In his excellently written evocative memoir, Jeremy Worman recounts how a privately educated schoolboy came to live in the biggest squat in Europe.  

This is a personal story, but it is also full of observations about the way the world was back then.

Jeremy met the most glamorous film star of the time, saw Jimi Hendrix at the Isle of Wight festival..... and fell in love.

Twice.

This autobiographical novel was published in March 2023

Marilyn Wisbey is the daughter of one of the Great Train Robbers. She grew up with her father in jail and remembers the difficulties of visiting him.

When she was an adult she was drawn to criminals and for ten years was the partner of the gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser.

Listening to this interview now there are so many questions I would like to ask ....... what was the electric pliers incident??

Gangster's Moll was published in 2001.

Patricia Cornwell became successful at writing crime novels because she knew what she was writing about. 

She had been a journalist covering crime when she took a job in the office of the Chief Medical Officer of Virginia.

Her first hand experience lead to the writing of the Kay Scarpetta series of novels.

This interview was recorded in London when Patricia was launching the third of the Trooper Andy Brazil novels.

Dr Toby Matthiesen is Senior Lecturer in Global Religious Studies at the University of Bristol. 

In this new book Dr Matthiesen looks at the way, at this death, the followers of the Prophet Muhammad disagreed on who should succeed him. This argument started in AD632. This book traces the history of the split through history and shines a light on the modern world. Was the invasion of Iraq a good idea?

The Caliph and the Imam is published by Oxford University Press.

In spring 1973 these three Liverpudlians were the comedy, poetry and musical group The Scaffold.

Mike McCartney was known as Mike McGear to differentiate himself from his Beatle brother Paul.

This conversation was recorded at a time when the trio were travelling the country to promote their Island LP, Fresh Liver.

From time to time they became serious but the overriding atmosphere was a bit silly. Some of what was said shows how perceptions of what is funny have changed over 50 years!

The journalist and novelist talked to David Freeman in London when his novel Basket Case was first published.

It's a mystery surrounding the fate of the frontman of Jimmy and the Slut Puppies. On the surface it looks like he died in a  scuba diving accident .... but maybe that just doesn't smell right.

Mike Welham used to have a career as a combat diver so he has a handle on the secret subject he writes about.

This elite within an elite are sadly very relevant in our world today with a war in Europe. The author explains. 

'Do what you will' was the motto of the Hell Fire Clubs whose members did precisely that. Dressing up as monks and romping with 'nuns' was just part of their life.

Geoffrey Ashe first wrote about the Hell Fire Clubs 20 years ago and the latest reprint was in 2019. He lived in Glastonbury and wrote much about Arthurian legends. He died at the age of 98 in 2022.

Albert Ayler is a mythic figure amongst the musically curious and those drawn to the further reaches of sonic expression. Although he played inside the boundaries of what could be recognised as 'jazz' his influence extended far beyond into rock and even 'serious' music.

His biography, published in the UK by JawBone Press is the work of extensive and lengthy research by American academic and music fan Richard Kolada.

This book, published by Oxford University Press, is a look at street food selling, hawking, in London from Tudor times through to the first world war.

What emerges is a story of a trade spanning hundreds of years that was essential for keeping the ever growing population of the city supplied with nutritious affordable food.

Who were these people? Where did they source their stock? What were their lives like?

It's a fascinating and sometimes surprising story.