Dr Precious Lunga on Jon Snow's Alzheimer's, Peptides, Flower farmers
Woman's Hour
BBC
4.1 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 20 June 2026
⏱️ 59 minutes
🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS
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Summary
Peptides have become a new buzzword in the wellness industry. Social media influencers have spoken about using them for optimising performance in the gym and improving their appearance, and they’re increasingly popular with women. But some unregulated peptides haven’t been through clinical trials and could be ineffective, or even harmful. Nuala McGovern is joined by BBC Health reporter Ruth Clegg, who has been looking into the way women are using peptides, and Adam Taylor, Professor of Anatomy at the University of Lancaster.
Jon Snow, the lead presenter of Channel 4 News for over three decades. has revealed he has Alzheimer's disease. During his career, he reported on stories including the fall of the Berlin Wall, the release of Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama's inauguration. In a new Channel 4 documentary, made in conjunction with the Alzheimer’s Society, Jon Snow: A Last Big Story, he is seen uncovering an environmental disaster in Zambia. In her first broadcast interview since the diagnosis was announced, Jon’s wife, Dr Precious Lunga, joins Anita Rani to talk about how they are navigating life now.
Actor Geraldine James is renowned for a host of roles in theatre and on screen, from Jewel in the Crown to The Cage. Now she's making her Chichester theatre debut in the stage premiere of the 2015 film 45 years, alongside Gabriel Byrne. The couple are about to celebrate 45 years of marriage, when news arrives in a letter from Switzerland about a woman's body that's been discovered in a melting glacier, sending shockwaves through their marriage.
There is rising demand for homegrown blooms. According to the trade association Flowers From the Farm, small-scale growers now generate £30 million a year — with women making up 80% of members. British Flowers Week is celebrating both the flowers and the women behind them, while highlighting the sector’s economic and environmental impact. Nuala is joined by two women behind Flowers From the Farm, Olivia Wilson, a florist and flower farmer, and Georgie Newberry who has a flower farm in Somerset.
The Government recently launched a consultation on employment rights for unpaid carers and parents of seriously ill children. It includes consideration of Hugh’s Law, named after Hugh Menai-Davies, who died aged six from cancer in 2021. His parents are campaigning for a standalone statutory entitlement to leave and pay for parents of seriously ill children. To discuss, Nuala is joined by Frances and Ceri Menai-Davies, and Professor Lorna Fraser from King’s College London, who has been researching the impact on parents of caring for a seriously or terminally ill child.
Eli Davies has embarked on a nostalgic and cultural exploration of the single woman's kitchen, unpacking women’s complicated history with domesticity and how their choice to couple up may shape mealtimes and their relationships with food, cooking habits and self-care. Eli’s book The Spinster Cookbook: Culture, Politics and Pleasure in the Single Woman’s Kitchen is also a story of rebellion, explaining how cooking for one as a woman can become an act of care, defiance, pleasure, and self-expression.
Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Dianne McGregor
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.9 | You clearly love a podcast, so this July, why not join us in Sheffield for the UK's biggest podcast and party, Crosswires Festival. |
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| 0:30.2 | To book your free ticket, go to crosswires. Live forward slash fringe. |
| 0:36.1 | Hello, I'm Anita Rani and welcome to Woman's Hour from BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:41.0 | Hello and welcome to the programme. Coming up, we look at the surge of interest in peptides. |
| 0:46.7 | What are they? Are they safe? And is there real evidence behind the hype? The parents of Hugh Menai Davis on why they're pushing for Hugh's law, which would give extra employment protections to parents of Hugh Menai Davis and why they're pushing for Hugh's law which would give extra |
| 0:56.0 | employment protections to parents of seriously ill children. And do you know where your flowers |
| 1:01.5 | come from? We hear from two flower farmers about the blooming industry for women and cooking |
| 1:07.0 | for one. Do you? Would you? Well, we find out about the term spinster cook. |
| 1:12.6 | But first, John Snow, the former lead presenter of Channel 4 News for more than three decades, |
| 1:17.9 | has revealed he has Alzheimer's disease. During his career, he's travelled the world, |
| 1:23.0 | reporting on major stories, including the fall of the Berlin Wall, the release of Nelson Mandela and |
| 1:28.4 | Barack Obama's inauguration. Now he's the subject of a new Channel 4 documentary made in conjunction |
| 1:34.6 | with the Alzheimer's Society. John Snow, a last big story, follows him as he uncovers an |
| 1:40.9 | environmental disaster in Zambia and reflects on living with the disease. |
| 1:45.3 | In her first broadcast interview since his diagnosis was announced, his wife, Dr. Precious Lunger, |
| 1:50.8 | an epidemiologist with a PhD in neuroscience, joined me in the Woman's Hour studio and I started |
| 1:56.6 | by asking her why John wanted to share his story now. |
| 2:00.7 | He said, Precious, if I don't speak out, who will? |
... |
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