Conversations: Archive: 2015-2017

Mike wants us to give children the trust and freedom to roam far and wide.

When Jerry Grayson joined the Royal Navy at 17, he became their youngest serving helicopter pilot.

Bryony grew up on a council estate outside London where she was terrible at school, but unlike many of her friends she did end up going to college.

Ramona's parents emigrated to Melbourne from post-war Europe, having escaped certain death as Polish Jews.

Michael describes perfume as "liquid emotion".

Simon won acclaim for his book The Surgeon of Crowthorne, the story of an eccentric genius who contributed to the first Oxford English Dictionary from a lunatic asylum.

Kirsty runs a successful casting agency with her husband and together they find contestants for TV shows including Masterchef and Project Runway.

When he left school he studied at Agricultural College, while he worked on the family tomato farm.

The former Prime Minister and Treasurer of Australia is amused to have been singled out in Huntington's Clash of Civilizations.

'The Bard from Barking', Billy Bragg, has been writing songs for more than three decades.