Conversations

By ABC Radio

Society & Culture

What's Conversations about?

Spend an hour in someone else's life. 'Conversations with Richard Fidler' draws you deeper into the life story of someone you may have heard about, but never met.

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Inside the dictator's mind

11.12.2019

Frank Dikotter on the common personality traits of Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao and other twentieth century dictators

Conversations episodes:

11.12.2019 Inside the dictator's mind Frank Dikotter on the common personality traits of Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao and other twentieth century dictators
11.11.2019 Armistice: The Good Friends The story of two men who fought for different sides on the western front, and an unexpected friendship between their descendants (R)
11.08.2019 Talking magpies, grieving tawny frogmouths and canny galahs Gisela Kaplan fell under the spell of birds when hand-rearing a magpie nestling. After it learned to speak, she was so intrigued she switched careers and began her research into avian behaviour. Her many books on Australian native birds have ...
11.07.2019 Finding new ways to grow old After both her parents died young, Charlotte Wood grew up believing she would never grow old. When she reached her 50s, she began to ask some big questions about aging
11.06.2019 My second family is in Vanuatu Physiotherapist Sky Fosbrooke’s stint as a volunteer health worker led to a deep attachment to the people of a small South Santo village
11.05.2019 David McAllister: a life in dance When David McAllister began ballet lessons in Perth in the 1970s, being a 'ballet boy' was a kind of social death. But his school bullies helped spur him on to become one of the world's best dancers
11.04.2019 William Dalrymple on the ruthless rise of the British East India Company The outrageous story of a group of financiers from a poor and damp island on the outer rim of Europe, who created a private company that became the biggest military and political power in all of India
11.01.2019 Archie Roach: turning spirit into song Archie tells of writing Took the Children Away and playing it in public for the first time, of his belated reunion with his siblings, and his love story with Ruby Hunter
10.31.2019 Di Morrissey and the tragedy on Lovett Bay Di Morrissey grew up in a tiny village only accessible by rowboat, with film star Chips Rafferty and poet Dorothea Mackellar as her neighbours. In 1954, a terrible accident on Lovett Bay changed everything
10.30.2019 The writer and the Prince While fleeing the aftermath of a failed marriage, Hilary McPhee accepted a job in Jordan to write the autobiography of a Hashemite Prince. Living alone for the first time, she was plunged into extreme loneliness
10.29.2019 Murgon's shining star: Leah Purcell Leah was a teenager working in a small-town meatworks when she discovered her true path in life (R)
10.28.2019 The force of Will Winemaker Will Rikard-Bell was working at Hunter Valley winery when a catastrophic explosion knocked him off his feet. He sustained burns to 70% of his body, and his skin needed to be almost entirely rebuilt (R)
10.25.2019 In the shadowlands: McMafia author Misha Glenny on organised crime As a young man studying in Europe, Misha formed underground links that would propel his whole career. The former BBC correspondent interviews criminals all over the world to understand the all-pervasive webs of modern organised crime
10.24.2019 Que Minh Luu doesn’t need a hug How hot young widows, perceptive friends and twitter kept television executive Que afloat after the death of her husband
10.23.2019 Tara Westover's escape from ignorance Tara was raised by parents who were radical Mormon survivalists, preparing for the End of Days. Although they didn't believe in traditional schooling, Tara taught herself in secret and made it to Cambridge and Harvard (R)
10.22.2019 Life in the shadow of Long Bay Patrick Kennedy on growing up next door to some of Australia's most violent criminals (R)
10.21.2019 Surviving kidnap in Sierra Leone Aminata Conteh-Biger was kidnapped by rebel militia when they stormed her village and ransacked her family home. A strange series of events saw her released, but then she was still being hunted
10.18.2019 The chair with five legs As a girl, Davida Allen was brought up to be a proper young lady. Instead, she covered her naked body in paint and rolled around to make art. She grew up to become one of Australia's most famous painters (R)
10.17.2019 Child convicts, lost boys and the murder at Point Puer British boys as young as nine were transported to Van Diemen's Land for petty crime. 3000 of them were incarcerated at Point Puer, the first prison in the world built exclusively for children
10.16.2019 Strange rescuers: my father's Holocaust Juliet Rieden traces the story of her Czech father, who was taken as a child refugee to Britain a week before the Nazis arrived in Prague, and thus spared the fate of his extended family
10.15.2019 Kumi’s Japanese inheritance Australian journalist Kumi Taguchi grapples with divided loyalties after the death of her father
10.14.2019 Story of a blood red rose Kate Forsyth tells the origin story of a fairy tale staple, the ever-flowering red rose. Her version has its roots in Imperial China, and arrives via the French Revolution
10.11.2019 Dear Dolly Doctor, Am I normal? Dr. Melissa Kang explained sex, puberty and periods to teen girls in her role as Dolly magazine's ‘Dolly Doctor’. She spent 23 years answering questions sent by mail, that young people were too embarrassed to ask out loud
10.10.2019 Dinosaur fields: finding fossils on the family farm The random find of a dinosaur bone on her Queensland property led Robyn Mackenzie to develop an outback museum of international importance, and a deep sense of wonder at prehistoric geology
10.09.2019 Chasing the dream that was Prague Author Favel Parrett’s grandmother escaped from Czechoslovakia as a teenager, but her sister stayed behind - suffering the twin nightmares of Nazism and Stalinism
10.08.2019 Finding the right formula with Eddie Woo Waiting in line to enrol for a teaching degree in history and English, Eddie was persuaded to pursue maths instead. Despite never really liking maths at school, he signed up. The split-second decision changed his life, and the lives of ...
10.07.2019 The lucky accident of Sydney's Opera House Helen Pitt on how the luminous shells of Australia's most loved building nearly didn't make it off the drawing board (R)
10.04.2019 Discovering my father's secret life in France Growing up, Louisa Deasey knew very little about her late father's life. Then she found a bundle of his lost love letters (R)
10.03.2019 The sex life of brains Neuropsychologist Dr Amee Baird on the mysterious connections between our brains and our desires
10.02.2019 What's next for the Greens? From the party of protest to the balance of power, journalist Paddy Manning looks at the history of Australia's most successful third party
10.01.2019 Bill Bryson and the wonders of the human body Why is scratching an itch so pleasurable? How can someone leap from a burning plane in the sky and survive with a few bumps and scratches? Take a journey through the wondrous complexity of the human body
09.30.2019 Nursing on Sydney’s streets When working with people experiencing homelessness, Erin Longbottom looks to their strengths to help them find their way to health and a home
09.27.2019 A friendship and a giant literary hoax Alison Hoddinott and Gwen Harwood were great friends with a shared love of English, family, and thumbing their noses at convention (R)
09.26.2019 The evolution of Charlie Veron: the Great Barrier Reef's first scientist School was nearly the undoing of the intensely curious child who went on to discover nearly a quarter of the world's coral species, and be awarded the Darwin Medal (R)
09.25.2019 A vibrant life - Kath Venn at 84 The late Kath Venn was a powerhouse of community spirit. After serving in Tasmania's parliament, she was State President of the Housewives Association, a marriage celebrant and much else besides (R)
09.24.2019 RAF pilot Frank Dell's story of survival in Nazi occupied Holland In October 1944 Frank's De Havilland Mosquito was shot out of the sky and he parachuted into Nazi territory (R)
09.23.2019 Secret of the native hibiscus: western science meets Indigenous knowledge Botanist and Dharawal elder Fran Bodkin uses western science to explain up to 80,000 years of Australian Indigenous plant knowledge (R)
09.20.2019 Why is so little known about women’s bodies? After attending a conference on endometriosis in 2015, journalist Gabrielle Jackson broke down in tears. She realised she knew nothing about the disease that had been wreaking havoc with her body
09.19.2019 One hundred acres of bamboo Durnford Dart longed to return to life on the land, where he’d spent his best childhood years. He went on to pioneer bamboo farming in Australia
09.18.2019 The tangled web of spirituality Seeking a connection with a higher power led Rob Donnelly into the Catholic priesthood, but the reality of a religious life was not what he expected
09.17.2019 Ben Folds' dream about lightning bugs Ben on his musical career, the art of song writing and his brief stint as a one-man polka band in a German restaurant
09.16.2019 The indestructible nature of Corey White A childhood of abuse and neglect led Corey to an unusual place - the stage. His wit and resilience make his stand-up comedy sharply observed and darkly humorous
09.13.2019 Nat Young is still in search of the perfect wave For four-time world champion surfer Nat, surfing is about more than competition or exercise, it's a religion
09.12.2019 Keeping Mum: love and dementia Daughter Nia tells how early-onset dementia has reshaped the powerful partnership of her parents, Moira and Leon Pericles
09.11.2019 Why don’t more dads take parental leave? Annabel Crabb on the inequity between parents of different genders, prompted by the hullabaloo surrounding New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden’s baby, and the corresponding lack of concern about Australia’s Prime Minister having young children
09.10.2019 Prepping for the apocalypse: bunkers, bullets and billionaires Bradley Garrett explores ‘doomsday prepping’, a multi-billion dollar industry driven by dread (R)
09.09.2019 Akmal Saleh really doesn't like the jungle An impulse decision to buy a home in the rainforest launches a comedy of errors involving a python in the roof, a half-finished home, an unexpected tax bill and two reality TV shows
09.06.2019 The greatest air race: twenty planes, London to Melbourne, 1934 Early aviation's most dramatic event saw courage, tragedy and a miraculous rescue involving the whole town of Albury
09.05.2019 Sex, death and the northern quoll Overcoming breast cancer in the first year of her daughter's life led scientist Amanda Niehaus to a deeper study of reproduction and death
09.04.2019 The life of Antarctic icebreaker Aurora Australis When the ship starts to cut through the ice, marine biologist Sarah Laverick feels the vibrations rumble through her body like a thunderstorm

Older episodes

Conversations

What's Conversations about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Conversations episodes:

Inside the dictator's mind

Armistice: The Good Friends

Talking magpies, grieving tawny frogmouths and canny galahs

Finding new ways to grow old

My second family is in Vanuatu

David McAllister: a life in dance

William Dalrymple on the ruthless rise of the British East India Company

Archie Roach: turning spirit into song

Di Morrissey and the tragedy on Lovett Bay

The writer and the Prince

Murgon's shining star: Leah Purcell

The force of Will

In the shadowlands: McMafia author Misha Glenny on organised crime

Que Minh Luu doesn’t need a hug

Tara Westover's escape from ignorance

Life in the shadow of Long Bay

Surviving kidnap in Sierra Leone

The chair with five legs

Child convicts, lost boys and the murder at Point Puer

Strange rescuers: my father's Holocaust

Kumi’s Japanese inheritance

Story of a blood red rose

Dear Dolly Doctor, Am I normal?

Dinosaur fields: finding fossils on the family farm

Chasing the dream that was Prague

Finding the right formula with Eddie Woo

The lucky accident of Sydney's Opera House

Discovering my father's secret life in France

The sex life of brains

What's next for the Greens?

Bill Bryson and the wonders of the human body

Nursing on Sydney’s streets

A friendship and a giant literary hoax

The evolution of Charlie Veron: the Great Barrier Reef's first scientist

A vibrant life - Kath Venn at 84

RAF pilot Frank Dell's story of survival in Nazi occupied Holland

Secret of the native hibiscus: western science meets Indigenous knowledge

Why is so little known about women’s bodies?

One hundred acres of bamboo

The tangled web of spirituality

Ben Folds' dream about lightning bugs

The indestructible nature of Corey White

Nat Young is still in search of the perfect wave

Keeping Mum: love and dementia

Why don’t more dads take parental leave?

Prepping for the apocalypse: bunkers, bullets and billionaires

Akmal Saleh really doesn't like the jungle

The greatest air race: twenty planes, London to Melbourne, 1934

Sex, death and the northern quoll

The life of Antarctic icebreaker Aurora Australis

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