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Educating Rita at 40 with Julie Walters, Willy Russell and real life Ritas Aug 31, 2020

Show notes

This summer marks 40 years since Willy Russell’s landmark play Educating Rita was first performed. The funny and moving story of a 26 year-old Liverpudlian hairdresser studying for an Open University degree has barely been off stage since. Dame Julie Walters played the lead role in both the original theatrical production and the later film, for which she was Oscar-nominated. She joins Jane to talk about what playing the role has meant to her, and how much Rita/Susan’s experience chimed with her own. Jane also speaks to Willy Russell about Rita’s story, and why he believes it has resonated with so many women. They are joined by four real life Ritas – working-class women who returned to education in later life, Glynthea Modood, Sue Slater, Kate Wiseman, and the Open University’s Pro Vice Chancellor Liz Marr.

Listener Week - Nits, Accents, Becoming a mother unexpectedly, Paddle sports, Losing your belongings, Choirs Aug 29, 2020

Show notes

Louise Somerville thinks we need to talk more about nits. She feels that increasingly schools are inconsistent in how much they help parents deal with nits and that clear advice is lacking. We ask how best to deal with nits and head lice, and the stigma attached, and why it matters. With entomologist Richard Jones and Joanna Ibarra from Community Hygiene Concern.

Daisy Leigh was 23 when she felt an unfamiliar kicking sensation and was shocked to discover she was 30 weeks pregnant. She had just two months to prepare, mentally and practically, for becoming a mother. Nine months on, she says her daughter is the best thing that's ever happened to her.

Women and Paddling: kayaking, canoeing, paddle boarding, rafting; what are the attractions, what is involved, and how can paddle sports help physical and mental health? Cadi Lambert runs the #ShePaddles programme for British Canoeing, and Emma Kitchen has started training to be a coach to help people improve their paddle skills.

Are women taken more seriously in the work place if they have an RP accent? Jane hears from listeners Karen Jenkins, Bethan John and Dr. Melanie Reynolds, and Professor Deviyani Sharma, Professor of Socio-linguistics at Queen Mary University of London.

How do you cope when you lose all your belongings? Eve, Pat Plumbridge and Sue Hepworth discuss.

How much do you miss singing in a choir? Carolyn Acton, Sandra Colston, MD Funky Choir MD and Liesbeth Tip, Clinical psychologist at the School of Health and Social Science at University of Edinburgh, discuss.

Presenter: Jenni Murray Producer: Dianne McGregor

Choirs, Sexual Assault on University Campuses, Retirement, Losing Your Belongings Aug 28, 2020

Show notes

Presented by Jenni Murray.

A 16 year-old young woman looking at universities came across the St Andrews Survivors page on Instagram with more than 100 stories of sexual assault. She only read a couple but consequently wiped St Andrews off her potential university list. Her mother, a Woman’s Hour listener, wrote to us to saying she felt universities are not doing enough to address this problem, and was concerned with the impact this could have on young women going to university. Jenni is joined by Sara Khan, NUS Vice President for Liberation and Equality for an update on a problem that has been raised many times in the last few years. How successful have universities been in addressing this?

What singing can do for your mental health? We hear how much some listeners are missing being part of choirs, and also from those who have been finding alternative ways to sing as a group online and even outdoors. Jenni discusses the issues with listener Carolyn Acton, Sandra Colston, MD Funky Choir MD and Liesbeth Tip Clinical psychologist at the School of Health and Social Science at University of Edinburgh.

Listener Jan Courtney describes her experience of retiring and finding it hard to adjust to her new life, and describes meeting “juicy crones” –other women of a certain age who are having adventures and doing extraordinary things.

Listener, Eve, lost all of her belongings when she was a student. She would like to know how other people cope when it happens to them. She joins Jenni, along with Pat Plumbridge and Sue Hepworth, to discuss what was lost, how they came to terms with this, the items they miss and how the experience has shaped their attitude to possessions.

Producer: Louise Corley Editor: Karen Dalziel

LISTENER WEEK: Writing about your job. The evolution of the buggy. Community quilting. Aug 27, 2020

Show notes

LISTENER WEEK: Josie Channer and Teresa Devereux are both listeners who felt that they had to write novels about what they’d experienced through their work. Josie’s written Diary of a Prison Officer and Teresa’s based her novel Broken Lives on what she saw and heard as a social worker. They tell Jane about how they published their work and what they hope readers will get out of their books.

Sarah Fraser is an associate professor at Princess Nourah Bint University in Riyadh, the largest female-only university in the world. She got in touch because she wanted to talk about the supportive and collaborative there,. She believes that despite most people believing the opposite, a country like Saudi Arabia does not oppress women. Rothna Begum, senior women's rights researcher at Human Rights Watch with focus on the Middle East adds her perspective.

Plus the evolution of the pushchair and the joys of community quilting.

Presenter Jane Garvey Producer Beverley Purcell

Grave Tending, Sisterhood, Second Generation Young Women and mental health; Accents. Aug 26, 2020

Show notes

Marva Yates who lives in London got in touch because she wanted us to talk about the importance of sisterhood throughout history... Marva and her sister Sabrina – who currently lives in New York - started the @sistoryuntold podcast about it during lockdown. They wanted not only to learn more about those often forgotten women of history but to show that support, both good and bad, from the “sisterhood” can be a crucial part of success.

Shortly after turning 50, Jo Hogger was made redundant from her corporate career. Her passion for flowers and personal and professional experiences of bereavement led her to a complete career change and she started a business tending graves and creating beautiful flowers to put on them. She explains the reasons people want this type of service, the joy she gains from it, and the meaning behind the flowers she chooses.

Until very recently, very few people felt free to discuss their mental health. Even now, it’s not easy for everyone – and Listener Rochelle Fernando who is 29, and Sri-Lankan-British, wanted the programme to talk about young women of colour and mental health. She spoke to our reporter Olivia Cope, alongside Victoria Sanusi, a freelance journalist who’s 26 and Nigerian-British. Rochelle explained why she wanted the topic to be explored.

Jessica, originally from Leeds, but now in Manchester, got in touch and wanted to speak to us about accents and was surprised that some of us still have to ‘posh up’ a bit to get on with our jobs. Have you had to deliberately change or kept your accent? Jane is joined by listeners Karen Jenkins, Bethan John and Dr. Melanie Reynolds, and Professor Deviyani Sharma, Professor of Socio-linguistics with the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film at Queen Mary University of London.

Producer: Louise Corley Editor: Karen Dalziel

Listener Week: Women & Walking, Bulimia, Becoming a Mother Unexpectedly Aug 26, 2020

Show notes

Would you consider walking 880 miles around the Wales Coastal Path? Two listeners, Helen and Rhian, tell us about their experiences, and they are joined by academic Kerri Andrews, author of Wanderers: A History of Women Walking. Daisy Leigh was 23 when she felt an unfamiliar kicking sensation and was shocked to discover she was 30 weerks pregnant. She had just two months to prepare, mentally and practically, for becoming a mother. Nine months on, she says her daughter is the best thing that's ever happened to her, and she'll be talking about the challenges and pressures of becoming a young mum when her career was taking off. Helen got in touch wanting to highlight bulimia, which she feels is often overshadowed by anorexia. She talks about her experience with the condition and how difficult it is, particularly as her weight is a healthy one. Also on the programme is Associate Prof Lucy Serpell, Dept of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology at UCL, who also treats bulimia patients in a clinical capacity. Lockdown inspired listener Suzanne to start her own business. Furloughed from her work as a child advocate, she had time to return to developing her hat-making skills using recycled 100% wool.

Presenter: Jane Garvey Producer: Lucinda Montefiore

Parenting Podcast: Nits Aug 25, 2020

Show notes

All you need to know about nits

Listener Week 2020 - paddlesport; the Pill; Nits; Dating over 45; Aug 24, 2020

Show notes

Women and Paddling: kayaking, canoeing, paddle boarding, rafting what are the attractions, what is involved, how can paddle sports help physical and mental health and where are women in these water sports? Following an email from a Woman’s Hour Listener who is passionate about women paddling, Jane speaks to Cadi Lambert, who runs the ShePaddles programme for British Canoeing, and Emma Kitchen, who has started training to be a coach to help people improve their paddle skills and is returning to paddling after some tough years in her personal life and has found new confidence from being on the water.

It’s more than 50 years since the contraceptive Pill became widely available in the UK. Several listeners have written in with questions, some concerned about its possible side effects. Can you take the Pill and stop your period? Does the Pill make you gain weight? Should there be a seven day break if you are using it? Julia Hogan, lead contraceptive and sexual health nurse for Marie Stopes, and Dr Rebecca French, Associate Professor of Sexual and Reproductive Health Research, answer your questions and burst some myths.

Do we all need to talk more about nits? Listener Louise Somerville thinks so. She’s been a parent for 30 years with three children, and she feels that increasingly schools are inconsistent in how much they help parents deal with nits and that clear advice is lacking. So today we ask how best to deal with nits and head lice, and the stigma attached, and why it matters. With entomologist Richard Jones and Joanna Ibarra from Community Hygiene Concern.

Elizabeth got in touch with us about her experience with dating apps when you’re over the age of 45, after finding they weren’t quite what she expected. Dr Martin Graff researches the online dating world and joins us to advise Clare how to best navigate it.

Presenter: Jane Garvey Producer: Kirsty Starkey

Interviewed Guest: Julia Hogan Interviewed Guest: Dr Rebecca French Interviewed Guest: Cadi Lambert Interviewed Guest: Emma Kitchen Interviewed Guest: Louise Somerville Interviewed Guest: Richard Jones Interviewed Guest: Joanna Ibarra Interviewed Guest: Dr Martin Graff

Can sex offenders change? Camilla Thurlow, Cook the perfect with Ravinder Bhogal, Childless older women Aug 22, 2020

Show notes

Becky's father went to prison for sex offences against children. For a BBC documentary, Can Sex Offenders Change?, Becky met three sex offenders who didn’t go to jail, but had rehabilitation treatment in the community. We hear from Becky and Professor Belinda Whynder, Research Director Centre for Crime Offending, Prevention and Engagement at Nottingham Trent University and a co-founder of the charity Safer Living Foundation.

Former Love Island contestant Camilla Thurlow worked in explosive ordinance disposal, finding and clearing landmines in some of the world’s most dangerous and inhospitable places. She has written a book - Not the Type – Finding my place in the real world.

The Office for National Statistics has estimated that the number of women who reach 80 without children will almost triple in the next 25 years. As a result demand for paid care in nursing homes is expected to increase sharply. Why is the focus on childless women and not men, and how is the data being reported in the media? Jody Day is a psychotherapist, author and founder of Gateway Women, a global organisation for women who are involuntarily childless.

Ravinder Bhogal is a chef and restaurateur whose book, Jikoni is subtitled as proudly inauthentic recipes from an immigrant kitchen. She tells Jenni how to Cook the Perfect Coffee Rasgullas with Mascarpone Ice Cream and Espresso Caramel.

Sixteen year old Rhea from Shetland put out an appeal using an anonymous app, to anyone who wanted to share their personal stories about sexual violence. She received more than 60 responses within 24 hours. Rhea, and Lisa Ward, manager of Rape Crisis Shetland, talk about what those stories say about sexual violence within rural areas.

Mary Stewart has been called one of the great British storytellers of the 20th century. Her 1954 best-seller Madame, Will You Talk? has been dramatised in two parts for Radio 4. We speak to the writers Jane Casey and Harriet Evans who are both fans of her work.

Presenter: Jane Garvey Producer: Dianne McGregor

Author Wendy Holden. Sexual violence in rural areas. How to make time for yourself Aug 21, 2020

Show notes

Marion ‘Crawfie’ Crawford was a young Scottish trainee teacher who wanted to educate children in the slums of Edinburgh but ended up as governess to a young Princess Elizabeth and her sister Margaret. How much did she influence and shape their lives? Writer Wendy Holden on how she's brought her story to life, in a new novel ‘The Governess: She Came from Nothing and Raised a Queen ’.

Earlier this year Rhea, a sixteen year old girl from Shetland, put out an appeal using an anonymous app, to anyone who wanted to share their personal stories about sexual violence. Within 24 hours she'd had more than 60 responses. Rhea, and Lisa Ward, manager of Rape Crisis Shetland, talk about what those stories say about where they live.

And in the next in our summer series of How to guides, we discuss the art of stepping off the treadmill and carving out time for yourself. How can you minimise feelings of guilt and maximise bliss moments? What are the best ways to politely but firmly say no?

Presenter Jane Garvey Producer Beverley Purcell

Guest; Wendy Holden Guest; Deborah Joseph Guest; Louise Pentland Guest; Celia Dodd

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