Saturday Live

Kay Mellor was a married mother at 16, and by her twenties had found her way to Bretton Hall College to study drama. An actor, director and screenwriter, she started on Coronation Street, before writing such TV classics as Fat Friends and Band of Gold, which she has now adapted for the stage. Paul Olima was born in Dublin. He played football professionally, before taking up sports modelling. He explains how he became a body double, standing in for the likes of Mario Balotelli, Usain Bolt and Anthony Joshua. Former bus driver, Justin Finlayson, converted a red London bus into a mobile recording studio for the benefit of young people in caught up in gang culture in north west London. Saturday Live listener, Susan Moore, recalls growing up on a bus, converted by her father, a pioneer of pirate radio. She recalls how the family invited musicians to live in the family home to train as rock and roll stars and then put on dances around the country, Duff McKagan, bass player in Guns N’ Roses, reveals his Inherit

Aasmah Mir and Suzy Klein are joined by former Special Forces sniper, Ant Middleton, now star of Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins, where ex-Special Forces soldiers put civilian recruits through their paces, SAS style. Andrew Garrido was desperate to play the piano. He couldn't afford lessons, but undeterred, he made a keyboard out of paper and taught himself and is now studying at the Guildhall School of Music. Jane Couch took part in unregulated boxing matches for years – sometimes against men - before taking the British Boxing Board of Control to court in 1998 and winning, becoming the first British licensed female boxer. Listener Ellie Somme grew up with stories of her father’s work in the Norwegian resistance during the Second World War, but it wasn’t until he died that she discovered an archive of secret papers and realised the extent of his historical importance to the resistance movement. The inheritance tracks of Kwame Kwei-Armah, Artistic Director of the Young Vic, who chooses Sugar Bum Bum by Lord

Rev Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir are joined by Fay Ripley. Most famous for playing Jenny, her northern counterpart, in TV’s Cold Feet, the series started 24 years ago and continues next week. The actor also cooks - she has written 3 cookbooks, drives fast, has had a chat show and likes to try her hand at anything she fancies. Sam Jalloh, who left Sierra Leone to play tennis, which he learnt playing barefoot and with a plywood raquet. Dr Zoe Williams played Amazon in TV's Gladiators, whilst studying to be a doctor. Now a GP, she is also a TV doctor and health educator.Christabel Carlisle (now Lady Christabel Watson) was a motor-racing pioneer, racing Saloon cars in the sixties (1960-63), competing against men, including some of the big names in the sport - Graham Hill, Jim Clark and Jack Brabham - at tracks from Silverstone to the famous Nurburgring. We have the inheritance tracks of Golden Globe winner Brian Cox, who chooses Sonny boy performed by Al Jolson, and God Only Knows performed by the Beach Boy

Crime novelist Kathy Reich’s famous heroine is Temperance Brennan, an academic anthropologist turned forensic anthropologist, much like Kathy herself. Her latest novel, A Conspiracy of Bones, is published this year and Kathy joins Aasmah Mir and Suzy Klein.Mike Bushell has made a career out of his hobbies; he famously holds the world record for participating in the greatest number of different sports on his Saturday morning slot on BBC Breakfast. He can now add ballroom dancing to the list as part of the Strictly 2019 line-up and 2020 tour.After huge roles on TV and at the Royal Shakespeare Company and The National Theatre, this month actor Adjoa Andoh returns to The Archers and takes a leading role in Silent Witness which starts this week. And after three years of training, she has recently become a “reader licensed by the bishop” in the Church of England.Andrew Gregory had a successful career as a hairdresser until a motorbike accident 18 years ago resulted in his lower leg being amputated. He’s now become

The writer and poet Michael Rosen joins Aasmah Mir and Suzy Klein. He shares his discoveries of a lost family found, the importance of play, and tells us how to eat a bagel. Back by popular demand: the cook Julia Georgallis, gives advice on ‘How to eat your Christmas tree’. Incurable romantic, William Cash, explains why he has a treasure trove of more than a thousand love letters, archived in a pig shed, and how restoring his family home helped him deal with heartbreak. Inspired by her experience of suddenly losing her mother, who ‘took her precious memories with her’, Bryher Scudamore set up an online template – autodotbiography. She describes how inheriting a wallet containing letters written by her great-grandfather, led to discovering surprising stories of his life just after the American Civil War. And Frank Skinner shares his Inheritance Tracks - Winter Wonderland, performed by Dean Martin and George Formby singing Why Women Don’t Like Me.Producer: Louise Corley Editor: Eleanor Garland

Aasmah Mir and Suzy Klein are joined by Ruth Jones, who co-wrote and starred in one of our most loved TV comedies: Gavin and Stacey, which seemingly ended after 3 successful series, almost ten years ago. However, in May her co-writer & co-star James Corden announced they’d be back this year for a Christmas Special, and there are only 4 more days to wait as it airs on Christmas Day. Gloria Stewart will be here - the Yorkshirewoman organises a huge dinner every year for those lonely at Christmas. Also with us is William Hartston, mathematician, sloth enthusiast, chess player, Goggleboxer and puzzler, who will be setting some challenges on the programme. And Kieran Sandwell set off three years ago with a new heart to walk around Britain - 5,000 miles later, he's done it. We have the Inheritance Tracks of pianist Stephen Hough who chooses Chopin Etudes opus 25 no 1 in A flat major and A Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten and your thank yous.Producer: Corinna Jones Editor: Eleanor Garland

Jason Manford began his stand up career at the age of 17 and was nominated for the Perrier Award in Edinburgh in 2005 at just 24. As he embarks on a starring role in the West End run of Curtains, Jason tells Suzy Klein and Aasmah Mir why he won't be pigeonholed.Justin Myers had been secretly detailing his romantic encounters and reviewing dates in the Blind Date column in the Guardian Weekend Magazine on his blog The Guyliner for ten years. Then he began to receive messages threatening to reveal his true identity. After deciding to unmask himself, Justin’s career has taken off; he published his first novel, The Last Romeo, in 2018 and his second novel The Magnificent Sons will published in May 2020. Esther Rutter grew up on a sheep farm in Suffolk, where she learned to knit at the age of seven. She’s been an enthusiastic knitter ever since and last year, she set out to write a history of the craft, a journey which took her across the country, from Shetland to Guernsey.Lara Band is a listener who emailed Satu

Actor and comedian Ben Miller joins Richard Coles and Suzy Klein to talk about why he chose comedy over physics and about his new children's book, The Boy Who Made The World A Disappear, in which the main character is inspired by his son. Zena Cooper was diagnosed with Marfan Syndrome, a genetic condition which affected her eyesight to the extent that she hid her blindness from family and friends for over thirty years. Emily Chappell went from cycle courier to endurance cyclist, entering the Transcontinental, a 4,000km race across Europe, which is considered one of the world’s toughest endurance challenges. She only made it halfway – but the following year, she entered the race again and won. Dancer, actor and choreographer, Adam Cooper leapt to fame as The Swan in Matthew Bourne’s ground breaking production of Swan Lake in 1995, and now returns after twenty years in another Bourne franchise, The Red Shoes, the 1948 film by Powell and Pressburger based on a Hans Christian Andersen tale, at London’s Sadler’s

Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are joined by Barbara Taylor Bradford who has just published her 37th book. Age 15 she started in the typing pool for a newspaper and was in Fleet Street as a reporter age 20. She published her first novel, A Woman of Substance, in 1979 and has sold 90 million books world wide. Also in the studio is David Loftus, who is a lone identical twin whose brother John died shortly after their 24th birthday. At the start of 2018 he set himself the challenge of writing a daily memoir reflecting on the events of just over 30 years ago leading up to his brother’s tragic death. Brenda Edwards is with us - she finally realised her dream of performing on the stage by entering the X factor in her mid 30s and is now appearing on the West End and Simon Yates who, during a climb up the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes, infamously cut the rope of his climbing partner Joe Simpson as depicted in the book, film and now play, Touching the Void. As well as your thank yous, we have the inheritance t

Jazz/pop singer/songwriter Jamie Cullum joins Aasmah Mir and Mobeen Azhar. He talks about his music, and the personal stories that inspired his latest album Taller, his family and what's been passed down through the generations. Mark Bright tells his story of from foster care to football to reach the FA Cup in 1990. Alice Gorman AKA ‘Dr Space Junk’ is an archaeologist who’s made it her mission to explore artefacts that mankind has left in space. She describes how growing up on a farm in Australia inspired her passion. Nicola Wren wants to be not just a star – but a superstar – and she will NOT let her four siblings and her world-famous brother get in the way. And Dan Snow chooses his Inheritance Tracks - Slide Away by Oasis, and Mr. Brightside by The Killers.Producer: Louise Corley Editor: Beverley Purcell

This year marks Lorraine Kelly's 35th year as a broadcaster and her 60th birthday. Born in the Gorbals to teenage parents, Lorraine took a job at her local newspaper instead of a place at university and, despite being sacked while on maternity leave, is now one of Britain’s best known television presenters. Her new book Shine shares her secrets for success.Amy Powney, creative director of sustainable fashion label Mother of Pearl, spent much of her childhood without mains electricity or running water when her parents sold their house to live off-grid in rural Lancashire. Despite being taken to school in a handmade trailer and having requests for tracksuits denied, Amy found that her parents approach to ethical living had influenced her when she began a career in fashion.Professor Adam M Hill MB PhD is a dual-qualified Clinician and Mechanical Engineer with a military background and a career built at the interface of industry, academia and health systems. Adam is the Chief Executive Officer at immuno-diagnost

Aasmah Mir and Mobeen Azhar are joined by Greg James, who started recording shows in his bedroom, did hospital radio, student radio, podcasts, and his passion has paid off as last year he became host of the Radio 1 Breakfast show, which has pulled in 250,000 new listeners in his first year. Casey Stoney was Captain of England Women and is now Head Coach to Manchester United Women, she joins us to talk about being a trailblazer for the women’s game. Age 4 Amar Latif learnt that he would go blind, his eyesight deteriorated during his childhood and he had 95% sight loss age 18. After working as a successful finance manager for ten years, he changed career in order to fulfil his love of adventure travel and set up his own business for blind and sighted travellers. He joins us. We'll speak to Xenia Karayiannis was separated from her mother age 3 following the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus and would not be reunited with her until she was 17; and also to 18 year old Emma who is in Wales doing the CIN Ricksha

Dave Myers - one half of the Hairy Bikers – cooks and rides motorbikes, but he also studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths, worked as a furnace-man in a steelworks and as a make-up artist, specialising in prosthetics. Alongside Si King they’ve sold almost six million books and grown a generation of fans who like real home-cooked food.Saturday Live listener, 80-year-old Crawford Mackie, is aiming to break his own 5k record today at Parkrun, attempting it in a new pair of running shoes. When Tim Clark’s father, Sir Robert Clark, died in 2013 Tim discovered he had served in the Special Operations Executive in the Second World War, ‘Churchill’s Secret Army’, and undertook amazingly brave operations behind enemy lines. His father was a war hero, a recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross.In 2010, powerboat racer Shelley Jory-Leigh was competing for the world title when she crashed in Sardinia. The boat sunk to a depth of 85 metres but she and her co-driver were saved just in time. Shelley made a comeback and broke a

Saxophonist, MC and composer, Soweto Kinch fuzzes jazz with hip hop beats. He premieres his new album, The Black Peril at the EFG London Jazz Festival, which highlights the episodes of racial tension 100 years ago in coastal cities from Liverpool to Cardiff and South Shields. Artist and biographer Keggie Carew's account of her extraordinary father’s life, Dadland, won the Costa biography Prize and became a best seller. Her new book, Quicksand Tales, features stories from her own adventurous - and occasionally misadaventurous life. Retired geography teacher Helen Rennie has skied every month of the year for the last 10 years in the Cairngorms. Listener Ron Singh formed the band Kissmet, fusing Bhangra with Led Zeppelin, with his brothers, after being inspired by childhood visits to the family's Indian cinema in Peterborough. Cameraman Lindsay McCrae spent eleven months in the Antarctic filming Emperor penguins for the David Attenborough series Dynasties, which won him a BAFTA, but in doing so, missed the bi

Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are joined by the actor David Suchet who has been taking photographs since he was eight when his Fleet Street photographer grandfather passed on his knowledge. His new book Behind the Lens: My Life is a collection of David’s photographs.Listener Kathryn Penny reports back from the 50th anniversary reunion of the Commonwealth Expedition which involved twenty coach loads of British students setting of for India. 'Serial innovator' Samantha Moyo wanted a break from her hedonistic lifestyle and organised the first Morning Gloryville 6am sober rave in 2013. They are now staged in 23 locations world wide.BBC weather presenter and meteorologist Simon King on his lifelong weather obsession and new book What Does Rain Smell Like? And we have the Inheritance Tracks of actor Kelly Macdonald who chooses You are My Sunshine by Jimmie Davis and I Love You by Woodkid.Producer: Laura Northedge Editor: Eleanor Garland

Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are joined by travel documentary maker Simon Reeve who has come a long way since leaving school with no qualifications; he wrote a book on international terrorism and his latest series is on The Americas. Also, Kate Young who was homesick for her native Australia when she decided to cook a comforting dish described in Harry Potter. It led to more literary dishes, a blog and a book. Jeroen Olyslaegers is an award-winning author from Antwerp. His latest book Will was inspired by stories from his own family, in particular his Grandfather who was a Nazi collaborator during WWII. He joins us, along with Lucy Mathen who contacted us with her own extraordinary story - she was the first Asian reporter on Newsround, and went on to retrain as an ophthalmologist, founding a charity to treat eye problems in India. We have the Inheritance Tracks of TV stylist and presenter Gok Wan who chooses Top of the world by The Carpenters and Make your own kind of music performed by Cass Elliot. Prod

Harry Connick Jr, was brought up by lawyers in New Orleans, but it was the music of the city that inspired him. A child prodigy playing a Beethoven concerto at nine, a disaster singing to Sinatra at 22, then Harry Met Sally happened, and It Had To Be You, made him a star. He He is now celebrating the genius of Cole Porter. Paulette Constable grew up in Manchester, the youngest of eight children from a Windrush generation family. Following an early divorce, she became a club DJ in 1992, with residencies at The Hacienda, the Ministry of Sound, Heaven and Ibiza Rocks, but explains how family responsibility caught up with her and brought her home.Rachael Rogan gave up a career in marketing when she was diagnosed with cancer. She describes how, following treatment and strong community support, she decided to make a radical change to her life and to follow her passion – children’s books.Andrew Ridgeley - one half of Wham! recalls about meeting Georgios Kyiacos Panayiotou at school, discovering their shared pas

Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir are joined by the British crime writer Martina Cole, known to her fans as the Queen of Crime, with twenty-four novels to her name, fifteen of which have been No.1 bestsellers and translated into twenty-nine languages. Thomas Harding ran a local newspaper in West Virginia before returning to the UK to research his family history, which in one direction took him to his uncle Hanns, a Nazi hunter who tracked down the Auschwitz commandant, Rudolf Hoess. Now he has turned his attention to the other half of his family, who created the famous Lyons Corner Houses. Emily Chung co-founded, with her sister Amy, the pop-up Rangoon Sisters Burmese Supper Club between their shifts as doctors in the NHS. Justin Hawkins was a jingle writer and jobbing musician before forming rock band The Darkness. They had chart success with hits including I Believe in a Thing Called Love and Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End) before the band disbanded in 2006. Five years later they reunited and have j

Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are joined by Gerald Scarfe, one of our best known artists, caricaturing those in power, and also a production designer for theatre, ballet and opera and designer of animation sequences for Disney's Hercules and Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Liam Charles was the people’s champion of Bake Off 2017, and the youngest contestant in that series. He went from cake sales at sixth form to having his own cookery show, and presenting Bake Off The Professionals within three years. Goldie Puricelli has taught kids with dyslexia, dyspraxia and autism, for over twenty years, she’s also a member of the Magic Circle and incorporates those skills into her teaching work. Helen Zaltzman was an early adopter of the podcast, launching the award winning comedy podcast Answer Me This! with Olly Mann in 2007. In 2015 she began The Allusionist linguistics podcast, which was immediately named iTunes UK's best new podcast. Helen gave up her flat and has spent the last two years touring the world with her live

Aasmah Mir and Rev Richard Coles talk to former SAS soldier Andy McNab. He was captured in Iraq while leading the Bravo Two Zero mission in 1991. His book on his ordeal became a bestseller - his first of many. His latest book "Get Me Out Of Here" is aimed at young readers. Children's book illustrator Axel Scheffler has given visual form to Julia Donaldson's characters The Gruffalo, Stick Man, Room on the Broom, A Squash and a Squeeze and many more. But if you find the Gruffalo scary, be aware that Axel's original version was even more menacing. His latest books are "Kind" and "The Smeds and the Smoos" - two stories about tolerance and inclusivity. Veronica Thompson goes by the stage name Fancy Chance when she performs aerial burlesque while hanging from her hair. Her show Flights of Fancy explores ideas of beauty and her feelings of alienation at having been abandoned as a baby on the doorstep of a South Korean police station. Actor and comedian Roisin Conaty shares her Inheritance Tracks. And listener Emma W