Woman's Hour - 12/03/2009

Presented by Jenni Murray. Elisabeth Welch was probably the most famous black woman in England during her heyday in the 1930s and '40s. As a new exhibition of memorabilia opens, author and historian Stephen Bourne joins Jenni to talk about Elisabeth's extraordinary life. In the midst of the ongoing debate about 'normal' births and the role of midwives and obstetricians, what place should epidurals have in childbirth? Jenni talks to Belinda Phipps of the National Childbirth Trust and to Smriti Singh, who recently had her second child with epidural. Journalist Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy has been investigating how the war on terror is creating a generation of child terrorists in Pakistan. She talks to Jenni about the children she met as well as a Taliban commander responsible for child recruitment. Yuli Somme and Anne Belgrave are textile artists in Devon and Wales who are making coffins from felt. The idea of burial in wool has ancient roots; in the seventeenth century the government even made it a legal requirement for everyone to be buried in a woollen shroud. Reporter Sarah Swadling went to meet Yuli Somme in her Dartmoor workshop. Plus drama: Writing the Century 1948-1953: Starting from Scratch Series exploring the 20th Century through diaries and correspondence of real people, dramatised by Peter Roberts. The story of Hazel Wheeler, a young woman from Huddersfield who dreams of becoming a freelance writer, as England struggles through the postwar period of rationing and rebuilding. Hazel becomes Mrs Wheeler, and the happy couple struggle to make ends meet. Hazel joins the ranks of temporary postal workers at Christmas, and she and Granville go on an eventful holiday to Southport. All good material for her - so far - unsuccessful writing career. But she returns from holiday to find a letter from the BBC. Hazel ...... Amy Humphreys Sylvia ...... Lucy Jo Hudson Mr Bellinger/Cook ...... Luke Walker Mrs Jowett ...... Kate Layden Directed by Peter Leslie Wild.