Libby Purves meets surrealist painter Patrick Hughes, Pam Dix of Disaster Action, artist and performer Scottee and Dr Bryn Dentinger, mycologist at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Patrick Hughes is a surrealist painter renowned for his optical illusion technique, reverspective, where the parts of a picture which seem farthest away are actually physically the nearest. He is to receive an honorary degree, from the University of London's School of Advanced Study, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to education and research. Patrick's current exhibition New Reverspectives is at Flowers Gallery, London.

Pam Dix is the co-author of Collective Conviction: The Story of Disaster Action with Anne Eyre. The book recounts how the charity Disaster Action was founded in 1991 by survivors and bereaved people affected by disasters of the late 1980s, including the King's Cross fire; the Lockerbie bombing and the sinking of the Marchioness. Pam's brother Peter died in the Pan Am 103 bombing in 1988. Since its formation Disaster Action has had a significant influence on emergency planning and management and the way people are treated after disasters. Collective Conviction: The Story of Disaster Action by Pamela Dix and Anne Eyre is published by Liverpool University Press.

Scottee is a performer, broadcaster, writer and director. His solo show, The Worst of Scottee, is a reflection on his troubled past in which he looks back over his life and invites some of those he hurt and adversely affected to remember him. The Worst of Scottee is touring.

Dr Bryn Dentinger is head of mycology at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew where he studies fungal diversity, distribution and conservation. His career epiphany came at 16 when his mother gave him a copy of a guide to mushrooms and challenged him to identify all the fungi in the family garden. Bryn recently discovered three new species of mushroom in a packet of supermarket porcini after putting the fungi through a DNA barcode test.

Producer: Paula McGinley. Show less