Woman's Hour - 14/01/2010

With Jenni Murray. Christina Schmid's husband, Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid, was killed while attempting to defuse a bomb in Helmand province on October 31st 2009. He was just 24 hours from flying home on leave. During a gruelling five-month tour he had risked his life daily as a bomb disposal officer and had made safe a total 64 devices in Helmand. When Christina buried her husband on 24th November she did so with grace, dignity and undying dedication. Her powerful oratory in the face of such anguished loss won her the admiration of many people. She joins Jenni to talk about grief and how she and her young son are rebuilding their lives. The Olivier Award-winning actress Celia Imrie is well known for playing Miss Babs in Acorn Antiques. Her latest role is on the stage as Mrs Malaprop in the 18th-century comedy The Rivals. Famous for her misuse of the English language, Mrs Malaprop once described a young gentleman as 'the very pineapple of politeness'. Celia joins Jenni to discuss the character, the malapropisms, pantomimes and Cherry Bakewells. When Rupert and Kristin Isaacson's son Rowan was diagnosed with autism they struggled to find something that might help him settle in his own skin. Then one miraculous day Rowan struck up a relationship with a usually temperamental mare, Betsy. The calm and pleasure that horses gave Rowan have now helped to give birth to a new project, Horse Boy Camps, offering the chance for autistic children to spend time with horses. Rupert Isaacson and Dr Nicola Martin, an autism expert, join Jenni in the studio.