Woman's Hour - 08/10/2009

With Jane Garvey. Phyllida Law, the widow of Magic Roundabout creator Eric Thompson and mother of actresses Sophie and Emma Thompson, has written and illustrated her first book, based on the nightly notes she used to leave to her mother-in-law, who lived with the family for 17 years. She talks to Jane about the notes, and her mother-in-law, who she describes as 'picture-book perfect'. Once a year a group of people set out on the annual Hundred - walking 100 miles non-stop, within 48 hours, watching the sun come up twice. Julie Welch used to edit the Long Distance Walkers Association magazine, and, after becoming increasingly intrigued, she decided the tackle the annual Hundred herself. She has now written a book about it, Out on Your Feet: The Hallucinatory World of Hundred-Mile Walking. Jane talks to Julie about why a highly regarded sports journalist chose to put herself through such a gruelling experience. Last week the programme delved into the pink and sparkly, or blue and butch, world of children's clothing. A quick glance around the children's department of most high street shops reveals clothes for pre-schoolers whose colours, styles and slogans firmly reinforce the age-old gender stereotypes. Abi Moore is just one of the parents who emailed to say she had had enough little-girl-princesses and little-boy-train-drivers. She has co-founded a campaign group called PinkStinks to try to get the clothing industry to provide parents with more gender neutral clothes. She puts her points to the retail consultant Jackie Cook, who has been a children's clothes buyer for leading highstreet shops for over 20 years.