Guest details for Saturday Morning 4 December 2010

8:15 Ton-Nu-Thi Ninh

Ton-Nu-Thi Ninh is President of the Founding Committee at Tri Viet International University, and one of the public figures identified most with the interests of young people in Vietnam. Madame Ninh was Vietnam's Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and Head of Mission to the European Union in Brussels, and was elected to the 11th National Assembly of Vietnam (2002-2007). She visited New Zealand as a guest of the Asia New Zealand Foundation.

8:35 Edmund Weiner

Edmund Weiner is deputy editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, which aims to trace the first known use of every sense of every word, and has been the authoritative recorder of the language since it was first published in ten volumes in 1884. The OED re-launched online at the end of November, with the first major software update in over ten years, and New Zealand is the only country outside the UK where access to the OED online is available free via local libraries.

9:05 Suzy van der Kwast

Suzy van der Kwast immigrated to New Zealand from the Netherlands in the 1960s, and opened Suzy's Coffee Lounge in Wellington in 1964. Her story is told in Suzy: a Coffee House History by Susette Goldsmith (Quill, ISBN: 978-0-473-17318-0).

9:45 Hamish Spencer

Hamish Spencer, FRSNZ, is a professor of zoology at the University of Otago, where he also holds the positions of Principal Investigator with the Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution, and Principal Investigator with the National Research Centre for Growth and Development. He is an Honorary Research Fellow with the Liggins Institute, University of Auckland. Hamish will discuss cousins and marriage.

10:05 Don Letts

Musician, DJ, writer, broadcaster and film maker Don Letts is credited with introducing reggae music to the 1970s London punk scene. He has directed a number of documentaries since The Punk Rock Movie in 1978, including Westway to the World, which won a Grammy in 2003, and has directed over 300 music videos for artists including The Clash, Pretenders, and Elvis Costello. He was a founding member of the band Big Audio Dynamite, wrote his autobiography in 2007, Culture Clash: Dread Meets Punk Rockers (SAF Publishing, ISBN: 978-0-946719-89-1), and currently hosts a programme on BBC Radio 6. Don will visit New Zealand in 2011 to perform at WOMAD Taranaki (18-20 March) and speak at Sounds Aotearoa, a two day music industry event (16-17 March, TSB Showplace, New Plymouth).

11:10 Debra Granik

American independent filmmaker Debra Granik has received widespread acclaim for the two feature films she has written and directed, Down to the Bone (2004), and Winter's Bone, which premiered in this year's New Zealand Film Festival and is now on general release.

11:35 Fritz Eisenhofer

New Zealand architect Fritz Eisenhofer is responsible for many Wellington landmarks, including Suzy's Coffee Bar and the original Matterhorn, and the award-winning Whenua Tapu Chapel and Crematorium. His Kapiti Coast home, The Eco Building, features in the new book, Home Work: Leading New Zealand Architects' Own Houses, by John Walsh and Patrick Reynolds (Godwit, ISBN: 978-1-86962-166-7).

Music played during the programme

Augustus Pablo: King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown
The 1975 track from the 2001 compilation album: Dread Meets Punk Rockers Uptown
(Heavenly/EMI)
Played at around 10:05

The Clash: The Guns of Brixton
From the 1979 album: London Calling
(Columbia)
Played at around 10:20

Bob Marley and the Wailers: Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)
From the 1975 album: Live at the Lyceum
(Tuff Gong)
Played at around 10:35

The Beatles: Penny Lane
The 1967 single from the 2010 remastered album: Magical Mystery Tour (Apple)
Played at around 10:40

The Slits: Babylon
From the 2009 album: Trapped Animal
(Narnack)
Played at around 10:55

Annie Lennox: In the Bleak Midwinter
From the 2010 album: A Christmas Cornucopia
(Island)
Played at around 11:05

Studio operators

Wellington engineer: Lianne Smith
Dunedin engineer: Rod Morgan