Peter Higginbotham is one of Britain's best known authors and researchers on the workhouse - a much detested institution which for almost three centuries provided shelter, in return for labour, for the nation's destitute.

In the course of his researches, Peter has visited every corner of the British Isles, from Cornwall to Shetland, and from Kent to Galway, in order to track down former workhouse buildings. His work on the workhouse, and the larger poor relief system of which it formed a pivotal part, has resulted in the highly regarded website www.workhouses.org.uk together with a number of books on the subject including The Workhouse Encyclopedia, Voices from the Workhouse, The Workhouse Cookbook and A Grim Almanac of the Workhouse.

Peter is also a frequent contributor to radio programmes such as BBC Radio 4's Making History and Tracing Your Roots, and TV shows such as Heir Hunters and Who Do Yo Think You Are?

Track: Boy Don't Cry (ft. Scomber , Admiral Bob (admiralbob77)) 2013 Jeris Licensed to at: http://ccmixter.org

<div xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="urn:sha1:P4PHKL5JIEPOYXZDBCFVCAGF3ZOCR7NZ"><a rel="cc:attributionURL" property="cc:attributionName" href="http://ccmixter.org/files/VJ_Memes/41387"> Jeris</a> / <arel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/">CC BY-NC 3.0</a></div> 

My interview today is with Eric Ryland, who In his youth worked in some very dangerous large industries in Wales, nearly being killed on a couple of occasions. After doing his compulsory military service in the British Army, at a time when the Suez Crisis hit the headlines and when Britain was preparing to go to war. He and his fellow conscripts waited anxiously as they boarded a military plane for Cyprus to go to Egypt and the war zone. Luckily, by the time his battalion reached the War area his battalion was quickly withdrawn back to Britain.  

After being demobbed from the army he returned to his old job as a steam train fireman to find his job was under threat by the new diesel trains being adopted by British rail, so he changed careers yet again. 

Being Welsh, Eric had a good singing voice and got involved with a group of young German musicians as the lead singer in a band, touring all around Britain's working men's clubs in the early 60s.  The band later went on to tour Germany and other European countries. 

Eric by this time had a small family and had to make some painful decisions, as he knew in his heart that the music scene was too precarious now that he was a family man. It was around this time that he decided to take his whole family and move thousands of miles across the world to live in South Africa, which at that time still have had apartheid and was a totally different from his experience in his own country.

Music track: Drunk in a Smoking Bar Drinking an Imperial Porter Mix by  Lasswell. 

Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) 

Here is a link to take to you to the music.

http://dig.ccmixter.org/podcast_music?dig-query=lasswell

My interview today is with John Parry the author of a humourous but poignant book called “Not for Wimps”about men and the aging process published by the Book Guild UK.

John Parry was the BBC's first arts correspondent and left the corporation in the mid-90s after 12 years, he wrote a regular arts column for the Spectator before creating and editing Sculptors, the magazine of the Royal Society of British sculptors. He also wrote book reviews for the Mail on Sunday. He lives in Brighton with his wife, the actress and author, Judy Cornwell.

In this interview I talk to John about his prodigious career in the world of the Media and he reads a selection of  extracts from his book and talks about what made him write this book?

An extracts from his book.
'The other evening, I walked into the theatre. With a dressy celebration party afterwards, I was wearing black tie, feeling sprightly and youthful. The occasion had all the promise of being great fun. At least it did until the moment I approached a small group of quite jolly young people gathered on the pavement -- and no mercifully, I was not about to be mugged. One of the girls simply shouted out, 'Oi, you looked like Winston Churchill.' Her friends yelled with laughter.
 
I was devastated. Not for a second was I deluded enough to think that she was saying I looked like a war hero, an inspiring orator, a Prime Minister who led the nations to victory. What she was saying, of course was I looked rather elderly and rotund with a pink and shiny face from the exertion of my brisk walk. It was crushing. I arrived at the theatre feeling rather less than sprightly and useful. Infuriatingly, my own friends thought it was a stoically funny when I told them the story and laughed as much as the crowd of young people had done.'

To Buy John Parry book “Not for Wimps” click here

Click here to to retun to front page

Music: Chansons sans paroles (1989) op. 2 Valse-Scherzo
Album: Dry Fig Trees
Artist: Gerard Satamian :To buy this music click here

Our latest audio documentary by David Allen is about Mr. Leslie Gilliat -Location Manager and Producer of many classic British films including three of the fondly remembered
St. Trinian's films.

With the new St. Trinian's film directed by Oliver Parker and Barnaby Thompson due for release  this autumn, what a wonderful opportunity to look back on the long and distinguished career of Mr. Leslie Gilliat [1917 -] Leslie having worked in the camera department, and as Location Manager and Producer of many films including three of the fondly remembered St. Trinian's films of the 50's and 60's that many now regard as British comedy classics.

Born in 1917, Leslie worked for Gainsborough Pictures between 1936 and 1939 with such comedy stars as Will Hay on Oh, Mr. Porter! [1937] Bud Flanagan, Chesney Allen and the famous comedy troupe The Crazy Gang on Alf's Button Afloat [1938]. Leslie also worked with Alfred Hitchcock as a cameraman on the classic comedy thriller The Lady Vanishes [1938] starring Michael Redgrave and Margaret Lockwood, which was made shortly before Hitchcock moved to Hollywood to film Rebecca [1940] for David O. Selznick.

After serving his country in the Second World War, Leslie joined his older brother Sydney who had formed a prolific writing and directing partnership with his lifelong collaborator Frank Launder, who had both written the screenplay for The Lady Vanishes. The Gilliat brothers and Launder team went on to collaborate on many great British films, such as The Blue Lagoon [1948] starring Jean Simmons, The Green Man [1956]  with George Cole, Terry-Thomas and the lugubrious Alistair Sim, The Smallest Show on Earth [1957] with Margaret Rutherford and Peter Sellers, and of course the St. Trinian's films, which starred Alistair Sim in drag as the headmistress Miss Fritton, Terry-Thomas as Captain Romney Carlton-Ricketts, Joyce Grenfell as the hapless Police Sergeant Ruby Gates and George Cole as the lovable rogue Flash Harry.

This is a peopletalk production © 2007

Production Team:
David Allen - Interviewer & Associate Editor/Producer.
Josephine Bloom - Assistant Editor.
Nigel Killick - Executive Producer.

We would also like to thank Mr. Leslie Gilliat & Mr. Julian Fox for their help in making this documentary.

Click here for David Allen's page
Click here for Music kingdom hearts track Hikari (Instrumental)©

Please click on Comments and have your say!
We are always looking for donations to help us to continue to produce high quality free programs.
(All trademarks acknowledged.)

An interview with Terry Fallis, a Canadian writer who published his own novel and made the Canadian literary world take notice.

After almost a year of banging on the closed doors of the literary establishment, he decided to take matters into his own hands by narrating and publishing an audio book version of his novel on the Internet for free. He wanted to test an audience reaction to his book to see if he was wasting his time, the response he received confirmed he had a successful book on his hands.

So he took the plunge and self published his book and then went on to win one of Canada's most prestigious awards for literature.

In our interview you will hear how he went from being a weekend writer to a successful published Author, who has already been commissioned to write his second novel.


About Terry Fallis.

Despite an engineering degree, for 25 years Terry Fallis enjoyed a successful career first in politics, as an advisor to Liberal federal and Ontario cabinet ministers, and then in public affairs and public relations consulting. But through it all, there was something missing. In 2005, he found it when he finally wrote the novel that had been rattling around inside his head. He spent a year peddling the manuscript to agents and publishers but was greeted with a deafening silence. Undeterred, he podcast The Best Laid Plans, his debut satirical novel of Canadian politics, chapter-by-chapter, gathering rave reviews from legions of listeners in Canada and around the world. Encouraged by the response, he self-published the novel in September 2007.

Then, in April 2008 came the shock of his life. The Best Laid Plans won the 2008 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, the first self-published novel ever honoured with this venerable literary award. Within a week, Fallis signed a publishing deal with McClelland & Stewart. In the fall of 2008, the novel hit bookstore shelves and Terry Fallis hit the speaking circuit entertaining audiences with the same thoughtful wit and humour that won him the Leacock Medal. The sequel to The Best Laid Plans, entitled The High Road, is due out in 2010.

Terry Fallis web site at
www.terryfallis.com

Click here to to retun to front page

Music credits:
1st Track Music from Magnatune at http://magnatune.com.
Track: Extraordinaire
Album: Prospects
Artist: Chris Juergensen
Click here to take you to track.

Music played in Terry Fallis audio extract is:
Winter Serenade by Jon Schmidt at http:///www.musicalley.com.
Track & Artist: Winter Serenade by Jon Schmidt
Click here to take you to track.

Smugglers, pirates and villains on the south coast of England in times gone by.

Douglas d'Enno is a local historian and author of some interesting & insightful books on local Sussex history. In our latest conversation, Douglas spent time with me on a glorious sunny October day at the end of Brighton's Victorian pier. There we discussed the activities of smugglers, pirates and villains on the south coast of England in times gone by.

We chatted about excise men patrolling along the top of dangerous cliffs at night on the lookout for smugglers and ship wreckers, and how it sometimes became a life and death struggle between both sides. Smuggling was part of everyday life for some of the small fishing villages along the coast.

We talked about a local vicar, the Reverend Thomas Hooker, a pillar of the community who was nonetheless heavily involved in contraband activities in his village. We also talked about the cat and mouse game played by revenue officers and their quarry the smugglers - who shamelessly continued to ply their trade with the French while England was at war with Napoleon.

Douglas was kind enough in 2006 to take our listeners on an interesting tour of the darker side of life of Brighton’s past. We talked as we walked to some of the locations of the town’s notorious murders. This audio tour, ‘Brighton's Murder Walk’, is still available on our site, click here to hear
Murder Walks

Books by Douglas d'Enno
Brighton Crime & Vice.
Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths Around Brighton.
published by Wharncliffe UK.
Here is a link to buy the books above

We would just like to thank the following artists and songwriter's for their kind permission to use their works in the making of this programme.
(All copyrights are retained by artists and songwriters © 08) Please see links to artists web sites.

Track 1: A Smugglers' Song- Arranged and performed by Andrew McKay & by Carole Etherton, words by Rudyard Kipling.  (http://www.cranedrivinmusic.com)
Track 2- Paris-White Sail- Paris-Chris Harvey. http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/harvey-wsail/
Track 3- Ship Keeper- Trim Rig And A Doxy (TRAAD). http://www.trimrigdoxy.com/
Track 4- Leave Her Johnny Leave Her-Trim Rig And A Doxy (TRAAD). http://www.trimrigdoxy.com/
Track 5- Trawling Trade- (John Conolly)- Trim Rig And A Doxy (TRAAD).
Track 6- Paris-White Sail- Paris-Chris Harvey-http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/harvey-wsail/
Track 7- Scarecrow -Andrew McKay and Carole Etherton, written by © Maria Cunningham.
Track 8- Mary Baker-Andrew McKay and Carole Etherton and written by Carole Etherton
Track 9- Smugglers-Arranged and performed by Andrew McKay & Carole Etherton, words by Rudyard Kipling.
Track 10-Paris-White Sail- Paris-Chris Harvey-http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/harvey-wsail/

My Interview today is with Biddy Cox, who at the tender age of 17 joined the London Fire Brigade as a Driver at the height of the bombing known as the Blitz in World War II. As the haunting sounds of the air raid sirens echoed around London and its population headed for the relative safety of the bomb shelters, the 17-year-old Biddy had to race around London running the nightly ordeal of bombs raining down all around her to get the injured Londoners to a hospital. As the war grind slowly on Biddy managed to get transferred to the Far East, where she joined the SOE, as part of Special Operations Executive working with military James Bond types. Where she met her future husband who was a SOE agent working behind Japanese enemy lines.

----------------------
I would just like to thank Mike O'Hara and Daniel Grimwood of Forgotten Melodies at http://mohstuff.com/FM/ for their kind permission to use their recording of Canzona Serenata Op.38, No.6 by Nikolai Medtner played by Daniel Grimwood.

To hear Mike and Daniel talk about the composer Nikolai Medtner go to http://mohstuff.com/FM episode 2

My interview today is a little offbeat and might be considered strange and somewhat bizarre, as I am talking to the Moon man a.k.a. Barry McArdle.  No he's not a deranged fantasists, who has escaped from the local lunatic asylum and no I haven't finally  given into senility.

For some of you who are old enough to remember the 70s, you will probably have a faint glimmer of recognition only when I tell you, that he was quite famous for selling acres on the moon for a dollar.  His story is one of those kind of urban myths that you're never quite sure is true, and think it was probably made up by a group of late-night drinkers in a bar and has passed into the mists of time and legend.   But I have to tell you that it's all true, it really is true and I was fascinated to re-acquaint myself with this story of how this young Californian man managed to carve out a living for almost 10 years after leaving college, selling certificates of land ownership on the moon to passersby on the street.
 
Obviously, we will be giving a link on our website to Barry McArdle's excellent free audio book, where our listeners can hear the whole funny story in all its glorious technicolour.  So this interview can only really be a synopsis of Barry's fascinating life story and is a only a teaser to encourage our listeners to hear his wonderfully descriptive and funny story.

Why not visit Barry McArdle web site to buy his book and moon certificates

To listen to Barry McArdle's excellent free audio book click here
at http://www.podiobooks.com/title/i-sold-the-moon

Music by ive Ass Sleepers on http://magnatune.com
Album: Gettin Down to Business
Track: KC
Click this link to buy this music

Click here for our direct iTune link
You will need iTunes installed on your computer for this to work.

Interview

Michael is a student soon to graduate from Indiana University, having chosen history as his field of study. Having done what he refers to as "hard time" in the Kelley School of Business, Michael followed the advice of all those who had told him to follow his passion and made an educational career change into the study of history, stoking the flame originally sparked by a high school British literature teacher. He will begin graduate-level historical studies in the coming autumn term.

Taking inspiration from cousin and fellow history enthusiast Matt Dattilo from Matt's Today in History, Michael began the British History 101 podcast in June of 2006. Starting with the Battle of Hastings and moving throughout British history to explore a variety of topics and areas of interest, the show is proud have several thousand of the world's best fans.

Michael firmly believes that understanding the past leads to a greater understanding of both the present and the future and is fascinated by exploring even the tiniest corner of the puzzle of human experience.

Please visit Michael's web site at
www.britishhistory101.com
Please visit magnatune.com for the music by Eternal Jazz Project:
Track: Aterkomst
Link:http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/ejp-gratis/

Interview

Basil Sands has been weaving stories for anyone who would listen since he was a child.  From humble beginnings over 40 years ago on a rural homestead in interior Alaska and his school years among the cornfields of Ohio he grew to become one of the most popular new audio book talents on the web.
 
He nearly became a professional stand-up comedian but the big break came too late.  He had already enlisted in the US Marines. After only six months though he broke his ankle and found himself out of a job. Unsure of what to do he worked in a wide variety of fields (many simultaneously) including restaurant manager for the National Security Agency (chef to the spies), owned a computer shop, worked as a carpenter, farmer, stage actor, lumberjack, tv voice, Wilderness Medic, network manager, Boy Scout leader, university teacher, IT training specialist, radio talk show host, computer forensics technician, and youth minister.
 
After 9/11 he spent three years as a Coastal Scouts sergeant in the Alaska State Defense Force patrolling the coastline around Whittier Alaska and was named Alaska Soldier of the Year in 2003.

He started writing military action novels relatively late in life, at 37 years old.  With hopes and aspirations of becoming “The next Frederick Forsythe”, he boldly leaped into the circus that is publishing only to find himself humbled and rebuffed by nearly a hundred agents.  One agent took him on, but after a year of working towards publication retired and left him hanging.

Undaunted he decided it was time to find a new way to get his name out there.  After discovering a free audio books site called podiobooks.com Basil took it upon himself to produce his first two novels as free serialized audio books.  He wrote and podcast two more and has started on a fifth novel.  The episodes have had over 350,000 downloads.
He currently lives, works, and writes in Anchorage Alaska with his wife and three sons, a bongo, a djembe and two bodhrans.
 
Please visit Basil Sands web site at: www.basilsands.com

Music at www.magnatune.com:
Walking Home by Eternal Jazz Project

A frank and sometimes harrowing, sometimes funny interview with the Tony Diamond about his early years and his life. He talks about what made him write his fascinating book
Pebble on the Beach.

Pebble on the Beach is the true story of one boy's ability to survive. Growing up in Brighton, England. Tony was subjected to a childhood of physical and mental abuse - including electric shock treatment at the age of ten - abandoned by his family at fifteen, and sent to Australia to fend for himself. Unable to settle, wandering from place to place, he plotted his return to England, but an ill-fated attempt to stowaway led to imprisonment in New Zealand and his eventual deportation. Having visited four continents, survived four brushes with death and a journey of 30.000 miles, he arrived back in England profoundly changed. But were things at home any different?

To buy Tony's book, which is available in bookshops in Britain and on line at: http://www.queensparkbooks.org.uk/
Book ISBN N0: 978-0-904733-62-4
Why not visit Tony Diamond web site
http://www.tonydiamond.co.uk/
Music used in this podcast is: "I've Got a Secret" by Robin Stine
at: www.podsafeaudio.com

Our story to day is about personal bravery and one young man's gallantry in WWII and how he won a Military Cross fighting in Germany at the tender age of twenty.

(states the official citation)
The superb example and personal bravery over a long period, under the
most difficult conditions, shown by Lieutenant Ventris was beyond
praise and was largely responsible for this important objective being'
captured," added the citation. His initiative, encouragement and
coolness on the battle-field undoubtedly saved many lives."

Podsafe Music:
Intro Clips with kind pemission of Words at War

Home Web page Words at War

www.peopletalk.libsyn.com

Judi Pusey is an American from California, who has been living in a small English village in the South of England for the last eighteen years. When she first arrived she felt terribly home sick because she found the lifestyle a little too slow after coming from the busy 24/7 rat race of California, but now she feels at home amongst the Brits in this sleepy little English village.

www.peopletalk.org

Anne Conway is a successful reportage and travel photographer with nearly 30 years experience.

Anne studied photography at the prestigious West Surrey school of Art in the south of England in the late 70s before moving to Paris, where she embarked on her career as a freelance photographer.

She started working for various important editors,who sent her on assignments round the world to produce articles and photographic material for books and magazines Her photographic style is very distinctive, very graphic in is imagery, where intense colour and luminosity form the essence of her work. In her interview she talks about how she got started after moving. Paris. Later on she talks about some of her assignments. Such as photographing the centuries old tradition of Tuna-fishing in Sicily.

www.peopletalk.org

The author of this captivating book, Audrey Farley, talks to us about her book JAMES LULHAM OF TELSCOMBE: The last man to be hanged  for Sheep Stealing?  In our interview she talks about James as if he was an old friend while she describes the whole sad story to us.

From the book:



Podsafe Music:
Intro Music by Anderson / oneill
Track: Tempest
www.podsafeaudio.com/

www.peopletalk.org

Katherine Schellenberg was born in 1932, to second generation emigrant farmers in Aberdeen, Saskatchewan, Canada.

To Katherine the iconic images of the great depression are more than just old black and white photographs of men waiting in bread lines, working in relief camps and protesting against their dreadful destitution.

She remembers the poverty and great dust storms sweeping across the Western prairies, making it impossible for her family to feed themselves, these are real memories for her not just something you read about in history books.

Extracts from e-mail's from Kathy, talking about living in Saskatchewan Canada, as a young girl.





www.peopletalk.org

Gareth Goldthorpe is a very fit and young looking sixty one year old, who has been a bookbinder for the last twenty years.

In his interview, he talks about his unconventional and somewhat eccentric childhood, being sent off to boarding school at the tender age of five, and how he ran away, traveling some fifteen miles back to his parent's home.

He then goes on to tell us about a golden time, when childhood seemed more adventurous while being carefree and relaxed:  How he and his brothers cycled some thirty five miles to see the new Gatwick airport, at the age of eight years old.

www.peopletalk.org

Jemma Robinson is about 5'4" has grey eyes and short fair hair and is slim. She has an open, friendly smile which helps to emphasize her warm character.

She genuinely seems to like people; in other words, she is a people person. This has come in handy over the years as she has lived in some very different cultures from ours in the West. She will talk about living in different and sometimes strange places. And how she moved to Japan just after leaving University, to work there. When she first arrived, she was fascinated by what she saw about her and how difficult it was sometimes to understand the Japanese way of doing things. Finally, she talks about moving to live in Italy with her new husband, Paolo.

www.peopletalk.org