Show Notes
Stuart talks to the award winning writer and composer of Calendar Girls and Kinky Boots - Tim Firth - about his latest stage creation, The Ladies Football Club. Can the man who got his break with a play about two yucca plants strike fresh gold with this tale of the women who began to play football whist working in Sheffield's munitions factories during World War I and end up playing to many thousands in a South Yorkshire women's league. Taskmaster and Mr Bigstuff star Fatiha El-Ghorri says she's ironing her swaggest hijab to head out on her debut stand up tour - Cockney Stacking Doll. She'll also have the story of her journey out from divorce and back on the dating scene in her new Radio 4 comedy - A Match Made Inshallah. Tom Hodgkinson's the editor of The Idler and author of books such as How to be Idle, The Idle Parent and - here's the outlier - The Ukelele Handbook. So perhaps busier than he makes out? His new book is a fresh look at one of the world's oldest philosophies - How to Live Like A Stoic. Stoicism is having a moment in the manosphere but he explains how "bro-ism" has got stoicism all wrong. With music from the cast of the smash hit musical Operation Mincemeat and from BBC Introducing "one to watch" , Lois. Presenter: Stuart Maconie Producer: Olive Clancy Assistant Producer: Samuel Nixon Technical Producers: John Coles, Amy Brennan, Phillip Halliwell Production Co-ordinator: Pete Liggins.
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Stuart Maconie and guests are at the BBC's Contains Strong Language Festival in Salford. Baudelaire of the bus stop, local man made poetic, John Cooper Clarke reveals where he goes for inspiration. Multi-award winning poet and novelist Jackie Kay who began writing as a pre-teen and hasn't stopped since. Hannah Maxwell's acclaimed Edinburgh show is called Turn Your F**king Phones Off, but she's having to tone it down for her forthcoming tour. And music and poetry from the "alt-pop poet" Antony Szmierek's new album Decoding Birdsong - the musician who went from playing at Glastonbury to his day-job as a teacher. Presented by Stuart Maconie Produced by Olive Clancy Assistant Producer Lizzie Foster Production Coordinator Mica Nepomuceno Technical Producers: Mike Smith, Phil Booth, Jonathan Esp
Stuart Maconie is joined by comedian Simon Brodkin, known for his character Lee Nelson and his stunts, slipping past security to prank the likes of Donald Trump, Seb Blatter and Theresa May. He's out on tour with a new show, Unleashed. Ahir Shah won the Edinburgh Comedy award in 2023 for his show Ends. His new show, Golden is inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche and Gerald Manley Hopkins. Best Selling Crime Author Elly Griffith's The Killing Time is the second in her new Ali Dawson series. And there's music from Cara Dillon and Truthpaste. Presester: Stuart Maconie Producer: Jessica Treen