Past Programs
Books - 2007
A Travellers Tale - Germany
15/12/2007
It's that time of year when many of us travel -- either in Australia or overseas.
When we're thinking about travel one country probably doesn't spring to mind -- Germany.
But to some, Germany is a little patch of paradise, complete with nudist beaches, spa baths and of course lederhosen and beer festivals.
Don Watson
15/12/2007
Writer and commentator Don Watson reflects on the year that's been.
High Surf
01/12/2007
Are lives shaped by the experience of riding an ocean wave?
Darfur
01/12/2007
Sudan is the largest and one of the most diverse countries in Africa - it is home to deserts, mountain ranges, swamps and rain forests.
We know it as a land of conflict and most recently the violence has centred on Darfur.
Lisa French Blaker is a nurse and spent 9 months working in Darfur with Medecins Sans Frontieres.
A Travellers Tale - Naples
03/11/2007
Naples, in Italy's south, is known as 'The Kingdom of Chaos'.
Naples has the reputation of being a bit of South-America in Europe - a heady mix of beauty, ugliness, Catholicism, vibrant community life and crime.
Writer Victoria Hammond spent 3 months in this city as she researched her novel based on the murder in 1590 of one of Naples most vivid Renaissance characters, Maria d'Avalos.
Travellers Tale - Kimberley Dreaming Read Transcript
06/10/2007
The Kimberley in the north-east of Western Australia is so distinct from the rest of Australia that some say it is 'another country'.
The Kimberley is beautiful and harsh country and is known as a place of drovers, cowboys, rodeos and cattle stations.
It is also a place that derives its fundamental nature from its Indigenous Australian communities and cultures.
Movies with Jason Di Rosso
29/09/2007
MovieTime on Radio National, Thursdays 7pm and Sundays 11.30am
Colonial ambition Read Transcript
15/09/2007
Historian Peter Cochrane wants greater narrative drama in the telling of our political history.
And he set out to do just that in his latest book Colonial Ambition, a book that has been described as vivid and passionate.
At the centre of this historical tale is the bitter figure of Charles Wentworth and his nemesis, Henry Parkes.
Travellers Tales # 5 Taj Mahal
01/09/2007
The Taj Mahal in the northern city of Agra, is a memorial to the wife of the Mughal-era ruler Shahjahan.
It was created as a tribute from a grieving emperor and built between 1631 and 1654, when the Moghul Empire was at the height of its power.
The Taj Mahal is beautiful and ethereal.
Salman Rushdie has described it as 'a lovely thing, perhaps the loveliest of things'.
Travellers Tales #4 - China
04/08/2007
Kate James became intrigued by the lives of three female missionaries who lived in central and northwest China at the turn of the 20th century. She was so fascinated by their story that Kate decided to follow their travels from central China, along the Silk Road, to the monasteries of Tibet and through the Gobi desert.
The Australian national character Read Transcript
14/07/2007
Australian journalists have long been famous for asking famous visitors what they think of Australia.
It's a question that perhaps says a lot about our national character, our need to be known by and taken seriously by the rest of the world.
Geoffrey Cousins
07/07/2007
Company director Geoffrey Cousins turns his hand to fiction with a tale of boardroom politics and excess.
Walking the Camino
30/06/2007
For more than a thousand years pilgrims have walked the Camino de Santiago -- pilgrim routes throughout Europe all of which end in north-west Spain.
The 'Camino' is a physical challenge and for some it's also an emotional trial.
Authors Colin Bowles and Eli Best made the rash decision to walk the Camino and the reality of this journey rarely married with their dreams.
Alon Hilu
09/06/2007
This week marked one of the more significant historical anniversaries...40 years since the Six Day War broke out in the Middle East...40 years since Israel's stunning victory which profoundly changed the politics and power of the region.
We talk to a young writer who tells us about life in contemporary Israel.
Travellers Tales #2
02/06/2007
Marlena de Blasi is an American, who once, several years ago, took a holiday in Italy. It became a holiday without an end.
In Venice she met her now husband and left America for good.
In her adopted homeland she remains peripatetic, living and travelling in Venetia, Tuscany and now Umbria.
William Dalrymple Read Transcript
02/06/2007
William Dalrymple on lessons from 19th century Raj when east and and west faced each other across a divide that some call a religious war.
Great Restaurant Crimes
03/03/2007
Infamous Australian crimes with strong links to food and restaurants. Think gangland pizza parlour killings, or convicted wife murderer Andrew Kalajzich's rise to riches through his family fish restaurant or the recapture of escaped drug supremo George Savvas at an exclusive eatery.
