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Woman's Hour

Gisèle Pelicot memoir, Catrin Finch, Ice Hockey mixed teams

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture

4.13K Ratings

🗓️ 17 February 2026

⏱️ 55 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In December 2024, Dominque Pelicot and 46 other men were found guilty of the aggravated rape of his wife Gisèle. Another two were found guilty of attempted rape and a further two were found guilty of sexual assault. Dominque had drugged Gisèle with medication without her knowledge, raped her and invited other men to rape her, filming as they did so. At least another 20 men who took part in these rapes could not be identified. Waving her right to anonymity, Gisèle Pelicot declared that shame has to change sides. Despite her becoming a household name, not only in her native France but around the world, very little was known about Gisèle herself.

Today sees the publication of her much-anticipated memoir, A Hymn to Life. Nuala McGovern is joined by writer and journalist Judith Perrignon, who co-wrote the memoir with Gisèle, and Professor Manon Garcia, who watched the trial in Avignon and analysed its resonance in her book Living with Men, Reflections on the Pelicot Trial.

The award-winning internationally renowned Welsh harpist and composer Catrin Finch first came to prominence in her early 20s as the official Royal Harpist to King Charles, the-then Prince of Wales. She achieved chart success with her No. 1 recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations and has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras. Catrin, who began playing the harp at just six years old, has a new album, Notes to Self, a series of reflective and deeply personal new tracks she has composed for Katy, her 13-year-old-self. She tells Nuala about her first album of solo compositions in a decade.

One of the children talking about their everyday achievements in our new podcast, SEND in the Spotlight, which features young people with special educational needs, is Henry. He's autistic, and school is not always easy. Things got even tougher when his grandma died. That's when Henry decided to raise money for the hospice which looked after her. We hear his story in his own words.

With the Winter Olympics in full swing in Italy, how are sports like ice hockey faring here in the UK? And what are women doing on the ice rink? Joining Nuala are Ellie Wakeling and Abbie Sylvester, who both play alongside male players with the Romford Buccaneers.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern Producer: Andrea Kidd

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts.

0:05.6

Oh, hello. You have chosen a BBC podcast, but before you listen to it, we thought you might like our podcast too.

0:12.1

You might. You might. It is called Sightraught with me, Nick Grimshaw.

0:15.2

And me, Annie Mack. And we talk about the week in music.

0:18.2

All the news, all the cultural happenings in the UK and beyond.

0:22.2

And great guests. And it's on BBC Sounds. Yes, where you can also enjoy lots of playlists,

0:27.7

music mixes and live radio. Everything from my six music breakfast show to Radio 3 Unwind.

0:34.5

But obviously start with our podcast, sidetrack. Obviously. Obviously.

0:40.1

So if you like music, listen on BBC Sounds.

0:44.6

Hello, I'm Nula McGovern and welcome to Woman's Hour from BBC Radio 4.

0:50.8

Just to say that for rights reasons, the music in the original radio broadcast has been removed for this podcast.

0:57.9

Hello and welcome to the programme. We will have Judith Perignon with us who wrote with Giselle Pelico a hymn to life. Shame has to change sides. The book published today

1:03.9

documents the story of an extraordinary woman who survived mass rapes. They were initiated by her

1:09.8

husband who recruited dozens of men.

1:12.9

We're going to hear more about the life of Giselle,

1:15.2

who became one of the most compelling figures of recent times

1:18.2

and about the impact of her actions

1:21.0

when she opened that rape trial to the public.

1:24.4

That's coming up in just a moment.

1:26.8

Also today, the renowned Welsh harpist, Catherine

1:29.5

Finch, who has driven from Wales to be in the Woman's Ares studio with her harp, she's going

1:34.8

to be performing from her latest album, Notes to Self. Here's just a snippet of what's in store.

...

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