Conversations

Growing up on the biggest council estate in Western Europe, Jeff Green dreamed of a life in Australia. Then he got his own chance to emigrate

Osher Gunsberg was living in Los Angeles when his mental health took a dramatic turn for the worse

Louisa Hope was seriously injured in the Sydney siege. From her hospital bed, she began a charity to help her nurses

Choir master Stephen Taberner was raised a Christadelphian, but in his adult life he celebrates the pleasure of music

In the 1980s, Lydia Pearson began a wildly successful fashion label with her best friend. In 2016, everything changed

Renowned biographer Jacqueline Kent recalls her volatile year of love with Kenneth Cook

Comedian Judith Lucy has been reflecting on what has gone right, and wrong in her relationships with men

Peter Venn built his first hovercraft in the early 1970s. By 1988 he had a fleet of them on the Brisbane River, and was giving joyrides to 140 000 World Expo visitors (R)

Hugh Mackay on how our neighbourhoods hold the key to the isolation felt by so many (R)

Lach McClymont mustered hundreds of wild cattle, untouched for decades, from a remote area of the Northern Territory

Samantha Wheeler’s daughter Charlotte has Rett Syndrome, a rare ‘locked-in’ disorder

Melanie Lewis is the secret hand behind many wedding ceremonies

From Annie to Sweet Charity, by way of The Voice and Rumour Has It: Naomi on music that's shaped her career so far

Uncovering the little-known history of the late Roman Empire in Serbia

How scars and physical differences affect our idea of human beauty

Margaret Harrod grew up as her father's 'proxy wife'. To escape him, she became a nun, until a chance conversation changed everything

Journalist Sam Vincent on the lingering questions about Canberra's most notorious murder

William’s stories of fatherhood (R)William is one of Australia's best-known storytellers and actors.As his children become adults, he's been reflecting on what it means to be a father.William’s dad was a gregarious character, a veteran of World War II who ran a hire business in Queensland.Despite the many colourful names his father coined for him, William remembers his dad as a very kind man and a loving father.William's been thinking about the memories he's creating in the minds of of his own kids, particularly after the death of his wife some years ago.Further informationFatherhood: Stories about being a dad is published by HachetteListen to Richard's conversation with William McInnes from 2017 on life after the death of his wife, Sarah WattTo 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.

Sarah Brown always wanted to be a remote area nurse. Then she began a medical revolution (R)

How an elusive copper-coloured snake species terrorised post WWII North Queensland (R)

After a bruising experience with her own mother's funeral, Jenny Briscoe-Hough set up a d.i.y. funeral home in an old fire station (R)

Colleen rescued her mum from a violent marriage. Later, she solved one of Australia's most complicated murder cases (R)

How the Men at Work front man managed the trip to mega-stardom and back again (R)

Natalie Millar is at the centre of a 20 000-strong network of mothers in Logan City

Jack Hoysted tells of the violent standover man and extortionist who was the first local criminal to be described by Australian police as a gangster (R)

Mathematician Geordie Williamson spent eight years cracking the code to find the weight of atoms in space

Psychiatrist Robert Kaplan on the strange illness which altered the personality of Bea Miles, making her one of her city's most famous eccentrics

How a Birmingham boy became best-selling thriller writer, Lee Child

Two botanical conversations: plant-hunter Bruce Dunstan, and great gardens with Georgina Reid

Before and after Monty Python's Flying Circus

A guide to the investigation of sudden or unexplained deaths

Steven Bradbury nearly died on the ice when he was 20. Then he won history's most unexpected gold medal (R)

Lisa Millar has reported some of the world's biggest stories, including acts of terrorism, political upheaval, and gun massacres

Jan Owen’s work as a champion of young people has its roots in her own story

A wander through some of the strange habits, rituals and obsessions people have developed around food and eating

Astrophysicist Lisa Harvey-Smith on how Andromeda is due to collide with our galaxy in five billion years time

Historian Paul Ham explains the short life and terrible death of Christendom's most defiant sect

When Johnathan was a boy he was written off as too skinny and too wild for rugby league

How Frauke Bolten-Boshammer raised a farm, a family and a diamond empire from the red dirt of Kununurra

Chris Watson worked alongside David Attenborough for 20 years, pioneering up-close field recording of birds and animals (R)

David began his working life digging ditches, before he found his calling as a writer

Susan Francis was in her 50s when she met Wayne, who became the great love of her life. But their story together didn't turn out as planned (R)

A century ago the little town of Pozieres was known as the worst place on earth

A cave network in France with thousands of signatures, written in pencil by Australian soldiers from the First World War

The story of two men who fought for different sides on the western front, and an unexpected friendship between their descendants

While struggling to conceive her son, Liz faced infertility head on. She found it hard to access reliable information on the subject (R)

Zimbabwean pastor Evan Mawarire inadvertently began a grassroots democracy movement which contributed to the removal of Robert Mugabe

The girl from a Queensland cane farm who became Candy Devine, Northern Ireland's first black radio star

Steph Stephens-Davidowitz says what, how and when we Google is deeply revealing

Lennie Gwyther was 9 years old when he rode Ginger Mick from country Victoria to Sydney to be at the opening of the Bridge (R)