Woman's Hour

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

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Woman's Hour: Bethany Shriever, Sian Ruddick, Katherine Gordon, Debbie Cook, Meg Mason, Ruth Evans, Tamanna Rahman

27/04/2022

Bethany Shriever, Sian Ruddick, Katherine Gordon, Debbie Cook, Meg Mason, Ruth Evans, Tamanna Rahman

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Bethany Shriever, Sian Ruddick, Katherine Gordon, Debbie Cook, Meg Mason, Ruth Evans, Tamanna Rahman

Olympic and World BMX Champion Bethany Shriever.

As she celebrates being named Action Sportsperson of the Year at the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards, Bethany Shriever talks to Emma Barnett.

Bethany Shriever’s win at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 gave the British Olympic team its first ever gold medal in BMX racing even though  she had to launch a crowdfunding appeal to stand a chance of qualifying for the games. What does this latest award mean for her and BMX racing? 

In the wake of the Sarah Everard murder, Boris Johnson said he’d stop at nothing to jail more rapists’ and promised to fix the system which means just 1.3% of cases result in a charge. Our reporter Melanie Abbott has been investigating new guidelines on evidence gathering issued by the Crown Prosecution Service and Emma Barnett talks to Sian Ruddick who is an independent sexual advisor who works with victims of sexual assault.

In 1958, The Great Leap Forward was a campaign led by the Chinese Communist Party to reconstruct the country and its economy which resulted in mass starvation and famine.   Thousands of people fled to the neighbouring state of Hong Kong, which was a British colony at the time and many children – often girls - living in overcrowded Hong Kong orphanages were adopted  by British families in the sixties. We hear from two of those children Katherine Gordon and Debbie Cook and  their remarkable start to life.

After the DJ Tim Westwood faces multiple allegations of sexual misconduct - which he strenuously denies - we talk to Tamanna Rahman and BBC Producer Ruth Evans.

Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason is a funny novel about mental illness and families and love of all sorts. Martha Friel is loved and hilarious and clever but she sometimes cries for days. When she was 17 she had a breakdown which has shadowed her life since then. At 40 she finally gets a diagnosis which helps her to understand why she is as she is. So why did Meg Mason decide not to name Martha's illness in the book? She explains her decision to Emma. 

Presenter: Emma Barnett
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
Studio Managers: Tim Heffer & Michael Millham

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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Woman's Hour

Bethany Shriever, Sian Ruddick, Katherine Gordon, Debbie Cook, Meg Mason, Ruth Evans, Tamanna Rahman

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