Conversations

When the red-headed Englishman deserted the East India Company in 1827 to conduct his own archaeological digs in Afghanistan, he never imagined the Company would find him again, or try to blackmail him into spyingDr Edmund Richardson tells the story of Charles Masson, a red-headed Englishman, who embarked on a series of adventures and misadventures in Afghanistan after deserting from the East India Company Army in 1827.When Charles arrived in Kabul it was one of the wonders of the world, a wealthy and tolerant city in Asia and he fell in love with its bazaars, its fruit orchards, and its storytellers.Charles was on the trail of Alexander the Great.He set out to find one of Alexander’s lost cities, "Alexandria Beneath the Mountains".Along the way, Charles uncovered many treasures from Afghanistan’s Buddhist past.He visited the giant Bamiyan Buddhas (since destroyed by the Taliban) and discovered a 2000-year-old golden casket, which featured the earliest known face of the Buddha.And while Charles was digging up the past, the East India Company was tightening its net around him.Further informationAlexandria: The Quest for the Lost City is published by BloomsburyTo binge even more great episodes of the 'Conversation podcast' with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Writer Tony Birch with tales of his Fitzroy childhood including his grandmother Alma's 'op shop fever', his love for pine cones and blankets, and the macabre holiday he lived through when he was 5 years old

When Hayley moved to a cattle property to live with her farmer girlfriend, the rural idyll wasn't quite as she imagined (R)

Professor Pankaj Sah has a special interest in researching the amygdala and the possibility of treating PTSD to remove the fear and anxiety that come with it

As a young woman, Krystyna thought her father had taught her everything about Poland’s history, but she didn’t know that what he’d left out would become a focus of her life

One of the most influential disability rights activists in history tells her story of her fight for the right to receive an education, have a job, and just be human

Reverend Bill Crews on the moment which changed how he saw his own life story, and his ideas on how we can all cultivate compassion, tolerance, empathy and love in difficult times

The modern world functions on precision - phones, computers, cameras that operate with exactness. But in the quest for perfection, have we lost the art of craftsmanship? (R)

Marine biologist Dr Edith Widder was inside a submersible searching for bioluminescence in the ocean depths when she saw a giant squid as big as a two story house

Biologist Catherine Raven was living off-grid in a remote valley in Montana when she unexpectedly became friends with a wild red fox

When David McAllister began ballet lessons in Perth in the 1970s, being a 'ballet boy' was a kind of social death. But his school bullies helped spur him on to become one of the world's best dancers (R)

Journalist Mark Willacy on his investigations into alleged war crimes by Australian Special Forces in Afghanistan CW: Some listeners may find elements of this conversation upsetting

Anna hosts Death, Sex and Money a podcast about money, race, #MeToo, and what to say when someone dies

From kung-fu to tofu, tea to trade routes, sages to silk, China has influenced cuisine, commerce, military strategy, aesthetics and philosophy across the world for thousands of years. Linda Jaivin has written a new account of China which pulls together its sprawling history

In 2015, Amani Haydar suffered the unimaginable when she lost her mother in a brutal act of domestic violence perpetrated by her father (CW: Domestic violence)

Biologist Merlin Sheldrake's extreme experiments, many of which involve his physical body and varying forms of fungi, have led to equally remarkable discoveries (R)

As current CEO of Fairtrade Australia and New Zealand, Molly wants to put an end to human exploitation by delivering transparent supply chains throughout the world. But whether working in the White House, or from a tiny village outside Canberra, Molly's work fulfills the purpose she discovered as a college student raised in a Quaker family

Roger Pulvers lived an adventurous life in the Soviet Union, Japan and Poland, before he chose a whole new identity in 1976 (R)

Anaesthetist Christine Ball traces the world-changing work of the man who brought an end to surgery performed on conscious patients

As a child, the superstar swim coach lived with a chronic lung condition, and had part of a lung removed. In 1956, a huge event held right in his family's backyard changed the course of his life (R)

Anna's stellar cycling career saw her smash Australian Olympic records and become the World Champion 11 times. Then to the surprise of many, she walked away (R)

At the age of 20, speed skater Steven Bradbury nearly died on the ice. Then he won history's most unexpected gold medal (R)

How a boy who grew up on a fishing trawler became the first man in Australia to run 100 metres in under 10 seconds (R)

Christie splits her time between training for road and track wheelchair races, holding down several jobs, and raising her family. The Tokyo Paralympics will be her seventh as a competitor, but Christie almost gave up marathons after the 2013 Boston Marathon, and the most frightening experience of her life (CW: mention of suicide)

How a boy from Glasgow named Norman Swirsky grew up to become Australia's most famous doctor

From his daily coffee addiction to the 'war on drugs', science writer Michael Pollan's research into three psychoactive substances derived from plants was broad in scope. In this episode he talks about how caffeine, opium and mescaline affect our brains, change us as people, and make a profound impact on societies that use them(CW: Drug references)

Brisbane-born Carol followed her heart to Papua New Guinea in the 1960s. Her husband, Buri Kidu, a young lawyer from a village near the capital with a deep sense of duty went on to became the nation's first Indigenous Chief Justice. After Sir Buri's premature death, Carol entered politics, blazing a trail for women in a intensely patriarchal political system

Philosopher Tim Dean on why human morality needs an update for the modern world

When archaeologist Dr Jamie Fraser opened an 'empty' Egyptian sarcophagus, he found a 2600 year old mummy of a temple Priestess inside (R)

Being a single mother and student doctor in 1960s Ireland was merely the 'first act' in Caroline's gutsy adult life. She became a pioneering obstetrician, delivering sometimes contraband contraception, and babies, for fifty years

Gordon Parker is the founder of the Black Dog Institute, which works to remove the stigma around depression, mental illness and bipolar disorder. For the past few years he's been looking closely at the phenomenon of burnout at home and at work

From Scotland's Orkney Islands, stories of how a chance meeting in a pub led Andrew Greig to climb the Himalayas, how golfing helped him recover from a near death experience, and his quest for the Loch of the Green Corrie

A former ABC chief foreign correspondent, Philip began at the ABC as a stagehand in 1975. He left the organisation 46 years later after reporting from Japan, Washington, the Middle East, Nyngan and the Ukraine

When Anne was ten, she walked onto the school playground and a girl spat in her face after calling her ‘a dirty, Arab Muslim’. To her shock, her teacher did nothing. The incident changed how she saw the world, and helped set her on the path to becoming the first Australian Muslim woman elected to parliament (R)

Darwin's Ben Graetz on becoming one of Australia's best-known Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Drag Queens

Surf-loving athlete Nick Marshall is a former professional ironman. Now a physiotherapist, he's created a new way for kids with special needs to be included at the beach (R)

Megan Davis was raised as a 'Queensland Rail kid', then in a book-loving household in a housing commission home. She grew up to become a lawyer at the UN, then began a history-making process of helping Australia's First Nations people speak the truth to power

Zooarchaeologist Dr Melanie Fillios uses the remains and fossils of animals, including dingoes, to understand more about ancient humans (R)

George Megalogenis looks at the Morrison government's response to the pandemic so far, and asks whether the 'exit strategy' fully comprehends the changed landscape of the post-COVID world

Cheryl is a Wadjuk traditional owner playing the long game in the Swan Valley community where she grew up (R)

A Gangulu elder, Mick was Co-Commissioner of the high profile Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory. Mick's fierce advocacy for young people is due in part to a sliding doors moment in his teens(CW: Discussion of suicide. And for ATSI listeners please be advised this conversation contains the names of people who have died. Take care when listening.)

Aunty Kath, Oodgeroo Noonuccal, was Valerie's godmother, and just one of many staunch political figures on both sides of her family. Val worked her way to becoming a powerful advocate for Aboriginal people and her family CW: ATSI listeners please use discretion when listening as the program references people who have died.

Vic grew up on an Aboriginal mission in Sydney's La Perouse in the 1950s, becoming a singing star in his teens. He went on to write and record Australia's first Aboriginal protest album, while in prison. Luke Peacock 'unearthed' Vic's album decades later, and worked alongside him, to bring it to a new public (R)

Gurindji man and ABC presenter Charlie knew a little about his mum's life as he grew up. But after her death, he began to reckon with what she'd lived through as a child (CW: contains mention of ATSI people who have died; mentions of sexual violence)

Tarang Chawla with his family's story of migration from India to Melbourne to make a new life, and how the murder of his sister Niki changed his own path (CW: graphic discussion of family violence. Discretion advised)

How does Ben Crowe get elite athletes to the top of their game? What he asks footballers, surfers and tennis players to do seems counter intuitive, and a lot of the work happens off the field. (R)Ben Crowe is a mindset coach who has worked with elite athletes like surfer Steph Gilmore, tennis superstar Ash Barty, and the Richmond Football Club.But Ben's method of coaching seems counter-intuitive.Rather than telling these athletes they're the best, he encourages them to own their flaws, make sense of their life stories off the field, prioritising vulnerability and human connection, so they can take both wins and losses in their stride. Further informationOriginally broadcast in July 2021.Ben Crowe's new book, Where the Light Gets In, will be published by HarperCollins in January 2026.This episode of Conversations was produced by Michelle Ransom Hughes, executive producer was Carmel Rooney.It explores sport, NBA, basketball, football, Bayern, David Beckham, Hawks, Tigers, Magpies, Warriors, Tottenham, Jake Weatherald, Champions League, Wimbledon, Tennis Open, US Open, Australian Open, Arsenal, UCL, sports trading, UEFA, FIFA, mindset coaching, positive, books, writing, origin story, grief, death of a father.

Vic Simms, Jen Cloher, Vika and Linda Bull, Rob Hirst, Elena Kats-Chernin, William Barton with stories from their formative years

Even the cheapest guitars are made in part from trees which are becoming increasingly rare. Chris Gibson's curiosity about these timbers led him on a worldwide journey to understand the guitar's past and future

Betty Klimenko grew up as an heiress to the Westfield fortune. Then she turned her back on it all to marry the man of her dreams (R)

Ianto Ware with the story of growing up in the suburbs of Adelaide with his radical feminist lesbian mother Dimity