Libby Purves meets novelist Gerald Seymour; adventurer and comedian Tim FitzHigham; writer Amy Liptrot and costume designer John Bright.

Tim FitzHigham is an adventurer, author and comedian. His new show, the Gambler, is on tour and in preparation he has undertaken some idiosyncratic challenges including cooking under ten feet of water. He has established himself as a man who is infamous for tackling endeavours that no one else would dare to. In previous shows he has paddled paper boats down the Thames; ridden hollowed out logs up the Amazon; run deserts in suits of armour and crossed the Channel in a bath tub. The Gambler is on tour.

Amy Liptrot's book, The Outrun tells her story of returning to Orkney after more than a decade away in London. Orkney becomes the central force in her recovery from alcohol addiction; she swims in the bracingly cold sea and tracks Orkney's wildlife including puffins nesting on sea stacks and the rare and secretive corncrake. The Outrun is published by Canongate.

Gerald Seymour is a novelist who made his mark with Harry's Game in 1975. Before embarking on his literary career he was a news reporter for 15 years, covering events in Vietnam, Borneo, Aden, Israel, Northern Ireland and at the Munich Olympics. His new novel, No Mortal Thing, is set in the murky world of the Calabrian crime organization known as the 'Ndrangheta. No Mortal Thing is published by Hodder and Stoughton.

John Bright is a costume designer for theatre, film and television. He won an Academy Award and BAFTA Award with Jenny Beavan for their work on A Room With A View in 1985. He started out working at Chichester Festival Theatre and later became a key member of the Merchant Ivory filmmaking team. His new website will feature his designs for film, theatre and television and his own personal collection of costumes including garments once belonging to Queen Mary and Margot Fonteyn. Show less