Matthew Bannister on:

The children’s author Jill Murphy who based her best-selling stories of the Worst Witch on her own schooldays.

Len Gibson, the former prisoner of war from Sunderland who worked on the notorious Burma railway and later taught Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics to play guitar.

Dame Elizabeth Blackadder, the acclaimed artist noted for her exquisite Japanese-influenced paintings of flowers and cats.

Nanci Griffith, the singer and songwriter from Texas who was known as the 'queen of folkabilly'.

Producer: Lucy Wai


Interviewed guest: Bob Harris
Interviewed guest: Alexandra Gladwell
Interviewed guest: Brian Burnie
Interviewed guest: Pamela Todd
Interviewed guest: Alice Strang
Interviewed guest: Duncan Macmillan

Archive clips used: BBC, Jackanory Words or Pictures 1995; CBBC/ZDF, The Worst Witch 2017; BBC, Woman's Hour 2016; Pathe News, Japanese planes 1943; WarGen, The War Memories of Len Gibson 2019; Daft as a Brush charity, Dave Stewart tribute to Len Gibson 2021; BBC, Conversation with Artists 1982; BBC, Words and Music 1994; BBC, Bob Harris' Country 2012.