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Black Genocide

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 T…

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'…

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…

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 fes…

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 Danc…

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 charit…

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…

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 b…

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 e…

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 percus…

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, bu…

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 Bri…

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 Wi…

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…

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 lif…

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. …

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 Festi…

Singer and songwriter Melanie C; actor and director Douglas Hodge; Ironman competitor John McAvoy and football referee Howard Webb join Libby Purves. Melanie Chisholm, otherwise known as Melanie C, is a singer and songwriter. Formerly one of the Spice Girls, she went solo in 1999 and has enjoyed two number one singles and released four albums. In 2…

Ken Clarke MP, jazz saxophonist Soweto Kinch, historian Melanie Lamotte and writer and puzzle-historian Alex Bellos join Libby Purves. Alex Bellos is a writer and broadcaster who writes a maths blog and a puzzle blog for the Guardian newspaper. His book Can You Solve my Problems? reveals the story of the puzzle through 125 of the world's best brain…

Physicist Helen Czerski; composer Odaline de la Martinez; actor Paapa Essiedu and geologist and gold prospector Jim Richards join Libby Purves. Physicist and oceanographer Helen Czerski studies the bubbles underneath breaking waves and their effects on weather and climate. In her book, Storm in a Teacup, she explains how the same scientific princip…

Sleep coach Nick Littlehales, Adele Bellis, a survivor of an acid attack, actor Adrian Edmondson and chef Marcus Wareing, join Libby Purves. Nick Littlehales is a sport sleep coach to some of the biggest names in sport including the British Cycling team, top Premiership and International football squads, and Olympic and Paralympic athletes. In his …

Milliner Stephen Jones; professor of Volcanology Clive Oppenheimer; filmmaker Karen Guthrie and former MI5 operative Tom Marcus join Libby Purves. Clive Oppenheimer is professor of Volcanology at the University of Cambridge. He presents Werner Herzog's documentary Into the Inferno which is inspired by Clive's book Eruptions that Shook the World. In…

Politician and writer Rory Stewart; Italian musician Zucchero; cellist Nina Plapp and SAS trainee recruit Efrem Brynin join Libby Purves. Nina Plapp is a cellist and winner of the Royal Geographical Society and BBC Journey of a Lifetime award. Together with her cello Cuthbert she sets off from the Isle of Wight to Romania and India in search of the…

Jeremy Paxman; Priscilla Presley; ballet dancer Thiago Soares and writer and photographer iO Tillett Wright join Libby Purves. Priscilla Presley is an actress. She starred in the Naked Gun series of films, the television series Dallas and for the last few years has appeared on the British stage in pantomimes including Aladdin and Snow White. Marrie…

Broadcaster Nicholas Parsons; chef and writer Ken Hom; author Jacqueline Wilson and comic Scott Gibson join Libby Purves Comedian Scott Gibson swapped his job in a call centre for the stand-up stage after surviving a brain aneurysm at the age of 24. Winner of the best newcomer award at the lastminute.com Comedy Awards in 2016, his show Life After D…

Politician Lord David Owen; singer and harmonicist Paul Jones; sound artist Amie Slavin and origami expert Samuel Tsang join Libby Purves Amie Slavin is a sound artist. She is the director of the Sonophilia Festival - Lincoln's Festival of Sound - which will offer eight days of live music, sound art installations and other activities across the cit…

Garden writer and broadcaster Monty Don; journalist Ian Hislop; marine biologist Joanna Barker and pastor Gethin Russell-Jones join Libby Purves. Joanna Barker is a marine biologist who works for the Zoological Society of London and specialises in marine and mammal conservation. Her work includes carrying out annual population counts of grey and ha…

Libby Purves meets actress Glynis Barber; flamenco composer and guitarist Paco Pena; Pastor Lorraine Jones and champion long distance swimmer Diana Nyad. Diana Nyad was a champion swimmer in her twenties, setting the record around Manhattan Island. In 1978 she made her first attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida, but failed to get across. In her six…

Libby Purves meets illustrator and author Liz Pichon; pianist Melvyn Tan; travel writer Dan Richards and food writer Meera Sodha. Dan Richards is a travel writer. In his book Climbing Days, he is on the trail of his great-great aunt, Dorothy Pilley, a pioneering mountaineer of the early twentieth century. Using Dorothy's 1935 memoir Climbing Days a…

Libby Purves meets farmer and broadcaster Adam Henson; writer Paul Spike; pilot Tracey Curtis-Taylor and theatre student Joe Langdon. Tracey Curtis-Taylor is a pilot who last year followed Amy Johnson's flight from the UK to Australia in her classic open cockpit biplane, Spirit of Artemis. Earlier this year the self-styled bird in a biplane attempt…

Libby Purves meets Olympic cyclist Chris Boardman; writer Rex Pickett; writer and academic Bella Merlin and performer Natalie James. Bella Merlin is an actor, writer, and professor of acting and directing at the University of California, Riverside. In her book, Facing the Fear, she draws on her own and other actors' personal experiences to address …

Libby Purves meets biologist and stand-up Simon Watt; motoring journalist Martin Gurdon; hip-hop artist Baba Israel and journalist Cal Flyn. Martin Gurdon is a motoring journalist. In his book, An Estate Car Named Desire, he recounts tales of his car-obsessed childhood in the 1960s - a lost world of Ford Anglias, Triumph Heralds and Morris Minors. …

Libby Purves meets poet and artist Frieda Hughes; composer Christopher Gunning; puppeteer Ronnie Le Drew and horticulturalist and gardening judge Jim Buttress. Ronnie Le Drew is a puppeteer. Over his long career he has operated Muffin the Mule, Sweep and Zippy from the children's television series Rainbow. He discovered puppetry as a small boy, per…

Libby Purves meets wine writer Oz Clarke; photographer Johnny Fenn; playwright Brian Mullin and Emma Sherlock, curator of free-living worms at the Natural History Museum. Emma Sherlock is senior curator of annelids - free-living worms - at the Natural History Museum. She's also co-founder and president of the Earthworm Society of Great Britain. A z…

The poet Lemn Sissay meets naturalist and broadcaster Chris Packham; singer and songwriter Ralph McTell; actor and director Ian Ogilvy and paleoanthropologist and stand-up comedian Ella Al-Shamahi. Ian Ogilvy is an actor who is best known for playing Simon Templar in the 1970s TV series The Return of the Saint. He has also appeared in Upstairs Down…

Libby Purves meets singer and songwriter Chris Rea; artist Chris Dobrowolski; former railway detective Graham Satchwell and actor Rosa Hoskins, daughter of Bob. Chris Dobrowolski is an artist and sculptor who spent three and a half months in Antarctica as artist in residence for the British Antarctic Survey. Chris lived and worked alongside scienti…

Libby Purves meets writer Hunter Davies; artistic director Daniel Evans; poet Henry Normal and forager and cook Fiona Bird. Fiona Bird is a forager, writer and cook. A former finalist on Masterchef, her new book Let Your Kids Go Wild Outside is full of enthusiasm for the natural world and aims to encourage children to get off the sofa and explore t…

Libby Purves meets actor Maureen Lipman; writer and comedian Paul Whitehouse; tightrope walker Chris Bull and farmer Desmond MacCarthy. Chris Bull - otherwise known as Bullzini - is a funambulist or tightrope walker. He is recreating the tightrope walk of Carlos Trower, The African Blondin, at A Day at the Lake in Staffordshire. Trower walked acros…

Libby Purves meets poet Wendy Cope; performer Julian Clary; poet Patrick Deeley and actor and playwright Carmen Aguirre. Wendy Cope OBE is a poet. A former teacher and television critic, she has written on a variety of topics including education, romance, religion, television and psychoanalysis. She has been commissioned by the Shakespeare Birthpla…

Nick Davies is professor of behavioural ecology at the University of Cambridge and an expert on cuckoos. Based at Wicken Fen, the National Trust reserve in Cambridgeshire, Davies has unravelled some of the key mysteries of this trickster of the bird world using stuffed cuckoos and dummy birds eggs. Cuckoos are so swift in laying their eggs (only on…

Libby Purves meets actor and writer Meera Syal; writer and director James Runcie; former soldier Elliot Ackerman and Philip Hoare, author, broadcaster and whale chaser. Philip Hoare is a writer and broadcaster. He narrates Chasing the Whale, a show inspired by the 19th century journeys of whaling ships from Britain to the South Seas. Philip's stori…

Libby Purves meets Richard Hines whose story inspired the novel A Kestral for a Knave; novelist Fay Weldon; cartographer John Hessler and actor Ed Zephyr. John Hessler is a specialist in modern cartography at the Library of Congress in Washington DC. He is the founder of the Scaling Lab, a geographical and mathematical collective that uses the theo…

Libby Purves meets commentator Henry Blofeld; clarinettist Emma Johnson; journalist Davis Miller and Pedro Algorta who survived a notorious plane crash in 1972. Davis Miller is a journalist who struck up a 30-year friendship with the heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali. He is co-curator of the exhibition, I Am The Greatest, at London's O2, which showcas…

Libby Purves meets shepherd James Rebanks; Helen Scott from the Three Degrees; journalist Caitriona Palmer and American tenor Carl Tanner. James Rebanks is a shepherd, known to his followers as the Herdwick Shepherd. The first son of a shepherd, who was the first son of a shepherd himself, he and his family have lived and worked in and around the L…

Libby Purves meets veterinarian and barrister Charles Foster; presenter and writer Janet Ellis; journalist Nina Myskow and comedian Sarah Kendall. Sarah Kendall is an award-winning comedian and writer. Born in Newcastle, New South Wales in Australia, she is a regular cast member of Clare in the Community on BBC Radio 4 and a frequent guest on the N…

Due to scheduling changes this episode will be broadcast on Radio 4 at 21:30. The full length programme is available online from February 17 2016. Libby Purves meets playwright Rob Askins; actor Mark Lockyer, neuroscientist and stand-up comedian Dean Burnett and cattle warden Ellie Crossley. Rob Askins is a writer and playwright. His play, Hand To …

Libby Purves meets writer and director Sally Wainwright; writer Erwin James; comedian Abi Roberts and author Angela Kiss. Abi Roberts is a stand-up comedian. She is performing her new show, Anglichanka - meaning Englishwoman - in Moscow. She says she's the first UK comedian to perform in Russia - in Russian. The show is based on the story of her ad…

Lemn Sissay meets broadcaster and writer Dame Joan Bakewell; micro sculptor Willard Wigan; choreographer Gary Clarke and violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja. Willard Wigan MBE is a micro sculptor. He creates minute pieces of art, so small they are almost invisible to the naked eye and can only be viewed through a microscope. His materials range from …