Afternoons for Thursday 11 September 2014
1:10 Best song ever written - Andrea Bonetto of Wellington has chosen today's Best Song Ever Written. 'Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered' by Ella Fitzgerald (1956).
1:20 Simon's A to Z - Alexandra
Alex is a place of very defined seasons and September is synonymous with it's Blossom Festival, an annual event since 1957. Organiser Martin McPherson discusses what has changed about the festival over it's 57 year history. Quite a LOT, actually.
Daphne Hull is a well-known local identity and former Deputy Mayor of Alexandra. She's very positive about the effect on the area of the Central Otago Rail Trail, including the opportunities it affords Alexandra's pool of talented artists to showcase (and market) their work.
Like many New Zealand towns, Alexandra relies heavily on volunteers to provide emergency services. The local fire brigade is entirely voluntary. Chief Fire Officer Russell Anderson talks about the challenges of recruiting and retaining volunteers these days as work and family commitments compete for everybody's time.
2:10 Australia Alert - Rachel Fountain from the ABC Gold Coast. Health authorities in Australia are on alert, with fears a man may have contracted the deadly Ebola virus. The Gold Coast man returned from the Congo two days ago and was rushed to hospital this morning.
2:20 Sound of Music Role - Sophie Parkinson. A young Wellington based singer and actor is about to take on a role in a second major international musical production in just a matter of months. Earlier this year 14 year old Sophie Parkinson played one of the orphans in the musical Annie. And tomorrow, in Wellington, she joins the cast as one of the Von Trapp children in The Sound Of Music.
2:30 NZ Reading - Owen Scott to read episode four of 'Sensible Sinning'
2:45 Feature album - Songs in the Key of Life - Stevie Wonder (1976)
3:10 Wakeup - Claudia Hammond from BBC 'Health Check'. A look at the findings of a study of patients who wake-up - or at least have some awareness of what's going on during surgical during operations ... even though they're supposedly asleep. It's the largest-ever study has just been undertaken of patients who retain some awareness of pain or consciousness when under anaesthesia.
3:20 Alzheimers Eye Test - Early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease could lead to better pharmaceuticals and treatment, and Lily Chang, a PhD student at the University of Auckland, explains to Ruth Beran how she is looking into the eyes of people and animals to see if a diagnostic test can be developed.
3:30 The World's First DNA Profile - Ashley Burns from BBC Witness. It is 30 years since a British scientist found out how to identify individuals by their DNA. Professor Alec Jeffreys of Leicester University remembers the eureka moment that changed police investigations forever.
3:45 The Panel Pre-Show - Zara Potts, Tim Watkin and Levina Good. More about the video in the lift of the NFL star punching his wife; what Boeing employees are saying about the 787; the inquest into the death of Jacinta Saldana and the calls from the radio station subsequent to the first prank. Stay away from possum poo, why kids from the country make better CEOs, one of the most withering putdowns of all time from Rupert Murdoch; how lonely people see the world, literally. There's a difference.