Professor Jean Golding, epidemiologist

12/11/22 • 36 min

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Professor Jean Golding is an epidemiologist who is best known for founding the Children of the Nineties study - more formally known as the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. The most detailed project of its kind anywhere in the world, it has followed the lives of children who were born in Avon during 1991 and 1992 and helped scientists make important discoveries about everything from peanut allergy to the effects of long Covid.

Jean was born in Cornwall in 1939. As a toddler she suffered two bouts of tuberculosis and spent several weeks in hospital. Then at 13 she contracted polio, leading to a three-month hospital stay. After graduating in mathematics from Oxford University, her first job involved completing calculations for the 1958 perinatal mortality survey, set up to collect information about the social and obstetric factors associated with stillbirth and death in early infancy.

By the time she started designing the Children of the Nineties study, Jean was well used to working with large data-sets, but the new project was bigger than ever. It collected more than 1.5m biological samples including blood, placenta, hair, nails and teeth along with thousands of questionnaires. As well as expanding medical knowledge, the study has influenced government policy.

Jean retired from the study in 2005. She was awarded an OBE for services to medical science in 2012 and today is Emeritus Professor of Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology at the University of Bristol.

DISC ONE: The ‘Trelawny’ National Anthem by The Fisherman’s Friends DISC TWO: Under Milk Wood (Part 1) read by Richard Burton DISC THREE: Bad Penny Blues by Humphrey Lyttelton DISC FOUR: Dawn Chorus by BBC Sound Effects DISC FIVE: The Hippopotamus Song by Flanders & Swann DISC SIX: A Hymn to Him by Rex Harrison DISC SEVEN: Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. Posth. 114, D. 667 "The Trout": I. Allegro vivace by Melos Ensemble DISC EIGHT: Bring Me Sunshine by Morecambe and Wise

BOOK CHOICE: The Oxford Book of Twentieth-century English Verse LUXURY ITEM: A mobility power chair CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Dawn Chorus by BBC Sound Effects

Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

BOOK CHOICE: The Oxford Book of Twentieth-century English Verse LUXURY ITEM: A mobility power chair CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Dawn Chorus by BBC Sound Effects

Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Previous Episode

Richard E Grant, actor

Richard E Grant was born in Swaziland, now Eswatini, one of the smallest countries in Africa, and took his first steps as an actor as a teenager in the local amateur theatre company.

He studied Drama and English at Cape Town University in South Africa, and moved to London in 1982, hoping to find work as an actor, with - in his words - 'nothing more than a couple of suitcases, a boxful of music cassettes and blind ambition.' He worked as a waiter to pay the bills, until his very first film role, in Withnail and I, launched his acting career.

Since then, he has appeared in a very wide range of films, with roles in How to Get Ahead in Advertising, The Player, Jack and Sarah, Logan and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, as well as the Star Wars series. He was nominated for an Oscar in 2019 for his role in Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Richard has been a lifelong diarist and has published three collections of memoirs. His most recent book chronicles his long and happy marriage to his wife, the dialect coach Joan Washington, who died from cancer in 2021.

DISC ONE: I'm The Greatest Star by Barbra Streisand DISC TWO: When I Fall in Love by Nat King Cole DISC THREE: When a Man Loves a Woman by Percy Sledge DISC FOUR: Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by Eurythmics DISC FIVE: Chopin: 24 Préludes, Op. 28 - 4. Largo in E Minor by Ivo Pogorelich DISC SIX: Please Forgive Me by Patrick Doyle DISC SEVEN: Fields of Gold by Eva Cassidy DISC EIGHT: Don't Rain on My Parade by Barbra Streisand

BOOK CHOICE: Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll LUXURY ITEM: A piano CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: When I Fall in Love by Nat King Cole

Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Sarah Taylor

Next Episode

Barry Hearn, sports promoter

Barry Hearn is a promoter who has been at the forefront of some of the biggest snooker, boxing and darts events in the last 40 years. He played a central role in turning snooker into a television phenomenon, and as a boxing promoter he represented Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn. He later turned darts players, including Phil 'The Power' Taylor, into household names.

Barry was born in Dagenham in East London in 1948 and grew up in a council house. At school, he enjoyed playing cricket and football, but freely admits he wasn’t good enough to become a professional player. Instead, he became an accountant and when one of the companies he worked for asked him to find some investment properties, he bought a chain of snooker halls.

Barry took advantage of the snooker boom of the 1970s - which started after the BBC began televising competitions - and signed a young Steve Davis. Steve went on to win the World Snooker Championship in 1981 and Barry formed his company Matchroom the following year. He consolidated his success by moving into boxing and then introduced darts to a mainstream audience.

In 2021 Barry was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Sport Industry Awards, and also handed over the chairmanship of Matchroom to his son Eddie. His daughter Katie also works for the company. Barry is reluctant to retire just yet, and remains company president, where his new role has given him some more free time to enjoy one of his favourite activities – fishing.

DISC ONE: The Gambler by Kenny Rogers DISC TWO: Sweet Home Chicago by The Blues Brothers DISC THREE: Sunshine On My Shoulders by John Denver DISC FOUR: The Lonesome Boatman by Finbar & Eddie Furey DISC FIVE: Snooker Loopy by Chas 'n' Dave DISC SIX: The Best by Tina Turner DISC SEVEN: American Pie by Don McLean DISC EIGHT: Forest Lawn by Tom Paxton BOOK CHOICE: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway LUXURY ITEM: A fishing rod and rocking chair CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Sunshine On My Shoulders by John Denver

Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley