Radio Times
type: channel
link: https://www.radiotimes.com
date: 2026-01-29T09:58:05.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Skeleton racer Tabby Stoecker reveals the impact of opinions she has encountered around race and culture: "It would shock me"
items: Stars in her eyes
items: Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock speaks on space travel future and aliens: "I'm not sure about alien abduction"
items: Much ado about William
items: Judi Dench "wants to carry on" amid sight issues as British acting legend investigates her family history with Shakespeare
items: Is AI damaging our brain power? Jim Al-Khalili explores Secrets of the Brain
items: Antiques of war
items: It takes a village
items: Agatha Christie's Miss Marple is making a return – great-grandson confirms new drama
items: Top Religion Picks
items: "The adrenaline streams through your body!"
items: Susanna Reid on covering the US Election: 'Adrenaline, late nights and high stakes'
items: Pride and prejudice
items: "Working for the resistance, you just had to get on with it"
items: Fred Sirieix on Olympian daughter Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix: "She's in with a real chance of a medal"
items: "Who doesn’t like jumping into a pool? I do, and I’m 52!"
items: "I’m not in the stands going, 'I wish I was there'"
items: Fawziyah Javed's mother on why she wanted murder trial shown on Channel 4's The Push
items: BBC commentator John Murray on World Cup 2022, Gareth Southgate's strongest XI and FIFA controversy

Skeleton racer Tabby Stoecker reveals the impact of opinions she has encountered around race and culture: "It would shock me"
type: item
date: 2026-01-26T17:00:54.000Z
creator: Sherna Noah
subject: Sport
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Swapping the trapeze at circus school to train for the skeleton at the Olympics was a brave move. Now, after a bumpy start, Tabby Stoecker’s courage is paying off.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. As a teenage student at circus school with a flair for flying trapeze, Tabby Stoecker learnt how to handle danger. On the skeleton track in the Dolomite Mountains, those years of training are sure to come in handy. Stoecker will hurtle headfirst down the winding course at speeds of up to 90 miles per hour, her face just centimetres from the ice. “I’ve had experiences when it hasn’t gone right, and I’ve hit the wall hard, skidded, or flipped on to my back,” says Stoecker, who will be competing at her first Winter Olympics after winning World Cup and European Championship medals. But when it goes to plan, she adds, sliding the corners of the frozen course while experiencing extreme G-force is “an absolute state of flow”. “You can’t remember what’s happened because you are so present. You’re in tune with your breath, the track and sled. You can feel, see and hear everything but also nothing at all. You’re at one with what you’re doing.” Stoecker, 25, is the first British woman in more than a decade to win an overall skeleton World Cup medal. Yet just seven years ago, she hadn’t even heard of the sport that she excels in. That changed in the summer of 2018 when, aged 17, she spotted an advert on Instagram seeking young people who, with support, could become future Olympian or Paralympians across a range of disciplines. At the time, she was living with her mother in London, combining flying trapeze, clowning and juggling alongside her A-levels. She dreamt of joining the entertainment troupe Cirque du Soleil but doubted she would ever make it. Stoecker’s application to the talent programme was accepted, though her start was far from smooth. “I hadn’t even heard of skeleton when I signed up,” she admits. “I told my mum about the sports in the talent ID. She knew about skeleton – she’d watched Lizzy Yarnold win in Pyeongchang on the telly. “I was just bad. I was thrown in at the deep end. I didn’t really grow up doing win…

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Stars in her eyes
type: item
creator: Sherna Noah
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Space scientist Dame Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock is sure there is alien lifeout there – and she wants a chance to explore it
encoded: Royal Institution Christmas Lectures: Is There Life beyond Earth? is from Sun 28—Tue 30 Dec 7.00pm BBC Four/iPlayer. Add it to your watchlist Dame Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock has been blown off course by cancelled trains. She has finally arrived at the Royal Institution in London to rehearse her Christmas Lectures on the furthest reaches of the known cosmos, but the journey was challenging. She laughs at the irony: “I was stranded. I was like, ‘Beam me up, Scotty’, but no one was listening.” The Sky at Night presenter – whose dream of becoming a space scientist took root after watching an episode of Clangers – has slept for just three hours, but she’s fizzing with the energy that both fuels her insomnia and has made her a household name. “I have dyslexia and ADHD, my head is a-buzz with ideas. Sometimes it’s overwhelming,” she explains. She’ll be pouring a slice of those thoughts into her three-lecture series, entitled Is There Life beyond Earth? and showing on BBC Four, covering Nasa’s plan to return humans to the Moon, potential signs of life on exoplanets, whether future human settlements could survive in space and how the James Webb Space Telescope – on which she worked in the design stages – is rewriting the story of the Big Bang. Dame Maggie’s story is compelling – her parents separated when she was four, she was diagnosed with dyslexia at eight and attended 13 different schools. But she made her name in science because, she says, “I was lucky to have a powerful dream.” She also wants to hammer home the message that space is for everyone. “Growing up, I thought space and astronomy were done by white guys in togas. You hear about the Greeks and Romans, you don’t really hear about everybody else. But every culture has looked up at the night sky. It’s the heritage of all of us,” she says. However, our ancestors could never have imagined this current era of billionaire-fuelled galactic adventure, led by the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Sir Richard Branson. While…

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Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock speaks on space travel future and aliens: "I'm not sure about alien abduction"
type: item
date: 2025-12-08T17:01:39.000Z
creator: Sherna Noah
subject: Documentaries
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock tells us why the future of space exploration matters and how she hopes to inspire the next generation.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Dame Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock has been blown off course by cancelled trains. She has finally arrived at the Royal Institution in London to rehearse her Christmas Lectures on the furthest reaches of the known cosmos, but the journey was challenging. She laughs at the irony: “I was stranded. I was like, ‘Beam me up, Scotty’, but no one was listening.” The Sky at Night presenter – whose dream of becoming a space scientist took root after watching an episode of Clangers – has slept for just three hours, but she’s fizzing with the energy that both fuels her insomnia and has made her a household name. “I have dyslexia and ADHD, my head is a-buzz with ideas. Sometimes it’s overwhelming,” she explains. She’ll be pouring a slice of those thoughts into her three-lecture series, entitled Is There Life beyond Earth? and showing on BBC Four, covering Nasa’s plan to return humans to the Moon, potential signs of life on exoplanets, whether future human settlements could survive in space and how the James Webb Space Telescope – on which she worked in the design stages – is rewriting the story of the Big Bang. Dame Maggie’s story is compelling – her parents separated when she was four, she was diagnosed with dyslexia at eight and attended 13 different schools. But she made her name in science because, she says, “I was lucky to have a powerful dream.” She also wants to hammer home the message that space is for everyone. “Growing up, I thought space and astronomy were done by white guys in togas. You hear about the Greeks and Romans, you don’t really hear about everybody else. But every culture has looked up at the night sky. It’s the heritage of all of us,” she says. However, our ancestors could never have imagined this current era of billionaire-fuelled galactic adventure, led by the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Sir Richard Branson. While Dame Maggie is optimistic that “more of us will get out there” despite the eye-popping c…

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Much ado about William
type: item
creator: Sherna Noah
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Having discovered a 17th-century ancestor Dame Judi Dench embarks on a hopeful search for links to the Bard
encoded: Judi Dench: Shakespeare, My Family and Me will air on Channel 4 this Christmas, with a date TBA. When Dame Judi Dench tries to teach her recalcitrant African grey parrot, Sweetie, the name of her literary hero, she’s met with stony silence. “Shakespeare!” the Oscar-winning actress coos, before sighing. “It would be wonderful if you said it!” The parrot has other ideas. “I was with my nephew and suddenly she said, ‘Drop your trousers. You’re a slag’. It’s very rude! She didn’t get that from me!” she laughs. However, while Dench has no luck with her pet bird, she hopes to reap more rewards in an intimate documentary on her passion for Britain’s famous man of letters and the possibility of uncovering an ancient family connection. During Channel 4’s Shakespeare, My Family and Me, she examines new evidence about the life of her eight times great-grandfather, the nobleman Anders Bille, who was a member of the Danish royal court in the 17th century and whom she first discovered during a 2021 episode of the BBC series, Who Do You Think You Are? Ideally, Dame Judi would like to find out whether Bille ever met the Bard, which – if true – would be an incredible discovery given the profound influence he has had on her own life, both professionally and personally. Her late husband, Michael Williams, who performed at the Royal Shakespeare Company himself, famously called the wordsmith “the man who pays the rent” and Dench even has a tree in her garden dedicated to him. Dame Judi’s passion for the writer began in childhood and today, she says, the rhythm of his language is in her blood. She has played most of his female roles, from Ophelia in Hamlet to Lady Macbeth and ruefully admits: “I can’t remember what I’m doing the day after tomorrow or the day after that, but I can remember reams of Shakespeare”. Indeed, in the documentary, there are spine-tingling moments when she fluently recites passages from his plays. “She’s in the library in Denmark and does a soliloquy from Antony a…

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Judi Dench "wants to carry on" amid sight issues as British acting legend investigates her family history with Shakespeare
type: item
date: 2025-11-25T09:33:40.000Z
creator: Sherna Noah
subject: Documentaries
subject: TV
subject: Channel 4
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Having discovered a 17th-century ancestor, Dame Judi Dench embarks on a hopeful search for links to the Bard.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. When Dame Judi Dench tries to teach her recalcitrant African grey parrot, Sweetie, the name of her literary hero, she’s met with stony silence. “Shakespeare!” the Oscar-winning actress coos, before sighing. “It would be wonderful if you said it!” The parrot has other ideas. “I was with my nephew and suddenly she said, ‘Drop your trousers. You’re a slag’. It’s very rude! She didn’t get that from me!” she laughs. However, while Dench has no luck with her pet bird, she hopes to reap more rewards in an intimate documentary on her passion for Britain’s famous man of letters and the possibility of uncovering an ancient family connection. During Channel 4’s Shakespeare, My Family and Me, she examines new evidence about the life of her eight times great-grandfather, the nobleman Anders Bille, who was a member of the Danish royal court in the 17th century and whom she first discovered during a 2021 episode of the BBC series, Who Do You Think You Are? Ideally, Dame Judi would like to find out whether Bille ever met the Bard, which – if true – would be an incredible discovery given the profound influence he has had on her own life, both professionally and personally. Her late husband, Michael Williams, who performed at the Royal Shakespeare Company himself, famously called the wordsmith “the man who pays the rent” and Dench even has a tree in her garden dedicated to him. Dame Judi’s passion for the writer began in childhood and today, she says, the rhythm of his language is in her blood. She has played most of his female roles, from Ophelia in Hamlet to Lady Macbeth and ruefully admits: “I can’t remember what I’m doing the day after tomorrow or the day after that, but I can remember reams of Shakespeare”. Indeed, in the documentary, there are spine-tingling moments when she fluently recites passages from his plays. “She’s in the library in Denmark and does a soliloquy from Antony and Cleopatra,” exclaims director Harvey Lill…

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Is AI damaging our brain power? Jim Al-Khalili explores Secrets of the Brain
type: item
date: 2025-09-26T06:00:48.000Z
creator: Sherna Noah
subject: Documentaries
subject: TV
subject: BBC
subject: Interview
description: A new BBC series asks if our most complex organ can keep pace with artificial intelligence.
encoded: As artificial intelligence is pitted against the brain, Jim Al-Khalili, broadcaster and professor of theoretical physics, explores how the human brain has evolved into the most complex known structure in the universe. In his new BBC series, Secrets of the Brain, he examines how the brain, with its hundred billion neurons, came to exist. It’s a story spanning hundreds of millions of years – but does new technology mean brain power is in decline and will it lose out to AI? You describe the human brain as the most complex structure known in the universe. Why? There’s nothing that comes close in terms of complexity. It’s so intricate, with almost a hundred billion neurons and over a hundred trillion connections. If you were to lay all its axons end-to-end, they’d stretch halfway to the Moon. In your new series, you explore 600 million years of evolution to uncover how the brain came to exist. What surprised you? That creatures had rudimentary eyes before they had brains. That early evolution of just a light-sensitive receptor - a cell that can absorb sunlight - triggers chemicals that send signals to other cells to tell that creature how to swim in the ocean, how to move towards or away from the light. That didn’t need a brain. Vertebrates evolved in the oceans and they had rudimentary brains to help them hunt for food and evade predators. But when creatures started to come out of the oceans, there was another step change in brain growth and complexity. They had to process all the visual information entering their rudimentary eyes. That triggered a growth in their brain power and the brain had to grow. The other thing to mention is extinction events. In the Permian Mass Extinction, 95 per cent of all life on Earth was wiped out. Luckily for us, 5 per cent of life survived. To survive, it had to face challenges. To figure out solutions, it needed a larger brain. How much of our brains do we use? It’s an urban myth that most of the brain isn’t used. We use a very signific…

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Antiques of war
type: item
creator: Robin Parker
subject: App
subject: App features
description: To mark VJ Day 80, Fiona Bruce focuses on some touching family treasures
encoded: Add Antiques Roadshow: VJ Day Special to your watchlist For Fiona Bruce, who is presenting an Antiques Roadshow VJ Day special on BBC1 (Sunday), the personal artefacts on display are “like a lightning bolt through to the past”. They include a baby shoe carried as a good luck charm by a soldier through the jungle, and a chess set made by a prisoner of war. It follows several AR war specials, including a VE Day edition in May. Why are these objects — belonging to the families of those who served in the Second World War — so poignant? As well as reminders of individual bravery, the items are often “humble and personal”, says Bruce. “When we think of conflict, it’s about hardware, death and destruction; you don’t think of a soldier carrying around one of his baby’s shoes in his ammunition pouch.” Soldier Jack Jennings made a chess set from balsa wood while a PoW on the Thai-Burma Railway (known as “the Death Railway”). “Somewhere in all the cruelty and starvation, someone was trying to reclaim some of their individuality and humanity,” says Bruce. “We know what desperate privations those men suffered.” She ends the programme with a moving message: “To all those who endured years of suffering and captivity, soldiers and civilians, and those who gave their lives — you are not forgotten.” It’s a powerful statement: “This is a period of the war many people know very little about. I hope this is our small way of paying tribute and sharing what we know about that time, so we don’t forget.” SHERNA NOAH Chindit bush hat, training manuals and medals Ernie Wainwright. Contributor: Anthony Wainwright (son) The Chindits (a unit of British, Indian, Nepalese and Burmese troops in the Burmese jungle) endured what’s been described as some of the most intensive hand-to-hand combat ever faced by the British military. A gruelling six months left Ernie Wainwright three stone lighter, toothless, and with typhus. Whenever his son Anthony asked about the war, Ernie would get out his bush hat …

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It takes a village
type: item
creator: Sherna Noah
subject: App
subject: App features
description: From providing data-driven analysis to feeding them bananas – the LTA team are key to the success of our British players
encoded: Add Wimbledon to your watchlist Toby West – Lawn Tennis Association’s Senior Performance Analyst (Women’s Programme) Describe your role… I provide data-driven insights to optimise match strategy and gain a competitive advantage. New technology offers tracking of ball trajectories, player movements and shot placements, providing precise data on serve speeds, spin rates and court coverage. How crucial is your work to players’ success on the court? Elite-level tennis is now heavily data-driven, margins between victory and defeat are razor-thin. The small gains that players may achieve can be the difference between a win and a loss. What’s the stat most players want to know? “Where does my opponent serve on big points?” Understanding opponents’ tendencies with serve direction can give a player an idea of where to set up, and what to expect from one opponent to the next. What a lot of players also value is how their opponents behave under pressure, such as at 30–30, break point or in tiebreaks. Many players have predictable tendencies when the stakes are high, even if their patterns are varied earlier in games. Dan Ellis – Nutritionist What does your work involve? Preparation begins well before match day. We look at what players eat, when they eat it and how much they need to consume, tailoring everything to meet the demands of competition. We also refine their in-match fuelling strategy – selecting foods, snacks or supplements that are high in carbohydrates and easily digestible, helping them avoid discomfort such as bloating, sluggishness or urgent toilet breaks mid-match. Strategies vary depending on the athlete, but common choices include carbohydrate-rich drinks, gels, energy bars, dates and bananas. Why bananas? Bananas remain a popular option when players want a wholefood alternative to their gels or sport drinks – the riper the better, as the breakdown of starch into simple sugars makes them faster to digest and use for energy. What are the challenges? The unpred…

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Agatha Christie's Miss Marple is making a return – great-grandson confirms new drama
type: item
date: 2025-02-25T15:59:48.000Z
creator: David Craig
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: News
description: James Pritchard has been attempting to bring the detective back "for a very long time".
encoded: Agatha Christie's great-grandson James Pritchard has revealed that a fresh dramatisation of iconic detective Miss Marple is in the works, describing the character's stories as some of the mystery novelist's best. The character has previously been portrayed in live-action by Helen Hayes (in two American films), Joan Hickson (in an '80s BBC series) and, most recently, by Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie (in an ITV adaptation of the esteemed source material). That last iteration concluded in 2013, with Pritchard revealing in an interview with Radio Times that he had spent part of the last decade attempting to get another take on the character off the ground. Questioned on the recent competition from 'cosy crime' stories, ranging from The Thursday Murder Club to The Madame Blanc Mysteries and The Marlow Murder Club, Pritchard rejected the term – but conceded there is room for lightness in a detective story. "I hate the phrase 'cosy crime' and I don't think it's what my great-grandmother wrote," he began, "but her books had humour and I don't think everything needs to be as dark as Sarah [Phelps, screenwriter] made it. "[Towards Zero] is a little lighter and I can certainly see us doing more [in that style]." Pritchard went on to tease that Miss Marple could be next on the agenda, ready to once again challenge Hercule Poirot for the title of Christie's greatest sleuth, but didn't offer details on who is developing the project. "I couldn't be more excited," he said. "I've been trying to get something for Miss Marple off the ground for a very long time. For good reasons, Poirot has stolen her limelight since time began. "I re-read all the Marple stories five years ago and I'd forgotten how good they were. Poirot has perhaps three or four of the all-time great Agatha Christies, but if you did a top 10, you'd get at least two or three Marples in there. She's underestimated." Pritchard concluded by musing on his great-grandmother, who he credits for writing "a lot of stron…

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Top Religion Picks
type: item
creator: Sherna Noah
subject: App
subject: App editors choices

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"The adrenaline streams through your body!"
type: item
creator: Sherna Noah
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Good Morning Britain will be on air live from Washington DC
encoded: Add Good Morning Britain to your watchlist Talk us through GMB’s US election plans? Ed Balls and I are flying straight out to Washington DC after hosting Good Morning Britain on Monday 4 November. We’ll be soaking up the atmosphere. Then we’ll be on the ground, presenting the election results programme on the Wednesday morning. You’re used to a 3.40am alarm call. With the time difference, you won’t get much sleep… It’ll be one of those weeks where sleep takes a backseat. There are some stories where the adrenaline and cortisone just stream through your body! What does Ed bring to the show? He’s steeped in politics, a political veteran even at his very young age! He’s not just an expert on British politics – he’s a Senior Fellow at Harvard, so an expert on American politics, too. He’ll bring an experienced eye to our coverage. Of course, you co-hosted the last US election with Piers Morgan… We did the 2016 election and the 2020 election. Piers, as we know, had a very close relationship with Donald Trump, and in 2016 Piers called it for Trump very early on, saying, “Don’t underestimate this man. He’s a winner. He knows how to strike a deal.” He was a lone voice among the media commentariat. People were absolutely convinced Hillary Clinton was going to win it. But Piers stuck to his guns. How have you prepared this time round? I’ve been reading about Kamala Harris and her time in San Francisco, reading about the swing states and when they will announce, about Trump and his court cases, and the briefings on our guests. Good Morning Britain’s early morning timeslot could be perfect — if a result is quickly declared, that is… It could be. But, of course, in 2020, it wasn’t until a good couple of days afterwards that the result became clear. How do you deal with receiving so much social media attention? I’m not going to take on board the criticism of trolls. But you do want to take into account what viewers are telling you about their own experiences. That was particularly…

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Susanna Reid on covering the US Election: 'Adrenaline, late nights and high stakes'
type: item
date: 2024-10-29T12:50:31.000Z
creator: Sherna Noah
subject: Current Affairs
subject: TV
subject: Magazine
description: "The adrenaline streams through your body."
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. With the 2024 US election on the horizon, Radio Times spoke with Good Morning Britain presenter Susanna Reid about preparing election coverage and how she deals with social media attention. Talk us through GMB's US election plans? Ed Balls and I are flying straight out to Washington DC after hosting Good Morning Britain on Monday 4 November. We’ll be soaking up the atmosphere. Then we’ll be on the ground, presenting the election results programme on the Wednesday morning. You’re used to a 3:40am alarm call. With the time difference, you won’t get much sleep… It’ll be one of those weeks where sleep takes a backseat. There are some stories where the adrenaline and cortisone just stream through your body! What does Ed bring to the show? He’s steeped in politics, a political veteran even at his very young age! He’s not just an expert on British politics – he's a Senior Fellow at Harvard, so an expert on American politics, too. He’ll bring an experienced eye to our coverage. Of course, you co-hosted the last US election with Piers Morgan… We did the 2016 election and the 2020 election. Piers, as we know, had a very close relationship with Donald Trump, and in 2016 Piers called it for Trump very early on, saying, "Don’t underestimate this man. He’s a winner. He knows how to strike a deal." He was a lone voice among the media commentariat. People were absolutely convinced Hillary Clinton was going to win it. But Piers stuck to his guns. How have you prepared this time round? I’ve been reading about Kamala Harris and her time in San Francisco, reading about the swing states and when they will announce, about Trump and his court cases, and the briefings on our guests. Good Morning Britain's early morning time slot could be perfect – if a result is quickly declared, that is… It could be. But, of course, in 2020, it wasn’t until a good couple of days afterwards that the result became clear. How do you deal with receiving so …

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Pride and prejudice
type: item
creator: Sherna Noah
subject: App
subject: App features
description: For once, it’s not about race but sexuality, say actor Lennie James and author Bernardine Evaristo as they bring her novel Mr Loverman to life
encoded: Add Mr Loverman to your watchlist Six years before she was catapulted into the limelight as joint winner (along with Margaret Atwood) of the Booker Prize for her novel Girl, Woman, Other, writer Bernardine Evaristo released Mr Loverman. The ground-breaking novel explores the secret, decades-long love afair between Barrington, a successful – and married – Caribbean-born Londoner and his best friend Morris. In his 70s and with his marriage on the rocks, Barrington wants to end the pretence. Now adapted into an eight-part BBC drama, the sad but funny story – exploring sexuality, love, fear, religion and family – stars Lennie James as Barrington, Sharon D Clarke as his wife and Ariyon Bakare as Morris. View oEmbed on the source website BREATHING LIFE INTO BARRINGTON Bernardine I was a creative writing mentor on a workshop and one of the exercises led by a fellow mentor, who was a playwright, involved passport photographs of all kinds of people laid out on a table. She said, “I want you to pick one and write in the voice of that character and imagine that they’re taking their clothes off in front of a mirror.” I started writing Barrington as part of that exercise. I wasn’t intending to write a novel but he jumped inside me. He was a joy to write. It feels like he wrote himself: “This is what’s going to happen now…” Lennie He’s a very unique version of what’s typically written about West Indian men of that generation. I have no particular problem with stories told about the early days of what we now refer to as the Windrush Generation, but I love that this is not a “No blacks, no Irish, no dogs” story. I love that this tells the story of an outwardly successful black man who is erudite, well-read and successful. Bernardine Yes, when I told people that the novel’s about an older black gay man, a lot of people assumed that he would be impoverished, a victim of racism in a more stereotypical way, and that this would be a story of suffering. But the issue for Barrington is no…

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"Working for the resistance, you just had to get on with it"
type: item
creator: Sherna Noah
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Selma van de Perre fought the Nazis and survived the concentration camps. Now 102, she has a remarkable tale to tell
encoded: Add WW2: Women on the Frontline to your watchlist. When Selma van de Perre takes a daily walk in the small garden square outside her London home, she goes unnoticed. But as a former wartime resistance fighter, 102-year-old Selma has an astonishing tale to tell. “When I look back, I think, ‘How could I? It’s unbelievable,’” she says of her daring exploits, under the nose of the Nazis. “I’ve asked myself why I didn’t just stay in a little room, like many people in hiding, and try to survive the war that way? I’m pleased that I could do something.” That’s quite an understatement. During the Second World War, Selma (née Velleman) undertook dangerous missions, carrying false identity papers around her Netherlands homeland, to Belgium and France. To survive, she concealed her Jewish identity, dyeing her hair blonde and adopting the identity Margareta van der Kuit, or Marga. “I had to be that person completely,” she tells me. “I was so scared that I was going to talk in my sleep.” Selma’s exploits as a courier, carrying a large suitcase with illegal newspapers, pamphlets, as well as fake identity cards, money and food stamps for people in hiding, feature in the new Channel 4 documentary WW2: Women on the Frontline. The three-part series explores the daring and sometimes unwritten histories of the female pilots, guerrillas, journalists and spies of the conflict. Selma, like many women in the film, lived an ordinary life before war broke out. A happy child, her Jewish identity had “never been an issue” in her homeland and she dreamt of landing a job in an upmarket Amsterdam department store. When Germany invaded the Netherlands, everything changed. “We couldn’t go as Jewish teenagers to cinemas with our other friends. You had to give up your bike and your watch,” she says. Her beloved father, a variety performer, was sent to Auschwitz, although Selma didn’t know that at the time. “They said they were workcamps. We thought that for years, though people started to be curious, …

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Fred Sirieix on Olympian daughter Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix: "She's in with a real chance of a medal"
type: item
date: 2024-07-30T23:01:08.000Z
creator: Sherna Noah
subject: Sport
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Olympics
description: The maître d'hôtel gushes about his daughter in a new interview.
encoded: This interview was originally published in Radio Times magazine. When Channel 4’s First Dates star Fred Sirieix first realised his daughter Andrea had set her sights on diving, the French twinkly-eyed maitre d’s instinct was to protect her. Fittingly, he found inspiration in one of his other great loves: food. "Life is like a pie. There are many slices, and if you have just one big slice, which is diving – if, God forbid, you get injured, then that’s all you have," he told her. "You can dive, we’ll take you left, right and centre. But you’ve got to dedicate just as much time to school." The hard work, both at the pool and in the classroom, has paid off for Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix. Fred’s duckling – "mon caneton", "mon bébé", he coos – is now in Paris, aged 19, with a real chance of securing an Olympic medal. Sirieix, who moved to the UK at the age of 20, has been unveiled as a BBC studio guest for the Games. Will discussing his daughter’s dive in front of millions of viewers feel awkward? "I'll be at the pool, watching Andrea, not working," he says, sipping a cappuccino. "I don’t want to comment on my daughter diving. It’s too close to my heart. I’ll be speaking and commentating post-event, when everything’s done. I want to enjoy it. Regardless of what happens, there will be tears." A Commonwealth and European champion, World Championship silver medallist in 2023 and team gold medallist in 2024, Andrea could become the first female British diver to make the Olympic podium since 1960. "She’s in with a real chance of a medal. She’s in the shape and form of her life,” Sirieix says. "She is dedicated to the sport." Andrea’s diving career began with a stroke of luck. When she was eight, Crystal Palace Diving Club came to a talent-spotting day at her primary school in south-east London, putting pupils through their paces with some flexibility and strength exercises. "She was a sporty little girl, and they said, 'You’re doing great. Do you want to come for a trial?' So s…

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"Who doesn’t like jumping into a pool? I do, and I’m 52!"
type: item
creator: Sherna Noah
subject: App
subject: App features
description: First Dates star Fred Sirieix jumped off the high board for the love of his daughter Andrea – and when she steps up to dive in Paris, he says there will be tears
encoded: When Channel 4’s First Dates star Fred Sirieix first realised his daughter Andrea had set her sights on diving, the French twinkly-eyed maitre d’s instinct was to protect her. Fittingly, he found inspiration in one of his other great loves, food. “Life is like a pie. There are many slices and if you have just one big slice, which is diving – if, God forbid, you get injured, then that’s all you have,” he told her. “You can dive, we’ll take you left, right and centre. But you’ve got to dedicate just as much time to school.” The hard work, both at the pool and in the classroom, has paid off for Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix. Fred’s duckling – “mon caneton”, “mon bébé” he coos – is now in Paris, aged 19, with a real chance of securing an Olympic medal. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2024/07/GettyImages-1987891380-8f2ba70.jpg" width="3966" height="2644" alt="DOHA, QATAR - FEBRUARY 05: Andrea Spendolini Sirieix of Team Great Britain competes in the Women's 10m Platform Final on day four of the Doha 2024 World Aquatics Championships at Hamad Aquatic Centre on February 05, 2024 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Adam Pretty/Getty Images)" title="Doha 2024 World Aquatics Championships - Day 4: Diving" /> Sirieix, who moved to the UK at the age of 20, has been unveiled as a BBC studio guest for the Games. Will discussing his daughter’s dive in front of millions of viewers feel awkward? “I’ll be at the pool, watching Andrea, not working,” he says, sipping a cappuccino. “I don’t want to comment on my daughter diving. It’s too close to my heart. I’ll be speaking and commentating post-event, when everything’s done. I want to enjoy it. Regardless of what happens, there will be tears.” A Commonwealth and European champion, World Championship silver medallist in 2023 and team gold medallist in 2024, Andrea could become the first female British diver to make the Olympic podium since 1960. “She’s in with a real chance of a medal. She’s in the shape and form of…

"I’m not in the stands going, 'I wish I was there'"
type: item
creator: Sherna Noah
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Rebecca Adlington won two golds at Beijing 2008 and two bronzes at London 2012, and will now be part of the BBC commentary team for swimming events
encoded: Is it difficult watching and commentating on swimming rather than competing? I had my time in the sport and I loved it. I’m not in the stands going, “I wish I was there.” But I do feel nervous for the competitors because I know what they’re going through. What can we expect from Paris 2024? We’d all fall off our chairs if GB’s Adam Peaty doesn’t get a medal, but there is always someone unexpected, too. That, for me, is what makes it. How do you prepare for your pundit role? My old coach, Bill Furniss, is the GB head coach at British Swimming. I’ll speak to him and other coaches for stories about the human side of the athletes. And I always try to make sure I’ve got all my outfits ready a couple of weeks beforehand. I know it sounds pathetic, but I want to feel good. You retired in 2013 at the age of 23. Do you still swim every day? I wish! I go once a week on a Sunday morning and do 2km. I don’t go fast, I use it as an opportunity to put my phone away and chill out. It’s nice because I loved the sport, not necessarily the racing. Have you taught your children to swim? My eight-year-old is fully swimming. My three-year-old has armbands on, but he won’t listen to me. I try. I’ll say, “I told you exactly the same thing as your swimming teacher!” You’re passionate that kids must learn to swim... Yes. In a pool it’s warm, you’re in swimming gear, you’ve got your goggles on and you can stand up or get to a wall. It’s different if you’ve fallen into a river or a lake, or you’re fully clothed. It’s vital the access is there. Too many pools have closed in the UK since Covid. Should the government step in? Council buildings that cost £25 million to set up are not the future of swimming. No council can afford that. We’ve got to be more creative with venues across the country, whether it’s in hotel pools, in gym pools, in school pools. What wider impact does lack of access to pools have? It’s going to have a knock-on effect with the Olympics. We’re really strong now and I think…

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Fawziyah Javed's mother on why she wanted murder trial shown on Channel 4's The Push
type: item
date: 2024-03-03T09:00:24.000Z
creator: Sherna Noah
subject: Documentaries
subject: TV
subject: Channel 4
subject: Exclusive
description: Fawziyah Javed was 17 weeks pregnant when her husband killed her. Her mother tells Radio Times why she wanted his murder trial shown on TV.
encoded: Fawziyah Javed was 17 weeks pregnant with her first child when she was murdered on 2 September 2021. A “beautiful soul” with a contagious laugh, the lawyer was pushed off Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh by her husband two days before her 32nd birthday and fell 50ft to her death. Today, her mother Yasmin is broken by the death of her only child. The notion that the passing of time could one day soften her pain is proving cruel and false. “It’s getting harder and harder,” she says, tears falling. Talking about Fawziyah is difficult, but Yasmin wants to tell her daughter’s story to highlight the blight of domestic violence, hidden behind so many front doors across Britain. “If I can tell people how much this has destroyed me and my family’s life, his actions – it can make a difference,” she says. “If it can happen to Fawziyah, it can happen to anyone.” Fawziyah “was very clever, very articulate, independent and strong. She knew her rights as a woman.” And, Yasmin adds: “She helped convict him." Shortly before she died among gorse bushes on the Edinburgh beauty spot while on a mini-break with her husband, Kashif Anwar, Fawziyah told a female police officer what had happened. “He pushed me,” she said, because she’d tried to end her relationship with him. In pain, with multiple injuries, she asked whether she was going to die, whether her baby was going to die, and why Anwar had treated her the way that he did. Anwar, 29, an optical assistant from Pudsey near Leeds, claimed he had slipped and bumped into his wife after taking a selfie, causing her to fall, but in April 2023 he was found guilty of murdering Fawziyah and causing the death of her unborn child. His trial at the High Court in Edinburgh was filmed, with Fawziyah’s family’s support, for Channel 4’s two-part documentary, The Push: Murder on the Cliff. Despite Anwar being sentenced to a minimum of 20 years behind bars, Yasmin says it’s her family in Leeds who are serving the real life sentence. “He’s in prison, but he’…

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BBC commentator John Murray on World Cup 2022, Gareth Southgate's strongest XI and FIFA controversy
type: item
date: 2022-11-17T13:47:35.000Z
creator: Sherna Noah
subject: Football
subject: Sport
subject: TV
subject: World Cup 2022
description: Radio Times caught up with BBC commentator John Murray ahead of his work at the Qatar World Cup 2022.
encoded: The World Cup has arrived and TV crews are touching down in Qatar ahead of the biggest sports tournament on the planet. The global media's lenses are fixating on the Gulf State nation, more so than ever before, with the BBC among the broadcasters set to roll out extensive live coverage in the weeks to come. Stalwart commentator John Murray is a key part of BBC 5 Live, set to paint pictures of the beautiful game into British households via radio airwaves. We caught up with Murray prior to the tournament for his thoughts on England, what Gareth Southgate told him about his strongest team and the very notion of hosting the tournament in Qatar. For more World Cup features check out: World Cup 2022 kits ranked | World Cup 2022 TV schedule | World Cup 2022 fixtures | Best players in the world 2022 How do you prepare? JM: Normally we’d have more time. I’ll be watching teams, like Iran, that I don’t watch week-in, week-out. Covering England, I try to remind myself of the recent history but also the long history. I’ve been re-reading Bobby Charlton’s biography that goes back to the '50s! Who will win the World Cup? JM: At the moment I’m leaning towards Brazil or Argentina, maybe France. Will England and Wales make it through? JM: I’d like to think that they’d both but it’s a funny group I think with Iran and the United States. There are an awful lot of unknowns in that group. Anything can happen. Does Southgate know his best team? JM: I speak to him on a regular basis and I’ll frequently ask him this sort of question and he’ll always say, “If the match being played tomorrow I’ll know exactly the team I’d pick”. Which player will emerge as a superstar? JM: I think England’s chances will be massively enhanced if they get the most out of Phil Foden. What do you make of the FIFA statement about focusing on the football? JM: I was thinking back to the time when the envelope was originally opened and I felt at the time, I don’t feel this is right for a whole variety of reasons. An…

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