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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.

Sheila McClennon

Charlie Webster

Alwyn Meller

Aletta Collins

Lucy Hughes-Hallett

Bernadette McConnell

Woman's Hour: Charlie Webster; Puccini; Villette

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17/01/2014

Charlie Webster; Puccini; Villette

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Charlie Webster; Puccini; Villette

Sheila McClennon presents the female perspective, with TV sports presenter Charlie Webster

Sheila McClennon presents the female perspective, with TV sports presenter Charlie Webster, Puccini's The Girl of the Golden West, and Charlotte Bronte's Villette.

TV sports presenter, Charlie Webster, has been speaking about the way that she was sexually assaulted as a child. She decided to waive her right to anonymity as she is about to embark on a 250 mile run between 40 football grounds to raise money for the charity Women's Aid. Charlie talks about her experiences.

Puccini's opera, The Girl of the Golden West, is perhaps one of his least performed operas. Set in a gold-mining community on the American frontier during the California Gold Rush, it's a story of true love and second chances. Opera North is staging a new production for the first time in three decades. We talk to the star of the show, Minnie, played by Soprano Alwyn Meller and the director, Aletta Collins.

Most of us feel we know the story of Jane Eyre. Even if we've not read it we might well have seen the film or television series. It's considered by many to be Charlotte Bronte's masterpiece. But according to novelist Lucy Hughes-Hallett Charlotte, Bronte's final and less popular work, Villette, is her greatest novel. We'll be discussing whether it's possible to say which is the better novel.

Presenter: Sheila McClennon 
Producer: Bernadette McConnell.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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