Pictured: Derek Mahon

Matthew Bannister on

Derek Mahon, one of Ireland’s greatest poets of recent times, whose work 'Everything’s Going To Be Alright' was read on Irish TV and radio at the start of the Covid lockdown.

Professor Gerta Vrbová, who spent her youth fleeing Nazi persecution, then carried out pioneering work on the interaction between muscles and nerves.

Ang Rita Sherpa, the only person to have climbed Mount Everest ten times without using supplemental oxygen.

Helena Shenel, the voice coach who helped many celebrated performers – including Shirley Bassey, Annie Lennox and Peter Gabriel – to overcome problems with their singing.

Interviewed guest: Sean O’Brien

Producer: Neil George

Archive clips from: Derek Mahon, Radio Ulster 15/01/1984; Arts Extra Special - Derek Mahon: A Celebration, Radio Ulster 16/12/2008; Poetry Please, Radio 4 28/01/2007; New Poems, Radio 3 19/08/1974; Gerta Vrbová: Oral History, Imperial War Museum 15/04/2003; 60 Minutes Australia, Nine Network 05/10/2018; Last Rites of Ang Rita Sherpa, Nepal Tourism TV 23/09/2020; Slate: Shirley Bassey, BBC One Wales 16/09/1993; Saturday Live, Radio 1 06/04/1985.