In April 1918 George Lee was shipped from England to the Western Front in Belgium and the realities of life behind the sandbags. In conversation with Jack Perkins he gives a vividly detailed, intensely human account of the concluding stages of World War One.

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In April 1918 George Lee was shipped from England to the Western Front in Belgium and the realities of life behind the sandbags. In conversation with Jack Perkins he gives a vividly detailed, intensely human account of the concluding stages of World War One.

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Nigel Piper recalls the early days of flying, before and during World War One - the days of the Royal Flying Corps and the infant Royal Air Force.

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Nigel Piper recalls the early days of flying, before and during World War One - the days of the Royal Flying Corps and the infant Royal Air Force.

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Leslie B Quartermain is remembered largely for his connections with the Antarctic and his books on the Southern Continent. But there's an earlier, more personal body of his literature - his letters from the Western Front, in World War One. Read by Peter Vere-Jones.

Leslie Quartermain (1895 - 1973) is remembered largely for his connections with the Antarctic and his books on the Southern Continent.

But there exists an earlier, more personal body of his literature - his letters home from the Western Front during World War One.

Actor Peter Vere-Jones reads some of them.

More on Leslie Bowman, via the Scott Polar Research Institute Archives:

Leslie Bowden Quartermain was born in Hororata on 10 June 1895. He taught for eight years at Christchurch Boys' High School before becoming head of the English department at Wellington College in 1930, a post held until 1956.

Contacts with Antarctic expedition ships passing through New Zealand ports inspired him and several colleagues to found the New Zealand Antarctic Society, which for many years helped to develop and publicise Antarctic interest in New Zealand.

In 1950 the New Zealand Antarctic Society began to publish Antarctic News with Quartermain as editor. His eighteen years in this post brought him into touch with innumerable Antarctic explorers ranging from veterans of the heroic era to the newest recruits to the polar scene.

He visited Antarctica on three occasions, on his second foray from 1960 to 1961, he went as leader of a team to restore Shackleton's hut at Cape Royds and Scott's hut at Cape Evans.

In 1959, having retired from teaching, Quartermain joined the newly established Antarctic Division of the New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research as Information Officer, a post that gave him opportunities for historical research and writing. He at once began work on chronicling the history of the Ross Dependency.

In 1967, he was awarded the MBE for his outstanding contribution on Antarctic affairs. He died in Wellington, New Zealand on 28 April 1973.

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Jerome Cvitanovich talks to New Zealand music pioneer Johnny Cooper about his early years and his successful entertainment career.

Jerome Cvitanovich talks to New Zealand music pioneer Johnny Cooper about his early years and his successful entertainment career.

Johnny Cooper and Pat McMinn at a singalong. Photo: Pat McMinn collection/Chris Bourke.

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Tiritiri Matangi means 'buffeted by wind'. These days the windy island just off Auckland is a bushy sanctuary to thousands of native birds. Some of them hadn't been seen in Auckland for a hundred years while others had faced complete extinction. Twenty five years ago the Tiritiri Matangi Supporters group was formed, and since then members have helped replant well over half the island in native flora, and helped DOC with funding to reintroduce native fauna. For Spectrum David Steemson visits Tiritiri to talk to the founders of the Supporters group.

Kokako (left) and Saddleback. (Courtesy Simon Fordham, Naturepix)

Tiritiri Matangi means 'buffeted by wind'. These days the windy island just off Auckland is a bushy sanctuary to  thousands of native birds. Some of them were not been seen in Auckland for a hundred years while others had faced complete extinction.

Twenty five years ago the Tiritiri Matangi Supporters group was formed and since then members have helped replant well over half the island in native flora and helped DOC with funding to reintroduce native fauna and to look after them.

David Steemson visits Tiritiri to talk to the founders of the group.

(From left) Morag and Simon Fordham and Diana Dombroski.

Today, supporters run a shop and visitors centre they had built on the island, and members are on hand to guide visiting tourists and school groups.

(from left) Ray Walter, Jim Battersby and Barbara Walter.

First birds we meet are the rare pateke or brown teal. "That's Finn the philanderer," says  Diana Dombroski who at almost ninety is the island's oldest guide.

"I've never given much thought to the morals of birds," says one Canadian visitor. A moment later we're treated to a fine display of flight by two kokako. The elegant grey bird with a blue wattle is on New Zealand's endangered list, but there are now thirty-nine living on Tiri, descendants of the original three brought here in 2007.

Tui (left)  (Courtesy Simon Fordham Naturepix) and bellbird (David Steemson).

"The bird in the tree is called Rehu", says supporter Morag Fordham.

"They're named?!" exclaims our Canadian.

"Yes," says Morag. "And look there's Noel", as another bird swoops overhead. Noel is Rehu's partner; they've been together for four breeding seasons.

"That's a long flight for a kokako" says Morag's husband Simon.

Kokako have relatively short wings and are poor fliers. Morag Fordham looks after the kokako population on Tiri and surmises that eventually they could have lost the ability to fly altogether. Just like the kiwi…

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Jack Perkins discovers an Aladdin's cave of oriental rugs and carpets in the central Wellington workshop of Anna Williams. Anna has been repairing these exotic floor coverings and wall hangings for over 20 years. She's worked in Turkish back streets and lived with nomads in southern Iran, all in pursuit of improving her repair skills.

Anna Williams' fingers are strong and tough. She spends long hours each day wrestling a needle through the heavy weft and warp of oriental rugs. Pliers sometimes replace fingers. Anna is repairing these exotic floor coverings and wall hangings, as she has for over 20 years.

Anna repairing an old Qashquai tribal rug from southern Iran.

A Wellington rug shop employed Anna in 1992 and sent her to work in the back streets of Istanbul, the Turkish capital, to gain experience in rug repairs. A few years later Anna plucked up the courage to travel to southern Iran where she lived with Qashquai nomads who make beautiful and highly sought after rugs and carpets.  She also brought wool and silks back to New Zealand for her repair work.

Anna Williams taking a brief break from rug repairing.

The Qashquai nomads wove their carpets using wool and hair from their sheep and goats. Anna has revisited southern Iran 5 times and has noticed that hand weaving amongst the Qashquai nomads is becoming a lost art, the old manual skills replaced by machines.

'The Rug Merchants' woven wall hanging from French painting. (Right) Qashquai tribal rug with luxurious pile.

During one of her Iran visits, Anna took time out to visit Russia's St Petersburg Hermitage Museum, home to the world's oldest pile carpet, the Pazryk carpet, woven in 450 BC and discovered in a grave preserved by permafrost.

Expensive silk rug just arrived for repair.

Jack Perkins discovers Anna Williams' Aladdin's cave of oriental rugs and carpets in central Wellington.

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In a few small rooms packed to the ceiling with storage boxes, Robert Johnson and Lisa Young make sure the music happens for the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. It's their job to find that obscure piece of music or to handwrite notations into dozens of scores - and then rub them all out again after the performance. All this in an office space so overflowing with boxes that simply walking through it is an adventure. For Spectrum, Justin Gregory joins Robert and Lisa as they wash-up after one concert and also prepare for the next.

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Eleven year-old Jo Hamid and her family of seven emigrated from England to New Zealand in 1950. The boat passage cost 10 pounds and children travelled free. During the immediate post war years, this assisted emigration scheme encouraged about one million to leave war-weary UK in search of better conditions in New Zealand and Australia. The 'Ten Pound Poms' as they were often known, escaped the rationing and recession of post war Britain but, as Jo Hamid tells Jack Perkins, their new life wasn't without hardship and challenge.

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