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Woman's Hour

Weekend Woman's Hour: Forced adoptions, Author Paula Byrne, Is rugby safe?, Stalking and heart disease, Wool Sourcing

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture

4.13K Ratings

🗓️ 1 September 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has added his voice to calls for an apology for what he has called the state's role in the "terrible tragedy" of historic forced adoptions. Between 1949 and 1976, thousands of pregnant women and girls in the UK were sent away to "prison-like" homes run by the church and state and had their babies put up for adoption. In 2021, an inquiry concluded that the State bore ultimate responsibility for the suffering inflicted on vulnerable women and their children, calling on the government to issue an official apology. Anna Foster was joined by Diana Defries, chair of the Movement for Adoption Apology and Karen Constantine, author of Taken, experiences of forced adoption, to give their reaction to the intervention by the former PM and whether they will be granted an apology.

Paula Byrne, Jane Austen’s biographer and also a novelist, has spent 25 years researching and writing about the iconic author. In this 250th anniversary year of Austen's birth, she joined Kylie Pentelow to talk about her new novel, Six Weeks by the Sea, which is her first fictional treatment of Austen and tells the story of how she imagines the most famous romance writer of all time first fell in love.

If you’ve been watching any of the Women’s Rugby World Cup you may have seen ‘high tech mouthguards being used. They will now flash red — signally potentially high impacts, requiring players to have a head injury assessment - a move aimed at improving player safety. So just how safe is it for women to play rugby? What are the risks of getting injured, and what is being done to mitigate those risks? We hear from Fi Tomas, women’s sports reporter at the Telegraph, Dr Izzy Moore, reader in human movement and sports medicine at Cardiff Metropolitan University and Welsh Ruby Union injury surveillance project lead, and Dr Anna Stodter, senior lecturer in sport coaching at Leeds Beckett University, former Sottish International player, who also coaches the university team.

After learning about the threat to harvest mice in the UK, 13 year old friends Eva and Emily decided to breed 250 of them at home and release them into a local nature reserve - with the help of a crowdfunder and Chris Packham.

Women who've been stalked, or had to take out a restraining order, have a much higher chance of suffering a heart attack or stroke, according to a new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. It followed a group of over 66,000 women across 10 years, and found those who'd been stalked were 41% more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, with those who'd taken out a restraining orders 71% more likely to have heart problems. Kylie talked to Dr Audrey Murchland, one of the lead researchers who carried out the study, about their findings.

Justine Lee is a knitwear designer of 30 years who fell out of love with fast fashion. Her latest work focuses on helping to protect the future of British rare breed sheep. She works with shepherds and wool producers, mostly women, and has knitted swatches from all 62 rare-breed sheep to show the versatility of the wool. She joined Anita Rani to discuss her work with farmers, her knitwear designs and her new book which showcases the wool.

Presenter: Kylie Pentelow Producer: Annette Wells Editor: Corinna Jones

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

I'm Rory Stewart and I grew up wanting to be a hero and I'm still fascinated by the ideas of heroism.

0:09.0

In my new series, I'm taking in the long sweep of history from Achilles to Zelensky and asking, what is a hero?

0:16.0

Simply doing your job, being a decent human being.

0:20.0

A true hero is someone who just kind of shines by

0:23.1

their own light and that light is to be recognised by others. The long history of heroism with me,

0:28.6

Rory Stewart. Listen on BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Hello, this is Kylie Pentolo and you're listening to The Woman's Hour podcast.

0:41.3

Hello and welcome to the programme.

0:43.3

Coming up, some highlights from this week.

0:46.0

As the women's rugby world cup gets into full flow, we'll find out about safety in the sport

0:51.5

and whether a flashing mouth guard could help concussion rates.

0:56.0

Also, the woman who knows everything you possibly can about Jane Austen, Paula Byrne.

1:01.3

Her new book is all about the only love affair that Jane Austen is rumoured to have had.

1:06.7

Plus, knitwear designer Justine Lee on her new coffee table book, celebrating British sheep and all things woolly.

1:14.7

How being stalked can increase your risk of having a stroke or heart attack.

1:20.6

And what have you achieved in your summer holidays?

1:23.4

Well, 13-year-old best friends, Eva and Emily, have single-handedly released 250 under-threat

1:30.2

harvest mice, saying it's a much better use of their time than sitting on social media.

1:36.0

A bit of inspiration for you coming up. Lots to get into, so let's get started.

1:42.4

Now, Monday marks the 1st of September, and with it, Parliament will resume.

1:47.9

One issue the former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown is hoping will be on Sekea Stama's

1:52.5

entry is issuing an apology for what he's called the state's role in the terrible tragedy

1:58.6

of historic forced adoptions.

...

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