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Woman's Hour

75th Anniversary of VE Day, DIY during lockdown, golden age of Irish writing, rape trials in military courts.

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture

4.13K Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2020

⏱️ 49 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today marks 75 years since VE day and we remember the end of war in Europe. We speak to Shirley Mann about how her mother’s own war experience inspired her to track down more women’s stories from this time. She shares the stories she discovered of the women who were pilots, wireless operators, and even “plotters” in the Battle of Britain bunker – and what they did next.

Three women from the Armed Forces are taking legal action against the MOD claiming they are victims of sexual assault and rape. Their cases have already gone through military courts but there were no convictions and they believe justice would be better served if their cases were dealt with through the usual routes: the police and the CPS. We hear from lawyer Emma Norton, director of a new organisation called the Centre for Military Justice, who is representing the three women.

Is Ireland going through a ‘golden age of literature’ when it comes to women’s writing? Sally Rooney and Anna Burns are hugely popular but what is behind this boom in new writing? Writers Lucy Caldwell and Jan Carson discuss.

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve been hearing from women around the world who have dragged out their sewing machines to make face masks at home. In the Czech Republic masks are mandatory so Marcela has been doing her bit as she tells Maria Margaronis.

For some people lockdown has proved the perfect time for some DIY and home improvements - from wallpapering to tiling to even a spot of joinery. How comfortable are you about doing the work yourself? We discuss the dos and don’ts with DIY expert Jo Behari and Sarah Beeny, presenter of HGTV’s ‘Renovate Don’t Relocate.’

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Choosing what to watch night after night the flicking through the endless

0:06.8

searching is a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the

0:11.8

telly we share what we've been watching

0:14.0

Fladiated.

0:16.0

Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming.

0:19.0

Lovely. Off the telly with me Joanna Paige.

0:21.0

And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less

0:25.0

searching and a lot more auction listen on BBC Sounds.

0:29.0

BBC Sounds music radio podcasts.

0:35.0

Hello Jenny Murray welcoming you to the Woman's Our

0:37.5

podcast for Friday the 8th of May.

0:40.6

Good morning.

0:41.9

Sally Rooney's normal people has been the TV hit of the lockdown.

0:46.5

Anna Burns the Milkman won the 2018 Booker Prize.

0:50.3

And Michelle Garland's big girl small town is described as Milkman meets Dairy Girls.

0:55.7

What's behind the rise and rise in popularity of new female Irish writers?

1:02.4

The 75th anniversary of V. E. Day, Shirley Mann, inspired by her

1:07.4

mother's war work, has researched the lives of her wartime contemporaries and

1:11.6

asked what happened to them after the war.

1:15.0

Marcella who's making masks in the Czech Republic where it's mandatory to wear them and

1:20.5

DIY during the stay-at-home phase. I've noticed my bathroom ceiling

1:27.1

needs painting. What are you anxious to improve and dare you do it yourself.

...

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