innovation and food product research and development lab focused on solving real world food system problems in the areas of sustainability, health promotion, and inclusive dining. He is the co-author or -editor of eight books. A classically trained chef, Deutsch worked in a variety of settings including product development, small luxury inns and restaurants. When not in the kitchen, he can be found behind his tuba. The 2024/25 Author Events Series is presented by Comcast. Because you love Author Events, please make a donation when you register for this event to ensure that this series continues to inspire Philadelphians. Books will be available for purchase at the library on event night! All tickets are non-refundable. (recorded 1/16/2025)

Tessa Szyszkowitz in conversation with Matthew Teller and Mahmoud Muna DAYBREAK IN GAZA A year ago, a new era started for Gaza: A war, triggered by the Hamas attack on Israel of October 7th, destroyed most of the Gaza strip. Houses, infrastructure, hospitals, schools – but most importantly: More than 40.000 people. The total destruction of the Palestinian territory, governed by Hamas and inhabited by 2,2 million Palestinians, is a humanitarian and political catastrophe. As its heritage is being destroyed, Gaza's survivors preserve their culture through literature, music, stories and memories. Daybreak in Gaza is a record of that heritage, revealing an extraordinary place and people. Matthew Teller and Mahmoud Muna collected vignettes of artists, acrobats, doctors, students, shopkeepers and teachers across the generations offer stories of love, life, loss and survival. They display the wealth of Gaza's cultural landscape and the breadth of its history. This remarkable book humanises the people dismissed as mere statistics. Daybreak in Gaza stands as a mark of resistance to the destruction, and as a testament to the people of Gaza.  ‘A most significant collection, one that frightens, awes and inspires, the timeliest of reminders of our common humanity and the irrepressible force of the written word.' Philippe Sands   Matthew Teller is a UK-based author and broadcaster writing on place and culture, with a special focus on Palestine and the wider Middle East. His 2022 book Nine Quarters of Jerusalem: A New Biography of the Old City was a Daily Telegraph Book of the Year. Teller produces and presents documentaries for BBC Radio 4 and World Service, and reports for BBC Radio's ‘From Our Own Correspondent'. Mahmoud Muna is a writer, publisher and bookseller from Jerusalem, Palestine. He runs Jerusalem's celebrated Educational Bookshop and the Bookshop at the American Colony Hotel, both centres of the city's literary scene. Muna writes regularly on culture and politics, with bylines in the London Review of Books and Jerusalem Quarterly, among others. Tessa Szyszkowitz is an Austrian journalist and author. A UK correspondent for Austrian and German publications such as Falter and Tagesspiegel, she curates Philoxenia at Kreiskyforum and is also a Distinguished Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute in London.

What makes for a good story from a BBC correspondent? And how do you ensure there is enough variety in a programme devoted to these first-hand reports? That is the weekly task of From Our Own Correspondent - soon to celebrate 70 years on air. We hear listeners' views and we are joined by its editor, Richard Fenton-Smith.Presenter: Rajan Datar Producer: Howard Shannon A Whistledown production for BBC World Service

Listen to an interview with Jane Labous and hear her reading from her new novel, Past Participle, published by Afsana Press. Dakar, Senegal, 1987: On a rainy night after a wild party, the British ambassador's wife, Vivienne Hughes, is involve in a car crash. Her vehicle hits the motorbike of a young Senegalese doctor, Aimé Tunkara, killing him. Pleading diplomatic immunity, Vivienne and her husband flee to England. Three decades later, Aimé's little sister, Lily Tunkara, now a high-flying lawyer in Dakar, finds a photograph that compels her to investigate what really happened that rainy night. As Lily faces increasing hostility from the local community, she turns to Vivienne Hughes, the only remaining witness, but is either woman prepared for the truth to emerge? Past Participle is the story of two women bound together by the faultlines of the past, a study of love and guilt, power and desire, retribution and forgiveness. Jane Labous is an award-winning author, BBC journalist and broadcaster known for her frontline coverage of human rights and gender issues, always telling the powerful human stories behind the headlines. Jane read English & French at Jesus College, Oxford, before working for the UK and international press and INGOs, most often out of Dakar, Senegal. This while developing her creative art as a writer, filmmaker and novelist, drawing on her insider knowledge of the aid sector and foreign journalism, and her unique experience of both expat and local family life in Ngor, Dakar. Jane's credits span a vista of international outlets, including The Independent, Voice of America, Geographical, The LA Times, BBC Africa and BBC Radio 4's From Our Own Correspondent. She has also worked as a writer and filmmaker for aid/humanitarian agencies including the UN, the World Health Organisation, Save The Children, and Amnesty International. She has won the BBC Radio 4 and Royal Geographical Society Documentary Award, the Merck More than a Mother Media Recognition & Film Award for Francophone African Countries, and a European Journalism Centre Development Reporting Grant. Her fiction has been longlisted for the Bath Novel Prize and the Santa Fé Writers' Project Literary Award. This episode was produced by Tabitha Potts, writer and podcaster. She recently received an Honourable Mention in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck University and a First in English Language and Literature from Oxford University. Read her short story collection here or visit her website.

Matthew Teller's “Nine Quarters of Jerusalem: A New Biography of the Old City” (Profile Books, 2022) was named a Book of the Year by the Daily Telegraph. Matthew writes for the BBC, Guardian, Independent, Times, Financial Times and other global media. He has produced and presented documentaries for BBC Radio 4 and World Service, and has reported for Radio 4's ‘From Our Own Correspondent' from around the Middle East and beyond. He is the author of several travel guides, including the Rough Guide to Jordan. His previous book was "Quite Alone: Journalism from the Middle East 2008–2019".

Many would call him flamenco's "greatest artist" of the past 300 years. He recorded a song in every single type of cante. He had a legendary partnership with Paco de Lucía. He made Tomatito his guitarist, He recorded what is regarded as the most important record in flamenco - "La Leyenda del Tiempo". He is Camarón de la Isla.In this long-anticipated episode, Marcos talks about his life - from the village of San Fernando to the world stages where music took him, his most impactful records, and the new museum that's finally opened in La Isla.Links to some programmes you can watch/ listen to:Camarón: The Film on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80232891#:~:text=This%20documentary%20looks%20back%20on,to%20a%20tragic%20early%20death.&text=Watch%20all%20you%20wantBBC 4's From Our Own Correspondent: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001hnvn (Starts at 22:23) In Spain, Guy Hedgecoe visits San Fernando, the hometown of the much revered flamenco singer, Camarón de la Isla, where, three decades after the singer's death, his memory is as cherished as the legacy of his music.BBC 4's Spain's Flamenco on the Edge: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001g9f4You can hear our musical choices spread across the podcast on Spotify.

In Jerusalem, what you see and what is true are two different things. Maps divide the walled Old City into four quarters, yet that division doesn't reflect the reality of mixed and diverse neighbourhoods. Beyond the crush and frenzy of its major religious sites, much of the Old City remains little known to visitors, its people overlooked and their stories untold. This webinar highlights voices of the communities of the Old City by bringing into dialogue the writings of author/journalist Matthew Teller and artist/academic Bisan Abu Eisheh. Teller's latest book ‘Nine Quarters of Jerusalem' is a highly original ‘biography' of the Old City and its communities, evoking the city's depth and cultural diversity, from its ancient past to its political present. Abu Eisheh is a lifelong resident of the Old City, whose academic and artistic works investigate history, society and politics through the lost details of grand narratives. This webinar takes place on the occasion of the US release of ‘Nine Quarters of Jerusalem', and will feature a presentation on the book's findings, followed by a discussion led by Abu Eisheh exploring insider/outsider dynamics that shape understandings, policies and communities of Jerusalem. About the speakers: Matthew Teller writes for the BBC, Guardian, Independent, Times, Financial Times and other global media. He has produced and presented documentaries for BBC Radio 4 and World Service, and has reported for ‘From Our Own Correspondent' from around the Middle East and beyond. He is the author of several travel guides, including the Rough Guide to Jordan; his most recent book is Quite Alone: Journalism from the Middle East 2008–2019. Bisan Abu Eisheh is an artist and academic born and raised in the Old City of Jerusalem. His creative practices feature video performances, installations and interventions within gallery spaces and the public sphere that aim to generate dialogue around national identity, mobility, migration and socio-political justice. He has also just submitted his PhD thesis to the University of Westminster, which looks at visual art practices as a form of Palestinian knowledge production and distribution in conjunction with the post-1993 realities. He is currently CBRL's Jerusalem Research and Events Coordinator based at the Kenyon Institute.

Jerusalem's Old City is normally understood to be split into four quarters: the Jewish Quarter, the Armenian Quarter, the Christian Quarter, and the Muslim Quarter. Those designations can be found on maps, on guidebooks, on news articles, and countless other pieces of writing about the city. But as Matthew Teller points out in his latest book, Nine Quarters of Jerusalem: A New Biography of the Old City (Profile Books / Other Press, 2022): the idea of the “four quarters” is entirely a nineteenth century creation, invented by a couple of British mapmakers. Instead, Teller explores Jerusalem and all its myriad peoples–not just the Israelis and the Palestinians, but the Africans, Syrians, and other peoples that call the holy city their home. In this interview, Matthew and I talk about how we should actually think about Jerusalem, and all the different people that make the city what it is today. Matthew Teller writes for the BBC, The Guardian, Times of London, Financial Times, and other global media. He has produced and presented documentaries for BBC Radio and has reported for the BBC's From Our Own Correspondent program from around the Middle East and beyond. He is the author of several travel guides, including the Rough Guide to Jordan (Rough Guides: 2012). He is also the author of Quite Alone: Journalism from the Middle East 2008–2019. He can be followed on Twitter at @matthewteller. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Nine Quarters of Jerusalem. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Jerusalem's Old City is normally understood to be split into four quarters: the Jewish Quarter, the Armenian Quarter, the Christian Quarter, and the Muslim Quarter. Those designations can be found on maps, on guidebooks, on news articles, and countless other pieces of writing about the city. But as Matthew Teller points out in his latest book, Nine Quarters of Jerusalem: A New Biography of the Old City (Profile Books / Other Press, 2022): the idea of the “four quarters” is entirely a nineteenth century creation, invented by a couple of British mapmakers. Instead, Teller explores Jerusalem and all its myriad peoples–not just the Israelis and the Palestinians, but the Africans, Syrians, and other peoples that call the holy city their home. In this interview, Matthew and I talk about how we should actually think about Jerusalem, and all the different people that make the city what it is today. Matthew Teller writes for the BBC, The Guardian, Times of London, Financial Times, and other global media. He has produced and presented documentaries for BBC Radio and has reported for the BBC's From Our Own Correspondent program from around the Middle East and beyond. He is the author of several travel guides, including the Rough Guide to Jordan (Rough Guides: 2012). He is also the author of Quite Alone: Journalism from the Middle East 2008–2019. He can be followed on Twitter at @matthewteller. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Nine Quarters of Jerusalem. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Jerusalem's Old City is normally understood to be split into four quarters: the Jewish Quarter, the Armenian Quarter, the Christian Quarter, and the Muslim Quarter. Those designations can be found on maps, on guidebooks, on news articles, and countless other pieces of writing about the city. But as Matthew Teller points out in his latest book, Nine Quarters of Jerusalem: A New Biography of the Old City (Profile Books / Other Press, 2022): the idea of the “four quarters” is entirely a nineteenth century creation, invented by a couple of British mapmakers. Instead, Teller explores Jerusalem and all its myriad peoples–not just the Israelis and the Palestinians, but the Africans, Syrians, and other peoples that call the holy city their home. In this interview, Matthew and I talk about how we should actually think about Jerusalem, and all the different people that make the city what it is today. Matthew Teller writes for the BBC, The Guardian, Times of London, Financial Times, and other global media. He has produced and presented documentaries for BBC Radio and has reported for the BBC's From Our Own Correspondent program from around the Middle East and beyond. He is the author of several travel guides, including the Rough Guide to Jordan (Rough Guides: 2012). He is also the author of Quite Alone: Journalism from the Middle East 2008–2019. He can be followed on Twitter at @matthewteller. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Nine Quarters of Jerusalem. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/islamic-studies

Jerusalem's Old City is normally understood to be split into four quarters: the Jewish Quarter, the Armenian Quarter, the Christian Quarter, and the Muslim Quarter. Those designations can be found on maps, on guidebooks, on news articles, and countless other pieces of writing about the city. But as Matthew Teller points out in his latest book, Nine Quarters of Jerusalem: A New Biography of the Old City (Profile Books / Other Press, 2022): the idea of the “four quarters” is entirely a nineteenth century creation, invented by a couple of British mapmakers. Instead, Teller explores Jerusalem and all its myriad peoples–not just the Israelis and the Palestinians, but the Africans, Syrians, and other peoples that call the holy city their home. In this interview, Matthew and I talk about how we should actually think about Jerusalem, and all the different people that make the city what it is today. Matthew Teller writes for the BBC, The Guardian, Times of London, Financial Times, and other global media. He has produced and presented documentaries for BBC Radio and has reported for the BBC's From Our Own Correspondent program from around the Middle East and beyond. He is the author of several travel guides, including the Rough Guide to Jordan (Rough Guides: 2012). He is also the author of Quite Alone: Journalism from the Middle East 2008–2019. He can be followed on Twitter at @matthewteller. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Nine Quarters of Jerusalem. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

Jerusalem's Old City is normally understood to be split into four quarters: the Jewish Quarter, the Armenian Quarter, the Christian Quarter, and the Muslim Quarter. Those designations can be found on maps, on guidebooks, on news articles, and countless other pieces of writing about the city. But as Matthew Teller points out in his latest book, Nine Quarters of Jerusalem: A New Biography of the Old City (Profile Books / Other Press, 2022): the idea of the “four quarters” is entirely a nineteenth century creation, invented by a couple of British mapmakers. Instead, Teller explores Jerusalem and all its myriad peoples–not just the Israelis and the Palestinians, but the Africans, Syrians, and other peoples that call the holy city their home. In this interview, Matthew and I talk about how we should actually think about Jerusalem, and all the different people that make the city what it is today. Matthew Teller writes for the BBC, The Guardian, Times of London, Financial Times, and other global media. He has produced and presented documentaries for BBC Radio and has reported for the BBC's From Our Own Correspondent program from around the Middle East and beyond. He is the author of several travel guides, including the Rough Guide to Jordan (Rough Guides: 2012). He is also the author of Quite Alone: Journalism from the Middle East 2008–2019. He can be followed on Twitter at @matthewteller. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Nine Quarters of Jerusalem. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/middle-eastern-studies

Jerusalem's Old City is normally understood to be split into four quarters: the Jewish Quarter, the Armenian Quarter, the Christian Quarter, and the Muslim Quarter. Those designations can be found on maps, on guidebooks, on news articles, and countless other pieces of writing about the city. But as Matthew Teller points out in his latest book, Nine Quarters of Jerusalem: A New Biography of the Old City (Profile Books / Other Press, 2022): the idea of the “four quarters” is entirely a nineteenth century creation, invented by a couple of British mapmakers. Instead, Teller explores Jerusalem and all its myriad peoples–not just the Israelis and the Palestinians, but the Africans, Syrians, and other peoples that call the holy city their home. In this interview, Matthew and I talk about how we should actually think about Jerusalem, and all the different people that make the city what it is today. Matthew Teller writes for the BBC, The Guardian, Times of London, Financial Times, and other global media. He has produced and presented documentaries for BBC Radio and has reported for the BBC's From Our Own Correspondent program from around the Middle East and beyond. He is the author of several travel guides, including the Rough Guide to Jordan (Rough Guides: 2012). He is also the author of Quite Alone: Journalism from the Middle East 2008–2019. He can be followed on Twitter at @matthewteller. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Nine Quarters of Jerusalem. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/israel-studies

Jerusalem's Old City is normally understood to be split into four quarters: the Jewish Quarter, the Armenian Quarter, the Christian Quarter, and the Muslim Quarter. Those designations can be found on maps, on guidebooks, on news articles, and countless other pieces of writing about the city. But as Matthew Teller points out in his latest book, Nine Quarters of Jerusalem: A New Biography of the Old City (Profile Books / Other Press, 2022): the idea of the “four quarters” is entirely a nineteenth century creation, invented by a couple of British mapmakers. Instead, Teller explores Jerusalem and all its myriad peoples–not just the Israelis and the Palestinians, but the Africans, Syrians, and other peoples that call the holy city their home. In this interview, Matthew and I talk about how we should actually think about Jerusalem, and all the different people that make the city what it is today. Matthew Teller writes for the BBC, The Guardian, Times of London, Financial Times, and other global media. He has produced and presented documentaries for BBC Radio and has reported for the BBC's From Our Own Correspondent program from around the Middle East and beyond. He is the author of several travel guides, including the Rough Guide to Jordan (Rough Guides: 2012). He is also the author of Quite Alone: Journalism from the Middle East 2008–2019. He can be followed on Twitter at @matthewteller. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Nine Quarters of Jerusalem. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/asian-review

Jerusalem's Old City is normally understood to be split into four quarters: the Jewish Quarter, the Armenian Quarter, the Christian Quarter, and the Muslim Quarter. Those designations can be found on maps, on guidebooks, on news articles, and countless other pieces of writing about the city. But as Matthew Teller points out in his latest book, Nine Quarters of Jerusalem: A New Biography of the Old City (Profile Books / Other Press, 2022): the idea of the “four quarters” is entirely a nineteenth century creation, invented by a couple of British mapmakers. Instead, Teller explores Jerusalem and all its myriad peoples–not just the Israelis and the Palestinians, but the Africans, Syrians, and other peoples that call the holy city their home. In this interview, Matthew and I talk about how we should actually think about Jerusalem, and all the different people that make the city what it is today. Matthew Teller writes for the BBC, The Guardian, Times of London, Financial Times, and other global media. He has produced and presented documentaries for BBC Radio and has reported for the BBC's From Our Own Correspondent program from around the Middle East and beyond. He is the author of several travel guides, including the Rough Guide to Jordan (Rough Guides: 2012). He is also the author of Quite Alone: Journalism from the Middle East 2008–2019. He can be followed on Twitter at @matthewteller. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Nine Quarters of Jerusalem. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jerusalem's Old City is normally understood to be split into four quarters: the Jewish Quarter, the Armenian Quarter, the Christian Quarter, and the Muslim Quarter. Those designations can be found on maps, on guidebooks, on news articles, and countless other pieces of writing about the city. But as Matthew Teller points out in his latest book, Nine Quarters of Jerusalem: A New Biography of the Old City (Profile Books / Other Press, 2022): the idea of the “four quarters” is entirely a nineteenth century creation, invented by a couple of British mapmakers. Instead, Teller explores Jerusalem and all its myriad peoples–not just the Israelis and the Palestinians, but the Africans, Syrians, and other peoples that call the holy city their home. In this interview, Matthew and I talk about how we should actually think about Jerusalem, and all the different people that make the city what it is today. Matthew Teller writes for the BBC, The Guardian, Times of London, Financial Times, and other global media. He has produced and presented documentaries for BBC Radio and has reported for the BBC's From Our Own Correspondent program from around the Middle East and beyond. He is the author of several travel guides, including the Rough Guide to Jordan (Rough Guides: 2012). He is also the author of Quite Alone: Journalism from the Middle East 2008–2019. He can be followed on Twitter at @matthewteller. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Nine Quarters of Jerusalem. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/christian-studies

When Sir Roger Tichborne was shipwrecked and lost at sea in 1854, his mother fell into a deep state of mourning, both devastated by the loss of her son and insistent that he was still alive. As much as the rest of her family tried their best to convince her that Roger was not ever coming back, she just refused to stop searching. It was a stance that paid off handsomely then, when her long lost son made his triumphant return to England 12 years later with a plan to reclaim the family estate. It would be a claim that would make it to court and eventually be the longest running trial in English legal history, holding the title for over a hundred years and would light up the Victorian press with scandal, humour and class warfare that would last decades. SOURCES   Annear, Robyn. (2002) The Man Who Lost Himself: The Unbelievable Story of the Tichborne Claimant. Constable & Robinson Ltd. London, UK.   McWilliam, Rohan (2007) The Tichborne Claimant: A Victorian Sensation. Hambledon Continuum, London, UK.   Kinsley, William, J. (1911) The Tichborne Case. The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 20, No. 7 (May, 1911), pp. 563-569.   Saunders News-Letter (1867) From Our Own Correspondent. Monday 14 January 1867, Dublin, Ireland.   Yorkshire Gazette (1867) Arrival of Sir Roger Tichborne Bart. Saturday 5 January 1867. Yorkshire, UK.   London Evening Standard (1867) The Tichborne Baronetcy. Wednesday 23 January 1867. London, UK   London Evening Standard (1872) A Last Appeal From The Claimant. Wednesday 27 March 1872. London, UK   ---------- For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9 Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at contact@darkhistories.com or via voicemail on: (415) 286-5072 or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.  

Hello and welcome to number 56! This week I am travelling with Emma Thomson who is a multi award-winning travel journalist who most recently was named Travel Writer of the Year in 2019 by the British Guild of Travel Writers and won National Consumer Feature of the Year at 2019 The Travel Media Awards. Emma is a regular contributor to National Geographic Traveller, The Telegraph, The Times and Wanderlust Travel Magazine to name a few. An experienced speaker she has given talks at the Nat Geo headquarters in Washington DC, the Frontline Club and Royal Geographical Society in London and can occasionally be hear on BBC Radio 4's From Our Own Correspondent. This week we delve into Emma's recent assignment in Sri Lanka, talk about her awesome trip with Wild Frontiers to Pakistan, discuss the wonder which is Iran, wax lyrical on our mutual passion for Bhutan as well as dip into wildlife travel in Zimbabwe. We also talk about the life of a travel journalist which Emma has been doing for 10+ years. Of course, I wanted to ask about her personal travel so Emma is tested with some tough quick fire travel questions at the end. You will love this episode as it will inspire you to get travelling and book that trip. Emma and I share a mutual passion for travel and you will hear that in this episode. Further more, Emma's dog Esme, was so excited, that she joined in for the introduction but it could be the fact that she anticipated that Emma would get her breed wrong when asked. Just to clarify, Emma's dog is a Cocker Spaniel, the Collie reference was blamed on tiredness, we accept that and move on. However, below are some links to Emma's articles that we reference during the recording and can all be found on her website. I implore you to check them out. Happy listening AND happy reading! Be inspired! Thanks for listening!Emma Thomson links.Website - www.ethomson.co.ukInstagram - emmathomsontravelsTwitter - emmasthomsonArticle LinksSri Lanka - https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sri-lanka-at-its-most-glorious-tk380r36cPakistan - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/asia/pakistan/articles/pakistan-adventure-travel-tourism-future/Iran - https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel/2018/01/iran-where-two-worlds-are-oneBhutan - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/asia/bhutan/articles/bhutan-homestay-local-experiences/Zimbabwe - https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel/2019/10/recovery-and-renewal-return-wildlife-tourism-zimbabweYukon - https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/americas/mountain-biking-in-canada-an-adventure-where-the-wilderness-rules-8744701.htmlGreenland - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/activity-and-adventure/greenland-untamed-and-no-tourists/Antarctica - https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/antarctica-channelling-shackleton-9800774.htmlWild Frontiers Pakistan Tour - https://www.wildfrontierstravel.com/en_CA/destination/pakistan/group-tours/pakistan-hindu-kush-adventure/PAK2Winging It Travel PodcastMERCHANDISE STORE - https://www.teepublic.com/stores/winging-it-travel-podcast?ref_id=25823Contact me - jameshammondtravel@gmail.com or message on my social media on the links below.Follow me on:YouTube - Winging It Travel Podcast https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC173L0udkGL15RSkO3vIx5AInstagram - wingingittravelpodcast - https://www.instagram.com/wingingittravelpodcast/TikTok - wingingittravelpodcast - https://www.tiktok.com/@wingingittravelpodcastFacebook - Winging It Travel Podcast - https://www.facebook.com/jameshammondtravelTwitter - https://twitter.com/PodcastWingingReview - please head to Podchaser and leave a review for this podcast - https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/winging-it-travel-podcast-1592244 or alternately you can leave a review and rating wherever you get your podcasts! Support the podcast - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wingingitThanks for your support, James!

What are you hoping for in the twelve months ahead? What might you be fearing? These are questions which we often ask ourselves at this time of year, and yet it is hard to imagine a year when they have felt quite so pressing. In this special, New Year's Day edition of From Our Own Correspondent, we hear about sentiment both optimistic and pessimistic, and about the efforts people are making to rebuild after a year of loss. Plus there is a look at why many people seem to be optimistic, whatever the challenges ahead. 2021 saw terrible, weather-related destruction, which many blamed on climate change. In California, more than eight thousand major fires broke out, their number and intensity a marked increase on what is normally seen there. Justin Rowlatt witnessed the resulting devastation, but says that amidst the burned out ruins, people were still holding out hope of recovery and reconstruction. There was plenty of destruction in 2021 that did not come from nature, war continuing to take its toll in many parts of the world. Ethiopia and Yemen were perhaps the worst examples, but there were also small-scale conflicts, like the insurgency in Myanmar. Then there were the conflicts which never really went away, like that between Israel and the Palestinians. An exchange of rocket fire with Gaza back in May, along with Israeli airstrikes, left more than two hundred dead, the overwhelming majority on the Palestinian side. When Tom Bateman went to Gaza, he met a woman trying to restart her life as a sculptor. The Coronavirus has been described as offering a lesson in humility, a challenge to our belief in humanity's power to control and manage the world around us. This tiny, sub-microscopic string of rogue DNA, has led to death on a scale most will not have experienced in their lifetime. At the same time though, vaccines and anti-viral drugs have been developed in response to Covid, which use new technologies that promise cures for other diseases in future. Rajini Vaidyanathan saw some of the worst of Covid, reporting from India where hundreds of thousands died, perhaps more than a million. But while off duty recently, she found herself struck by the effects of one individual death, in a place very familiar to her. People often talk about climate change in terms of future trouble ahead: rising sea levels, and crops no longer able to thrive. In the Pacific island nation of Fiji, whole villages have already had to be evacuated, because of current weather conditions, and what that weather is expected to do in the years ahead. Many Fijians traditionally have a strong attachment to the land they live on, so moving from their homes presents a challenge that goes way beyond mere inconvenience. When Megha Mohan visited, she found local people trying hard to retain a sense of connection to their original homes. Despite Covid, climate change, and all the other challenges which humanity faces, many remain optimistic that normal life can continue or be restored, or perhaps that something new, and better can emerge from the ashes of the old. In fact, according to Marnie Chesterton, most people are predisposed to have an optimistic outlook, and to believe there are solutions to the challenges we face.

It's time for another book club episode on Heyer Today, the podcast all about Georgette Heyer and her work. Guests are Sara-Mae's hubby Mike Scott, who's finally cracked and allowed her to convince him to read ‘The Unknown Ajax', along with travel journo and radio broadcaster, Rob Crossan. So far, the convert tally numbers 10.5 out of 14. Will she convert Rob and Mike? Apart from being Sara-Mae's husband, Mike's also a Partnership Manager for MacMillan Cancer Support, a charity he's long been passionate about. Rob is a published author, freelance journalist and radio presenter based in Stockwell, South London. He's got over ten years' experience writing and talking about travel, lifestyle, food, music, books and disability affairs. And he's been published absolutely everywhere from The Sunday Times, Tatler, The Guardian to CNN Travel and more. You can hear him on BBC radio shows including ‘From Our Own Correspondent', ‘Cerys Matthews' on BBC 6 Music, Feedback on BBC Radio Four, plus he has a fab show called The Happiness Map, in which he chats to musicians like Elvis Costello about the music they associate with a favourite travel destination. Join us for audio drama featuring Sarah Golding, Fiona Thraille and John Grayson, as well as historical contextualisation and a discussion of Heyer's one and only interview with Aussie war correspondant and journalist, Coral Craig. Plus extracts from the audio book courtesy of Audible. Music: You can find Message to Bears here. Tom Chadd's music here. and Emma Gatrill's website is here. Don't forget to rate, review and recommend our podcast, it really helps others to find us. Also, please say hi on our social media channels, we're @fablegazers on Instagram and @fable_gazers on Twitter.

In this episode of FP Playlist, host Amy Mackinnon speaks with Pascale Harter, host of From Our Own Correspondent, a BBC staple and one of Amy's favorite podcasts. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app or listen on this page. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's a bit of a change this week with Lord Carnarvon taking over with the questioning. His guest is Kate Adie CBE, DL well known for her long service as the BBC's Chief News Correspondent. Kate has travelled extensively during her BBC career. The two foreign assignments she is most often associated with are the bombing of the Libyan capital Tripoli in 1986 and the Chinese authorities' killing of protestors in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, in 1989. She was on duty in London in 1980 when the siege of the Iranian Embassy was brought to an end by the SAS. Nowadays Kate presents From Our Own Correspondent and makes occasional programmes for BBC television and Radio 4. Her conversation with Lord Carnarvon was part of the 'History at Highclere' weekend.

The technological breakthroughs of the 19th century were, to many people, both equal parts exciting and terrifying. Known as the black arts, the newly emerging techniques of commercial photography were often spoken about as though they were a mysterious or even supernatural process. Of course, there was nothing supernatural about the new technology, at least, not for most photographers. When William Mumler picked it up as a hobby, lured in by his attraction to a local studio owner and a propensity to tinker, he decided to lean into the mystery by offering a spyhole into the unseen world of the dead, shooting portraits of clients sitting alongside the spirits of their lost loved ones. SOURCES Manseau, Peter (2017) The Apparitionists: A Tale of Phantoms, Fraud, Photography, and the Man Who Captured Lincoln's Ghost. Houghton Mifflin, MA, USA Capron, E.W. & Barron, H.D. (1850). Singular Revelations: Explanation and History of the Mysterious Communion with Spirits, Comprehending the Rise and Progress of the Mysterious Noises in Western New York. 2nd ed. Auburn, NY: Capron and Barron. Nartonis, D. K. (2010, June 1). The Rise of 19th‐Century American Spiritualism, 1854–1873. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1468-5906.2010.01515.x The London Evening Standard (1869) From Our Own Correspondent.  11th May, 1869 The Banbury Advertiser (1869) Spiritualistic Photography. 29 April, 1869 Elgin Courier (1863) Spirit Photographs. 6 February, 1863 ------ For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at contact@darkhistories.com or via voicemail on: (415) 286-5072 or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/6f7e2pt Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.    

Peking to Paris Motor Challenge:  Experiences You Should Have Show Notes     Experiences You Should Have Show Notes - Interview with Michelle Jana Chan from Vanity Fair I had the pleasure of interviewing Michelle Jana Chan from Vanity Fair. Please listen to the episode at the top of the screen or wherever you listen to podcasts. She is an award-winning journalist and travel editor of Vanity Fair. She's is also a contributing editor at Condé Nast Traveller, presenter of the BBC’s ‘Global Guide’, a contributor to BBC Radio 4’s From Our Own Correspondent and a writer for The Daily Telegraph. Michelle has been named the Travel Media Awards’ Travel Writer of the Year.       What is Peking to Paris Motor Challenge and How Did it Start? The Peking to Paris Motor Challenge is a very special motor rally that starts in Beijing, China's capital, (formally known as Peking) and ends in Paris. The race began in 1907 as proof that cars could travel long distances. The race has run every three years (and has for the last decade), but there has only been 7 total. The route changes every race but it always starts in Beijing and ends in Paris and lasts about a month. In 2019 the route went through 11 countries and lasted 36 days for over 8,500 miles. It is one of the most unique vintage car rallies you can do. All cars are older than 1976 and is a true classic car rally. There are multiple categories based on the car type in addition to an overall winner. There is no prize for winning (well except a bottle of champagne and bragging rights). Racers participate for the fun and the challenge of it. Michelle competed in the 2013 Peking to Paris Motor Challenge and it was the experience of a lifetime.     What is the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge Like? It's like a competitive team sport on steroids; because you've spent a lot of money and taken time off of work and you really want to win. It requires teamwork and an intense amount of concentration. One-hundred drivers pile in for an epic 8,000-mile journey, and there is adventure around every corner. There are two people per car, a driver and a navigator (that can trade-off)., and it is a wacky and wild adventure. There is a powerful connection between driver and navigator where the two have a focused vision and joy for what they are embarking on.   What is the Route Like? The roads are a real mix of variety: tarmac through China, a lot of off-road in Mongolia (a lot of cars fall out of the race here), high altitude passes through Russia, tough, boring roads full of trucks and busy traffic, Ukraine and other European roads are high-altitude switch-backs. Once you leave the Alps and enter Southeast France you're at the end of the race and if you aren't already in the lead, you'll have a hard time getting in to first. You'll finish the race on the Champs-Élysées in grand celebration with a bottle of champagne.   Peking to Paris 2013   Map of the 2019 Peking to Paris Motor Challenge   Photo from endurorally.com Why should a person want to experience this journey? You love traveling, you love cars, you love history, you want to have an interesting experience with your partner. It's an experience that will allow you to see many different countries and cultures as you whiz by. You get to watch 2 continents change as you drive by and a macro sense of how people and the landscape changes. It's an experience that you would never forget. While it does take a lot of money and time to partake, it is well worth the experience of a lifetime. You will discover that you will need a lot of help along the way, and you will get to experience the kindness of strangers in countries you have never been to. It's the serendipitous encounters that bring the magic into the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge. How Far in Advance Should You Plan to Enter the Peking to Paris Challenge? You will need to book well in advance...

After his party lost the Istanbul mayoral election where does Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, go from here? Mark Lowen considers whether this could be the start of his political decline. Katie Arnold reports from Kyrgyzstan where hot dry summers in the former Soviet republic are leading to drought and cross- border tension over water supplies. Alastair Leithead, the BBC's Africa correspondent, is leaving the continent 17 years after he filed his first piece for From Our Own Correspondent. How much has his role changed since then? In the United States where fourteen parents have pleaded guilty to fraudulently getting their children into top universities, Laura Trevelyan considers the lengths some parents will go to help their offspring get into their preferred college. And as much of Europe swelters under a heat wave James Reynolds takes the temperature in Rome and finds out what hot weather means to its citizens.

Kate Adie, the author and broadcaster, well known for her long service as the BBC's Chief News Correspondent, in conversation with Falmouth University's Acting Head of Journalism Andy Chatfield. Kate Adie presents From Our Own Correspondent on BBC Radio 4 and is the author of several bestselling books. She became a familiar figure through her work as BBC Chief News Correspondent. She is considered to be among the most reliable reporters, as well as one of the first British women, sending dispatches from danger zones around the world.

Rachel McCormack is a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4s The Kitchen Cabinet, and has also broadcast on the station's From Our Own Correspondent, the Food Programme and appeared as an expert guest on BBC Radio 2 on both the Simon Mayo show and the Chris Evans show. Rachel is the author of Chasing the Dram: Finding the Spirit of Whisky. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In a week of remembrance and recollection, Jannat Jalil explains how the French authorities - who are preparing to remember those killed in last November's Paris attacks - find other deaths on the capital's streets more than fifty years ago far more difficult to commemorate. Adam Easton in Warsaw reflects on how Poles saw their country's recent history in the life and work of one of their leading film directors, Andrzej Wajda, who died this week. Carrie Gracie in Beijing joins one of the Chinese Communist Party's new pilgrimage tours to revolutionary martyr sites from the civil war era of the twentieth century which President Xi Jinping wants party members to attend in order to rekindle ideological fervour. Robin Denselow reports on how Turkey's volatile political situation is having an effect on Islamic cooperation even at Sufi festivals, like the famous one he visited at Konya. And we remember Chris Simpson, a long-standing and distinguished contributor to "From Our Own Correspondent", who died suddenly this week. We hear again a characteristically witty and perceptive dispatch he recorded in the Central African Republic in 2010.

From walkouts to bias and booing, we're kicking off a brand new series of Feedback with the biggest stories in BBC Radio. All told by you. By far the most talked about man in the Feedback inbox (rivalled only by the villainous Rob from The Archers) is the newly-elected Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Many Feedback listeners say they think BBC Radio has been too quick to dismiss Mr Corbyn's style of politics and has a tendency to focus too much on what some see as trivial aspects of his leadership, such as why he didn't sing the National Anthem. Jeremy Corbyn's victory took many in the media by surprise, so does the BBC's political reporting need to adapt to a new political landscape to suit the mood of the country? Roger Bolton talks to the BBC's Assistant Political Editor Norman Smith and Richard Clarke, Editor of the BBC Radio newsroom. Legendary war correspondent Kate Adie joins Roger to discuss 60 years of From Our Own Correspondent. Feedback listeners have getting in touch with their dispatches about why they think the programme's decades-old format still delivers the goods And BBC Radio 3 have been targeting listeners subliminally, with a special nocturnal broadcast of composer Max Richter's piece 'Sleep'. The piece lasts for the duration of our recommended eight hours of rest and a Feedback listener takes us into his bedroom to tell us whether Radio 3 gave him sweet dreams. Producer: Katherine Godfrey A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Over 60-years, reports for From Our Own Correspondent have tried to go beyond the headlines, and the tactical advances, to tell the human stories of war. Marking this programme's anniversary, Kate Adie introduces from the archives a compilation of despatches from frontlines around the world - and from the home front.

As part of marking 60 years of reporting on landmark international events by Radio 4's iconic series, "From Our Own Correspondent", Owen Bennett-Jones presents a discussion, recorded at London's Frontline Club, on how foreign reporting has evolved over the decades – and where it is heading. Joined by a panel of leading journalists and an audience that includes experienced reporters on foreign events, the programme recalls outstanding moments of foreign reporting. How did coverage of significant events – such as the Suez Crisis, the independence of former British colonies and the fall of communism – shape our views of the world, of particular countries and peoples? The programme will also consider how politics and broader economic and social changes – plus the demands of modern-day broadcasting – have all changed the way correspondents now bring often complicated international stories to diverse audiences here at home. Some developments continue to be far-reaching – such as China's transition from revolutionary peasant state to burgeoning economic power and the advent of extreme Islamism. How have more specialised reporting, embedding journalists with different participants in conflicts and focusing on the experiences of the general public changed the way we understand such issues? And how is the use of social media affecting reporting on foreign events? The programme will name the places we should be watching in the years ahead, and discuss how reporting is likely to change further as "citizen journalists" become ubiquitous and the trustworthiness of information around the world becomes ever more important. Producer: Simon Coates

The migrant crisis hasn't erupted from nowhere: From Our Own Correspondent has been following migrant routes into Europe for years. Kate Adie presents a selection of dispatches from Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Czech Republic and Syria.

History rears its head, not for the first time, in this edition of From Our Own Correspondent. Attacks on colonial-era statues in South Africa mean people there are making a fresh assessment of their country's historical legacy; while in the Far East, what's written in the text books is the subject of a fierce row between South Korea and Japan. A farewell may be bid to decades of hostility between the US and Cuba - their leaders are in Panama and historic developments are anticipated. Why do HIV rates remain so high in Russia? We're out with health workers whose efforts seem stymied by ideology and a sense that if it works in the West, then it must be bad for Russia. And a correspondent in Thailand goes to a monastery and tries to bid a temporary farewell to the torrid world of journalism and hunt instead for inner peace. He wasn't entirely successful.

The human stories behind the headlines. Like any war, the one against Ebola is leaving scars which will take generations to heal, as Grainne Harrington has been finding out in Guinea. Mark Rickards on how, at last, the outside world has found a way to infiltrate the hidden Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. The Chinese are calling for the UK to return art looted by the British soldiers who destroyed the Summer Palace in Beijing in 1860 - Chris Bowlby's been investigating. After the Syriza victory in Greece, Podemos in Spain reckons it could be next to win an election on left-wing policies; Tom Burridge has been with party activists in Valencia. And how was the poet W.B.Yeats associated with bizarre goings-on at a cemetery near Paris? Hugh Schofield tells a story of the mysterious forces some believe govern the universe. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

Global insight and colour. In this programme: Russians or locals? Gabriel Gatehouse goes to meet some of those still occupying government buildings in the east of Ukraine. Lives and jobs start to disappear in South Africa as a bitter mining dispute continues amid a mood of deepening disenchantment, a despatch from Hamilton Wende; On one of Rome's holiest weekends of the year, Alan Johnston's been to a non-Roman Catholic corner of the eternal city which enchanted the poets Keats and Shelley; Carrie Gracie starts her new job as the BBC's China editor with a list of hard-to-answer questions while Owen Bennett-Jones is down on the banks of the River Ganges wondering how a journalist can sort facts from fiction. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

Friday 1st March 2013. Podcast #4. Windy Pops Martin and Alex 'the Golden Swan' return for episode 4 of the renowned, unbeatably childish Friendly Atmosphere Newcastle Music Scene Podcast. This month we have a wonderful interview with Calum Lynn of Brilliant Mind fame, recorded at The Tyneside Cinema in that Newcastle, and the usual mix of awesome Newcastle-based music and buggery (“fuck-a-way, fuck-a-way”) . Tracks played: Razmataz Lorry Excitement – If It Takes Me All Night Long Taken from the Album If It Takes Me All Night Long available at: www.razmatazlorryexcitement.co.uk Grandfather Birds – Higher Bridges Taken from the E.P., Now That’s What I Call… Grandfather Birds! Available at: www.grandfatherbirds.bandcamp.com Brilliant Mind – Blyth Taken from The Blyth E.P. Available to stream at: www.soundcloud.com/brilliantmind Other tracks available to download at: www.brilliantmind.bandcamp.com Tracks played: during Calum Lynn’s interview: The Room Upstairs – From The Blyth E.P. Leave Your Friends Behind – From Leave Your Friends Behind (bandcamp, as above) Twitter: @Calumlynn or @BrilliantMindd Nick Gladdish – Sticks and Stones www.nickgladdish.com Coalition Against Crime - www.thecoalition.org.uk My Attorney – John, You Saved My Life Taken from the album From Our Own Correspondent, found at: www.myattorney.bandcamp.com Ian Courtney – Small Town Hero Available at: www.smalltownhero.co.uk Purple Shards – Reality First Last FM: Search ‘Purple Shards’ Mike Gatto – The Phone Box Taken from Floating Through Reality. Available at: www.mikegatto.co.uk

Why is Bosnia seeing its most serious unrest since the country was at war in the 1990s? How difficult is it getting America back to work? Is there public support in Nigeria for the authorities' new law against homosexuals? What evidence is there of the links between Soviet East Germany and the exotic spice island of Zanzibar? And why might our man visiting the Gaza Strip be considering going back there, with his family, for a holiday? They are all questions addressed in this latest edition of From Our Own Correspondent.

Over the past year, BBC correspondents have reported on upheaval in Egypt, war in Syria, a government shutdown in America, a new pope and a royal baby. But this special edition of From Our Own Correspondent avoids the major headlines and the big breaking stories in favour of a ground-level view of the last 12 months. So, in this programme: Rajan Datar takes a ride with a polyphonic choir in Georgia and Reggie Nadelson hears the story of Harlem's Apollo Theatre. Nick Thorpe finds strangely tender moments in a Romanian slaughterhouse while Steve Rosenberg plays piano with the man who ended the Cold War. We journey to the deserts of Sahara and South America, take trains in Portugal and Nigeria and hear reporters grapple with strange musical instruments in Vietnam and Switzerland. And there's more in this montage of some of the year's more entertaining dispatches, presented by Kate Adie. Producer: Mike Wendling

Good to see you again! Mark Doyle is reunited with his spectacles, which were lost on a battlefield, and gets to see some of the lesser reported glories of Somalia. The Greek central bank forecasts an end to six years of recession and Mark Lowen, in Athens, talks of the resilience of the Greek people and their love of life. Reasons to be cheerful in the eastern German city of Leipzig too: Chris Bowlby's there talking to locals about a huge transport project ready after lengthy delays; Susie Emmett sees signs of energy, ingenuity, integrity and community in Kenyan farming but is less impressed by the colour of her bath water and James Fletcher is grounded by an Arctic storm while out news gathering in Greenland. Can he make it home in time for Christmas? From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

Correspondents with stories from around the world: in this edition, Jonathan Head on how an argument over democracy lies at the heart of the current political turmoil in Thailand; Lucy Williamson's in the Chinese city closest to North Korea where a brutal leadership purge was underway; Katy Watson meets a man in the United States who a thousand women a year turn to for help after having breast cancer surgery; James Harkin on the Syrian air force officer who's been imprisoned on three separate occasions and Joanna Robertson in Paris explodes the myth that French women don't get fat and hears the claim that in French society, a fat female is a failure. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

Nelson Mandela: five correspondents who'll never forget how their own stories came to coincide with that of the great South African leader, who died on Thursday. Fergal Keane was our man in Johannesburg as Mr Mandela fought to keep his country back from the brink of civil war; John Simpson on the day he met a man who had 'become perhaps the most revered person on earth.' Milton Nkosi recalls the risks taken to keep the name of Nelson Mandela alive in the townships during his long years of imprisonment; Hamilton Wende on what it was like, as a white South African, growing up in a country where even talking of Mr Mandela could be dangerous and James Robbins on the long-awaited day when the man who went on to lead the country was freed from prison and appeared before a jubilant crowd in Cape Town. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

Correspondents with stories from the news. Today, Steve Rosenberg on how Ukraine's caught in a tug-of-war between Russia and the European Union; a huge refugee camp by the Sahara Desert is hit by drought - Chris Terrill says it's difficult for the inmates and the aid agencies trying to help them. But it's a boon for the Islamic militant groups looking for recruits; freak weather has killed thirty thousand cattle in the American state, South Dakota - Sybil Ruscoe's been there to see how the ranchers are coping; James Menendez has been travelling in Burma, also known as Myanmar. The place is fast modernising, but transformation has yet to arrive on its railways. And Robin Lustig goes hiking through Peru's Andean foothills looking for coca growers and finding out why they're dubious about their government's anti-drugs initiative. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

Reporters' despatches: already this year more than seven thousand people have been killed in the upsurge of violence in Iraq. Andrew Hosken explores a country full of widows, orphans and frightened people mourning the loss of loved ones. In America, two significant anniversaries - Allan Little has been to the locations involved, Gettysburg and Dallas, and uncovers surprising revelations about the state of the USA today. The president of Bulgaria's talking of 'emergency' as demonstrations against the government show no sign of letting up - Emma Jane Kirby's been talking to the protestors in the capital, Sofia. Peter Day visits a Chinese village where they haven't yet turned their backs on the 'Great Helmsman' Mao tse Tung. And as the big Thanksgiving Day American football matches approach, Mike Wendling reflects on a sport facing difficult questions about the safety of its players. The producer of From Our Own Correspondent is Tony Grant

The noise and devastation of Hurricane Haiyan: Andrew Harding on the first town in the Philippines to feel the force of the storm; Charles Haviland on how the furore surrounding the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Sri Lanka has pushed the Tamil north of the country into the news spotlight; Nicholas Wade travels to Jerusalem to hear people's views about the latest attempts to reach a Middle East peace settlement; Moldova and other former Soviet satellites are due to sign a trade deal with the EU and Tessa Dunlop's been finding out that not everyone there feels it's a good idea to turn their backs on Russia and Will Ross has been taking time off from the hard news of Nigeria to take a look at its thriving arts scene -- and a novel use for the xylophone! From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant

Correspondents' despatches: Jeremy Bowen on the talks, restarting in Geneva next week, about Iran's nuclear ambitions; the Colombian authorities are trying to rehabilitate child soldiers who have fought for leftist armed groups like the FARC - Tom Esslemont's been along to take a look; Steve Vickers finds out why people no longer want to live among the thousands of islands off the coast of Sweden; an atheist goes to church: Andrew Whitehead visits Martin Luther King's Baptist church in Alabama and finds himself caught up in a service. And is there any trace left of the apple orchards which once covered the island of Jersey? The answer to that one comes from Christine Finn. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant

Correspondents worldwide: Kevin Connolly talks of unfinished business in the Middle East finally being attended to after one hundred years. Historical and continuing allegations of rape and torture in Sri Lanka are investigated by Frances Harrison. For India, its mission to Mars is an opportunity to come out top of a new Asian space race -- Justin Rowlatt examines the question: couldn't the cash instead have been used to lift many Indians out of poverty? Kieran Cooke boards a train in the west of Ireland to see if passengers feel optimistic now their prime minister has decreed the country's well on the way to seeing off an economic crisis. And David Mazower on stories of remembrance and loss which emerge in the wake of that extraordinary discovery of a huge cache of looted artwork in Germany. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

Reporters worldwide: while refugees continue to stream out of Syria in their thousands, there are people who need to go INTO the country. Nigel Wilson's been talking to a group of them at the bus station in the Jordanian capital, Amman. Lyse Doucet, meanwhile, is in the Syrian capital Damascus where life for some, but not others, is becoming increasingly hard. Thomas Fessy talks of the shock in Francophone Africa at the killing of two French radio journalists in Mali. In Malaysia, elephants are losing their habitat as development continues apace. Bob Walker takes a look at a controversial plan to give the animals a new home. And Indian women over the centuries have been wearing the elegant sari -- Anu Anand has been hearing of a campaign to boost its popularity in the face of competition from more contemporary, if less stylish, clothing. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

The traditional sad songs of Portugal have become sadder still as the government in Lisbon announces another tough, cost-cutting budget -- Andrew Hosken has been noting the reaction in Lisbon. The Indian authorities launch an inquiry into a stampede at a temple which killed more than a hundred people -- Andrew North says only days before they were being praised for the measures they'd taken as a cyclone battered the country's east coast. There's an election next week in Madagascar -- Emilie Filou wonders if it might bring improvements to the island's beleaguered education system. On St Kitts in the Caribbean, Orin Gordon finds people divided over plans to build luxury homes in some of the island's most celebrated spots. While in the Italian province of Puglia, the discussion's not so much about luxury homes as why rich foreigners are flying in to buy homes which once only the poor lived in. Tony Grant produces From Our Own Correspondent

Correspondents' stories: the Champs d'Elysees is an icon of Paris, a majestic piece of town planning. So why does our man in Paris Hugh Schofield suggest, rather forcefully, that visitors should avoid it? The news caravan may have moved on from Libya, but Tim Whewell's been finding out that the country's still in the midst of a revolution. Joanna Jolly has been to Uttar Pradesh in India to report on the aftermath of fighting between Hindus and Muslims. Listening to people's stories of violence and suffering, she found herself becoming involved in ways she hadn't expected; James Coomarasamy has been to Tajikistan in Central Asia where there's mounting concern about the future, when NATO troops leave neighbouring Afghanistan and Jonathan Head joins a group of well-heeled women in a luxury spa in Myanmar and hears stories of a country in the grip of dramatic change. Tony Grant is the producer of From Our Own Correspondent

Looking behind the news. In this programme: David Loyn examines the claim that NATO has achieved nothing but suffering in Afghanistan; Louisa Loveluck on controversy surrounding the Egyptian military offensive in Sinai; there's a book boom going on in Iceland and Rosie Goldsmith has been finding out why; gun-toting gangsters on the streets of Acapulco as Mexico tries to deal with the aftermath of two deadly storms - Will Grant's on that story and what makes a war memorial memorable? Steve Evans ponders that question in Leipzig. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant

Colour and analysis from around the world: Kevin Connolly says as much as a quarter of the population of Lebanon is now Syrian - and the cost of hosting so many refugees is soaring; Mark Lowen in Athens on the reaction of Greek men and women to the authorities' campaign against members of the far-right Golden Dawn party; there's been an economic revolution in The Seychelles and Tim Ecott's been finding out how it was achieved; Kirsty Lang talks about the day a six metre long snake brought terror to the streets of a small town in Brazil while Joanna Robertson has been observing the French easing their way into autumn with the help of some particularly exotic cakes. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

Global despatches. Today: it was Gabriel Gatehouse's local shopping mall but now the Westgate Centre in Nairobi has become known as a place of fear, suffering and death; did Angela Merkel do TOO well in the German election? Chris Morris on why forming a new government there could be a protracted business. As the Egyptian authorities move to ban the Muslim Brotherhood, Quentin Sommerville talks of the country's increasing polarisation. China's wealthy elite have found their own solution to the country's girl shortage - Lucy Ash has been meeting 'The Love Hunters' in Shanghai. And John Pickford has been finding out if there are still beachcombers to be found in the faraway islands of the South Pacific. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant

Correspondents' despatches: Jeremy Bowen in Damascus reflects on the lessons a reporter learns after more than twenty years covering conflicts around the world; Steve Evans meets a lady down on her luck in a Baltic port city as Germany prepares for new elections; Diana Darke looks at Turkey's huge 'GAP' water project and wonders if it will work for or against the country's Kurdish population; near Toulouse in France they've found a crashed German wartime aircraft in a cave -- and some locals, it seems, weren't all that keen on digging up its history and can Emma Thomas really get to grips with the Danish language without looking at textbooks or going to classes? All will be revealed. Tony Grant produces From Our Own Correspondent

Correspondents tell their stories: Mark Mardell in Washington on difficult decisions for President Obama: Charles Haviland, off for dinner with the departing president of Pakistan, ponders over the milk pudding on the legacy Asif Ali Zardari leaves behind; a different perspective on the state of Chinese justice comes from John Sudworth, who was covering the trial in Jinan of ousted politician Bo Xilai; as immigration tops the election headlines in Australia, Jon Donnison tells the story of a refugee who made it from the civil war in Syria to the offices of a women's magazine in Sydney and Nick Thorpe's unearthed the reason why, somewhere in the dry Hungarian soil, the heart of Suleiman the Magnificent is beating a little faster. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

Correspondents' stories. Today: Hugh Sykes is in Cairo where the mood, at the end of a troubled week, is bleak and the outlook, apparently bleaker. Syrians caught in the cross hairs - Hannah Lucinda Smith on the real story of Aleppo's war: one of people trying to carry on with their lives amidst a conflict they never chose; Petroc Trelawny is on a bridge in Hanoi. The Vietnamese city, once the capital of French Indochina, is growing fast and economic forecasts are optimistic. Celeste Hicks suffers a head injury in Chad. It gives her a chance to see whether any of the country's extensive oil wealth has trickled down as far as the local hospital emergency room and David Stern has been in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where he walked in the footsteps of the man accused of killing President John F Kennedy and ended up facing something of a quandary. The producer of From Our Own Correspondent is Tony Grant

Will the Egyptian army move in to break up the camp in Cairo set up by supporters of the ousted president, Mohamed Morsi? Caroline Wyatt has been meeting residents of a city which is bitterly divided. Christians are leaving Syria in their thousands. Diana Darke's been learning that they're being greeted with enthusiasm in neighbouring Turkey. Jonathan Head says there's been a conciliatory mood in Burma as people gathered this week to mark the anniversary of an uprising which launched the country's pro-democracy movement. There are some in Gibraltar who feel the British government's not doing enough for them - Tom Burridge is on the Rock as the latest chapter in a 300-year-old row unfolds and the BBC's new man in Australia, Jon Donnison, explains why he's finding it hard coming to terms with the sheer size of his new patch. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant

Albania, not so long ago a redoubt of hardline Communism, is now hoping for EU membership. Julia Langdon's been assessing its chances during a visit to the seaside there. Emma Jane Kirby's visiting a company which makes men's pants in France. She's looking into claims that it's harder than ever for French businesses to prosper. Wyre Davies is reporting on the papal visit to Brazil - gauging the impact it's making in a country buoyed up by economic optimism but still, in many places, very poor. Prashant Rao tells us about a favourite supermarket in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and how its luck finally ran out when it was targeted by bombers. And John Pickford, in the kingdom of Tonga, finds Chinese aid to this archipelago in the Pacific plentiful but sometimes, a mixed blessing. Tony Grant produces From Our Own Correspondent.

"He knew nothing about politics." A father talks to Humphrey Hawksley about his only son, killed in a street protest in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. Will Grant in Mexico on the Central American migrants who face abuse at every turn as they try to make their way to the United States. A fishing community in Alaska is engaged in a bitter battle with the mining industry - Stephen Sackur says it's dividing opinion in this wild and sparsely populated territory. Sarah Toms on the mums and dads in Singapore going to school so they can help their children with the homework. And Lyndsay Johns crams into a minibus taxi in South Africa and finds out about the highs and lows of a morning commute in Cape Town. The producer of From Our Own Correspondent is Tony Grant.

A thousand horses. Three thousand sheep. And people, thousands of them too, clustered like locusts around the Old Port in Marseille. What on earth were they all doing there? Anna Magnusson was finding out. European leaders have announced they'll try to tackle unemployment; Emma Jane Kirby's in southern Spain where the under-25s are finding it hardest to get jobs. Qatar has a new ruler, or emir; Frank Gardner's just back from this ultra-rich Gulf state wondering: is this the world's most ironic country? Rupert Wingfield Hayes has been to the Indonesian island of Sumatra to look into South East Asia's worst smog crisis in years. And among the correspondents in Senegal, reporting on the excitement, the rumours and the disruption which accompany a visiting American president, was Caspar Leighton. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

It's the great reconciliation story which never happened -- Andrew Hosken in Libya on a homecoming which didn't take place. Nigel Wilson tells us of the dangers involved in trying to provide a taste of home to Syrians stuck in Jordan. Marie Keyworth on the Portuguese struggling to get by as the long recession continues. In Croatia, Mick Webb finds many enthusiastic about joining the EU - the country's set to become a full member next month. And who's for some red-braised wallaby tail with native fruits? Not many Australians apparently. Fuchsia Dunlop says there's a reluctance to tuck in to some of the local wildlife. Tony Grant produces From Our Own Correspondent.

Air travel may be not quite the glamorous, magical experience it once was but our frequent flier Peter Day, sitting bolt upright in economy class, says there can still be something magnificent about it. For Shaiima Khalil, it's a long hot overnight train journey to Upper Egypt to find out how the revolution's playing out far from the big cities of the north. Chris Morris, covering the anti-government demonstrations in Turkey, hears the prime minister Mr Erdogan promise better days ahead. Fergal Keane tells of past and future colliding on a beach near the southern tip of Africa. And Stephen Smith, deep in a vault in London, gets his hands on some of the glittering riches of the Russian Tsars. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

Correspondents' despatches from around the globe. Who'll emerge victorious from the struggle in Taksim Square? Paul Mason gives his view after spending the week in Istanbul. Lyse Doucet believes the new prime minister of Pakistan faces a daunting set of problems -- but she finds there's little chance of him going hungry! The Nigerian military say they're making progress in their campaign against the rebels of Boko Haram - Will Ross has been to the north-east of the country to make his own assessment. Alan Johnston explains how Mussolini's Fascists created a corner of Italy where homosexuals could be glad to be gay. And foreign journalists are rarely welcomed in North Korea but Juliet Rix has been there as a tourist and was delighted to meet the locals and go dancing in a park in Pyongyang. Tony Grant produces From Our Own Correspondent

Is the Turkish prime minister Mr Erdogan listening to the demonstrators? James Reynolds has been following the protests in Istanbul and other cities. Chris Morris is in historic Mostar learning how difficult it is for Bosnians to forget about the past. People in the Golan Heights have been telling Wyre Davies they are concerned the fighting over the border in Syria is about to spill over into their territory. Lucy Ash has been to Yaroslavl in Russia to examine whether the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, really was the proletarian heroine she's made out to be. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

Correspondents around the world with the detail behind the headlines: Beth McLeod on the struggling Syrian refugees resorting to selling their daughters into marriage. The costs and consequences of standing in a Pakistani election are explored by Owen Bennett Jones. Another food scandal in China: Martin Patience on how, this time, it's rat which is leaving a nasty taste in the mouth. How can a pile of nappies in the British Museum spell good news for Somalia? The answer comes from Mary Harper while Tim Hartley takes time out at a football match in North Korea. It might still be the beautiful game but not as most of us know it! The producer of From Our Own Correspondent is Tony Grant

Correspondents' stories: why President Assad may now believe he's winning the argument; the garage man in Jordan recruiting young Islamists to go fight in Syria; why shackles are still being used to restrain some of the mentally ill in Indonesia -- even though officially they are banned; a truffle recipe's handed over at an army camp in Syria and exciting days in the northernmost reaches of Scandinavia as the annual reindeer migration approaches. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

How the direction of the wind saved Tokyo from possible radioactive contamination -- Rupert Wingfield Hayes examines the debate over re-starting Japan's nuclear power plants. Andrew Harding considers how Nelson Mandela's hospitalisation has caused South Africans to look again at their country's development in the years since apartheid. The police are said to deal drugs, the playgrounds are littered with syringes -- but Lucy Ash says not all optimism's been extinguished in Ukraine. David Chazan in France on a man who stole from a bank and has become something of a folk hero. And Nick Thorpe goes to Slovenia and Bulgaria to find out what's irking the middle classes and why in the open-air markets, the strawberries are not selling. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant

How did Herb Jeffries become a black cowboy film star when he wasn't even black? Sarfraz Manzoor travels to Kansas in search of the answer. Mike Wooldridge is in Pakistan - an election date's been announced but will the new team of rulers tackle what some call an alarming rise in religious intolerance? Western Sahara is not much reported upon: Celeste Hicks goes there and tells a tale of secret police, comic book spies and wobbling octopus. Anthony Denselow travels to Uttar Pradesh in India to find out why so many widows make their way to the city of Vrindavan. And the Chinese have developed a thirst for fine wine. Jim Carey has been discovering that Australia's winemakers want a slice of this potentially huge new market. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant

Correspondents' stories. Today: Steve Rosenberg's in Moscow as Russians debate the legacy of Josef Stalin sixty years after his death. There's speculation that Turkey could be poised to sign a peace deal to end the long conflict with Turkish rebels - James Reynolds has been investigating. Steve Vickers tells us why the Swedish authorities want to move their northernmost city to a new location two miles away. Owen Bennett Jones reflects on how much the instability and violence in today's Pakistan has shaped a new generation of successful novelists and Judith Kampfner's returned to Singapore, where she was born and brought up, and found it readier than ever to embrace its multi-ethnic history. She also enjoyed its wobbly cakes! From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

Reporters worldwide: Rahul Tandon is in Calcutta as its people struggle to cope with an unaccustomed spell of cold weather. 'Together Bulgarians are Strong' - Nick Thorpe tells us that's the cry of protestors whose disenchantment's brought down the government. The Kenyan election's on Monday and Gabriel Gatehouse has been finding out that land remains an issue of vital importance to many. A difficult decision for parents in Guatemala - Humphrey Hawksley explains why many would prefer their children NOT to go to school and Jennifer Chevalier in Ottowa on why Canadians are nervous about Europe making trade advances to the US. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

A clearer focus on news and more coverage of minority sports. That's the order from the BBC Trust, which has just completed its review of 5Live. Do you agree? The recent audience research RAJAR report shows a drop in the station's listening figures. So we find out if listeners think the Trust has got the answer. Are you experiencing a sense of deja entendu? When it comes to radio dramas, many listeners feel the rate of repeats has increased. Roger asks Jeremy Howe, commissioning editor of Radio 4 drama, if we really have heard it all before. And while From Our Own Correspondent almost always gets it right, should the correspondent have been reporting on a wedding so soon after an attempted coup? Roger talks to editor Tony Grant about finding the stories behind the headlines. And a listener wants to apply for the job of Director General of the BBC. She says she'd spend the salary on programmes. What would you do? Presenter: Roger Bolton Producers: Karen Pirie and Kate Taylor A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.