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Joan Bakewell

Joan Bakewell joins Richard and Nikki along with gardener and writer Marc Hamer, Lib Dem peer Jonny Oates and Annie Birney who won a competition to be caretaker of a remote island.

Labour peer Baroness Joan Bakewell has been a television presenter for over fifty years, most recently fronting Landscape Artist of the Year which returned to our screen this week. She joins Richard and Nikki to explain why she has taken up watercolours in lockdown.

Marc Hamer was homeless and worked on the railways before enrolling in art college. After discovering a creative outlet in gardening, Marc spent years creating and maintaining the garden of the mysterious, aristocratic Mrs Cashmere which is the subject of his memoir Seed to Dust.

Jonny Oates ran away from home to Ethiopia aged 15 to contribute to famine relief efforts but his trip didn't go as he planned . He subsequently became a teacher in Zimbabwe, parliamentary adviser in the first democratic South African Parliament and Chief of Staff to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in the coalition government.

Last June , Annie Birney and her partner Eoin Boyle swapped their lives in Dublin for a summer as caretakers of Great Blasket Island off the coast of Ireland. After beating over 24,000 applicants to the post, they spent three months looking after holiday guests on the remote island without electricity, WiFi or hot water. Annie joins us to discuss their extraordinary adventure.

And we hear the Inheritance Tracks of YolanDa Brown.

Producer: Laura Northedge
Editor: Eleanor Garland

Available now

1 hour, 27 minutes

Last on

Sat 16 Jan 2021 09:00

Broadcast

  • Sat 16 Jan 2021 09:00

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