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Woman's Hour: MP Caroline Nokes, Beverley Knight, Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai

Beverley Knight, Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, Volvodynia

MP Caroline Nokes, Beverley Knight, Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, MP Caroline Nokes, Beverley Knight, Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai

Beverley Knight plays Faye Treadwell, who managed the Drifters after her husband died.

Beverley Knight plays Faye Treadwell, one of the first Black women to manage a vocal group in the US.

Last week, Caroline Nokes, former minister, Conservative MP and the chair of the Women and Equalities Committee - accused the Prime Minister's father of groping her 18 years ago at a Conservative Party Conference.  Stanley Johnson has so far declined to comment on the allegation, saying he has no recollection of it.  Caroline talks to Emma.

‘The Drifters Girl’ is a musical which tells the story of Faye Treadwell, one of the first Black women to manage a vocal group in the US.  Singer and actor Beverley Knight plays Faye and joins Emma to discuss this remarkable woman. 

Peng Shuai is one of China's top tennis players, but there are global concerns over her safety after she accused the former Chinese vice-premier, Zhang Gaoli, of raping her in 2018.  We talk to Cindy Yu Broadcast Editor at The Spectator.

Have you ever been affected by persistent, unexplained pain in your vulva?  Vulvodynia is a chronic condition that is thought to affect up to 16% of women. Emma is joined by Claudia Chisari, a PHD researcher in Vulvodynia at King’s College London and Sheren Gaulbert, who suffered from Vulvodynia for 10 years.

Joan Rhodes could bend steel bars , lift two men at a time, and rip phone books apart. Often described in the press as the strongest woman in the world, she became friends with  Marlene Dietrich and even performed for the Royal Household at their Annual Christmas bash. Triona Holden got to know her before she died, and has written her biography ‘An Iron Girl in a Velvet Glove: The Life of Joan Rhodes.

Presenter: Emma Barnett
Producer: Lucinda Montefiore
Photo credit of Beverley Knight: @Johan Persson

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