Woman's Hour
1,771 episodes - English - Latest episode: 22 days ago - ★★★★ - 251 ratingsWomen's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
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Episodes
Gracie Spinks' parents, Child-free women at work, Grandma Wong
December 18, 2023 11:39 - 57 minutes - 52.4 MB23-year-old Gracie Spinks was killed by a man who she had reported to the police for stalking her. The inquest into her death reported several failures by Derbyshire Police in how her case was handled. Now, her parents, Richard Spinks and Alison Ward, are campaigning for Gracie’s Law, which would ensure better training for police officers around stalking, and the appointment of independent stalking advocates. They join Emma Barnett to discuss Gracie and the changes they want to be made in he...
Weekend Woman's Hour: Imelda Staunton, Quitting parties, Mica Paris
December 16, 2023 17:02 - 52 minutes - 47.7 MBImelda Staunton has played Queen Elizabeth II for the last two series of television drama The Crown. As the final episodes are released this week, she joins us to discuss playing the monarch, and what it’s been like to take on this role since Her Majesty died. How could people step in safely if they see a woman being harassed in public? Former police officer Graham Goulden and criminologist Molly Ackhurst tell us how bystanders can protect themselves while helping others. Soul singer Mica ...
Kinship care, Shane MacGowan's widow Victoria Mary Clarke, 'Red White and Blue', Lora Logic
December 15, 2023 12:45 - 55 minutes - 50.8 MBThe government is today unveiling the first ever national Kinship Care strategy, aiming to bring more awareness and more money to family members looking after children that aren’t theirs. Kinship care is when a child lives full time, or most of the time, with a relative, be it grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, or someone in the wider family network, because their own parents can’t care for them. Anita talks to David Johnston, the Under Secretary of State for Children, Families and Well...
Mica Paris, Is Facebook dangerous for kids? Regretting your tattoos
December 14, 2023 12:57 - 51 minutes - 47.4 MBThe National Crime Agency has warned parents that Facebook and Instagram are now a danger to children. That’s after Meta, the parent company of the social media sites, made the decision to introduce encrypted messaging. The BBC’s Technology Editor Zoe Kleinman and online safety expert John Carr join Emma Barnett to discuss. Bafta award-winning actor Sheridan Smith has said that she regrets the tattoos she’s got and would never get another one done. It’s a situation that a lot of people fi...
Imelda Staunton on depicting Queen Elizabeth II
December 13, 2023 12:03 - 57 minutes - 52.7 MBHow could people step in safely if they see a woman being harassed in public? Former police officer Graham Goulden and criminologist Molly Ackhurst tell Emma Barnett how bystanders can protect themselves while helping others. Imelda Staunton has played Queen Elizabeth II for the last two series of television drama The Crown. She joined us before she started the role, in 2021, to talk about how she was approaching the role, and why it was important to her. She joins Emma Barnett again now ...
The future of embryo research, Ofsted inspections, British Gymnastics' complaints procedure
December 12, 2023 11:21 - 57 minutes - 52.5 MBLeading scientists are calling for a change in the law to help IVF patients donate unused embryos to biomedical research after a collapse in donations over the past 15 years. Emma Barnett talks to Professor of Reproductive Physiology at Cambridge University Kathy Niakan and Clare Ettinghausen from the UK's fertility regulator, the HFEA. The new play Glacier is a dark and poignant festive comedy. It follows three women who meet while wild swimming in their local lake one Christmas. They form...
Cancer during pregnancy, Israel-Gaza, Wedding dresses
December 11, 2023 12:09 - 57 minutes - 52.7 MBIsrael has accused the United Nations of moving too slowly to respond to accounts that Hamas carried out widespread sexual violence against women in the October 7th brutal attack on Israel. Christina Lamb, Chief Foreign Correspondent for the Sunday Times, has brought the details of this part of the attacks to light joins Emma Barnett. Mandy Abramson runs a bridal shop in Skipton in North Yorkshire. For two years now she’s run a special week in December where she invites women from all walks...
Ruth Perry's sister, City Girl in Nature, Caring for a spouse, The politics of Christmas presents
December 09, 2023 17:00 - 57 minutes - 52.6 MBAn Ofsted inspection "contributed" to the death of head teacher Ruth Perry. That’s the conclusion of senior coroner Heidi Connor. This is the first time Ofsted has been listed as a contributing factor in the death of a head teacher. Ruth Perry had been head of Caversham Primary School in Berkshire for 13 years when she took her own life in January, ahead of an inspection report being made public which had downgraded the school from Outstanding to Inadequate, based on safeguarding concerns. H...
Ruth Perry's sister Julia Waters, America Ferrera, 'Stuffed'
December 08, 2023 11:20 - 57 minutes - 52.8 MBAn Ofsted inspection "contributed" to the death of headteacher Ruth Perry. That’s the conclusion of senior coroner Heidi Connor. This is the first time Ofsted has been listed as a contributing factor in the death of a head teacher. Ofsted are yet to comment on the verdict. Ruth Perry had been head of Caversham Primary School in Berkshire for 13 years when she took her own life in January, ahead of an inspection report being made public which had downgraded the school from Outstanding to ...
Conductor Marin Alsop, actor Diana Quick and a campaign to protect domestic abuse victims
December 07, 2023 12:33 - 56 minutes - 51.9 MBMarin Alsop is one of the most famous conductors in the world. Ten years ago, she became the first woman to conduct the Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. Now she is giving the European premiere of Too Hot To Handel: The Gospel Messiah!, a reimagining of Handel’s Messiah Marin tells Hayley Hassell why she wanted to rework the piece, and looks back over her illustrious career as a conductor. The actor Diana Quick joins Hayley to discuss her role as Mrs Wentworth in a new seri...
Julianne Moore, Dame Mary Berry, Prevalence of forced sterilisation
December 06, 2023 11:27 - 57 minutes - 52.6 MBAcademy Award-winning actor Julianne Moore plays Gracie Atherton-Yoo in Todd Haynes’ newest film, May December. The film tells the story of a married couple who were at the centre of a notorious tabloid relationship, and the actress doing research on them for a film about their past. Julianne joins Krupa to talk about the controversies within the film, and how it’s already been tipped for the Oscars. Lina Mookerjee had been married to her husband Richard for more than 15 years when he lost...
Women's Football, Head of Ofcom, The politics of Christmas presents
December 05, 2023 13:34 - 57 minutes - 52.7 MBThere are big changes afoot for women’s football. Former England Lioness Karen Carney published a review into the women’s domestic game over the summer and the Government has just announced that it will back all the findings from her report. That includes making the top two tiers professional and giving the sport a dedicated broadcast slot. Baroness Sue Campbell, director of women's football at the Football Association, discusses their decision. The head of Ofcom, Dame Melanie Dawes, talks ...
Stella Creasy MP, Living with one breast, City Girl in Nature
December 04, 2023 11:54 - 57 minutes - 52.8 MBA man has been convicted in court of harassing the Labour MP Stella Creasy. This harassment included reporting her to social services as an 'unfit mother'. A safeguarding review quickly cleared Stella Creasy – but the complaint cannot be removed from her records. Today, she is tabling an amendment to the Victims and Prisoners Bill, to allow councils to delete baseless complaints. Stella Creasy speaks to Krupa Padhy about her fight for justice under a law she herself drafted. She also pays t...
Weekend Woman's Hour: Emily Blunt, Stammering, Long-distance friendships, Maria Callas' legacy
December 02, 2023 17:00 - 54 minutes - 50 MBResearch by the charity Stamma shows that 8% of children will start stuttering at some point. Our listener Geri, a mother who’s son has a stammer, got in touch with Woman’s Hour and asked us to discuss the topic. Kirsten Howells from Stamma, Tiktok influencer Jessie Yendle and Geri join Claire McDonnell to share their own experiences and advice. Actor Emily Blunt found fame as the scene-stealing assistant in The Devil Wears Prada, and has since starred in many films including Mary Poppins R...
Director Adura Onashile, Grieving and Christmas Shopping, Maria Callas's Centenary
December 01, 2023 14:07 - 55 minutes - 50.4 MBIn Adura Onashile’s debut film, Girl, mother Grace and daughter Ama have recently arrived in Glasgow and have created a beautiful cocoon for themselves in a council block apartment. But Grace carries deep trauma from her past, and she finds it exceptionally difficult to watch her daughter go out into the world alone. Director Adura Onashile tells Anita why she emphasised the beauty of urban poverty, and how she drew on her relationship with her own mother. Gwyneth Paltrow shared a photo on...
Emily Blunt, Pathologist-novelist, Baby formula, Short marriages
November 30, 2023 12:50 - 56 minutes - 51.7 MBActor Emily Blunt found fame as the scene-stealing assistant in The Devil Wears Prada, and has since starred in many films including Mary Poppins Returns and A Quiet Place with her real-life husband John Krasinski. She is also in one of this year’s biggest cinematic hits, Oppenheimer. As Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster about the father of the atomic bomb is released on ultra-HD DVD and Blu-ray, Emily Blunt talks to Clare McDonnell about her role as Kitty Oppenheimer, Robert’s wife. The pri...
British Gymnastics and safeguarding, Long-distance friendships, Myha’la, Hunters, Hockey kits
November 29, 2023 12:41 - 57 minutes - 52.7 MBLast year's landmark Whyte Review into gymnastics detailed 'systemic issues' of physical and emotional abuse between 2008 and 2020. Today, British Gymnastics has for the first time introduced safeguarding policies relating to weighing, hydration and academic education, which they say are designed to better protect the welfare of gymnasts, but do they go far enough? Clare speaks to David Hart, performance director for British Gymnastics, Karen Whelan, gymnastics coach and mother of two-time B...
Parenting a child with a stammer, EHRC Chair Baroness Falkner, Ukrainian chess player Kamila Hryshchenko
November 28, 2023 13:09 - 57 minutes - 52.9 MBResearch by the charity Stamma shows that 8% of children will start stuttering at some point. Our listener Geri, a mother who’s son has a stammer, got in touch with Woman’s Hour and asked us to discuss the topic. Kirsten Howells from Stamma, Tiktokker Jessie Yendle and Geri join Claire McDonnell to share their own experiences and advice. In 2013 Benita Alexander was working as a producer at NBC in New York. Tasked with putting a documentary together on renowned Swiss surgeon Dr Paolo Macchi...
Dame Harriet Walter, Runner Eilish McColgan, Post-mastectomy bras
November 27, 2023 12:56 - 57 minutes - 52.7 MBAward-winning actor Dame Harriet Walter is back on stage at the National Theatre in Federico Lorca’s newly-adapted The House of Bernada Alba. After a break of seven years playing assorted television roles including ‘difficult’ mothers in Succession and Ted Lasso, she’s back treading the boards and once again playing a formidable matriarch. She joins Clare McDonnell in the studio to talk about her career so far, as well as her newest role. As of today, police in Northern Ireland can now char...
Weekend Woman's Hour: Sharon Osbourne, Jodie Whittaker and Outgoing Chief Inspectorate of Ofsted, Amanda Spielman
November 25, 2023 17:00 - 57 minutes - 52.9 MBFor more than two decades, Sharon Osbourne has been a regular feature on our screens. She came to prominence while appearing with her husband Ozzy on The Osbournes - a reality television show on MTV, which followed the family's daily life. She later became a talent show judge on television programmes such as the X Factor and America's Got Talent. She joins Anita Rani to discuss her forthcoming theatre show - Sharon Osbourne - Cut The Crap! Actor Jodie Whittaker joins Woman’s Hour to talk ab...
Sharon Osbourne, Shani Dhanda, Nurses and their mental health
November 24, 2023 12:24 - 56 minutes - 51.9 MBFor more than two decades, Sharon Osbourne has been a regular feature on our screens. She came to prominence while appearing with her husband Ozzy on The Osbournes - a reality television show on MTV, which followed the family's daily life. She later became a talent show judge on television programmes such as the X Factor and America's Got Talent. She joins Anita Rani to discuss her forthcoming theatre show - Sharon Osbourne - Cut The Crap! - in which she promises to reveal all about some of ...
Jodie Whittaker, Ofsted Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman
November 23, 2023 12:11 - 57 minutes - 52.5 MBActor Jodie Whittaker joins Woman’s Hour to talk about her role in a new Australian six part drama called One Night. Shot in New South Wales the story unfolds around three women from a coastal community whose reunion after many years apart is intensified by the publishing of a novel based on their lives. The central theme being the rape of Jodie’s character Tess twenty years previously and the impact its had on all their lives. Emma Barnett will be asking her about some of her other hard hit...
Deepfake pornography, Professor Yvonne Doyle – lessons from the pandemic, Pianist Chloe Flower
November 22, 2023 11:52 - 55 minutes - 51 MBAnother Body is an award-winning documentary which follows US engineering student, Taylor, in her search for answers and justice after she discovers deepfake pornography of herself circulating online. Ahead of its release in the UK, one of the documentary's directors, Sophie Compton joins Emma to discuss why she decided to make this documentary, what she found and why she used deepfake technology herself to anonymise the identities of the protagonists. The Covid-19 inquiry continues with ke...
Carry On women, Unexpected news at baby scans
November 21, 2023 12:12 - 57 minutes - 52.7 MBBarbara Windsor, Hattie Jacques and Joan Sims were some of the iconic women who starred in the Carry On films from the late 1950s onwards. From Carry on Camping to Carry on Up the Khyber, the humour relied largely on innuendo, double entendre and slapstick comedy, with the women viewed as objects for male desire. But were they really sexist? Emma Barnett speaks to Gemma Ross, co-author of The Carry On Girls, who argues it was the women who came out on top and were more sexually confident tha...
Angela Rippon, Jamie Bernstein on Maestro, Scorchio! The history of The Weather Girl
November 20, 2023 14:30 - 57 minutes - 52.4 MBAfter being the latest celebrity contestant to be voted off Strictly Come Dancing at Blackpool’s Tower Ballroom, Angela Rippon tells Emma Barnett about forming a lifelong friendship with her 28-year-old dance partner Kai Waddington. At 79, she was the oldest competitor in the series and has wowed the judges and the audience with her flexible dance moves. Sam Fraser started working as a standby weather presenter for BBC South in 2012. When a fan club for her bottom surfaced online and she b...
Weekend Woman's Hour: Dame Kelly Holmes, justice secretary Alex Chalk, history of eyeliner
November 18, 2023 17:02 - 56 minutes - 51.8 MBOlympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes spoke publicly about her sexuality for the first time last year. Her new memoir, Unique, details how serving in the military in the late 1980s - when it was illegal to be gay in the military – was a major factor in contributing to her decades-long silence. She joins us to speak about her experience. After a reshuffle that left the government with no women in the “big four” offices of state, we speak to Justice Secretary Alex Chalk about the impact of the r...
Life and work of photographer Tish Murtha, Sitcom Such Brave Girls, Finding your dress shape
November 17, 2023 12:35 - 57 minutes - 52.6 MBBrave Girls is a new sitcom following a dysfunctional family made up of sisters Josie and Billie and their mum Deb. It’s a fictional show exploring trauma but it's a comedy in every sense of the word. Ahead of its release on BBC Three and iPlayer next Wednesday, Anita Rani is joined by Kat Sadler, who plays Josie, and by her real life AND fictional sister Lizzie Davidson, who plays Billie. Just over a year ago, on 28th October, 2022, we did a nursery and childcare special programme, lookin...
Dr Who actor Jemma Redgrave on the show's new 60th anniversary shows and the history of eyeliner
November 16, 2023 12:54 - 57 minutes - 52.7 MBIt’s Doctor Who’s 60th year and to celebrate, there will be three anniversary specials coming to your screens starting next week. Jemma Redgrave will be returning as Kate Stewart - Chief Scientific Officer at UNIT - the military organisation set up to investigate alien threats to earth. Jemma speaks to Emma Barnett about what we can expect and what it is like being a part of the show. Professor Dame Lesley Regan talks about the decision to let women access the contraceptive pill from pharma...
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk on sentencing reforms
November 15, 2023 12:03 - 57 minutes - 52.7 MBAfter a reshuffle that saw Suella Braverman leave her post as Home Secretary, and left the government with no women in the “big four” offices of state, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk spoke to Emma Barnett. They discussed the impact of the reshuffle, as well as sentencing reforms which will affect women, and the alleged rapist currently serving as a Conservative MP. Endometriosis is a chronic condition which affects one in 10 women, for whom tissue similar to the lining of the womb starts to g...
Dame Kelly Holmes, Cabinet reshuffle, Debenhams picketers
November 14, 2023 11:31 - 57 minutes - 52.6 MBThe four top jobs in Rishi Sunak’s new cabinet have all been filled with men. It’s the first time this has happened since 2009. To unpack what this means, Emma Barnett is joined by Baroness Kate Fall, former deputy chief of staff to the newly appointed Lord Cameron, and Executive Editor of Politico Anne McElvoy. Double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes spoke publicly about her sexuality for the first time in June last year. Her new memoir, Unique, details how serving in the military in th...
Suella Braverman sacked as home secretary, Natalie Cassidy, Breast Cancer treatment
November 13, 2023 12:16 - 57 minutes - 52.7 MBFollowing a weekend of speculation, the most senior woman in government Suella Braverman has been sacked from her role as Home Secretary. To discuss Emma is joined by Lucy Fisher, the Whitehall Editor for the Financial Times; and Claire Pearsall, former Home Office special advisor under Amber Rudd and Sajid Javid. The gripping BBC One drama ‘Time’ focuses on the stories of three women, and shows the stark differences for female and male prisoners. Emma is joined by Time’s screenwriter, Hel...
Weekend Woman's Hour: Perinatal pelvic health, ‘Grey pound’ fashion, Jilly Cooper, Swearing, Hot flushes
November 11, 2023 17:00 - 57 minutes - 52.8 MBThe Government has announced £11 million in funding for the NHS in England to roll out a dedicated perinatal pelvic health service across all trusts. The aim of these new perinatal pelvic health services will be to help educate and assess women during pregnancy and after a traumatic birth – but how will it work? Emma Barnett hears from Jacqui Barrett, who had a traumatic birth and was incontinent for a year, Professor Swati Jha, consultant gynaecologist and spokesperson for the Royal College...
Swearing, Women in north east India, The 'grey pound' and fashion, A story of brutal crime, forgiveness and empathy
November 10, 2023 11:37 - 57 minutes - 52.5 MBIf you've been following the Covid inquiry, you may have noticed a lot of strong and swearing language. So why do we swear, and are women judged differently for swearing than men? In her new book For F*ck's Sake: Why Swearing is Shocking, Rude, and Fun, Dr Rebecca Roache explores double standards, the misogynistic roots of certain swear words and the challenges in reclaiming them. Anita Rani is also joined by the scientist Dr Emma Byrne who discusses why she swears, swearing in front of chil...
Nour Swirki in Gaza, Baroness Falkender's secrets, Divorce, Alzheimer's, Hot flushes
November 09, 2023 11:48 - 57 minutes - 52.7 MBWe have been bringing you women's voices from Israel and Gaza since the start of the war. Yesterday, you will have heard on the programme Rachel Goldberg, mother of a 23-year-old hostage Hersh Goldberg Polin, kidnapped by Hamas from a music festival in Israel. Today, we hear from a mother in Gaza. Nour Swirki is a journalist with two children living in Khan Younis, a city in the southern strip of Gaza, with her husband, mother and sister - they have had to leave their home in Gaza City for s...
Jilly Cooper, Rachel Goldberg – mother of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Women & binge drinking, Perinatal pelvic health service.
November 08, 2023 12:20 - 57 minutes - 52.6 MBJilly Cooper began her career as a journalist, wrote columns on marriage, sex and housework for the Sunday Times, and numerous works of non-fiction before turning to romance novels - to great success. She has sold more than two million copies of her books including: Riders, Rivals, and Polo - taking us into the glamorous worlds of show jumping and classical music. Her latest novel Tackle! takes us to the football pitch and features her legendary hero Rupert Campbell-Black. Jilly joins Emm...
Caster Semenya, King's Speech, Jude Rogers on Kirsty MacColl
November 07, 2023 12:05 - 55 minutes - 51.1 MBCaster Semenya is one of the most decorated athletes of her generation but she is also one of the most scrutinised. The South African shot to fame in 2009 after winning the 800 metres at the World Championships in Berlin. Her performance was so astonishing it was met with questions about her sex and gender, with some asking publicly if she was really a woman. Caster's career, for all its highs, has been defined by a battle between her and the sport's governing body World Athletics about her ...
MP rape allegations, Mothers' march, Melissa Caddick
November 06, 2023 12:02 - 57 minutes - 52.5 MBAn unidentified Conservative MP has been accused of rape by several women. These allegations are mentioned in a new book by former cabinet secretary Nadine Dorries. It comes after reports the Conservative party's former chairman, Sir Jake Berry, wrote to the police to make them aware of the claims after leaving the post last year. The deputy Prime Minister, Oliver Dowden, has denied a cover-up by the party when he was the chairman. Emma Barnett hears the reaction of Isabel Hardman, Assista...
Weekend Woman's Hour: Author Alex O'Brien on what playing poker can teach you, Maternity care & Sprinter Bianca Williams
November 04, 2023 17:00 - 53 minutes - 49.3 MBThis week, the Maternity Safety Alliance group has called for a full statutory public inquiry into maternity safety in England. They joined Jess to explain why they’re calling for this inquiry as did Presenter Krupa Padhy, who has produced a documentary on Radio 4 which investigates this issue. Writer and comedian Alison Larkin avoided love most of her adult life but in her 50s, she found true love for the first time with an Indian climate scientist. Then he died. Alison joins Krupa to tel...
Cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson, Women & renting, Catherine Dalton cricketer, Women's peace petition, Maggie Murphy CEO, Lewes FC
November 03, 2023 11:43 - 53 minutes - 49.4 MBThere is huge pressure in the rental market and women are being hit hardest of all, according to The Financial Times. Average rents have increased so much that “there are almost no affordable one-bedroom lets in London and the East of England for the average single mother”, according to ONS and rental market data analysed by the Financial Times. Women, and especially single mothers, are being forced to relocate away from networks of family and friends and even their children’s schools, in or...
Covid Inquiry, Child-free friends, Afghans in Pakistan, Alison Larkin
November 02, 2023 12:31 - 56 minutes - 51.7 MBFormer deputy cabinet secretary Helen McNamara gave evidence at the Covid Inquiry yesterday, saying that she thought that the culture in Number 10 was toxic and sexist. She was particularly critical of the explicit and misogynistic language the former chief advisor Dominic Cummings used to describe her. Krupa Padhy is joined by Lucy Fisher, Whitehall Editor for The Financial Times, and Jill Rutter, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government, to discuss what this says about the treatment o...
AI and child sexual abuse, Alex O’Brien, Molly Manning Walker
November 01, 2023 13:49 - 57 minutes - 52.4 MBAs the Artificial Intelligence Safety Summit starts at Bletchley Park today, we look at the growing issue of AI generated child sexual abuse imagery. Jessica Creighton speaks to Emma Hardy from the Internet Watch Foundation and to Professor Gina Neff, Executive Director of the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy at Cambridge University. Science writer and poker player Alex O’Brien explores how the game's rules and strategies could help us to navigate the world, in her new book Th...
Failures in maternity care, Spain's Princess Leonor turns 18, Women's Ballon d'Or
October 31, 2023 14:02 - 57 minutes - 52.4 MBA group of families affected by failures in NHS maternity care are calling for a full statutory public inquiry into maternity safety in England. Emily Barley from the Maternity Safety Alliance group told Jessica Creighton why she thinks fundamental reform is needed. And presenter Krupa Padhy draws on her own personal story of baby loss in her BBC Radio 4 investigation, How safe is maternity care? The Covid inquiry is already under way and has heard about an internal report into the culture ...
Bianca Williams, Sandra Hüller, Living with your parents too long
October 30, 2023 12:58 - 57 minutes - 52.7 MBBianca Williams and her partner, fellow athlete Ricardo dos Santos, were stopped outside their home in London in July 2020. They had their three-month-old baby with them in their car. Both were handcuffed and searched on suspicion of having drugs and weapons. None were found and neither was arrested. A police Misconduct Hearing was held involving the five officers present. Last week that hearing found that two Met officers must be sacked as the stop and search was found to have amounted to ...
Weekend Woman's Hour: Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Rescuing seal pups, Tell-all celebrity memoirs
October 28, 2023 16:00 - 56 minutes - 51.4 MBLeigh-Anne Pinnock - a name you may know, as a member of one of the biggest girl bands in the world, Little Mix. This year - almost two years since the band announced a hiatus - Leigh-Anne has embarked on her own solo career. She tells Anita Rani about her new memoir Believe, all about her life growing up, what it was really like going through The X Factor and how she found her voice. Ukraine claims it has identified 20,000 children who it alleges have been abducted by Russia since the sta...
Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Black British Book Festival, Gesbeen Mohammad
October 27, 2023 11:03 - 56 minutes - 51.3 MBLeigh-Anne Pinnock has embarked on her own solo career, almost two years after her band, Little Mix, called a hiatus - and has already released two songs. Now she's got a new book out, Believe, all about her life growing up, what it was really like going through the X Factor and how she found her voice. She joins Anita Rani to discuss it all. The Black British Book Festival is now in its third year. It aims to celebrate new and emerging Black British authors across all genres of literature....
Tell-all celebrity memoirs, child poverty, and 'de-banking'
October 26, 2023 10:47 - 57 minutes - 52.6 MBBritney Spears has been in the news again after spilling personal stories in a memoir. Are women being pressured to overshare in order to sell books? And are men also expected to publicise their personal lives? Nina Stibbe, whose newest memoir is Went to London, Took the Dog, and Caroline Sanderson, Associate Editor of The Bookseller, joined Emma Barnett to discuss. Mary Turner Thomson found writing a memoir cathartic after discovering that her husband, William Allen Jordan, was not a spy a...
Israel-Gaza war, Monica Dolan, Kathryn Mannix
October 25, 2023 11:15 - 57 minutes - 52.8 MBAs the Israel-Gaza war continues, aid groups are calling for a ceasefire in Gaza as power shortages threaten the lives of vulnerable patients, including women and children. UN agencies have estimated that one-third of hospitals in Gaza and nearly two-thirds of primary health care clinics have had to shut due to damage or a lack of fuel. The Israeli government says Hamas is stock-piling thousands of litres of fuel. The biggest aid provider in Gaza, the UN, says its fuel will run out tonight, ...
Ruth Birch and Julia Curry, Liza Mundy, Lyse Doucet and Tal Hochman, Cindy Thomas and Laura Barton
October 24, 2023 10:59 - 57 minutes - 52.8 MBLiza Mundy is the bestselling author of Code Girls, a book about the American women who broke codes during the Second World War. Her new book details the lives of spies and intelligence agents behind some of the biggest operations in postwar history including locating Osama bin Laden, and rescuing the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram. Around 80 Israeli rights groups have signed a letter calling on the organisation UN Women to condemn acts of violence against women by Hamas. The letter wa...
Ukrainian children in Russia, Fanny Mendelssohn, Men designing clothes for women
October 23, 2023 11:05 - 56 minutes - 52 MBUkraine claims it has identified 20,000 children who it alleges have been abducted by Russia since the start of the war. Arrest warrants have been issued to President Putin and his Commissioner for Children's Rights. It's the subject of the latest work from film maker Shahida Tulaganova, whose documentary Ukraine's Stolen Children airs on ITV tonight. Now you may have heard of German composer Felix Mendelssohn but what about his sister, Fanny? A composer in her own right, Fanny was long ...
Weekend Woman's Hour: Coleen Rooney, IVF add-ons, Online safety, Talking on the phone, Singer Mica Millar
October 21, 2023 16:00 - 54 minutes - 49.9 MBThe Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has launched a ratings system to let patients see which IVF add-ons are backed-up by evidence. Emma Barnett is joined by Professor Tim Child, chair of the HFEA's Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee, and Jessica Hepburn, who spent over £70,000 on unsuccessful fertility procedures. In October 2019, Coleen Rooney was concerned by articles appearing in newspapers that could only have come from stories on her private Instagr...