Conversations

Zenith Virago married at seventeen, and had two children. Then she left her young family to create a life of her own on the other side of the world (R)

When Akmal and his wife decided to have a treechange by moving to Byron Bay, almost immediately a comedy of errors ensued, involving a python in the roof, a half-finished home and rats in the wall (R)

How the man who voiced Darth Vader and Mufasa overcame a childhood stutter to build a career on his rich, resonant voice (R)James grew up with a stutter so severe he was almost mute until the age of fourteen.After the intervention of an English professor, he went on to become one of his generation's finest stage and screen actors.James is famous for his roles in films like The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games and The Great White Hope.He is the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars series and of Mufasa in The Lion King.James toured Australia in a production of Driving Miss Daisy (with Angela Lansbury) in 2013.Further informationOriginal broadcast February 2013To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations 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.

Dave looks back on the many forms of employment and unemployment to have sustained him as a hard working musician (R)

In the late 70s, Gabrielle Carey co-wrote a blisteringly honest novel about the real lives of teenage surfie chicks in Cronulla which caused a storm of public outrage. What happened next saw her make a new life far from the limelight

Why the only remaining WW1 German A7V tank is in Brisbane, Australia (R)

A new conversation with James Rebanks on how he saved his family farm by returning to ancient ways of growing crops and meadows

Lisa Woollett's family made their living from combing through London's waste for treasures. Her great-grandfather was a scavenger and her grandad was a dustman, and as she grew up she also began mudlarking on the Thames

When they were kids, Stephen and his brothers would climb onto the laundry roof and put on a show for their neighbourhood. Stephen's since made an exceptional career as a dancer, and at the helm of Bangarra Dance Theatre (R)

Grace Karskens with the story of the riverlands of the Hawkesbury-Nepean, where ancient and modern Australia first collided

Maggie grew up around boys, then raised four sons of her own. Now she helps parents understand the changes teenage boys are going through as they cross the bridge from boyhood to manhoodMaggie Dent grew up in the country and she always felt she 'spoke bloke'.As a high school teacher and a family counsellor, she discovered she had a real affinity for teenage boys, and understood how to communicate with them.It helped that she was also the mother of four sons.In her conversations with parents she often found they were bewildered by their teenage sons.They said it was as though an alien had landed in their family and their sweet boy had been replaced by an unpredictable and sometimes monosyllabic human.But Maggie says we often don't realise how vulnerable teenage boys are as they grow into adulthood.She believes if parents learn about some of the ways the brain changes during adolescence, it can make for much better ways to communicate.Further informationFrom Boys to Men is published by Pan MacMillanListen to Maggie's podcast Parental as AnythingTo binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations 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, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Andrew was a 4 year old when his family migrated to Australia from Burma. By his mid-20s he had his own criminal law practice. When he took on a client named Ivan Milat, his career became front page news

When a powerful wave he was riding sent him smashing into the sand, breaking his neck, former Army Ranger Billy Hedderman came within a breath of dying. Good fortune and an iron will featured in his recovery

After young Australian soccer player Hakeem al-Araibi was imprisoned in Thailand, Craig fought the power of two monarchies, a military junta, and the world's largest sporting institution to free him (R)

A former boxer and builder's labourer, Geoff is now a highly successful poet (R)

How a girl from the suburbs of Melbourne grew up to become Australia's first female Muslim standup comedian

The true story behind Looking for Alibrandi (R)

Richard shares stories gathered while writing his biography of the city of Prague. Some emerged from his research trip of 2019, others involved deep historical research, and others are altogether more personal

Jeff's latest book on animal behaviour tackles grief — the loss we feel when a beloved pet dies, as well as the understanding other species have of death

Timothy’s stellar career, including roles in ‘Mr Turner’, ‘Secrets and Lies’, the Harry Potter films, and his latest, ‘Mrs Lowry & Son’, was almost cut short by a life-threatening illness (R)

Dr Raymond Shuey saved countless lives during his career with Victoria Police, driving significant change to road rules, as well as how police respond to incidents involving the mentally ill. Ray is Victoria's Senior Australian of the Year 2020

Isaiah lived in 17 places in his first 18 years, none of them with his parents. Now he's established an organisation to give Indigenous young people in the out-of-home- care system everything he wanted back then: love, cultural and family connections, and a sense of pride

Sarah Holland-Batt's dad Tony was a loving father, her intellectual mentor and her friend. At 18, she became one of his carers. Later she battled an aged care system which let him down in the worst way possible

After decades walking in the South East Forests of NSW, John Blay thought he knew them well. Then Indigenous friends showed him the Bundian Way, a trail from the mountains to the coast predating both the Silk Road and the Roman Empire

Dylan Moran on his County Meath childhood, making Black Books, and why he gave up drinking for good (R)

Rozanna Lilley was raised in a bohemian household by her parents, writers Dorothy Hewett and Merv Lilley. In her early teens, her childhood was carelessly broken. Later she made a good life for herself as a writer and an autism academic ***CW: This episode discusses sexual assault

Owen Davies on his 98-day trek with goats and dogs, walking more than 990 kilometres down the Georgina River in outback Queensland (R)

Sugarbag bees who headbutt their queen to death are among the many Australian bee species which fascinate ecologist Toby Smith (R)

Claire Nelson was in the Joshua Tree National Park hiking alone when she strayed from the trail and slipped, shattering her pelvis. Her phone was out of range, and she knew she had to stay alive long enough for someone to realise she was missing

Stephanie Wood was a successful, confident journalist when she fell for a romantic fraudster (R)

Natasha Trethewey was 19 when her mother Gwendolyn was brutally murdered. During this great rupture in her life Natasha began to garner acclaim for her poetry. In 2012 she was named America's Poet Laureate

Peter O'Brien was a new minted teacher in 1960 when he took a job at a one-room bush school in Weabonga, NSW. The living was hard, but the job was incredibly sweet

The stories which preceded modern iterations of Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Little Red Riding Hood were often much more disturbing (R)

Irish novelist Paedar O'Guilin weaves old myths into startling new stories (R)

Historian Jill Lepore untangles the secret history of one of the 20th Century's most striking superheroes. She explains the myths, politics and eccentric genius behind behind the Wonder Woman story

Neil explores some of the stories from Nordic mythology which have captivated him since childhood (R)

Sarah's life took a gothic turn as she crafted her version of Melmoth (R)

Author Bart van Es with the story of the young Jewish girl Lien de Jong, hidden by Bart's Dutch grandparents during WWII when they joined the resistance

How zooarchaeologist Melanie Fillios uses the remains and fossils of animals, including dingoes, to understand more about ancient humans

Writer Favel Parrett’s grandmother fled Prague as a teenager, but her sister stayed on, and then lived through both Nazism and Stalinism (R)

Stan Grant on his life as a journalist, author and filmmaker from the Wiradjuri, Kamilaroi and Dharawal First Nations of Australia

At 15, Rebecca McCabe was on track to compete in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics for swimming. As swam, she would often ask herself big questions about the meaning of life. When her life in the pool ended abruptly, she decided to take a huge leap of faith

Biologist Merlin Sheldrake's extreme experiments, many of which involve his physical body and varying forms of fungi, have led to equally remarkable discoveriesEnglish biologist Merlin Sheldrake, son of Rupert Sheldrake, became fascinated by fungi when he was a boy.He grew mushrooms in his cupboard and brewed bog myrtle beer under his bed.He went on to study fungi at Cambridge University, and his research explores the interconnection between fungi and plants in what’s known as ‘the Wood Wide Web’.Merlin's extreme experiments, many of which involve his physical body and varying forms of fungi, have led to equally remarkable discoveries.Further informationEntangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures is published by Random HouseMore about Merlin and his workTo binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations 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, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

David Hepworth charts our fascination with that most earth-bound of gods, the rock star; and discusses some of music history's striking examples

Despite never really liking maths at school, Eddie made up his mind in the teaching sign-on queue, to become a maths teacher. This split-second decision changed his life, and the lives of many of his future students (R)

Cave diver Stefan Eberhard has spent decades exploring the vast underwater caves of the Nullarbor Plains, where the water teems with blind shrimp and colourless fish, and curtains of bacterial slime hang glistening from the ceiling

Paul Haller grew up Catholic in Belfast, and his pursuit of meaning has since taken him around the world. Now a Zen priest, Zen practice and teaching became Paul's calling: from retreating to a cave in Thailand; to teaching meditation, to the incarcerated, and the dying, in San Francisco

Keith Banks spent twenty years in his dream career with the Queensland Police. He was awarded for bravery several times, but left the job angry and disillusioned. He now reflects on what the job and police culture were like in the 1980s and the cost of lying for a living

Why is scratching an itch so pleasurable? How can someone leap from a burning plane in the sky and survive with a few bumps and scratches? A journey through the wondrous complexity of the human body (R)

Jared spent his childhood behind the scenes at the Museum of the Northern Territory, up close to prehistoric kangaroo fossils, opulent trading pearls, and sacred crocodiles flown in from Arnhem Land. Then he became the museum's taxidermist