Midweek - 27/05/2009

Libby Purves is joined by David Pritchard, Philip Holmes and Martin Cheek, Roger Allam and Claire Chambers. David Pritchard is the television producer who discovered Keith Floyd in a restaurant in Bristol, arguably the first of the genre of personality-led TV chefs. He also produced and directed all of Rick Stein's television programmes. His book Shooting the Cook tells the true story about food, TV and the rise of TV 'superchefs'. It is published by 4th Estate. Philip Holmes is the founder and Director of The Esther Benjamins Trust, which rescues Nepalese children and young people from Indian circuses. He introduced mosiacs to the children initially as a recreational tool but found that it particularly helped those suffering from post traumatic stress. Martin Cheek is an artist who teaches mosaic, and was invited to Nepal to teach workshops and to train the trainers. Roger Allam is the acclaimed actor who recently took over the role of Albin/ZaZa, the nightclub singer in Jerry Herman's La Cage aux Folles. During his varied career he spent 10 years at the RSC, playing roles including Brutus, Sir Toby Belch and Macbeth, and was the original Javier in Les Miserables. He is no stranger to dressing in drag, having won an Olivier Award for Best Actor in 2002 for his role in Privates on Parade. La Cage Aux Folles is at the Playhouse Theatre. Claire Chambers has worked as a nurse, health visitor, community practice teacher and lecturer. She is co-author of a book, with Elaine Ryder, Compassion and Caring in Nursing, which they wrote because of their growing concern over nurses' reports of feeling increasingly compromised in the care that they provide to patients. Compassion and Caring in Nursing is published by Radcliffe.