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Woman's Hour

Weekend Woman’s Hour: Zeinab Badawi, Fisherman Ashley Mullenger, Stalking, Singing and periods

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture

4.13K Ratings

🗓️ 27 April 2024

⏱️ 57 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The deaths of 21-year-old Diane Jones and her two young children, in a house fire in October 1995 shocked the community of Merthyr Tydfil. The police originally thought it was an accident - but in the days following the fire launched a triple murder investigation after petrol was found on the carpet. Just months later, Annette was charged with triple murder, manslaughter and arson with intent to endanger life. She was found guilty with the charge of arson and sentenced to 13 years. After two-and-a-half years, her conviction was overturned - but it troubled Annette until her death in 2017. Annette’s daughter, Nicole Jacob, is delving into her mum’s story in a new podcast, Wrongly Accused: The Annette Hewins Story.

We hear from the journalist and broadcaster Zeinab Badawi to discuss her first book, An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence. The book has taken her seven years to research, travelling across 30 countries. She explains how the female African leaders that shaped their countries have often been written out of history.

Ashley Mullenger's life changed unexpectedly when she signed up for a fishing trip on the coast of Norfolk. In her memoir, My Fishing Life, it follows her journey from a 9-5 office job, into the overwhelmingly male fishing industry to becoming Fisherman of the Year in 2022.

Rhianon Bragg spoke to Woman’s Hour back in February about her concerns for her safety regarding the imminent release of her ex-boyfriend from prison, despite the fact that a Parole Board ruled a few months earlier that such a move would not be safe. In February 2020, Gareth Wynn Jones was given an extended determinate sentence of 4.5 years in prison, with an extended licence period of five years for the crimes of stalking, false imprisonment, making threats to kill and possession of a firearm. Now two months since his release and coinciding with National Stalking Awareness Week, we hear from Rhianon and also Emily Lingley Clark of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust.

At the start of the year, acclaimed opera singer Sophie Bevan MBE took to Twitter to ask if other female singers also had voice struggles around the time of their periods. This led to her discovery of premenstrual vocal syndrome, which is when hormone changes cause vocal issues. She talks about the impact this has had on her career, alongside Dr Alan Watson, specialist in the biology of performance at the University of Cardiff.

Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Annette Wells

Transcript

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0:00.0

Before you listen to this BBC podcast I'd like to introduce myself. My name's

0:04.0

Stevie Middleton and I'm a BBC Commissioner for a load of sport

0:07.5

podcasts. I'm lucky to do that at the BBC because I get to work with leading

0:11.1

journalists, experienced pundits and the biggest

0:13.3

sports stars. Together we bring you untold stories and fascinating insights

0:17.4

straight from the player's mouth. But the best thing about doing this at the BBC is

0:22.0

our unique access to the sporting world.

0:25.0

What that means is that we can bring you podcasts that create a real connection to

0:28.9

dedicated sports fans across the UK.

0:31.5

So if you like this podcast, head over to BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more.

0:37.1

BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts.

0:40.9

Hello I'm Anita Rani and welcome to Woman's Hour from BBC Radio 4.

0:46.0

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

0:52.0

Hello and welcome to Weekend Women's Hour with me Anita Rani.

0:56.0

In a moment we'll hear from Nick Old Jacob, whose new podcast Wrongly Accused,

1:01.0

tells the tragic story of her mom Annette Hewings who was wrongly convicted of

1:05.8

murder. And singing while on your period what happens to our voice when hormone changes take place?

1:12.1

Opera singer Sophie Bevan explains how her voice

1:15.3

has been affected. I was standing in front of an audience feeling like, well

1:20.3

feeling terrified, feeling as though I had no control, what was going to come out of my mouth,

1:24.8

was everyone there going to think, oh Sophie can't sing anymore.

1:27.8

The journalist and broadcaster Zena Bedawi on her new book, An African History of of Africa and have you ever thought about

...

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