Afternoons for Thursday 7 March 2013
1:10 Best Song Ever Written - Paul Dyas of Christchurch has nominated "With a Little Help from My Friends" by The Beatles.
1:15 Your Place visits the remarkable community of Uawa (Tologa Bay). It's wharf is the longest in New Zealand and has just been restored thanks to mammoth fundraising.
2:10 The Beefeater - Patrick Nolan - For 16 years, Patrick Nolan lived life inside an infamous prison as a Yeomen Warder of Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London.
He was the first non-British Serviceman to wear the distinctive Beefeater uniform and live within the Tower Walls. He spent 30 years in the New Zealand Army, one of the requirments for the job. Patrick is retired now, but still dons the distinctive bright scarlet uniform to speak at functions around New Zealand about his life in the Tower. He's been in the South Island as a guest at the Gore Garden Show... and visited the the Montecillo War Veterans' Home yesterday.
2:20 John Simpson Kirkpatrick - Graham Wilson - There will be no Victoria Cross for John Simpson Kirkpatrick, the stretcher bearer at Gallipoli made famous by a painting showing him carrying wounded soldiers on a donkey.
An Australian Defence Department committee has found there are no grounds to justify the honor because the Simpson was no more gallant or brave than any other stretcher bearer who went up and down Shrapnel and Monash Gully with wounded soldiers while under Turkish fire. Historian and former official in the awards branch of the Australian Defence Department, Graham Wilson made his own submission opposing the VC for Simpson. He's written the book, Dust, Donkeys and Delusions: The Myth of Simpson and his Donkey Exposed.
2:30 Auckland Festival Review - Justin Gregory.
Today, our first verdict on the Auckland Arts Festival. We review a new musical from South Auckland, rootsy blues music from the States and a pedestrian-based, live art experience on the city streets.
2:45 Feature Album - The Jazz Age - The Bryan Ferry Orchestra. (2012)
3:10 The Bethnal Green tube disaster - BBC Witness
It's 70 years since 173 people were crushed to death at an air-raid shelter in east London during World War II. They were killed as they sought refuge in an underground train station. Sixty-two children were among the dead. We hear from one of the children who survived.
3:20 The multi-Cultural face of Christchurch - Katy Gosset meets some of the city's multi-cultural groups and hear their seldom-voiced take on post -quake life.
3:30 The Mini-stroke Study - Ruth Beran - Last year, Murray Northcott had a mini stroke - when blood flow to a part of his brain stopped for a brief period of time. Having had this mini stroke, Murray was at risk of having another, or a 'full stroke'.
At the School of Sports and Exercise Science at Massey University, James Faulkner is trying to determine if regular physical activity and education soon after having a mini stroke can help reduce this risk. Ruth Beran meets James and watches as Murray is put through his paces.
4:06 Ali Jones and Stephen Franks are on The Panel, and we'll discuss this call by 100 prominent southerners, academics and others, for a NZ Risk Assessment. The natural world is in peril they say, and we need action, a wise response. We certainly need water, but the trouble with the drought response, it's claimed, is that it assists farmers in certain areas but leaves others out whose need is just as great. How to save heritage buildings while still adhering to earthquake standards, the discrimination it's alleged against Down Syndrome, and the new speed cameras, sorry safety cameras they're called now, and whether the locations they choose from them on the roads have much to do with safety at all.