I have made a number of podcasts on a variety of subjects, many of which have won awards. Here are a few. For a full list please go to my Soundcloud site.
The Curlew Collection. There are 8 species of curlews around the world, two have gone extinct. In this series of podcasts I talk with researchers who work with them and those who remember the ones that have gone. I also talk to a street artist with a passion for curlews and a writer who went in search of the Slender-billed Curlew. Prof Ian Newton gives an overview of the changes to the environment of the UK over the last 100 years and how that has affected ground-nesting birds.
The Budgerigar and the Prisoner won a Sony Radio Academy Gold in 2009. It tells the story of how Les, an inmate in Bristol prison, saw things differently when he looked after a budgie. The judges described it as:
“A beautifully and subtly crafted programme which used the simplest materials to tell a compelling story and deliver profound emotional impact. It was perfectly adapted to the medium, breaking genre boundaries to deliver its message to the target audience with perfect pitch.”
This also won a Jerusalem award and a New York Festival Award
Bereavement won a Jerusalem Award in 2008, and a New York Festival gold. It was described by the judges as "a profoundly moving personal account of bereavement." Peter Hobbs reads his own account of his, and his children's, journey since his wife Caroline died of breast cancer when the youngest was only 18 months old.
Nature Boy tells the true story of Michael who was left in hospital by his mother as a baby and grew up with foster parents. He found great solace in nature. A beautiful and heartwarming story. I didn't submit this for any awards because Michael didn't want the publicity.
Just Around the Corner was one of the hardest things I've made. I was deeply upset by the death of the toddler who became known as Baby P. I couldn't believe such cruelty and torture could be inflicted on a small child. So one day I went to the street where he lived, and died, and put letters through people's doors asking them how it felt to be so close to such horror. This is one family's testimony. It won a Jerusalem Award and a New York Festival Award.
Bloody Sunday, 30th January 1972, was a dark day for Northern Ireland. On the 40th anniversary I released, with CTVC, a series of interviews with people who were there and experienced it first hand. There are 10 interviews altogether, the first one featured here is with Gerry O'Hara, the leader of the youth wing of the IRA. The others are on Soundcloud and include an interview with Bishop Edward Daly, famous for waving the white handkerchief as he led a group carrying the body of a teenager, Jackie Duddy. I talk to Jackie's sister Kay, IRA activists and protestants such as peace activist Janette Warke and Virtue Dixon - Virtue's daughter was killed in an IRA bomb at the Droppin Well on her 21st birthday. Richard Moore was blinded by a rubber bullet as a child - his testimony of forgiveness is humbling and up lifting. All of them are moving and thought provoking.
The series won a Jerusalem Award.
This is the interview with Gerry O'Hara, the leader of the youth wing of the IRA. The others can be found by clicking the link above.
The Boxing Vicar is a three part series on the reflections of Brian Branche, a champion boxer who was also a Church of England priest. These podcasts won gold in the Jerusalem Awards and Christian Broadcasting Awards. Brian used the skills he learned in the ring to help him deal with difficult and sometimes dangerous situations. He sadly passed away in 2013. You can also see them on Youtube.