Michelle Mone, Tony Hawks, Doug Seegers, Lillete Dubey

03/11/15 • 42 min

Mariella Frostrup meets entrepreneur Michelle Mone; comedian and writer Tony Hawks; singer and songwriter Doug Seegers and actor and director Lillete Dubey.

Michelle Mone OBE is an entrepreneur and motivational speaker. In her memoir, My Fight to the Top, she tells of growing up in the tough East End of Glasgow and launching a global lingerie business. As a child she had a poster of Richard Branson on her bedroom wall and a paper round at 10. Her company made millions, she mixed in elevated circles but there was heartache along the way. My Fight To The Top is published by Blink Publishing.

Tony Hawks is a comedian and author. His new book Once upon a Time in the West...Country is the story of his move from London to Devon two years ago. In the book he writes about leaving the capital and beginning a new life of village halls, committees and tractor-driving. He also takes up the challenge of cycling from one Devon coast to another with a micro-pig called Titch. Once upon a Time in the West...Country is published by Hodder And Stoughton.

Doug Seegers is a 62-year-old country singer and songwriter who was a homeless busker living in Nashville until two years ago when he was plucked off the streets to record his first solo album. Doug moved to Nashville from New York in 1997 to pursue his dream of making it as a musician. Battling drug and alcohol addiction, he struggled to make a living before finally getting clean and sober in 2013. Not long afterwards Swedish country music star Jill Johnson discovered him playing in the street and whisked him into a recording studio. The album Going Down to the River is on Wrasse Records.

Lillete Dubey is an actor and director who has appeared in over 40 Bollywood and international films. She is artistic director of Mumbai-based English language theatre company, Primetime. Lillete is directing the company's production of Boiled Beans on Toast which traces the lives of six characters in Bangalore as they confront a changing India. Boiled Beans on Toast is at Waterman's Art Centre, Brentford, Middlesex.

Producer: Paula McGinley.

Mariella Frostrup meets entrepreneur Michelle Mone; comedian and writer Tony Hawks; singer and songwriter Doug Seegers and actor and director Lillete Dubey.

Producer: Paula McGinley.

Previous Episode

Clarke Peters; Raymond Blanc; Amanda Owen; Nicholas McCarthy

Libby Purves meets pianist Nicholas McCarthy; actor and director Clarke Peters; shepherdess Amanda Owen and chef and restaurateur Raymond Blanc.

Nicholas McCarthy is a pianist who is making his debut at London's Purcell Room at Southbank Centre. Born without his right hand, he went on to study at the Royal College of Music and is the only one-handed pianist to graduate from the institution. At his concert he will perform a wide variety of repertoire including Chopin, Bach, Strauss, Liszt and Gershwin to showcase both his virtuosic and mainstream appeal. Nicholas McCarthy performs at the Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, London.

Clarke Peters is an actor, singer, writer and director. His many roles have included Lester Freamon in TV's The Wire and Othello alongside Dominic West's Iago. Clarke performed in the original Paris production of Hair and wrote and starred in the award-winning production of Five Guys Named Moe. He is the narrator in the Louis Armstrong Story at the Bristol International Jazz and Blues Festival, reading excerpts from Armstrong's autobiography and letters. The Bristol International Jazz and Blues Festival is at Colston Hall, Bristol.

Amanda Owen is a shepherdess who tends her flock of just over 1,000 sheep at Ravenseat, a hill farm of 2,000 acres at the head of Swaledale in North Yorkshire. In her book, The Yorkshire Shepherdess, she tells of how a rebellious girl from Huddersfield learnt her craft as a shepherdess and how she juggles the demands of her livestock with the demands of raising a large family in such a remote area. The Yorkshire Shepherdess is published by Pan Macmillan.

Raymond Blanc OBE is a chef, restaurateur and writer. His new book Kew On A Plate and its accompanying TV series tell the story of his collaboration with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to create a new kitchen garden. The garden celebrates the heritage and botany of popular plants and reveals their growing and cooking secrets. Born in eastern France, Raymond arrived in the UK in 1972. Five years later he opened his first restaurant which went on to win two Michelin stars. Kew on a Plate with Raymond Blanc - Recipes, Horticulture and Heritage is published by Headline.

Producer: Paula McGinley.

Next Episode

Gerald Scarfe, Greg Wise, Eimear O'Callaghan, Ben Moon

Libby Purves meets cartoonist Gerald Scarfe; former journalist Eimear O'Callaghan; actor Greg Wise and rock climber Ben Moon.

Eimear O'Callaghan is a former BBC news editor whose book Belfast Days is based on the diary she kept in 1972 at the height of the Troubles. The book records her and her family's experiences throughout this turbulent year. From the inconvenience of British Army check-points and power cuts to the horror of shootings, bombings and almost 500 killings, her teenage jottings convey a family and community trying to function normally against a background of violence and bloodshed. Belfast Days: A 1972 Teenage Diary is published by Merrion Press.

Gerald Scarfe CBE is a political cartoonist. He started drawing for Punch and Private Eye and is now best known for his work in the New Yorker and the Sunday Times. His latest exhibition, Milk Snatcher, The Thatcher Drawings features his cartoons of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher. It spans a period of 22 years from her days as a member of the shadow cabinet to her leadership of the Conservative Party, her tenure as prime minister and her political decline. Milk Snatcher, The Thatcher Drawings exhibition is at the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Co. Durham.

Actor Greg Wise returns to the theatre after an absence of 17 years to star in Brad Fraser's play Kill Me Now. He plays Jake Sturdy, a once successful writer, who now cares for his disabled son, Joey, with the support of a motley crew of friends and family. Greg's acting credits include the films Sense and Sensibility and Effie Gray and his theatre work ranges from Richard II to The Recruiting Officer. Kill Me Now is at the Park Theatre, Finsbury Park, London.

In 1990 Ben Moon made rock climbing history with the first ascent of Hubble in the Peak District, now widely recognised as the world's first F9a graded climb. A major figure in the sport climbing movement of the 1980s and the bouldering phenomenon of the 1990s, he fell in love with climbing at seven when he was taken to the Lake District on a family holiday. His story is told in Statement - The Ben Moon Story by Ed Douglas, published by Vertebrate.