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BBC Radio 4 Extra

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama. With recent favourites from BBC Radio 4.

Book of the Week

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Factual

Serialised book readings, featuring works from various genres

Serialised book readings, featuring works of non-fiction, biography, autobiography, travel, diaries, essays, humour and history

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Book of the Week: Damian Barr - Maggie and Me

Damian Barr

Sian Preece

Allegra McIlroy

Book of the Week: Damian Barr - Maggie and Me: Episode 5

Factual: Life Stories

Maggie and Me

Episode 5

Damian Barr - Maggie and Me

BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week, Damian Barr - Maggie and Me, Episode 5

Damian escapes to university and fulfils his dream of becoming a journalist.

Damian escapes to university and fulfils his dream of becoming a journalist. Years later he returns to see what remains of the community he left behind. From June 2013.

Still at school, Damian makes a brave decision to come out as gay, but discovers first-hand the impact of Clause 28 when his normally supportive teachers are unable to discuss his sexuality openly with him.

He heads to university and leaves Scotland for good with the help of a bursary from a mystery benefactor, and finally makes it to a new life as a journalist living in Brighton with his partner. His last visit to Scotland reminds him of the ghosts of his past that still echo in his life, the Ravenscraig steelworks that were the heart of the community and have now disappeared from the landscape, and his complicated relationship with Margaret Thatcher, his unlikely heroine.

Written and read by Damian Barr.
Abridged by Sian Preece


Producer: Allegra McIlroy.

BBC Radio 4

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

Damian Barr's reads his entertaining memoir of growing up in a Scottish steelworking town

Damian Barr's reads his moving and entertaining memoir of growing up in a Scottish steelworking town amidst the strikes of the 1980s.

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