Lady Brittan on false accusations, playwright Anna Jordan on Mother Courage, author Claire Powell, strength training
Woman's Hour
BBC
4.1 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 3 June 2026
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
New research shows that strength training twice a week can lengthen your life. Sarah Best and Emma Holmes, who are 49 and 51, will compete at an elite indoor fitness competition, the Hyrox World Championships later this month. Only the top 0.5% of competitors worldwide qualify to compete. They tell Nuala about how they achieved this impressive level of fitness and explain how you can be strong at any age.
Lady Brittan is calling on the government to recognise those falsely accused as victims, when a perpetrator is released. This follows the release of Carl Beech who was jailed in part for perverting the course of justice. Beech, whose allegations sparked one of the Metropolitan Police’s most high-profile investigations, Operation Midland, was jailed for 18 years in 2019 after his claims of historic child abuse against prominent figures were proven to be false. Now Lady Brittan is among those saying they should have been informed about his release. She explains why she is is a signatory to a letter to the Justice Secretary, alongside some of those falsely accused by Carl Beech.
Mother Courage and her Children is Bertolt Brecht’s 1939 tale of a wartime profiteer who prefers to see herself as a savvy survivor and devoted mother. Currently on stage at the Globe in London for the first time, Nuala speaks to playwright Anna Jordan who has adapted the story for a modern audience. Why is this story one for retelling now and why does it continue to be performed more than 80 years later around the world?
Author Claire Powell joins Nuala to discuss her latest novel All In. It follows a couple on an all-inclusive holiday with their extended family and explores the strain that IVF can place on a relationship. She tells Nuala why she chose the setting of a luxury resort to explore family dynamics.
Presenter: Nuala McGovern Producer: Olivia Skinner
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts. |
| 0:07.2 | Things just swirling around my head. |
| 0:09.6 | Am I really the product of this? |
| 0:12.1 | Astonishing secrets uncovered by at-home DNA tests. |
| 0:17.0 | Little did I know what more was to come. |
| 0:19.5 | I'm Jenny Clemen, and in the new series of The Gift, we'll hear more stories emerging |
| 0:25.2 | out of the ever-expanding global DNA database. |
| 0:28.8 | They did know that I was different. |
| 0:31.7 | You had kids together. |
| 0:33.0 | Yeah. |
| 0:33.5 | Then you met. |
| 0:35.3 | The Gift. |
| 0:36.1 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:39.3 | Hello, this is Newell O'Gover and you're listening to The Woman's Hour podcast. |
| 0:43.7 | Hello and welcome to the programme. |
| 0:45.9 | Strength has no age limit. |
| 0:48.0 | So says my first guests. |
| 0:49.5 | We are going to meet the women who have qualified to represent England at this year's High Rocks World Championships at the age of 51 and also of 49. |
| 0:59.5 | Also today, an in-depth interview with Lady Britain who is calling for those falsely accused to be recognised as victims. |
| 1:07.0 | It follows the release of Carl Beach, who made false allegations of murder and child sexual abuse against high profile public figures, including her husband. |
| 1:16.2 | And we have the playwright and screenwriter Anna Jordan. |
| 1:19.3 | Now, she has a lot of strings to her bow, including writing for succession one day and killing Eve. |
... |
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