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The Listening Project

Walking the Tightrope

Duration: 28 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 LW

Available for over a year

Fi Glover presents friends, relatives and strangers in conversation.

This week: Veteran comic Chris and new stand-up Katie swap advice and opinions on negotiating the comedy circuit; Jane, mother of five, and Nicola, who has two sons, share their experiences of bringing up young boys to respect young girls; following their mums’ chat, Jane’s daughter, Mairi, and Nicola’s son, Karl, debate the lessons they’ve learnt growing-up; and Fi talks to Jonnie Robinson, the man in charge of The Listening Project archive at the British Library, about 10 years of capturing the nation in conversation.

The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moments of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in this decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject

Producer: Jane Wilkinson Show less

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