Midweek - 10/11/2010

This week Libby Purves is joined by Michael Allen, Giles Coren, Ludovico Einaudi and Priscilla Coleman. Michael Allen is a Chelsea Pensioner who served in the the Royal Engineers and Royal Military Police for twenty-four years before becoming a Chelsea pensioner in 2007. During his career he served all over the world including Germany, France, North Africa, Borneo and Hong Kong and was a bodyguard to Sir Alec Douglas-Hume. He's one of the Pensioners performing on their new album 'Men in Scarlet' released on Rhino Records. Giles Coren is the writer, critic, columnist and television presenter. In a new series on BBC Two, 'Giles and Sue Live the Good Life', Giles and Sue Perkins celebrate the 35th anniversary of one of the UK's best-loved sitcoms by going back to 1975 and trying their hands at self-sufficiency, recreating Tom and Barbara Good's lifestyle. Ludovico Einaudi is an Italian pianist and composer. Playing to sell out audiences around the world, his music appears in films and television shows including Channel 4's This Is England '86 and the BBC's Top Gear and Holby City, as well as film soundtracks for I'm Still Here, This is England and The Reader. He will be touring the UK in November to coincide with the release of a new album 'The Royal Albert Hall Concert' and DVD. Priscilla Coleman has been a court artist for over 20 years and works for ITN. Her sketches are featured in a new book 'Court Scenes' which mark many of the most important trials of that period including her first sketch of the Jeffrey Archer/Monica Coghlan libel trial, to the Heather Mills/Paul McCartney divorce and the freeing of the Birmingham Six. 'Court Scenes: The court art of Priscilla Coleman' is published by Wildy, Simmonds & Hill, and includes commentary by Paul Cheston, court correspondent of the London Evening Standard. There will also be an exhibition of Priscilla's work at the Royal Courts of Justice.