One to One

Ramita Navai is a foreign affairs journalist who investigates human rights abuses and conflict around the world. She has reported from war zones and hostile territories in over forty countries, and although good at compartmentalising the trauma she's witnessed, nothing could prepare her for the grief she felt when her own father died three years ago. In this episode, she speaks to Mary-Frances O’C...

What's it really like wielding the little notebook of doom or glory? Sarah Crompton, theatre critic for What's On Stage and dance critic for The Observer, tells all to broadcaster Luke Jones, who once dipped his toe into that world himself. They talk warm white wine, the imagined audience, vomiting and the most unforgiveable critical gaffe of all. Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton

BBC Radio 1Xtra's Reece Parkinson meets Dr Lucy Chambers from Diabetes UK to discuss type 1 diabetes, swap stories about travel, and talk about the future for diabetes treatment. Producer: Melanie Pearson

BBC Radio 1Xtra DJ and long distance runner Reece Parkinson meets Welsh athlete Melanie Stephenson-Gray to talk about type 1 diabetes and how it impacts their lives and love of sport. Producer: Melanie Pearson

In 2014 the biologist and presenter Gillian Burke joined a community choir in Falmouth in a bid to strengthen her voice. Singing is Gillian's passion and it's her way of switching off from work and the pressures of life. In this third programme Gillian speaks to the conductor of The Kingdom Choir, Karen Gibson. Karen grew up singing in church and Gospel groups, before graduating to the role of cho...

In 2014 the biologist and presenter Gillian Burke joined a community choir in Falmouth in a bid to strengthen her voice. Singing is Gillian's passion and it's her way of switching off from work and the pressures of life. In this second programme Gillian delves deeper into the mechanics of gospel music and asks Musical Director Richard Penrose exactly what makes a Gospel song. They discuss Richard'...

In 2014 the biologist and presenter Gillian Burke joined a community choir in Falmouth in a bid to strengthen her voice. Singing is Gillian's passion and it's her way of switching off from work and the pressures of life. Ley Adewole is the Director of the Falmouth Community Gospel Choir. Ley began singing in a Pentecostal church in Coventry; she joined various singing groups, got spotted and went...

Emma Garland lives in London but was born in Wales. Welsh stand up queen Kiri Pritchard-McLean has returned to her roots in Anglesey and she explores hiraeth in her latest tour ... hiraeth being Welsh for a sense of longing for your home. So what is this draw both of them clearly feel, and can you be Welsh if you don't speak Welsh? Emma Garland was born in the valleys of South Wales and writes abo...

Emma and Mike have done a kind of cultural house swap - Emma left South Wales when she was 18 and is now London-based. Mike left England over two decades ago and has learnt to speak Welsh. So which of them is more Welsh? Emma Garland was born in Ynysybwl. She writes for Dazed, Vice and Rolling Stone magazine. Mike Parker lives in Powys and is the author of Neighbours from Hell and the forthcoming...

Before her life as a financial journalist began, Felicity Hannah could more often be found wearing a top hat, leading tourists round the ghostly streets beneath Edinburgh. She loves sudden startles and that sense of creeping enjoyable fear in person, in books and on screen, but she wants to know why. Why are some humans wired to get a thrill out of fear? Why not all of us? Felicity talks to fear e...

Spooky tour guide turned financial journalist Felicity Hannah wants to know why being scared can feel so good. Why do we frighten ourselves for fun? Why do we love scary stories and terrifying TV? She asks Neil Gaiman, author of Coraline, The Graveyard Book, Neverwhere and The Sandman – a storyteller who knows all about the power of fear to fascinate and delight us. Felicity and Neil talk about wh...

Faranak Amidi, World Service radio presenter and women's affairs reporter, talks to anthropologist Dr Martha Newson, who has studied rave, about why humans have always partied, how it can bond us, and whether rave can change society for the better. Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton

Faranak Amidi, World Service radio presenter and women's affairs reporter, talks to DJ Eris Drew about how rave culture triggered massive changes in each of their lives. For Faranak, it meant rebelling against the strict culture of her home country of Iran, and finding a new life elsewhere. And for Eris, it meant even more profound questions about identity. But what is it about the "motherbeat", a...

Vee Kativhu has a kind of fame incomprehensible to most people aged over 40. She makes videos in which she struggles with essay deadlines, gives study tips and celebrates getting the keys to her first flat. Tens of thousands of people watch each vlog she posts, so with so much of her life public, how does she maintain her privacy? Producer Sally Heaven

Sophie Ellis-Bextor has the kind of fame which brings with it high profile television shows and recognition in the street. Her mum, Janet Ellis was in millions of living rooms every week but the only perk Sophie can remember was jumping the queue at Madame Tussauds. Mother and daughter talk about fame, and how the whole experience has changed over the decades. Producer Sally Heaven

A move from China to the UK aged 9 meant a new language for journalist and contributing editor at The Times, Cindy Yu. How did that change her upbringing and view of the world? She meets Asifa Majid, Professor of Cognitive Science at the University of Oxford (formerly at the University of York). Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Chris Ledgard

Journalist and contributing editor at The Times, Cindy Yu, moved from China to the UK aged 9. That meant switching languages. So how did that change her childhood and her view of the world? Cindy meets Leslie, who moved from the US to Mexico at a similar age. Leslie says it was traumatic at the time but now she feels the experience was a positive one, and she is proudly bilingual. Produced for BBC...

Jackie Weaver was the name on everyone's lips when she successfully shut down several unruly attendees of a local government Zoom meeting. So what does instant fame feel like?

The writer Anna Freeman speaks to Sheyi Thomas, who runs an escape room in Dalston. Anna delves into the world of escape rooms and explores how creating the experience of escape for people in a safe and cathartic way can be useful when facing our own fears. Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Caitlin Hobbs

In this episode of One to One, the writer Anna Freeman speaks to Brian Robson. In 1962, Brian was so desperate to return home to the UK from Australia, that he hatched a plan to mail himself home in a crate. He became the first person in history to fly for nearly five days in a crate across the Pacific Ocean; an incredibly dangerous feat. Anna hears how behind this daring tale was a young man will...

In this episode of One to One, writer Anna Freeman speaks to escape artist Miranda Allen. Together they explore their mutual love of escapes as a concept, and the delicate balance of peril and catharsis that makes Miranda's work so compelling. Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Caitlin Hobbs

Journalist Kieran Yates hears from people who have taught themselves new skills as adults and overcome fears or hesitation. In this programme, Kieran speaks to Colin Brien who, in his seventies, is entering the world of technology and learning how to stay connected. Kieran meets Colin at a community hub in Romford and hears how technology has opened up the world for him, enabling him to keep in to...

Like much of the country, the last year has seen people picking up new skills to pass the time, from cooking, yoga or becoming knitting experts. But what about the small things that many people have learned before adulthood? In this set of programmes, journalist Kieran Yates explores how adopting seemingly simple skills in later life - that maybe we missed out on learning when we were younger, or...

What happens when you do something you thought you could never do? In this programme, journalist Kieran Yates speaks to Ellie who has been managing her agoraphobia for a few years, to hear how she has learned the mighty task of how to leave the house. Kieran hears how Ellie has faced up to her fears and learnt how to cope through breathing and disco music. Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Caitli...

What do you think of when you hear the words "A.I." or "Artificial Intelligence"? Thanks to science-fiction it's often strange-looking humanoids or futuristic robots hell-bent on destruction. But as Kriti Sharma points out, we are probably using A.I. hundreds of times a day without even thinking about it. It could be, she says, a bank deciding whether to accept or reject your application, or an al...