Conversations

Latest Episodes:

From having a severe stutter to becoming the man with the magnificent voice - James Earl Jones Sep 21, 2020

Show notes

How the man who voiced Darth Vader and Mufasa overcame a childhood stutter to build a career on his rich, resonant voice (R)

James grew up with a stutter so severe he was almost mute until the age of fourteen.

After the intervention of an English professor, he went on to become one of his generation's finest stage and screen actors.

James is famous for his roles in films like The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games and The Great White Hope.

He is the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars series and of Mufasa in The Lion King.

James toured Australia in a production of Driving Miss Daisy (with Angela Lansbury) in 2013.

Further information

Original broadcast February 2013

To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Dave Graney — a musician's take on the art of the bludge Sep 18, 2020

Show notes

Dave looks back on the many forms of employment and unemployment to have sustained him as a hard working musician (R)

The Salami Sisters, Puberty Blues, and beyond Sep 17, 2020

Show notes

In the late 70s, Gabrielle Carey co-wrote a blisteringly honest novel about the real lives of teenage surfie chicks in Cronulla which caused a storm of public outrage. What happened next saw her make a new life far from the limelight

The story of a tank named Mephisto Sep 16, 2020

Show notes

Why the only remaining WW1 German A7V tank is in Brisbane, Australia (R)

A Herdwick shepherd's epiphany Sep 15, 2020

Show notes

A new conversation with James Rebanks on how he saved his family farm by returning to ancient ways of growing crops and meadows

Mudlarking and beachcombing — a family story of London rubbish Sep 10, 2020

Show notes

Lisa Woollett's family made their living from combing through London's waste for treasures. Her great-grandfather was a scavenger and her grandad was a dustman, and as she grew up she also began mudlarking on the Thames

Bangarra's bold leader: Stephen Page Sep 09, 2020

Show notes

When they were kids, Stephen and his brothers would climb onto the laundry roof and put on a show for their neighbourhood. Stephen's since made an exceptional career as a dancer, and at the helm of Bangarra Dance Theatre (R)

How Dyarubbin became the crucible of a colony Sep 08, 2020

Show notes

Grace Karskens with the story of the riverlands of the Hawkesbury-Nepean, where ancient and modern Australia first collided

Maggie Dent - helping teenage boys grow into good men Sep 07, 2020

Show notes

Maggie grew up around boys, then raised four sons of her own. Now she helps parents understand the changes teenage boys are going through as they cross the bridge from boyhood to manhood

Maggie Dent grew up in the country and she always felt she 'spoke bloke'.

As a high school teacher and a family counsellor, she discovered she had a real affinity for teenage boys, and understood how to communicate with them.

It helped that she was also the mother of four sons.

In her conversations with parents she often found they were bewildered by their teenage sons.

They said it was as though an alien had landed in their family and their sweet boy had been replaced by an unpredictable and sometimes monosyllabic human.

But Maggie says we often don't realise how vulnerable teenage boys are as they grow into adulthood.

She believes if parents learn about some of the ways the brain changes during adolescence, it can make for much better ways to communicate.

Further information

From Boys to Men is published by Pan MacMillan

Listen to Maggie's podcast Parental as Anything

Ivan Milat, tribal law, and making my father proud — Andrew Boe's story Sep 04, 2020

Show notes

Andrew was a 4 year old when his family migrated to Australia from Burma. By his mid-20s he had his own criminal law practice. When he took on a client named Ivan Milat, his career became front page news

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