Episodes
![Steve Kershaw - Mythologica and Vintskevich-Kershaw Trio](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/11755317/AAtest_qwd7dv_300x300.jpeg)
3 days ago
3 days ago
Steve Kershaw has two personas .... he is Steve the musician and Dr Stephen the classics tutor.
He is involved in two new projects.
One is a magnificent illustrated childrens encyclopedia of gods, monsters and mortals from ancient Greece.
The other is a jazz trio recording. Steve is the Oxfordshire based bass player. The pianist and saxophonist Leonid and Nick Vintskevich are Russian .
As Steve tells me the wide geographical distribution sometimes make rehearsal tricky!
The record is called 'I'll Show You a Beautiful Country.
![Paul Alexander : Bitter Crop - The Heartache and Triumph of Billie Holiday's Last Year](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/11755317/AAtest_qwd7dv_300x300.jpeg)
Tuesday Jul 09, 2024
Tuesday Jul 09, 2024
Bitter Crop is a superb biography of Billie Holiday who was probably the very best jazz singer there has ever been. The book title is takes from one of Billie's signature songs, 'Strange Fruit'.
There have been films and many books about Billie's career but not all of them came close to telling the whole truth of a remarkable life.
True there were drugs and alcohol but there was so mucah more than that. There was huge musical success and adulation - Billie considered her life to be a triumph.
The conversation took place in July 2024 ..... 65 years after Billie died.
![Colin Dexter - The Remorseful Day : Inventing Inspector Morse.](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/11755317/AAtest_qwd7dv_300x300.jpeg)
Friday Jun 28, 2024
Colin Dexter - The Remorseful Day : Inventing Inspector Morse.
Friday Jun 28, 2024
Friday Jun 28, 2024
Colin Dexter was a splendid writer. His creation Inspector Morse is superb on the page and just as gripping on television.
I used to meet Colin in the pub on Banbury Road in Oxford, The Dew Drop. He was great company and almost completely unaware of his success and star quality.
I recorded this conversation in his house after the publication of The Remorseful Day. He was relaxed and very happy to look back at his life in education and crime writing.
![Simon Sebag Montefiore : the life of Potemkin : his bones are still making news.](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/11755317/AAtest_qwd7dv_300x300.jpeg)
Wednesday Jun 26, 2024
Simon Sebag Montefiore : the life of Potemkin : his bones are still making news.
Wednesday Jun 26, 2024
Wednesday Jun 26, 2024
Historian Simon Sebag Montefiore explains the mythic status of this eighteenth century Russian statesman, and military leader.
In this conversation recorded in London in 2000 the historian Simon Sebag Montefiore tells David Freeman about practical politics in 18th century Russia and how Potemkin made his way in society with the help of the love of Catherine the Great.
Their relationship has been told in films but the way Simon tells the story is probably more gripping and unbelievable.
Simon told the story in full in his the books, Prince of Princes, and Catherine the Great and Potemkin, The Imperial Love Affair.
Interesting to hear Simon say that Putin read this book and what he learned has informed his political views. This lead to the invasion of Ukraine and a significant incident when Russian troops broke into the crypt of the cathedral in Kherson and removed the bones of Grigory Potemkin.
This is history to remember. Putin uses this history to justify his 'special military operation'.
![Rowland Bagnall : Near - Life Experiences : Poetry Collection](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/11755317/AAtest_qwd7dv_300x300.jpeg)
Friday Jun 14, 2024
Rowland Bagnall : Near - Life Experiences : Poetry Collection
Friday Jun 14, 2024
Friday Jun 14, 2024
Taylor Swift attracts huge interest in her song lyrics. They are studied as poetry.
Rowland Bagnall is a different sort of poet. Near - Life Experience, his new collection is just published
When I spoke to him we talked about his poetic motivation and the process of writing these concentrated nuggets of observation.
His replies are thoughtful and enlightening.
![Tim Coulson - The Universal History of Us](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/11755317/AAtest_qwd7dv_300x300.jpeg)
Tuesday Jun 11, 2024
Tim Coulson - The Universal History of Us
Tuesday Jun 11, 2024
Tuesday Jun 11, 2024
Tim Coulson talks about his book which tells the amazing story of 13.8 billion years of history from the Big Bang to you!
It is a wonderful read - inspiring, gripping and fascinating.
And just a thought .... did a deity have a hand in the story?
Tim explains his view!
![Sir Martin Gilbert - Never Again - history of the Holocaust](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/11755317/AAtest_qwd7dv_300x300.jpeg)
Wednesday Jun 05, 2024
Sir Martin Gilbert - Never Again - history of the Holocaust
Wednesday Jun 05, 2024
Wednesday Jun 05, 2024
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 and some politicians openly seek to remove the UK from enforcing them.
Plus racial intolerance is on the march . The horrible spectre of antisemitism is looming over the news as is denial of the rights of Palestinians.
A good time to listen to the words of the late Sir Martin Gilbert.
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.
![Marcus Chown - A Crack In Everything : How black holes came in from the cold](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/11755317/AAtest_qwd7dv_300x300.jpeg)
Monday May 20, 2024
Marcus Chown - A Crack In Everything : How black holes came in from the cold
Monday May 20, 2024
Monday May 20, 2024
This glorious popular science books tells the story of how black holes that were thought to be too ridiculous to exist in 1916 had by 1971 been proved to exist.
Einstein thought they were impossible but in 1971 Paul Murdin and Louise Webster discovered the very first black hole, Cygnus X-1
Marcus tells the story of these extraordinary people who discovered that black holes are centre stage in the cosmos. Indeed without black holes it is unlikely that we would exist.
Fasten your seat belts and prepare to be amazed.
A great book for the curious!!
![Truddi Chase - When Rabbit Howls : A memoir of living with multiple personalities.](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/11755317/AAtest_qwd7dv_300x300.jpeg)
Friday May 17, 2024
Friday May 17, 2024
Truddi Chase lived with dissociative identity disorder a condition that used to be called multiple personality disorder.
On the cover of her book the author was named as 'The Troops' - the name she gave to her 90 plus identities.
When I interviewed her she was with her therapist Robert Phillips. The whole story was very difficult to assimilate as you can probably hear.
Truddi died in 2010 but there is a website dedicated to her and her autobiography is still in demand.
It seems that her condition was a result of abuse in her childhood.
A story like no other!
![David Wilson - A Plot to Kill](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/11755317/AAtest_qwd7dv_300x300.jpeg)
Monday May 13, 2024
David Wilson - A Plot to Kill
Monday May 13, 2024
Monday May 13, 2024
It's Bafta time again.
The winner of the BAFTA for best actor went to Timothy Spall for his performance in 'The Sixth Commandment'.
Timothy played Peter Farquar, a gay Christian teacher who was murdered by a student, Ben Field.
The horrific murder actually happened in the normally peaceful village of Maids Moreton in Buckinghamshire.
The true story is told by David Wilson who lives in the village in his book 'A Plot to Kill'.
He told David Freeman about it.