May 2022 - Only Seeing Is Believing

Only Seeing Is Believing - It is 30 years since The Garden Festival of Wales took place in Ebbw Vale. Being nine years old at the time, I was quite keen on the toboggan ride, sky shuttle and robotic dragons but didn't quite grasp the socio-economic conditions which brought the final UK garden festival to Blaenau Gwent in the first place - or what it was there to do. This show is a belated attempt to work all that out as I speak to historians, politicians and those who worked on the site itself - as well as accidentally uncovering a Blue Peter competition scandal along the way. The show is currently available on the BBC Radio Wales bit of BBC Sounds.

Clonc is a brand new, 6-part sketch show for BBC Radio Cymru written by Sian Harries, Tudur Owen and I and is the best-bits podcast for the fictional Radio Clonc. BBC Radio Cymru (and, by extention, Radio Clonc) is a Welsh language radio station so, as I type this in English, I realise I'm on a hiding to nothing really. Dw i'n dysgu cymraeg felly fi angen mae Sian a Tudur i gyfieithu i fi. Nes i meddwl gallwn ysgrifennu hwn paragraff yn cymraeg ond nes i "bottled it". Maybe next time!  

The Ministry Of Fun - I was lucky enough to work behind the scenes on this absolutely fascinating edition of Archive On Four all about the ministers and ministry of culture and/or the arts (or whatever they want to call the department at the time!) Presented by conductor Ben Gernon and produced by Rosemary Baker, the show covers everything from Jennie Lee to the present day, and features the National Lottery, Britpop and Virginia Bottomley introducing Gina Gee at Eurovision. I was quite heavily involved in sourcing the archive clips for the show - So when you get to the bit featuring Edward Heath enthusastically singing the Twelve Days Of Christmas to a baffled choir, you'll have me to thank.

Panic Room is a podcast, exclusively on Audible, in which Eshaan Akbar and Olga Koch attempt to find solutions to some of John Robins' biggest concerns. From running out of grave space to lowering the divorce rate, the team speak to experts and conduct their own experiments in an attempt to put John's mind at rest. I worked behind the scenes on the show but, most importantly, I was not the person who made the experimental mashed potato in the diet episode - so that bit isn't my fault.