Past Programs
Arts and Culture - 2008
New national portrait gallery in Canberra
03/12/2008
The National Portrait Gallery will open the doors of its own building in Canberra today, nearly ten years after it was first established in Old Parliament House.
The new building, beside the High Court and the National Gallery, means Australia is one of just a few countries in the world to have its own, dedicated portrait gallery.
Australian TV industry warned on kids TV
03/12/2008
An Australian Television industry conference in Sydney has been told that Australia must broaden and expand the delivery of children's TV programs. The "Australia: You're Watching It" conference heard that Australian broadcasters must also begin screening kids TV outside the traditional children's viewing times, particularly in prime time. One British expert has warned Australia to avoid the problems which have beset children's TV in the UK and is pressing the ABC to set up not one, but two, dedicated children's channels.
TV: the best of 2008
02/12/2008
We're at the time of year when all your favourite TV shows take a break. And that means our summer TV schedules can look like a wasteland of C-grade repeats.
But, it doesn't have to be that way, according to Breakfast's TV critic.
Classical musicians protest in Canberra
02/12/2008
Musicians from the Australian National Academy of Music hope to fill Parliament House in Canberra with classical music today, as part of a protest over the withdrawal of their funding. The money is being redirected to the Melbourne University School of Music. The protesters hope at the very least for a 12-month reprieve so they can offer students a program next year.
Rory Flynn
02/12/2008
Australia could soon see a new and unexpected side to home-grown silver screen legend Errol Flynn.
Errol Flynn was born in Hobart in 1909, and his daughter Rory has now donated her father's memorabilia to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.
The bequest includes love letters written to his second wife Norda Eddington, Rory's mother.
Hans Heysen art
01/12/2008
Hans Heysen is known for his iconic 'gum tree' paintings and classic watercolour landscapes.
It's now 40 years since his death, and the anniversary is being marked with a new exhibition, a retrospective of his work that's touring nationally over the next two years.
Opera House architect dies
01/12/2008
The man who dreamt up one of this country's most iconic structures, the Sydney Opera House, has died aged 90.
Joern Utzon passed away at his home in Denmark yesterday, after suffering a heart attack.
In the mid-1960's he was at the centre of controversy over cost blowouts on construction of the Opera House.
He left Australia at the height of the debate, never to return.
Architecture in Australia: Philip Cox
25/11/2008
Architect Philip Cox has designed some of Australia's most iconic buildings, from the National Maritime Museum in Sydney to the 2000 Olympic Stadium and Aquatic Centre. This week he's launching a book which is a retrospective of more than 40 years of his company's architecture in Australia and around the world.
Rolf Harris on his new book <em>Tie Me Kangaroo Down</em>
24/11/2008
Rolf Harris' first big hit was 'Tie me Kangaroo Down', a song he first recorded in 1959. In the nearly five decades since, Rolf has carved out a stunning career, not only as an entertainer but as a world-renowned painter.
Rolf Harris is currently in Australia where he will be speaking at the National Portrait Gallery and performing at the Sydney Opera House.
Rolf Harris will be delivering the Annual Lecture at the National Portrait Gallery on 6 December and his exclusive season at the Sydney Opera House runs from 9 - 21 December 2008. He is also speaking at an Age Dymocks literary lunch this Thursday.
Murky future for screenwriters
21/11/2008
Hollywood stars, good cinematography and great directing: they're all important parts of any successful film, but probably not as important as a well written screenplay. This week, draft plans released by Screen Australia to alter the process of feature film funding have screenwriters extremely concerned. The Australian Writers' Guild says that draft guidelines, expected to come into effect on 1 January next year, will mean that first-time screenwriters would be ineligible for any federal grants.
Garrett on Japanese whaling and Tassie pulp mill
21/11/2008
Environment minister Peter Garrett has a lot on his plate at the moment: the Japanese fleet is steaming to the Southern Ocean for the start of yet another whaling season; the $2.2 billion Gunns pulp mill in Tasmania is mired in political controversy yet again, with calls for no more federal approvals. And various states are happily going their own way on everything from uranium mining to plastic bags, with Western Australia this week lifting a ban on new uranium mines, and South Australia pushing ahead with a ban on plastic bags that will come into effect next year.
Baz Luhrmann on <em>Australia</em>
19/11/2008
Yesterday was the premiere of the new Baz Luhrmann production, Australia. Filmed in Sydney, Bowen, and Darwin, it has an all-star Australian cast, featuring Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, and also Bryan Brown, Bill Hunter, Jack Thompson and David Gulpilil. Baz Luhrmann talked about his audacious vision for the film.
TV with Sue Turnbull
18/11/2008
A BBC comedy, called The thick of it is the favoured selection of our TV Critic, Sue Turnbull this week.
The Howard Years
14/11/2008
A sneak peek at The Howard Years, a documentary on the life and times of the Howard government.
The Howard Years starts 8.30pm Monday on ABC One.
London art giveaway
13/11/2008
British street artist Adam Neate can earn up to $100,000 for his artwork. But this Friday he's decided to give it all away. Having started off his career as a street artist in East London, Adam has decided to give back to the community he's from.
He's turning his town into an art gallery, but there's no cheese or wine at this art opening, it's just the streets of London.
Harsh criticism of the Australian film industry
13/11/2008
Dark, depressing and bleak. These words have been used to describe the Australian film industry.
In an extraordinary attack, the new president of the Screen Producers Association of Australia, Antony Ginnane, says Aussie films have almost completely failed to connect with audiences.
Paul Kelly: Songs from the South
12/11/2008
Paul Kelly is one of the finest performers, musicians and lyricists this country has seen. Recently, the rights to all of Paul's recordings reverted back to him and so he has put together a new compilation of hits from the past few decades.
Songs From The South: Volume 2 covers his songs from the past ten years. It will be sold along with his first 'best of' album, Songs from the South from 1997. Both albums are now out through EMI.
Surviving the Twenty-First Century, by Chris Patten
10/11/2008
Little of the world has turned out as we might have expected 10 or 20 years ago, from climate change to the Iraq war and the war on terrorism.
Chris Patten has put pen to paper trying to come to grips with the implications of the changing world around us.
His new book is What Next: Surviving the Twenty-First Century. For the last five years Chris Patten has been the equivalent of the foreign affairs minister at the European Union. He is also a former Conservative party chairman in Britain and was the last governor of Hong Kong
Talking with Margaret Throsby
06/11/2008
She's played the Rolling Stones for New York times columnist Maureen Dowd, Haydn for the former Governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten and Mozart for Dr Oliver Sacks. Classic FM's Margaret Throsby should be preparing her radio program, but instead she's talking about her collection of radio interviews, published in a new book called " Talking with Margaret Throsby".
Melbourne Cup win
05/11/2008
Never underestimate a local's knowledge -- that was the warning yesterday from Helen Thomas, who said the foreign horses were no sure thing in the Melbourne Cup with the challenging Flemington course. Sure enough, a local won it in front of 107,000 fans: Viewed, trained by Bart Cummings. It's his 12th Melbourne Cup victory, his first since 1999.
Bart's Dozen:
- Light Fingers (1965)
- Galilee (1966)
- Red Handed (1967)
- Think Big (1974 & 1975)
- Gold and Black (1977)
- Hyperno (1979)
- Kingston Rule (1990)
- Let's Elope (1991)
- Saintly (1996)
- Rogan Josh (1999)
- Viewed (2008)
TV Review with Sue Turnbull
04/11/2008
I think it's safe to say that, if you turn your television to Channel 7 at any time today, you'll see at least one horse on the screen, as Channel 7 has the Melbourne Cup rights.
But there's another race that stops a nation, the US presidential campaign. With hours to go, SBS has crammed its evening schedule with no less than three programs on US politics.
Melbourne Cup preview
03/11/2008
At three o'clock tomorrow afternoon, no matter who you are, or where you are, just about everyone from the Prime Minister down will stop to watch the Melbourne Cup.
The Pig Iron People
29/10/2008
It's 1996 and John Howard has just won the federal election. And a young bloke, keen to become a writer, has just moved house into 'Liberal Street'. What he finds with his new neighbours is a bit of a generation clash as well as some serious concerns about who should park where.
That's the setting for The Pig Iron People, by first-time playwright John Doyle. John is best known for his work on television -- including Changi, Marking Time and for his radio work, most notably This Sporting Life on Triple J.
Hollywood star Tony Curtis releases biography
23/10/2008
The autobiography of Hollywood star Tony Curtis has been released this week, charting an American dream that came true and turned a a poor Jewish kid from New York into one of America's best-known faces. Tony Curtis's biography is a gritty, frank account of a childhood of poverty and abuse and of his six wives and many famous lovers.
The artworks of Cressida Campbell
22/10/2008
Cressida Campbell is a visual artist whose work is incredibly beautiful, and utterly unique.
In many ways it is reminiscent of another great Australian artist, Margaret Preston.
Cressida Campbell is one of Australia's most accomplished and best-selling artists. She exhibits regularly in Australia and in London and, just like Preston, she works solely with woodblocks.
Now a book reproducing nearly 300 images from her collection, spanning a 25-year career, has just been published.
Harold Holt documentary
22/10/2008
On Sunday 17 December 1967, Harold Holt drove with friends to Cheviot Beach near Portsea. He was an experienced skin-diver but he disappeared in the rough surf, and the rest, as they say, is history. It's a history that will be told tomorrow night in a documentary on ABC-1.
TV review with Sue Turnbull
21/10/2008
If you like dark comedy that makes you squirm, then Review with Miles Barlow might be the TV show for you.
It's the first comedy produced primarily for ABC2, the ABC's digital channel, though it's also on ABC1 in a late timeslot.
Richard E Grant
21/10/2008
Richard E Grant is in Australia again, this time turning his hand to musical theatre.
He features in Opera Australia's production of My Fair Lady, which has been travelling around the country.
Richard plays the pompous elocution teacher Professor Henry Higgins in the Sydney production, on now.
A different side to cricketing legend Bradman
15/10/2008
A few weeks ago was the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Sir Donald Bradman. Now a new cricket biography puts a very different spin on Bradman, questioning his courage in the face of hostile fast bowling, and suggesting he was less than trustworthy when it came to dealings with fellow players and administrators.
The book is about Jack Fingleton, a team-mate of Bradman's in the 1930s.
A new take on the history of the Australian accent
10/10/2008
A new book suggests the Australian accent was forged in the first forty years of the colony, by the children of convicts and free settlers. Dr Bruce Moore says new research in New Zealand on the formation of accents has shed light on how Australia's own accent may have been generated. He also says what's known as strine was not as strongly influenced by the English, Scottish and Irish who first came as settlers to Australia as might be assumed.
Queen of the Desert off to West End
25/09/2008
In September 1994, an Australian film about three drag queens premiered and became an unlikely hit on the big screen. Priscilla Queen of the Desert took audiences by storm and become a cult classic.
Over the past couple of years, it has also become a huge stage success. So much so, since making its world premiere in Sydney in October 2006, Priscilla has gone on to become the most successful Australian musical of all time, seen by more than a million Australians. The show transferred from Sydney to Melbourne and then to Auckland.
It's returning for another 12 week season in Sydney next month, then in March next year it hits London's West End.
Toby Young
25/09/2008
There have been many Brits who have moved to the United States and had great success in the American magazine market. Think of Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker magazine, or Anna Wintour, editor of American Vogue, to name just two.
So it's probably no surprise that others would try to follow in their footsteps. But one young Brit became astonishingly successful, simply by being a failure. The story of the five years that Toby Young spent in New York became an international bestselling book and is now a Hollywood film.
Lady Fairfax New York Opera Scholarship
23/09/2008
On Sunday night, the Lady Fairfax New York Scholarship was awarded. The prize, worth $43,000, allows one young Australian opera singer the opportunity to study with internationally acclaimed vocal, language and movement coaches in the Big Apple. This year's winner is 26-year-old soprano Natalie Aroyan from Sydney.
Floriade at the movies
12/09/2008
Today the annual festival known as Floriade opens. This year it is celebrating 21 years with a suitable touch of glitz and glamour, this year's theme being Films that shaped a Nation. Floriade is in Commonwealth Park, Canberra and runs from 13 September to 12 October.
Red Dust Role Models
11/09/2008
Keeping children in school has always been a struggle in remote communities in the Northern Territory. In the most remote areas, official attendance rates are about 60 per cent, with only one-third of Year 7 children achieving the national reading benchmark.
Late last month, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced a plan to link school attendance to welfare; restricting payments to families who don't send their children to school. Over the last few years, a not-for-profit organisation called Red Dust Role Models has also been working hard to keep Indigenous kids in school. The organisation takes sports people and musicians to Indigenous communities all over the Northern Territory to run workshops in local schools.
Madeleine Genner travelled to the Northern Territory with the assistance of 'Red Dust Role Models'.
Australian writer shortlisted for the Man Booker prize
10/09/2008
First time novelist Steve Toltz has been shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker literary prize for his novel A Fraction Of The Whole.
The Sydney-based screenwriter beat several early favourites, including Salman Rushdie, to make the short-list. Six authors are now vying for the $110,000 prize money and the guarantee of a global bestseller.
Brandenburg Orchestra
08/09/2008
For the past 18 years Paul Dyer has been the driving force behind the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. His performances of baroque music are always delivered with a twist and he enjoys nothing more than unearthing classical rarities and bringing them to life on period instruments. The Brandenburg Orchestra is now touring, playing works by Handel, including the Water Music. It has also just released its program for 2009.
<em>Denial: History Betrayed</em>
02/09/2008
Denial is a very normal, human response. As a defense mechanism it can help us deal with all sorts of difficult circumstances, until we're ready to deal with things head on. Denial might even be a useful form of self-deception in the short term.
But as history shows, denial can be a very powerful and destructive political tool when it's used by one group of people against another. For example, the denial of Thabo Mbeki and his government that HIV-AIDS was a serious issue in South Africa affected large numbers of that country's population, the denial of the Holocaust, the denial of the rape of Nanking by the Japanese, or the denial of the dispossession of Indigenous Australians.
Australia's female convicts
19/08/2008
They were some of Australia's earliest white settlers, but suprisingly little is known about our first female convicts. There were 189 female convicts in the First Fleet and up until the 1850s, thousands of women prisoners were forced to live in "female factories", upon arrival in Australia. The local wool industry was just beginning and these convict women were the first to work in the mills, sewing and weaving the nation's early textiles. Now a new exhibition takes a look at the difficult lives of these women, trying to survive, a long way from home. The exhibition is currently touring the country and organisers say they hope they'll learn more about Australia's female convicts along the way.
Indigenous tourism
15/08/2008
If you live in the Northern Territory you would know the annual Garma Festival in East Arnhem Land. The festival has a strong focus on cultural tourism, which is on the rise throughout the Territory.
Sydney International Design Festival
14/08/2008
In recent years, Australian design has gone from strength to strength. This week, Australian architecture has been centre stage, quite literally. As we heard on the program last week, Australian architects were responsible for designing seven of the main Beijing Olympic venues, including the amazing swimming centre, the Water Cube. But Australian designers have also been making a splash on the international stage and, right now, a range of local designs are on display as part of the 12th International Sydney Design Festival.
Isaac Hayes dies
12/08/2008
Isaac Hayes died yesterday at the age of 65, after delighting audiences around the world with his famous theme from Shaft and his iconic voice as Chef on the hit series South Park.
<em>The Bank Job</em>
31/07/2008
A new film called The Bank Job comes out this week and it's directed by Australian-born New Zealand filmmaker Roger Donaldson. Based on a true story, it's about a 1971 London bank heist that netted a booty bigger than Ronald Biggs's great train robbery. Haven't heard of it? Well not much is known about the heist because reporting of it at the time was subject to a 'D notice'. That's a government gag order banning all media coverage.
A comedic spin to the emissions trading scheme
30/07/2008
This week the Sydney Theatre Company will make its comic contribution to the emissions trading scheme debate. The prospect of climactic catastrophe mixed with contemporary political-speak is what you'll see at the Sydney Theatre Company's Wharf Revue. Waiting for Garnaut is the name of the show and it was written and performed by Phil Scott and Drew Forsythe.
Jim Sharman's autobiograpy <em>Blood and Tinsel</em>
29/07/2008
Jim Sharman first shot to fame as director of the rock musical Hair in 1969. After that came success with Jesus Christ Superstar and the Rocky Horror Show and that was just the beginning. Jim Sharman has just completed his autobiography, called Blood and Tinsel.
Marvelous Museums competition
28/07/2008
You might remember that back in May, Radio National spent a week looking at Australia's vibrant museums sector. As part of that week, Breakfast held a competition to unearth our best regional museum. The verdict is announced by one of the judges, Radio National's manager.
Salvador Dali painting set to return to Melbourne
24/07/2008
Seventy years after it was vilified for being obscene, a Salvador Dali painting is about to make a triumphant return to Melbourne. The surrealist painting Memory of the Child Woman caused outrage when it was first shown in 1939 at an exhibition of French and British art. It was removed from public display after Keith Murdoch described it as 'an obscenity of the first order'. But now it's making a big comeback.
The painting will star in the National Gallery of Victoria's biggest ever Dali exhibition, Salvador Dali: Liquid Desire on 13 June 2009.
<em>Bloodlust: The Unsavoury Tale of Alexander Pearce the Cannibal Con
24/07/2008
No matter what atrocities men and women might commit, it's generally accepted in the western world, the line is drawn at eating each other. The question is what circumstances might drive one human being to eat another and become a cannibal. The answer to that question can be found in a new book called Bloodlust, that details the life and times of the convict Alexander Pearce.
Music from album of the week: Worksongs by Tina Harrod
23/07/2008
She was raised in Christchurch, started singing in church at the age of five and, with a mix of Fijian and Welsh blood, she has quite a voice. Tina Harrod is now being touted as a very important voice on the Australian scene.
Export laws deter buyers for Aboriginal art
16/07/2008
A new book to be published later this month has raised concerns that Australia's tough export rules are discouraging people from buying Aboriginal art. Critics say the criteria for getting a permit to take works out of the country are no longer appropriate, and the approval process takes far too long.
Charlotte Medal
15/07/2008
Next week, colonial Australia's very first work of art will be sold at auction.
TV Review with Sue Turnbull
08/07/2008
Sue looks at the week ahead in television, in particular the new ABC1 satire, The Hollowmen.
Music from album of the week: Same Old Man by John Hiatt
03/07/2008
The track 'Ride My Pony' by John Hiatt.
British comedian Lenny Henry
02/07/2008
For the last three decades, Lenny Henry has made a career out of making people laugh. The British comedian first appeared on a TV talent show in 1975, and since then he has gone on to perform all over the world. But in recent years, Lenny Henry has turned his attention to working out what tickles our funny bone and how we use humour. He is currently in Australia on a national tour.
Download Video of an extended interview with Lenny Henry
Album of the week: Same Old Man by John Hiatt
30/06/2008
The 18th studio album of John Hiatt.
Encounter: The politics behind shadow puppetry
27/06/2008
This year the Islamic Party of Malaysia won a record number of seats in the country's federal election, but its popularity is creating tensions within, especially between new forms of Islam and traditional cultures. One striking example is found in the Malaysian state of Kelantan, where the ruling Islamic Party has outlawed the centuries old art form of shadow puppetry, saying it is un-Islamic.
Listen to the full report on Encounter, Sunday 29 June at 7am, repeated Wednesday 2 July at 7pm
The Vagina Monologues
27/06/2008
Back in 1996, the Vagina Monologues debuted as a small, one-woman show off Broadway. But the show soon became an international phenomenon and over the last twelve years there have been thousands of performances in more than a hundred countries. In recent years, the play has steamrolled into being a very successful fundraiser, an event called 'V Day', which has raised more than $60 million towards the prevention of violence against women.
Music from album of the week: There Were Wolves by The Accidental
11/06/2008
If you hear them referred to as a 'folk-supergroup', don't run in panic. This UK bunch bring the technical smarts of the best of the nu folk movement to a trad folk feel in a way that engages audiences from both camps due. Theirs is a simplicity of sound combined with an other-worldly-ness that is beguilingly wonderful.
National Instrument Bank
11/06/2008
The life of a struggling musician can be tough, and if you are a classical musician, it can sometimes be difficult to even afford your musical instrument. The highest quality violins and cellos often cost well over $1,000,000 and even a good violin can set you back more than $20,000. But there's hope that a new National Instrument Bank might be able to pair musicians with the benefactors who can afford the instruments.
<em>Picasso and his Collection </em>
10/06/2008
In the early 1900's Pablo Picasso shocked the world with his Cubist artworks which were a stark contrast to the more realistic artforms which had dominated the previous century. This week a new exhibtion featuring more than 80 of Picasso's works has opened in Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art. It's the largest collection of the artist's works to ever make it to Australian shores and the exhibition also includes works from Picasso's private collection, works by artists like Cezanne, Renoir, Matisse and Dali.
Album of the week: There Were Wolves by The Accidental
09/06/2008
If you hear them referred to as a 'folk-supergroup', don't run in panic. This UK bunch bring the technical smarts of the best of the nu folk movement to a trad folk feel in a way that engages audiences from both camps. They have a simplicity of sound combined with an other-worldly-ness that is beguilingly wonderful.
Music from album of the week: Roll With You by Eli 'Paperboy' Reed & the True Loves
09/06/2008
CD title: Roll With You
Track Title: It's Easier
Artist: Eli "Paperboy" Reed & The True Loves
CD details: Q Division records QDIV1038 [locally distributed by Shock Records]
URL: http://www.elipaperboyreed.com/
RN Breakfast Sessions - Naturally7 performing live
03/06/2008
The a capella group Naturally7 hail from New York City and their version of the Phil Collin's 1981 hit 'In the Air Tonight' became something of a hit on YouTube. They've also had success in the more traditional music charts in Europe. Roger Thomas, the band's founder and leader, and the rest of Naturally7, are supporting the world tour of modern-day crooner Michael Buble.
Download Video of Naturally7 performing live
Yves Saint Laurent obituary
03/06/2008
Iconic French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, 71, died yesterday after being diagnosed with a brain tumour last year. In a stellar career spanning over 50 years, he not only was the first to introduce trousers for women, he also made haute couture accessible to the masses with his ready-to-wear range. He will also be remembered as the creator of one of the most successful fashion labels in the world, thanks in part to a formidable association with his life-long companion and business partner Pierre Berger.
Flamenco guitarist Paco Peña
28/05/2008
For the last forty years, Paco Peña has been travelling the world introducing audiences to the music of flamenco. Now he is in Australia, with a new show, A Compás!
Over the next few weeks he will perform in Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Frankston, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
TV: Big Brother
27/05/2008
It's one of the most successful franchises in reality TV, but this year's revamped Big Brother is failing to fire. Last Sunday nights 'Live Eviction Show' attracted just over one million viewers. That's a disappointment for Channel Ten, which placed big hopes on its new hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O.
Album of the week: Hymns in the Key of 666
26/05/2008
Scandinavian band Hellsongs release their debut album with syrupy, sweet female vocal adaptations of heavy metal tunes originated by the likes of Iron Maiden, Megadeath, Slayer, AD/DC, Black Sabbath and more.
Cannes film festival winners
26/05/2008
Entre les murs (The Class) is the story of a teacher and the pressures dealing with difficult students in a tough Parisian high school. It has won best film at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.
Eurovision song contest
23/05/2008
Regular listeners will know that it's something of a tradition on Radio National Breakfast to celebrate the Eurovision song contest. It takes Europe back to its roots, pitting nation against nation in the annual festival of kitsch. The 53rd contest takes place this weekend.
Maritime Museum
23/05/2008
This week we've been looking at interesting regional museums around the country as part of our marvellous museums competition. Today we're heading to the North Coast of Tasmania. Low Head is at the entrance to the Tamar River. It's an area of strong currents and submerged reefs and many ships have come to grief, the first one in 1808. A signal station was built there in 1805, and pilots were stationed there, to guide ships into the river. The station has been in continuous operation since that time, and a maritime museum has been set up there as well.
<em>Q&A</em> - new show on ABC1
22/05/2008
If you've ever wanted to personally ask a question of one of our politicians, Q&A could be the show for you. Every week the program will feature a couple of politicians and lots of questions from the public. The first episode, which will go to air live on ABC1 at 9:30 tonight will feature only one guest, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Abbey Museum
21/05/2008
The Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology in Queensland has been called a mini British Museum, covering half a million years of human history. But how did it get to the town of Caboolture?
<em>My Father's Country</em> by Wibke Bruhns
21/05/2008
Wibke Bruhns is very well known in Germany, having worked as a high-profile journalist in both TV and print and as a TV host and news broadcaster. But of late she has found fame as the author of the story of her family, My Father's Country, which has sold around a million copies in Germany and Europe.
In 1944 her father, an SS intelligence officer, was sentenced to death for his involvement in the July 20 plot to kill Adolf Hitler. After seeing a documentary on the plot, Wibke decided to gather together her family's diaries and letters dating back to the 19th century, in an effort to find out more about the character of her father and the events surrounding his death.
Music from album of the week: Just Say by Kylie Auldist
21/05/2008
This Australian woman has sung with several funk bands, most notably the Bamboos. She has a voice that can tap into many sub-genres and approaches to singing, and it is a truly wonderful voice. Funk and soul to warm your heart.
Elgin Marbles controversy
20/05/2008
There's a long running controversy involving the British Museum. Taking pride of place among the museum's 13 million objects are the Elgin Marbles, the sculptures that once wrapped around the Parthenon in Athens. For 200 years they've called London home -- and all that time the Greeks have been trying to get them back. To prove how serious the matter is, a special museum in Athens has opened to house and protect the Marbles.
Album of the week: Just Say by Kylie Auldis
19/05/2008
The Australian woman has sung with several funk bands, most notably the Bamboos. She has a voice that can tap into many sub-genres and approaches to singing, and it is a truly wonderful voice. Funk and soul to warm your heart.
Indiana Jones premiere
19/05/2008
It's been almost three decades since the first instalment of Indiana Jones graced our screens. Three films and $1.2 billion in gross profits later, the latest instalment, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
TV Review with Sue Turnbull - ABC drama <em>Bed of Roses</em>
13/05/2008
If you tuned into ABC 1 over the weekend, you might have caught Bed of Roses. It's the latest Australian drama about older women coming to terms with their lives at a critical stage, in this case the death of a husband, and then a move to a new town to start again. The main character is played by Kerrie Armstrong.
Bryson's Dictionary
09/05/2008
Bill Bryson is primarily known for his travel books - The Lost Continent, Notes from a Small Island, and Down Under, to name a few. Or perhaps for his acclaimed work on popular science, A Short History of Nearly Everything.
But less well known is that Bill Bryson's fascination for the world-at-large extends to the very tools of a good writer—words themselves. Ever since his days as a rookie sub-editor on The Times in the 70s, Bill Bryson has been caught up in the intricacies of usage, the subtleties of meaning and the frequent mistakes writers make. As a result, he's put together two dictionaries; one looking at troublesome words and the other aimed to provide a ready-reference for fellow writers, his newly updated Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors.
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Reflections on our convict heritage
05/05/2008
One of the classic accounts of our convict history is The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes. For many Australians this was their first insight into their convict past and it was a glimpse of a bleak world, one of tyranny and cruelty. But four years earlier came a key book in our understanding of our convict past, by historian John Hirst, called Convict Society and its Enemies which has now been re-released as Freedom on the Fatal Shore and includes his 1988 classic, The Strange Birth of Colonial Democracy. It revealed the complexities of our first colony and how it slowly acquired the legal and political institutions of a free society. Now Babette Smith has weighed into the debate, with her book Australia's Birthstain. It offers a further revision of our convict legacy, suggesting it was a far more golden era than we've come to believe.
John Cargher dies
02/05/2008
Singers of Renown was this network's longest running show. In fact, it was ABC radio's longest running program. The show was first broadcast in 1966 and hosted by John Cargher. Yesterday, John died in Melbourne. He was 89. His last show went to air last week, introduced by his long time friend and colleague Julie Copeland.
Logie awards turn 50
02/05/2008
On Sunday, television's night-of-nights rolls around again, as the Logie awards turn 50. The Logies were named by the late Graham Kennedy in honour of the man acknowledged as the inventor of TV -- Scotsman John Logie Baird. There has been criticism in recent years that the awards have lost their cache and are now just a popularity contest for young soapie actors. Industry insiders say the awards have changed, as television has changed, but some ask how different is TV today from what we were watching 30-odd years ago ?
Australia's war heroes
25/04/2008
The Victoria Cross and the George Cross are Australia's highest awards for valour with only 96 Australians awarded the VC since its inception in 1856, for conflicts ranging from the Boer War to the Vietnam War when the last one was given out.
The RN Breakfast Sessions - Soweto Gospel Choir
22/04/2008
Six years ago, a gospel choir from Soweto came to Australia on their first international tour. Since then, The Soweto Gospel Choir have gone from strength to strength. They've won two Grammys, sung on stage with the likes of Bono, Queen and the Red Hot Chili Peppers and performed in front of thousands all over the world. Now the Soweto Gospel Choir are back in Australia and about to embark on a two month national tour.
Download Video of Soweto Gospel Choir performing Jerusalem
TV: <em>Canal Road</em>
22/04/2008
Our TV reveiwer, Sue Turnbull takes a look at Channel Nine's latest local offering, Canal Road.
Almost perfect
16/04/2008
It's school holidays in many states right now and if you're juggling the kids at home then get ready for this story. One Sydney family decided to pack up their eight kids and take them camping around Australia for a year. For Kelly Denley the decision to embark on such a journey was prompted by some almost overwhelming circumstances.
In 2002, Kelly was trying to deal with a number of challenges. Her eldest sons were affected by Asperger's Syndrome and one was threatening suicide. Her husband had been retrenched, one daughter was hospitalised and another on anti-depressants. On top of that, Kelly had just had a caesarean birth and was struck down by severe post-natal depression. Her response was to first go back to school, uniform and all, to finish her HSC, then take her family around the country. It makes for a good book, which is what Kelly has written.
Bill Viola
11/04/2008
The American artist Bill Viola has been described as the Rembrandt of video art. For 35 years he's created videos and installations that focus on universal experiences of birth, death and the unconscious. Now three of his most recent works are being exhibited in Sydney.
TV Review: <em>Kitchen Nightmares</em>
08/04/2008
Sue Turnbull reviews Kitchen Nightmares with British chef Gordon Ramsay.
20 years on <em>Home & Away</em>
03/04/2008
If you watch Home & Away, then you'll know that tonight Kate Ritchie will bid goodbye to Australian viewers. Kate Ritchie was just nine years old when she first appeared on the show as the character Sally Fletcher and over the last twenty years, she has literally grown up on our TV screens. Summer Bay has been a training ground for many young actors including Guy Pearce, Heath Ledger and Naomi Watts, but today only two original cast members remain. Now, Kate Ritchie is making her last apearance after 4,609 episodes.
Art donation
03/04/2008
It's being touted as 'the most extraodinary single gift of artworks to an Australian gallery'. Later today, the Art Gallery of NSW will announce a gift of more than $35 million worth of art. The gift is from art collector John Kaldor, and features some of the biggest names in contemporary art.
Patrick White's last great masterpiece unearthed?
02/04/2008
More than 14 years after vowing to let novelist Patrick White rest in peace, White's authorised biographer, David Marr, has recanted and written what he promises will be the last great hurrah 'Patrick White, The Final Chapter'. In the essay, published today in 'The Monthly' magazine, Marr unearths the last Patrick White masterpiece, a partly-completed novel that never made it to publication. Marr has also detailed for the first time the real story of how Australia's only Nobel Laureate for Literature died in 1991 and another heartache silently borne by White's lover of 50 years, Manoly Lascaris.
New Australian arts campaign
02/04/2008
Every week, thousands of Australian children attend swimming lessons or play soccer for their local team. Of these, a talented few will grow up to swim for Australia or play for the Socceroos. But a new campaign, launched later today, is highlighting the importance of children participating in artistic endeavours as well as athletic ones. Later this morning a number of artistic directors and performers including John Bell, Leah Purcell and Brett Sheehy will meet at the Opera House to talk about the need to invest in our young performers.
Singer/songwriter Jimmy Webb playing live in the studio
31/03/2008
In the 1960s and 70s, a string of hits helped establish Jimmy Webb as one of the all time great American songwriters. His tunes were classic hits but not quirky pop songs. For example, 'I am a lineman for the county' isn't exactly an obvious first line for a popular hit song. A few years ago Jimmy Webb started recording his own interpretations of his old hits, versions that sound almost classical, even jazz. This weekend, Jimmy, along with another great songwriter Paul Williams, will be taking part in the inaugural Song Summit Sydney. They will also be performing together in Sydney and Melbourne.
Jimmy Webb played piano and sang live in the studio excerpts from his songs 'McArthur Park', 'Galveston' and 'Highwayman'.
One Man Star Wars
27/03/2008
The original Star Wars trilogy consists of more that six hours of film. It's a hard slog for anyone, particularly if you are watching them all in one sitting. But what if you could get the whole story in a bite-sized one hour package? That is just what Canadian actor Charles Ross has done. He is the man behind One Man Star Wars. There are no props or costumes, but Charles Ross plays all forty characters, complete with voices and sound effects.
TV Review: East of Everything
25/03/2008
ABC TV's Seachange captured the imaginations and hearts of Australia's viewing public. It was written and produced by Deb Cox and is widely remembered with great affection. This Sunday, her new six-part drama begins, called East of Everything. Shot in Byron Bay, it tells the story of two brothers (Richard Roxburgh and Tom Long) reunited in the shadow of their mother's death.
TV picks of the week
Friday 28 March. 8.30 on 7: (only in Sydney -- everybody else gets football, Brisbane Lions v Collingwood from the Gabba). Nora Roberts' Montana Sky (Roberts is a popular novelist who sells squillions). Think McCleod¹s Daughters meets Dallas. Like East of Everything, it¹s all about who gets to inherit the family farm.
Sunday 30 March on 7: Gladiators, being put on at 6:30pm on a Sunday (which I think many years ago was the Disneyland timeslot). So they are obviously targetting families. First series dates back to mid-90s now. Hosted by Tom Williams from The Great Outdoors and Actor Zoe Naylor. Games refereed by a real ref, Bill Harrigan.
Next Monday 31 March, 6.30pm on ABC1: Talking Heads -- Julian Burnside talks with Peter Thompson on childhood, the law and art.
Tax rebate for Australian films
20/03/2008
Yesterday, celebrated Australian film director George Miller said he may have to shift production of his next film offshore, because it's unlikely to be eligible for an Australian government tax break. His $200 million movie Justice League Mortal was due to begin shooting in Sydney this year, but Warner Brothers has now put production on hold because of uncertainty over the tax incentive. George Miller insists the movie meets all the criteria set down by the Film Finance Corporation for eligibility for the 40 per cent rebate. But critics say it's an American story, created by Americans, with actors using American accents.
Sinead O'Connor
19/03/2008
Since she came to prominence in the late 80s, Sinead O'Connor has generated her fair share of controversy. A Grammy award-winning singer, perhaps best known for her hugely popular 1990 hit 'Nothing Compares 2 U', she created a furore when she ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II on the American show Saturday Night Live in 1992, evoking a huge Catholic-driven backlash. Nevertheless, she has become one of the most iconic and influential Irish artists of modern times. She is touring Australia at the moment, with her latest album, Theology.
Seasick Steve playing live in the studio
13/03/2008
Seasick Steve is in his sixties and last year he won an award for Best Breakthrough Act, proving it's never too late for success. He spent his early life living as a hobo on the trains in the USA. Now he sings songs about his travels. His latest album is Dog House Music and he is in Australia at the moment.
TV Review: <em>Stuff</em>
11/03/2008
Everyone knows the pain of moving house, packing up everything into boxes and wondering just where all the 'stuff' came from. Now, that is the subject of a new show on ABC1, titled Stuff.
Richard Attenborough
10/03/2008
Over the last sixty years, Richard Attenborough has appeared onscreen and worked behind the camera in scores of movies. His latest film Closing the Ring has just opened in Australia. At the age of 84, the film-maker shows no sign of slowing.
Dinky, the singing dingo
10/03/2008
The Red Centre is about to lose two of its best known and loved identities. One is Jim Cotterill, owner of the Stuarts Well Roadhouse, 70 kilometres south of Alice Springs, who is selling up and retiring after 48 years. The other is Dinky the singing Dingo. Dinky has been entertaining at the roadhouse for the past eight years and over that time has achieved worldwide fame. As Mike Woods reports, for Dinky it's just about all over, red rover.
Blues singer Ruthie Foster
06/03/2008
American singer Ruthie Foster is enjoying her first tour of Australia this month with her blend of contemporary folk and old-school gospel and blues. Ruthie's playing at the Port Fairy Folk Festival this weekend. Her three latest albums on the Blue Corn label have just been licensed for release here by Shock.
Sydney pubs
06/03/2008
From the moment the First Fleet arrived in Sydney, pubs began to spring up all over the city. The first few weren't that impressive, just houses with a sign out the front and a keg in the corner. Over the last two centuries, however, our local watering holes have changed dramatically, reflecting the ways our customs and social habits have evolved. Now, a new exhibition has traced the history of the humble Sydney pub.
WOMADelaide
04/03/2008
Over the last quarter of a century, world music festival WOMAD has held more than 160 events in 27 different countries. For the last 16 years one of the staples of the annual festival has been WOMADelaide. Held in conjunction with the Adelaide Festival, WOMADelaide kicks off this weekend.
Sounds of Australia: NFSA
03/03/2008
The National Film and Sound Archive is looking for the 'Sounds of Australia', with the aim of preserving and celebrating the sounds that best represent our nation. Anyone can nominate their favourite piece of audio, with nominations closing on April.
Comic Margaret Cho
03/03/2008
Margaret Cho has been described as one of America's funniest female comedians. She's a darling of the gay scene, especially popular with gay men, and was one of the stars performing at the weekend's Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
Her brand of comedy blends the politics of race and sexuality. She's a queer Korean American, so plenty of comic material there. She also has the audience cringing with a level of crude that few could get away with. Margaret Cho has chosen Sydney for the world premiere of her new show Beautiful. Ali Benton caught up with her backstage last week.
Adelaide Festival of Arts
29/02/2008
Every two years, tens of thousands of Australians flock to Adelaide for the Festival of the Arts. The 2008 Adelaide Festival starts today, and for the Festival's director Brett Sheehy, it's time to say goodbye. This is his last festival as director before heading east to take on the Melbourne Festival.
Angie Hart
28/02/2008
In the early 1990s, Angie Hart was the lead singer of Australian band Frente, who wrote the song, Accidently Kelly Street. But when the band broke up in 1997, Angie Hart left Australia for the US where she lived for much of the next decade. Now she's back in Australia and last year she released a new solo album.
<em>Beijing Confidential</em> - a story of betrayal and reconciliation
27/02/2008
Jan Wong studied at Beijing University in the 1970s at the height of Mao's Cultural Revolution. There she met a young Chinese student who she informed on, telling authorities that the women wanted to escape the Communist regime for the United States. It was a betrayal that would come to haunt Jan thirty years later. So began a journey through Beijing to correct the mistakes of her past and to apologise to the woman whose life she thought she'd destroyed. This amazing story plays out in a new book called Beijing Confidential.
Jimmy Barnes
27/02/2008
This time last year, Aussie rocker Jimmy Barnes was wheeled into hospital for open heart surgery. It wasn't the 30-odd years of rock'n'roll and heavy drinking that got the better of him, it was a congenital heart defect. With his faulty aortic valve replaced, he's now got a big scar on his chest. He's not shy about it either, you only have to look at the cover of his album and there it is, in all its glory.
Silk Road
27/02/2008
Colin Thubron is one of the world's best known travel writers. He began writing about the Middle East in the mid 60s and has continually returned to the road. His latest book traces his 7,000-mile journey from China westward, along the legendary Silk Road trade route of past millennia, through China, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey. Colin Thubron is in Australia, having just taken part in the Perth Writers Festival.
Emily Kngwarreye exhibition
26/02/2008
Indigenous artist Emily Kame Kngwarreye first picked up a paint brush just eight years before her death. She's one of our most commercially successful artists. Last year, her work Earth's Creation sold for $1.05 million, the highest price paid for an Australian female artist, black or white. Later today a major retrospective of her work will open in Japan. It is the largest exhibition by an Australian artist to ever tour overseas.
Music from album of the week: Dog House Music by Seasick Steve
26/02/2008
Australian Oscar winner
26/02/2008
Melbourne born Eva Orner was Australia's only winner at the Academy Awards, picking up an Oscar for her documentary Taxi To the Dark Side, beating front-runner Michael Moore's Sicko.
The Australian art market
26/02/2008
The Australian art market has been buoyant for the past decade or so, with investors enjoying steady returns of around 8% a year. That's not spectacular when compared with the past performance of shares or even property. Yet with five-year bull run in the sharemarket coming to an end, some experts predict Australian art could enjoy boomtime conditions as investors search for alternative places to park their money. Investors, however, shouldn't look to the art market as a place to make a quick buck, according to Roger Dedman.
Album of the week: Dog House Music by Seasick Steve
25/02/2008
<em>The Angel and the Red Priest</em>, Vivaldi play at the Adelaide Festival
25/02/2008
One of Australia's oldest and prestigious festivals, the Adelaide Festival of Arts, kicks off this Friday. Over the next three weeks hundreds of events will take place and one of them began right here on Radio National. In 2006, The Angel and the Red Priest was a radio drama, originally commissioned and broadcast by ABC Radio National's Airplay. The drama is an expose of one of classical music's true mavericks, Antonio Vivaldi. Now it's been turned into a play, written by Adelaide playright Sean Riley.
2008 Archibald prize deadline
22/02/2008
Today is the deadline for entries to Australia's most famous art prize, the Archibald. As usual there are already some interesting looking works, such as the portraits of Brendan Nelson and Heath Ledger.
<em>The Vertical Hour</em>
19/02/2008
David Hare is widely regarded as one of Britain's great living playwrights. Well known for his adaptation of The Blue Room, which starred Nicole Kidman, his plays are almost always political. In recent years, David Hare has turned his attentions to the war in Iraq. In 2004, he wrote Stuff Happens, a documentary style play about the diplomatic process leading up to the invasion of Iraq. Two years ago, he wrote The Vertical Hour, which premiered on Broadway with Bill Nighy and Julianne Moore. Now, The Vertical Hour has come to Australia.
Sounds of the Street
14/02/2008
Living on the street isn't easy, especially if you're a teenager. It's estimated that there are 35,000 young Australians doing just that and it's a figure that's growing. That's one reason Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has named the issue one of his key priorities, commissioning a White Paper on how to tackle the problem.
Now, one group of homeless and disadvantaged Sydneysiders have decided to sing about their experiences. The program is called Sounds Of The Street and later today the students will launch their first album.
30 Years of Circus Oz
13/02/2008
We may all dream of running away to join a circus, but thirty years ago a group of 25 Australians decided to start one for themselves. They sewed together a tent, bought a few caravans and went on the road as 'Circus Oz'. Over the last three decades, Circus Oz has performed in 26 different countries, across five continents to over two million people. This year, they celebrate their 30th Birthday.
Swiss art theft
12/02/2008
Four paintings worth more than AU$175 million were stolen yesterday in Switzerland. They include works by Cezanne, Degas, van Gogh and Monet. The paintings were part of the collection of the Emil Buehrle museum in Zurich, one of Europe's most important private collections of impressionist art. Police are now investigating whether there's any connection with the theft of two Picassos in eastern Switzerland last week.
Writers' strike breakthrough
11/02/2008
TV executives, not to mention viewers, are breathing a sigh of relief this morning with screenwriters in the US about to end their three-an-a-half-month strike. A 'tentative agreement' with the major Hollywood studios has been reached. If the deal is accepted at meetings later today, it means writers will be back on the job this week. The long running dispute centred on royalty payments for writers from DVD and on-line sales.
<em>The Bulletin</em> axed
25/01/2008
Australia's oldest magazine has been axed, with last ever copies of The Bulletin hitting newstands this week. The magazine's circulation had almost halved over the last ten years and its publishing company ACP blames an exodus of readers to the internet. Other commentators say that, although this played a part, it's also a sign of the increasing corporatisation of Australian print media.
New era for the Opera House
25/01/2008
The iconic Sydney Opera House will be 35 years old this year, and next week will have a new CEO. New Zealand born Richard Evans will start his week by launching a national tour of Edward Scissorhands -- a dance adaptation of the cult movie. There's a bigger task to follow -- a multi-million dollar refurbishment of the Opera House. As former executive director of the Australian Ballet and Bell Shakespeare company, Richard Evans brings decades of experience to his new role and should be up for the challenge.
Haircuts by children
22/01/2008
There's a project running at the Sydney Festival called Haircuts by Children. The project's artistic director, Darren O'Donnell, says the aim of Haircuts by Children is to get people, who wouldn't normally interact in every day life, to talk to each other and to trust each other.
In the spirit of gonzo journalism, Summer Breakfast's presenter Steve Cannane went to the hairdressers, some would say, like a lamb to the slaughter. He sat in the chair for Amelia and Emer, both 10 years old.
Opera visit
07/01/2008
Last night in Sydney the Opera House played host to one of the world's greatest singers, as tenor Jose Carreras played the second of two concerts of his national tour. His career has spanned more than 30 years. During that time he has appeared with the world's greatest conductors and orchestras, and become a household name as one of the Three Tenors. It was a striking moment last night when the young star of Australian opera, Emma Matthews, joined him on stage.
Haircuts by children
02/01/2008
If you're someone who gets anxious about getting your hair cut, this project might allow you to face your darkest fears. Imagine letting a ten-year-old cut your hair. They've had a few weeks' training and are standing right there with a pair of scissors ready to give you the do of your dreams. It might be your worst nightmare, but artistic director Darren O'Donnell calls it a form of 'Social Acupuncture'. It's all part of a project called Haircuts by Children, which is part of the Sydney Festival, starting this week.
