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Woman's Hour

Singer Laura Wright, Covid-19 and Oestrogen, Professor Heather Viles and Covid-19 and Fashion.

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture

4.13K Ratings

🗓️ 22 May 2020

⏱️ 45 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The soprano Laura Wright first came to prominence when she won the BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year in 2005 aged just 15. A lover of sport, she’s well known for her performances at huge sporting events from the FA Cup Final, British Grand Prix, Invictus Games and being England Rugby team’s first ever official anthem singer. She tells Jenni how during lockdown she has been using her voice by working with organisations and charities to address the challenges of isolation. To mark Mental Health Awareness week, she’s released a new single with The Choir of Royal Holloway, University of London in aid of charity.

Could oestrogen provide some kind of protection against Covid-19? Dr Louise Newson is a GP and menopause specialist. She is working closely with NHS England to see whether women having periods or taking hormonal therapies like the pill and HRT are protected in some way. Covid Symptom Study: https://covid.joinzoe.com/

Professor Heather Viles has been awarded the Royal Geographical Society's prestigious Founder's Medal for her excellence in establishing the field of bio-geomorphology - the scientific study of the physical landscape, and how plants and animals help with those process. She joins Jenni to discuss her career: from researching the contribution of acid rain to the deterioration of English cathedrals, to studying black slime growing on rocks at the Aldabra Atoll in the Seychelles.

We know that the COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on the global economy. One area that has been hit particularly hard is the fashion industry. What will be the long term impact and how is Coronavirus forcing us to think differently about fashion? Kenya Hunt is the Fashion Director at Grazia UK. Annie Clarke is a merchandise manager.

Presenter - Jenni Murray Producer - Clare Walker

Guest - Laura Wright Guest - Dr Louise Newson Guest - Heather Viles Guest - Kenya Hunt Guest - Annie Clarke

Transcript

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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.

0:30.0

BBC Sounds Music music radio podcasts.

0:34.4

Hello, Jenny Murray welcoming you to the Woman's Our Podcast for Friday, the 22nd of May.

0:40.8

Good morning.

0:42.4

We've been loafing about in casual gear and hadn't bought new clothes for spring or summer.

0:49.0

What will be the impact of COVID-19 on the fashion industry and after this crisis will we care so much

0:56.3

about what we wear? Professor Heather Viles has been awarded the prestigious

1:01.0

founders medal by the Royal Geographical Society, her field is bio-geomorphology.

1:08.0

And yes, I will ask her what that is.

1:11.4

And in Mental Health Awareness Week, the award-winning soprano Laura Wright and a charity

1:16.5

recording to highlight the difficulties of loneliness in self-isolation. It's called Can You Hear Me? Now there have been so many theories

1:26.5

about why some people who contract coronavirus suffer more than others and of course

1:31.8

why there appears to be evidence that men are

1:35.0

more likely to be very ill and possibly die from it than women. The hormone

1:40.5

estrogen which is present in women in much greater quantities than in men, has been suggested

...

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