Midweek

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Actor Sophie Thompson; writer Jonathan Franklin; musician Leon Bosch and actor Brian Wheeler join Libby Purves. As a boy Jonathan Franklin rescued two orphaned tawny owlets and kept them with him at boarding school. His book, Two Owls at Eton, was first published when he was 16 and tells the story of Dee and Dum who lived with him during the summer of 1959. They trashed his room, made him late for many classes and caused mayhem at every turn yet Dum and Dee charmed the entire faculty. The...

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

Novelist Ken Follett; scientist Dr Joseph Cook; musician Hannah Peel and Roman Catholic Priest and singer Fr David Delargy join Libby Purves. Fr David Delargy is a Roman Catholic priest and a member of the classical singing trio, the Priests. The group recently released a new album, Alleluia, and manage to balance the responsibilities of parish life in Northern Ireland with a global music career. Friends from an early age, the three later studied in Rome as seminarians and have sung...

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

Television reporter and writer Tom Mangold; death row survivor Nick Yarris; rally car driver Catie Munnings and Professor Vanessa Toulmin of the National Fairground Archive join Libby Purves. Catie Munnings is an 18-year-old rally car driver. She won the FIA European Rally Championships Ladies' trophy 2016 after only her first season in the sport. At 13 she could execute a perfect handbrake turn and then followed her father Chris, a former rally driver who ran the London Rally School at...

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