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.

4.5

142 ratings

Download our free app to listen on your phone

LAST EPISODE

The girl in the vintage lace

04.09.2021

Lydia Pearson with the story of the chance meeting which saw her co-found a fashion label which became a global sensation

Conversations episodes:

04.09.2021 The girl in the vintage lace Lydia Pearson with the story of the chance meeting which saw her co-found a fashion label which became a global sensation
04.08.2021 Judith Lucy - flying solo Judith was nearly 50 and dealing with grief, menopause and a world in climate crisis when the unthinkable happened
04.07.2021 Outposts — what Dan found at the ends of the Earth Dan Richards follows his curiosity to some of the most remote habitable places in the world including an Icelandic cabin and a monastery high in the mountains of Japan (R)
04.06.2021 After the crash Lech Blaine was 17 when he walked away unscratched from a fatal head-on collision outside Toowoomba which killed three of his friends and left two of them in comas (CW: contains graphic descriptions of road trauma and accidents. Discretion advised)
04.05.2021 The secret life of the Grey Plover Andrew Darby flew around the world on the trail of a small, unassuming migratory shorebird called the Grey Plover. In the middle of his journey, without warning, he began to fear for his own survival (R)
04.02.2021 Stories from Elmswood Farm Patrice Newell was a model and a TV host before she began a new life as a biodynamic farmer (R)
04.01.2021 Love, sex and the secret life of retirees Screenwriter Samantha Strauss on her grandmother's vibrant last years in a Gold Coast retirement home where love, sex and startlingly pragmatic conversations about dying were all part of daily life (CW: not suitable for children)
03.31.2021 Blood like honey — Kirsty's two rounds with childhood cancer Instead of becoming an Olympic gymnast as she'd dreamed, by nineteen Kirsty Everett had survived leukaemia twice and fought her way to university. A childhood marked by punishing treatment regimes and the deaths of friends fed Kirsty's fierce determination to ...
03.30.2021 George Saunders on life lessons from Russian writers Writer George Saunders says stories by Russian writers Chekhov, Turgenev, Gogol and Tolstoy can guide us as to 'how we are supposed to be living down here'
03.29.2021 Stan Grant on a world of crisis and hope With countries in lockdown, the showdown with China accelerating and the rise of white supremacy, the planet stands on a precipice. Journalist Stan Grant looks at a possible way forward
03.26.2021 The male midwife Midwife Christian Wright with tales of emergency evacuations and surfing with crocodiles while working in remote Indigenous communities in Arnhem Land, helping Yolŋu women birth their babies
03.25.2021 My brother, our farm, and seeking the source of consciousness — Mark Solms When he was a young boy in South Africa, Professor Mark Solms watched his older brother fall from a roof and crack his skull. His brother survived but was greatly changed by the injuries to his brain. The incident planted ...
03.24.2021 Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller — Broadway and me Jeffrey tells stories of grit, brilliance and tragedy behind the making of the smash hit musicals 'Rent' and 'Hamilton'
03.23.2021 Robina Courtin — listening to prisoners on death row In 1978 Australian Robina Courtin became one of the first westerners to be ordained as a Buddhist nun. Then a letter from a young prisoner in a California jail began a huge change in her own story (R)
03.22.2021 Rachael Maza's tale of three islands Palm Island, Mer Island, and Australia are the cornerstones of Rachael's work as an actor and a director (R)
03.19.2021 Pandemic nurse Simone Sheridan on working at the coalface of Australia's Covid-19 pandemic
03.18.2021 The Admiral and the Ecstasy When Admiral Chris Barrie retired as the Chief of the Defence Force, he became increasingly concerned about life for veterans with PTSD. Then he discovered certain psychedelic drugs were being used to literally change minds
03.17.2021 A very vulnerable year After Rick Morton was unexpectedly diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder he set out on a year-long mission to rediscover love
03.16.2021 The life-changing power of honeybees When Helen Jukes was given a colony of bees they helped release her from the numbing grind of her working life (R)
03.15.2021 Barlinnie, the Gorbals and me Thriller writer Helen Fitzgerald on her life as a social worker inside some of Scotland's toughest prisons
03.12.2021 Singing with strangers and Spooky Men Choir master Stephen Taberner was raised a Christadelphian, but in his adult life he celebrates the pleasure of music (R)
03.11.2021 The horse whisperer Candy Baker was a cash-strapped single mum with too many horses when she moved to the hills outside Byron Bay and discovered a new way of communicating with her herd
03.10.2021 Keenan's courage Justice advocate Keenan Mundine broke the cycle of crime and incarceration in his own life after a chance meeting at a birthday party (CW: mentions suicide, references to drug use. Strong language. Discretion advised)
03.09.2021 The babies of Holnicote House Deborah Prior was one of more than 2000 mixed-race babies born to white British women and black American GI's during WWII. As an adult, she finally found her birth mother again under strange circumstances (CW: discussion of adoption, discretion advised)
03.08.2021 Deborah's fight for her wings Deborah Lawrie had her first flying lesson at 16, then became a flying instructor herself. But when she applied for a job as a pilot, she found herself in the fight of her life
03.05.2021 The determination of Caroline O'Connor When Caroline O'Connor was told she had 'too much personality' for the ballet, she turned to musical theatre and braved cattle calls and years of working as an understudy in order to make it on Broadway and London's West End
03.04.2021 Two spoons and a dugout canoe — the story of Jock McLaren Tom Gilling with the story of how a Scottish-born soldier named Jock McLaren became one of Australia's greatest World War II guerrilla fighters
03.03.2021 Bill Birtles on China Bill began his dream job as the ABC's China Correspondent in 2015. Five years later, seven State Security police officers visited him in the middle of the night to tell him he was barred from leaving the country
03.02.2021 A twitcher's life Sean Dooley's passion for birdwatching began with the coo of a spotted turtle dove. Decades later he broke the Australian birdwatching record (R)
03.01.2021 The cold case secret in a Brisbane garage When Mark McKenna set out to write a history of the centre of Australia, and Uluru, he unearthed new evidence about an 86-year old cold case *CW: For our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners please be advised that today’s ...
02.26.2021 Raised in a cult Serafina Tanè was born into a doomsday cult led by a charismatic and abusive man who claimed he'd been abducted by aliens
02.25.2021 Water, Water — a story collection Eight thrilling encounters in and on the water, as told by previous Conversations guests (R)
02.24.2021 When Jeanne was Jean — sailing the high seas disguised as a man Danielle Clode with the story of the adventurous Jeanne Barrett, a French peasant from Burgundy who became the first woman to sail around the world
02.23.2021 Trump's Last Stand Political reporter Jonathan Swan with the inside story of Donald Trump’s last few months in office
02.22.2021 The history of libraries from before stone tablets to printed books Stuart Kells' life as a bibliophile began with one ancient, leather-bound, blue book (R)
02.19.2021 The race to live on Mars Cosmologist Tamara Davis on the complicated scientific quest to explore and colonise the Red Planet
02.18.2021 Curlew Man of the south west After Kim Scott became a teacher and a father, he started looking for his Aboriginal family *CW: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners please use discretion when listening as the following program references people who have died.
02.16.2021 Mary Wilson — Dream Girl The late Mary Wilson rose up from Detroit's housing projects to find worldwide fame with The Supremes (R)
02.15.2021 Oumuamua's secrets Avi Loeb was Harvard's top astronomer when he became intrigued by reports of a pancake-shaped object the size of a football field hurtling through our solar system
02.12.2021 Secret agents in the suburbs: a real life family spy story Sue Ellen Kusher’s father was an ASIO agent, and she and her siblings were taught to memorise number plates, spot unusual behaviour, and keep the family business secret at all costs
02.11.2021 Upside down in Bass Strait Ocean racing navigator Will Oxley first learned his trade through celestial navigation, using a sextant and the stars. He then began ocean racing around the world, and in 1998, he found himself upside down in a storm-wrecked Bass Strait
02.10.2021 The mystery of Lasseter's Reef Warren Brown with the story of the fever sparked by claims of a gold reef in the Central Australian desert during the Great Depression (R)
02.09.2021 The secret life of George Georgina Godwin grew up in Zimbabwe with a father who was the model of a British gentleman. Many years after she fled Africa for London, she discovered his secret identity
02.08.2021 The hunt for Hitler's horses Art detective Arthur Brand met neo-Nazis, billionaire collectors and underground art dealers on his hunt for the two enormous bronze horse sculptures once owned by Hitler
02.05.2021 Gail Force Gail Austen was 7 years old when she started her first business, selling hand-made billycarts on the streets of Redfern. She grew up to become a legendary surf shop entrepreneur with a habit of hiring her shoplifters
02.04.2021 Philippa Perry says yes to feelings Philippa's parents wanted her to move in the 'right' circles, so they sent her to a Swiss finishing school. Instead she became a debt collector, went to Hamburger University then became a psychotherapist
02.03.2021 When Robert found Maida Former politician Robert Tickner grew up in country NSW, 'showered with love' by his adoptive parents. When he was reunited with his biological mum in his 40s, he realised she'd been much closer than he ever knew (R) *CW: This ...
02.02.2021 A life inside the rock 'n' roll circus - Part 2 In 1973, Tana Douglas found her calling. She became the world's first woman roadie in rock and roll, touring with AC/DC, Iggy Pop and Elton John *CW: discussion of drugs and drug use
02.01.2021 A life inside the rock 'n' roll circus - Part 1 In 1973, Tana Douglas found her calling. She became the world's first woman roadie in rock and roll, touring with AC/DC, Iggy Pop and Elton John
01.29.2021 The strange new science of ageing Andrew Steele on the race to crack the scientific code of why we get old, and whether we can delay or suspend ageing for good

Older episodes

Conversations

What's Conversations about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Conversations episodes:

The girl in the vintage lace

Judith Lucy - flying solo

Outposts — what Dan found at the ends of the Earth

After the crash

The secret life of the Grey Plover

Stories from Elmswood Farm

Love, sex and the secret life of retirees

Blood like honey — Kirsty's two rounds with childhood cancer

George Saunders on life lessons from Russian writers

Stan Grant on a world of crisis and hope

The male midwife

My brother, our farm, and seeking the source of consciousness — Mark Solms

Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller — Broadway and me

Robina Courtin — listening to prisoners on death row

Rachael Maza's tale of three islands

Pandemic nurse

The Admiral and the Ecstasy

A very vulnerable year

The life-changing power of honeybees

Barlinnie, the Gorbals and me

Singing with strangers and Spooky Men

The horse whisperer

Keenan's courage

The babies of Holnicote House

Deborah's fight for her wings

The determination of Caroline O'Connor

Two spoons and a dugout canoe — the story of Jock McLaren

Bill Birtles on China

A twitcher's life

The cold case secret in a Brisbane garage

Raised in a cult

Water, Water — a story collection

When Jeanne was Jean — sailing the high seas disguised as a man

Trump's Last Stand

The history of libraries from before stone tablets to printed books

The race to live on Mars

Curlew Man of the south west

Mary Wilson — Dream Girl

Oumuamua's secrets

Secret agents in the suburbs: a real life family spy story

Upside down in Bass Strait

The mystery of Lasseter's Reef

The secret life of George

The hunt for Hitler's horses

Gail Force

Philippa Perry says yes to feelings

When Robert found Maida

A life inside the rock 'n' roll circus - Part 2

A life inside the rock 'n' roll circus - Part 1

The strange new science of ageing

Other shows like Conversations: