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Val McDermid

Crime writer Val McDermid, Eileen Fitzgerald on how The Rolling Stones helped fund her PhD, broadcaster Nihal Arthanayake and the Inheritance Tracks of Alison Balsom.

Val McDermid joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles. The award-winning crime writer was inspired to write after reading Agatha Christie as a child. After attending Oxford University, Val started her career as a journalist and has drawn on these experiences in her latest thriller 1989.

Kristin Mcilquham鈥檚 father suffered from a serious brain injury (three aneurysms) when she was child which changed her dad鈥檚 personality. Now an actor, she is performing her one-woman show Headcase about the impact this had on her life growing up, on her family and on her dad.

Eileen Fitzgerald befriended The Rolling Stones as a teenager and exchanged letters with the fledgling rockers. Years later she sold the correspondence to help pay for her PhD.

Trumpeter Alison Balsom shares her Inheritance Tracks: JS Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 by Trevor Pinnock with The English Concert and Con Alma by Dizzy Gillespie.

Nihal Arthanayake started out as a recording artist before becoming an award-winning broadcaster. He talks about life growing up and why in his new book Let's Talk he's encouraging everyone to have better conversations.

Producer: Claire Bartleet

Available now

1 hour, 27 minutes

Last on

Sat 20 Aug 2022 09:00

Broadcast

  • Sat 20 Aug 2022 09:00

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