The Author Archive Podcast

Jeanette Winterson celebrates her 67th birthday on August 27th.

On September 13th Jeanette is hosting an event about creativity and A I at the Southbank Centre.

This interview was recorded when Jeanette was a 20 something brand new literary force and a CD was cutting edge technology.

I remember this conversation with huge affection. Mostly I would talk to an author for 20 minutes or so but this conversation is twice that. It was recorded in the spring of 1984 when 'Oranges are Not the Only Fruit' was first published.

I was very fortunate because I was one of the very first broadcasters to interview Jeanette.

I had been reading the book in bed the night before and was buzzing with enthusiasm for it when I met her.

Hear the author talk about her life in religious Accrington and why she rejected the faith.

A superb book!

This archive interview dates back to March 2014. Jim Lovelock was in his mid nineties. I was delighted to interview him. As I said at the time for me it was like meeting Elvis!

He was energetic, effervescent and wise. His wife Sandy was in the front row and he shone with contentment.

When the conversation started I had no idea we were going to end up talking about microwave ovens .... but we started discussing climate change. And then moved on to falling in love !

2014 is not long ago but the full ferocity of the effect of the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere hadn't really been felt in the way it has now. So what did Jim think?

It is five years since the Taliban regained control in Afghanistan. Science is one of the many things they disapprove of. Religion is believed more than evident truth.

All over the globe there are powerful politicians who have taken to denying scientific facts to further their own ambitions.

This took another massive leap into the abyss when President Trump removed all the limits on greenhouse gas emissions in the US.  Not a solution to the problem - just a denial of its existence. Inconvenient scientific facts denied and dismissed. Unbelievable in our heating world

There is a new book edited by Lawrence M.Krauss - The War on Science.

Among the writers and scientists who have contributed chapters is Richard Dawkins.

Professor Dawkins talked to me about his chapter.

 

The new war that is happening now and the the appalling inhumanity still happening in the world makes this conversation distressingly relevant. There is the thought that some people are less human then others. 

Some people in power seem to think that bombs and missiles provide an answer.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted on December 10th 1948.

We now live in a world where the rights agreed in that document are widely ignored.

Racial intolerance is on the march . The horrible spectre of antisemitism is looming over the news as is denial of the rights of Palestinians. 

As an American bishop recently said ..... immigrants and gay people are as valuable as everyone else.

What would Sir Martin Gilbert make of the current situation?

A good time to listen to the words of the late Sir Martin Gilbert.

The name Winston Churchill has been used recently to score political points.

Sir Martin Gilbert is known as Churchill's biographer, but also as the historian of the Holocaust.

This conversation with David Freeman took place when his book Never Again was published. Sir Martin's thoughts on war are sadly relevant.

Sir Martin died in 2015.

Joe Boyd is a man about music, record producer, a film producer and author.

He arrived in London in 1964 with Muddy Waters and a host of blues musicians who played to sold out UK audiences when they were unappreciated in their US homeland.

In England Joe Boyd is remembered as a producer associated with  Fairport Convention, particularly the ground breaking album Liege and Lief. Classic songs from the record are still in Fairport's repertoire and will be played at the Cropredy festival.

In this conversation he talks about Nick Drake, Paul Simon, The Incredible String Band, Paul Butterfield, MIke Bloomfield and the enduring power of real music.

A thought provoking podcast.

Kind of Blue is the most successful jazz LP ever made. It was recorded over two sessions in New York in 1959 and is still revered as a masterpiece.

The session was lead by Miles Davis who was born 100 years ago.

Ashley Kahn told David Freeman the story behind a historic music event.

Simon Nicol was one of the founder members of Fairport Convention in 1967. Fifty nine years ago.

He talks about being a member of the  ground breaking Folk Rock band who still draw a capacity crowd at the Cropredy Festival.

The thoughts and memories of a musician who started his career in the legendary flower power hippie 'Summer of Love'.

Times have changed! 

 

David Sedaris now fills arenas with enthusiastic fans but when I interviewed him in 2000 he was almost unknown.

His book 'Me Talk Pretty One Day ' was just published.

There is a new collection of Sedaris writing just published - this conversation gives context and back story.

 

 

Harry talks to me about his book which tells of the  harsh life lived by gladiators, but also extends to the ideas and philosophies that defined Roman life.

This is not fiction. It's an account written using evidence from the time.

A gripping read. Some of the events told are hideous to us, but we have to remember that  not that long ago our ancestors flocked to public executions.

In some places in our 'civilised ' world watching men fight in a cage is still viewed as entertainment. Plus ca change.

It is very easy to get very troubled by the current US administration .

Who could have predicted that the American Vice President would have thought it part of his task to question the Pope's understanding of theology?

Who could have predicted that Donald Trump would think it a good idea to read parts of the Bible to the nation?  

Have they redefined god in their own image?

It seems that the current American administration is behaving in even more wild emotionally driven vindictive ways.

This gripping and shocking book tells the story of the radical conservative movement shaping Donald Trump's agenda and how it threatens freedoms, values and democracy. 

Since this conversation was recorded the situation has got much worse.