An author, his cellmate, and a new beginning

Lives Less Ordinary

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.6 • 814 Ratings

🗓️ 11 December 2023

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When award-winning author Alex Wheatle was sentenced to nine months in prison at the age of 18, he thought his life was over.

Alex had been born in London to Jamaican parents, but grew up in care in the notorious Shirley Oaks children’s home. As a teenager, he was convicted of assaulting a police officer during the Brixton Riots. He felt totally alone and without hope. But as the door slammed on Alex’s prison cell, he met a book-loving man called Simeon who opened his eyes to the importance of his own history – and encouraged him to use his past to write a new and hopeful future.

Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Hetal Bapodra and Anna Lacey

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are about to listen to a BBC podcast and I'd like to tell you a bit about what goes into making one.
0:06.5	I'm Sadata Sese, an assistant commissioner of podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:11.1	I pull a lot of levers to support a diverse range of podcasts on all sorts of subjects,
0:16.0	relationships, identity, comedy, even one that mixes poetry, music and inner city life.
0:22.4	So one day I'll be helping host develop their ideas, the next fact-checking, a feature,
0:28.3	and the next looking at how a podcast connects with its audience.
0:32.3	And maybe that's you.
0:33.6	So if you like this podcast, check out some others on BBC Sounds.
0:39.9	The Global Story, with smart takes and fresh perspectives on one big news story,
0:46.2	every Monday to Friday from the BBC World Service.
0:49.8	Search for The Global Story, wherever you get your BBC podcasts, to find out more.
0:58.0	When I looked into that public gallery, there was no one I could point to who was a relative
1:03.0	of mind, and that crushed me. That made me feel so much worse than whatever sentence was handed down to me.
1:10.0	And this is why I enter
1:12.1	prison with the feeling that my life has no value.
1:22.5	Alex Wheatle had always felt worthless. He didn't have a family. He'd grown up in a really terrible
1:28.7	children's home without anyone to love him. A black boy in a white part of England, it was a lonely
1:35.6	existence. And as he stood in the dock of a magistrate's court, just 18, waiting to be sentenced
1:41.9	for assaulting a police officer, he had never felt so alone.
1:47.1	What he didn't know was that he was about to meet the man who would turn his life around,
1:52.6	his cellmate.
1:58.3	I'm Joe Fidgen and this is Lives Less Ordinary from the BBC World Service, connecting you to people all around the globe through personal stories.
	...

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