Book Club

Michael Vatikiotis has been a writer, broadcaster and journalist in Asia for more than 35 years. With family origins in the Middle East, he has lived in Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand as well as Hong Kong. He currently lives in Singapore, working for the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, a private foundation that facilitates dialogue to resolve armed conflicts.  His latest book, Lives Between the Lines, is a very personal account of Michael’s Greek, British and Italian family who arrived in Egypt and Palestine in the mid-nineteenth century as migrants. Unlike the image of the Middle East today, where tens of thousands are fleeing to asylum in Europe, the region then was a haven for Europeans escaping war and poverty there. Through the eyes of his Levantine family, Michael tells the story of the Middle East from 1850 to 1950, as Ottoman rulers sought to modernize this region, and the skills  of his family members were much in demand working in the post offices, railways and as entrepreneurs and monks. Michael’s earlier work includes Blood and Silk: Power and Conflict in Modern Southeast Asia as well as two novels set in Indonesia, The Spice Garden and The Painter of Lost Souls. Come with Michael and Humphrey Hawksley as they explore this forgotten era of the Middle East and, further east, the exotic blends and textures of Asia. Goldster Inside Story, 12pm Thursday May 22nd 2022.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day was written in 1938 and humorously evokes a bygone era. Miss Pettigrew is a governess, who is rather terrified of children. One day, when she is desperate for work, an employment agency sends her to the wrong address. There she encounters a glamorous and bohemian night-club singer, named Miss LaFosse. A superb comedy begins, as Miss Pettigrew and Miss LaFosse spend 24 hours together, with wonderful consequences for both of them – and with the message that everyone can have a second chance (or maybe even a third or fourth!). 

The Guardian asked “Why has it taken more than half a century for this wonderful flight of humour to be rediscovered?” and author India Knight described Miss Pettigrew as “the sweetest grown-up book in the world”. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is a fun, lighthearted book and very easy to read, but it also has a serious message. It makes the reader think about the difficulties of life as a ‘spare woman’ – a fate that befell so many after WWI– and about the fear of sinking into poverty, at a time when women were routinely paid significantly less than men. 

This unfairly forgotten novel was brought back into the light by Persephone Books – and Goldster members may remember our recent Inside Story with Persephone’s founder, Nicola Beauman. Since that time it has become a bestseller and been turned into a film, starring Frances McDormand, Amy Adams and Ciaran Hinds. Join Lucinda Hawksley at midday on 27th May as we discuss Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day as our Goldster Book of the Month.

On the 2nd of June, we have a very special Inside Story, to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen. Goldster’s resident author, Lucinda Hawksley, will be talking about one of her own book Elizabeth Revealed, which she was commissioned to write by Historic Royal Palaces. This year, 2022, sees Queen Elizabeth II become the first ever British monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee, after a reign spanning 70 years. 

Elizabeth Revealed is a lively and affectionate celebration of The Queen’s long and eventful life. This gorgeously illustrated book blends personal and public, frivolous and factual in a tribute to an extraordinary woman and the sweeping social changes she has lived through. The enjoyable ‘500 facts’ format highlights surprising aspects of The Queen’s intimate life, including the good and the bad years. It offers illuminating glimpses into a changing monarchy and royal family life as a young, elegant young princess developed into the most famous woman in the world.

Lucinda Hawksley is an author, broadcaster and lecturer, whose books include biographies of the artists Kate Perugini (née Dickens), Princess Louise and Lizzie Siddal. Her other titles include Dickens and Christmas; Elizabeth Revealed; The Writer Abroad; Bitten by Witch Fever; Charles Dickens and his Circle; and March, Women, March: How Women Won the Vote. Her latest books are Letters of Great Women (2021) and Dickens and Travel (2022). She is also a travel writer, and has written and narrated podcasts and audioguides. Join her at midday on the 2nd of June at midday. 

Goldster Inside Story takes you far behind the scenes of the National Health Service with our guest Alex Anstey, a consultant dermatologist at the Royal United Hospitals in Bath. In his highly-acclaimed book, Under the Skin: A Dermatologist’s Fight to Save the NHS, Alex shows us the realities of front-line NHS clinical services, taking the reader on a fast-moving, emotional journey of discovery; from despondency to hope and towards a better understanding of the how our health system works, arguing strongly the need to nurture and support those who dedicate their lives to this great institution.  Within the narrative, Alex profiles some of the giant figures of Britain’s healthcare including David Lloyd George who introduced a national insurance scheme for the low-paid and Aneurin Bevan, widely regarded as the founder of the NHS which was launched on July 5th 1948.  In promoting the idea of a free health service, they and others contributed toward an institution that defines Britain today.  Alex began work for the NHS in 1983 and became a consultant dermatologist in 1994.  In his hour-long conversation with Humphrey Hawksley, Alex will discuss and answer questions on a range of issues from bullying within the NHS to loneliness among health professionals to his experience as a junior doctor where he openly concedes, ‘I felt sorry for patients having me as their doctor.’ And of course, he will talk about his speciality of treating skin problems, including their psychological impact. To find out more, join Alex and Humphrey on Goldster Inside Story at 12.00, June 3rd 2022. 

Described as the John Grisham of China, crime thriller writer He Jiahong is the author of titles such as Hanging Devils, Black Holes and Back from the Dead.  Drawing on his experience as Professor of Law at the People’s University in Beijing, He Jiahong, is a master of story-telling which takes us to incredible parts of China that we never see. His highly-acclaimed Hanging Devils is set in the early 1990s when lawyer Hong Jun, recently returned from the United States, sets up a fledgling practice in Beijing and immediately gets drawn into the case of a brutal killing in China’s frozen north-east. In the finest tradition of international crime fiction and inspired by real-life events, He Jiahong delves into the underbelly of China’s provincial police and justice system.  In Black Holes, with the same protagonist we travel into the Chinese world corporate fraud and into a family web that takes us back to the chaos of the Cultural Revolution.  In the non-fiction Back from the Dead, He Jiahong explores a notorious case of wrongful conviction and miscarriage of justice.  He Jiahong is a much sought-after speaker and one of China’s leading experts on criminal evidence, evidential investigation and criminal procedure. He gained his doctorate of law at Northwestern University in Chicago. In this brilliantly unusual Inside Story, He Jiahong will be speaking to Humphrey Hawksley from Beijing. Join them 12.00 BST Thursday June 9th 2022 

The Male Gaze, Joe Treasure’s first novel, was inspired by his experiences in Los Angeles during the early years of George W Bush's "war on terror". In his second novel, Besotted he drew on his memories of growing up in a large, eccentric family and his close bond with a troubled but brilliant brother. This is a theme on which Joe is now working more directly, as he is currently writing a memoir. 

Joe’s most recent novel, The Book of Air, envisaged a deadly airborne virus that destroyed society and gave rise to a community of survivors, whose rules and rituals were based on a close reading of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. 

During the 2020 lockdown, Joe wrote a series of poems about famous paintings. He turned this into a performance in which the readings are richly illustrated by slides – art from six centuries brought dramatically to life through the imagined voices of the artists and the figures in their paintings. Designed initially for Zoom audiences, Out of the Frame: poems on paintings has now been delivered live in the mountains of Colorado and in Monmouth’s medieval Priory. With an actor reading the female-voiced poems (about half of them), Joe will also be presenting Out of the Frame on the 21st of June as part of the Wandsworth Arts Fringe. Join Joe Treasure on the 10th of June 2022 for Inside Story with Lucinda Hawksley.

Lesley Thomson’s first novel Seven Miles From Sydney was one of London’s City Limit’s Books of the year. Her novel A Kind of Vanishing won the inaugural People’s Book Prize in 2010 and Lesley went on to write the No.1 bestselling series The Detective’s Daughter which have so far sold over 850,000 copies. Joan Smith in The Sunday Times described cleaner and detective Stella Darnell, as “one of the most original characters in British crime fiction ... Thomson's plots are original and she draws her characters with genuine affection”. Mark Sanderson, also in The Sunday Times said of Lesley’s 2021 novel The Distant Dead, “Lesley Thomson can make your flesh creep at will. Her sense of place, during the Blitz or in the present, is remarkable.”

Lesley’s latest novel, The Companion, is an Agatha Christie-esque standalone set in a stately home, close to which a serial killer is on the loose. It features the occupants of Blacklock Hall now converted into flats, and a set of ill-suited neighbours, many of whom may or may not be capable of murder. Into their midst arrives Timothy Mew who has answered an advert to be the companion of Rex Lomax an elderly retired defence lawyer. 

Why, ask Rex’s neighbours, would a young man choose to live in the middle of nowhere doing shopping and jigsaws? Mistrust and suspicion intensifies when one of these neighbours is murdered. Find out more when Lesley joins Lucinda Hawksley for the Goldster Inside Story on the 16th of June, at midday.

Victoria Schofield is one of Britain’s leading authors on military history and South Asia. She has written widely on Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Her first book Bhutto: Trial and Execution was published in 1978 about the death sentence and hanging of the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, for conspiring to kill a political opponent. Victoria became a close friend of his daughter Benazir who went on to become Prime Minister and was assassinated in 2007.  In 2020, Victoria published a tribute to their long friendship in The Fragrance of Tears, my friendship with Benazir Bhutto. Her other South Asian books include Afghan Frontier: At the Crossroads of Conflict and Kashmir in Conflict – the titles reflecting the political tumult of the region. She wrote a two-volume history The Highland Furies, The Black Watch 1739-1899, with a Foreword by HRH the Prince of Wales and The Black Watch, Fighting in the Front Line 1899-2006 telling the story of the famous Scottish regiment and a biography of Field Marshal Earl Wavell- Wavell: Soldier and Statesman – who was Viceroy on India before Lord Mountbatten too over to see through independence, leading to the ill-fated Partition. If you’ve ever wondered about Benazir Bhutto, Britain’s colonial past and the character who drove it, join Victoria, who will be talking to Humphrey Hawksley about her life’s work, her travels and her friendships in this remarkable Inside Story, Friday June 17th 2022. 

Victoria Panton Bacon came to writing about the Second World War quite by default - after coming across her grandfather’s diary of serving as an RAF pilot during the Battle of France in the summer of 1940.  After reading his words, and being horrified, fascinated and impressed in equal measure she set about researching the events he described (including being shot down three times during this six-week battle, as France and the Benelux countries fell into German hands) only to discover that what he had written was (almost all!) true.  The diary became the basis of her first book Six Weeks of Blenheim Summer. 

This book led Victoria to other Second World War veterans, many of whom began to talk to her about their memories – as did family members who yearned for their relatives not to be forgotten.  She set about writing up many of these memories realising their historical importance – each heartfelt, true, story representing thousands of others.  Victoria has since had two further books published, Remarkable Journeys of the Second World War and Remarkable Women of the Second World War. Her books have been described as the ‘Bayeux Tapestry of the Second World War.’

Prior to writing about the war, Victoria worked as a BBC television news journalist and for the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street during the 1997 general election campaign. Join Victoria on the 23rd of June for the Inside Story with Lucinda Hawksley.

Maggy Pigott is the vice-chair of Open Age, Life’s Just Begun and has published the critically-acclaimed How to Age Joyfully,  Eight Steps to a Happier, Fuller Life. Dame Judi Dench commends the book to everyone of all ages and Giles Brandreth describes it as ‘full of wit, wisdom – and hope’.  Here are Maggy’s nub thoughts.  We’re living longer – let’s live better!  Getting older should be something to enjoy and celebrate. And it can be. Research shows that we can make a big difference to how well we age. From staying active to connecting with others, Maggy shares the secrets to ageing well in eight steps, to help keep you healthy and happy. Each step has easy-to-follow tips, alongside inspiring words both ancient and modern… and more! The guidance includes keeping physically active, eating well, having purpose and being positive.  There are stunning quotes such as from Theodore Roosevelt – ‘Old age is like everything else… to make a success of it, you’ve got to start young’ to Mahatma Gandhi ‘The future depends on what you do today.’   Maggy also cites peer group leaders such as Sir David Attenborough travelling the world making natural history films in his nineties Dame Judi Dench and David Hockney both still working in their eighties, and of course Her Majesty the Queen. Whether you choose to follow some of the advice or all, this is the perfect guide for living a more fulfilled, healthy and joyful life. To find out more join Humphrey Hawksley with Maggy Piggot on this uplifting Goldster Inside Story at 12.00 on Thursday June 30th 2022.

James Hanning is not an author to be messed with. He writes on politicians, criminals and spies who in today’s culture might seem interchangeable.  On his social media, James describes himself as a recovering journalist, having worked for the Daily Mail, the Evening Standard and the Independent on Sunday.   Yet, as we all know, as with spies, once a journalist always a journalist. His books include examinations of former prime minister David Cameron and the phone hacking scandal which so badly damaged News International and Rupert Murdoch. And, on this Goldster Inside Story Humphrey Hawksley will be talking to James about his latest expose, reaching back into the 1950s with Love & Deception: Philby in Beirut,  the result of 20 years of research into one of the Cold War’s most mysterious episodes. Kim Philby was banished to Lebanon in 1956 after being suspected of having links to other Russian spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean. There,  an amazing love affair blossomed between him and Eleanor, a bright, cultured, attractive American. They married and their love survived the most shattering of calamities including Philby’s flight to Moscow in 1963. Drawing on some of those closest to the main players, James sheds new light on the love of Philby’s life and breaks remarkable new ground on the pro-Soviet spy group who became known as the Cambridge Five.  Join Humphrey and James in conversation on Kim Philby – or if you prefer David Cameron and phone hacking. This is Goldster. It’s your discussion. 12.00  Friday July 1st.

How many of us have thought about being a filmmaker, even tried it, or wondered how an award-winning, box-office documentary is put together. Meet Antony Thomas on Goldster Inside Story whose book In the Line of Fire takes us far behind the scenes in the world of film. In a career, spanning half a century, Antony’s body of work includes exposing the pernicious effects of racism, the 'seamless border' between intelligence and crime, the last colonial wars in Africa, conflicts in the Middle East, the rise of Islamic extremism, the politicisation of Evangelical Christians in the United States and the origins of fake news. In conversation with Humphrey Hawksley, Antony will tell amazing stories of his adventures, together with the moral problems and dangers that he and his colleagues sometimes faced, including the moment when the entire team was condemned to death in a military camp in Zambia. His docudrama  Death of a Princess was based on the true story of Princess Mishaal, a young Saudi Arabian princess and her lover who had been publicly executed for adultery earned one of the highest ever ratings of the American PBS network. His 2007 The Tank Man, about China recalling the lone figure standing in front of a tank in 1989 had special screenings for the United States Congress.  Meet Anthony and ask him anything you want at 12.00 Thursday July 7th 2022.

Robert Sutter is the author of more than twenty books about Asia and will take Goldster Inside Story behind the headlines on the rise of China, explaining its ever-changing role from the Ukraine and Afghan crises to its efforts to expand its influence into Britain and Europe. Robert, who has a doctorate from Harvard University, has worked in key American government and congressional roles which includes National Intelligence Officer for East Asia and the Pacific at the US Government’s National Intelligence Council, the China division director at the Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research and professional staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. China’s expansion and its style of government is the most pressing global political issue, made more so by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and its threat to Europe. What is China’s role?  How should our politicians handle its authoritarian government? What moral lines should they not cross in order to preserve peace and their economies. Never before have the values of two powerful systems of government been so opposed yet so entwined in trade and their economies. Can China and America close the gap, or will they fight? Robert’s skill is knowing the intricate details and being able to explain them in a way that is accessible to us all. That is why Humphrey Hawksley has invited Robert Sutter to be his guest for an hour-long illuminating and important conversation. Join them on Goldster Inside Story 12.00 Friday July 8th 2022.

Janice Hallett studied English at UCL and worked for 15 years as a magazine editor, during which time she won two awards for journalism. After gaining an MA in Screenwriting at Royal Holloway, she co-wrote the feature film Retreat, which starred Cillian Murphy, Thandie Newton and Jamie Bell. She has also written stage plays and has had her sitcom, Two Ladies, performed at the Museum of Comedy.

The Appeal, Janice’s debut novel, was a Sunday Times bestseller, the Sunday Times crime book of the year, and shortlisted for Waterstones book of the year. In The Appeal, Janice crafted a murder-mystery story told entirely via emails, legal documents and text messages. It is currently shortlisted for the Debut Crime Novel Award at CrimeFest and Book of the Year, Fiction: Crime & Thriller at the British Book Awards and the TV rights have been optioned. The Appeal was also our Goldster Book of the Month in March. 

Janice’s second novel, The Twyford Code, is a Times and Sunday Times bestseller. It was described by The Guardian as “a mind-bending, heartwarming mystery … a complex thriller that includes brilliant pastiches of Enid Blyton”. Join Janice on the 14the of July at midday, as she chats to Lucinda Hawksley for the Goldster Inside Story, about her writing career, and discusses The Appeal and The Twyford Code.

Throughout almost thirty years of study, Kirsty Stonell Walker has championed the lives of 19th-century women, whom history has otherwise overlooked. In 2006, she published the only biography of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's most notorious model and muse, Fanny Cornforth. This was followed by a novel based on the life of another Pre-Raphaelite muse, Alexa Wilding, entitled A Curl of Copper and Purple. In 2015 she published her second novel, We Are Villains All, a murder mystery set around the lives of a Victorian poet and his best friend, a photographer. Since 2011, Kirsty has also been the writer of ‘The Kissed Mouth’ (www.fannycornforth.blogspot.com) a blog which airs Victorian dirty linen in a humorous and thought-provoking way.

In 2018, Kirsty published a non-fiction book, Pre-Raphaelite Girl Gang, revealing the lives of Pre-Raphaelite models, muses and artists, lushly illustrated by portraits by renowned illustrator and artist, Kingsley Nebechi, alongside the wonderful original paintings. In 2020, Kirsty published a dual biography of the pioneer photographer Julia Margaret Cameron and her model Mary Hillier, entitled Light and Love. Returning to her roots, this year Kirsty has released a new edition of Stunner: The Fall and Rise of Fanny Cornforth, in a colourful, deluxe edition. 

On the 15th of July, at midday, join Kirsty as she chats to Lucinda Hawksley about her writing career, for the Goldster Inside Story.

Rosie Wilby is an award-winning comedian, author, podcaster and former singer-songwriter who has appeared many times on BBC Radio 4 programmes including Woman's Hour, Saturday Live and Four Thought, as well as at major festivals including Glastonbury and Latitude. Her first book Is Monogamy Dead? was longlisted for the Polari First Book Prize and followed a trilogy of live solo shows investigating the psychology of love and relationships. This trilogy began with subversive spoof lecture ‘The Science of Sex’, which toured to New York’s Fresh Fruit Festival, Edinburgh Fringe and more, and ended with ‘The Conscious Uncoupling’, which was programmed by London Southbank Centre’s Festival of Love and shortlisted for Funny Women Best Show. 

Her latest book The Breakup Monologues was described by Red magazine as a ‘gem of a book’ and by The Observer as ‘witty’ and ‘wonderful’. It is based on her acclaimed podcast of the same name, which was a British Podcast Award nominee 2020 and recommended by Chortle, The Observer, Psychologies and Metro. You can check out the book at https://linktr.ee/breakupmonologues. Rosie writes regularly on sexuality, dating and love for publications including Stylist, Cosmo, New Statesman and The i and has interviewed authors including Armistead Maupin, Sarah Waters and Stella Duffy on her award-winning Resonance FM radio show.

Join Rosie Wilby on 21 July, as she talks to Lucinda Hawksley about her writing career for the Goldster Inside Story. 

More than any other technology, cars have transformed our culture. Cars have created vast wealth as well as novel dreams of freedom and mobility. They have transformed our sense of distance and made the world infinitely more available to our eyes and our imaginations. They have inspired cinema, music and literature; they have, by their need for roads, bridges, filling stations, huge factories and global supply chains, re-engineered the world. Almost everything we now need, want, imagine or aspire to assumes the existence of cars in all their limitless power and their complex systems of meanings.  Bryan Appleyard’s book, simply called The Car celebrates the immense drama and beauty of the car, of the genius embodied in the Ford Model T, of the glory of the brilliant-red Mercedes Benz S-Class made by workers for Nelson Mandela on his release from prison, of Kanye West’s ‘chopped’ Maybach, of the salvation of the Volkswagen Beetle by Major Ivan Hirst, of Elvis Presley’s 100 Cadillacs, of the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost and the BMC Mini and even of that harbinger of the end – the Tesla Model S and its creator Elon Musk.  Our Goldster Inside Story guest was appointed CBE in Her Majesty’s 2019 Birthday Honours and has been selected Feature Writer of the Year three times as well as Interviewer of the Year in the British Press Awards. Join Humphrey Hawksley and Bryan for a roller-coaster conversation about the car and anything else that might spring to mind. 12.00 Thursday July 28th 2022 .

Stephen Keeler’s book, Fifty Words for Love in Swedish, is a memoir in fragments of a foreign language, a love-letter to a country, a literary token of gratitude. Highly acclaimed by A L Kennedy and the best-selling British-Swedish novelist Marika Cobbold, among many others, his book reveals life stories through the Swedish words Stephen learned, while living and working in Sweden for almost half a century.

Originally from the north-east of England, and with degrees from the universities of Durham, Leeds and London, Stephen worked in international education, teaching, writing, publishing, lecturing, designing syllabuses and as a consultant for, among others, The British Council, the UN and the BBC World Service before retiring to the Scottish highlands to write and teach creative writing. 

Fifty Words for Love in Swedish is Stephen’s first volume of prose memoir. Prior to that, he won the first Highland Literary Salon Poetry Competition and has received a prestigious Scottish Book Trust New Writing Award. His poetry is widely-published in pamphlets and anthologies and has won numerous awards and been short-listed for a number of festival and competition prizes. Join Stephen on 4 August, as he talks to Lucinda Hawksley on the Goldster Inside Story.

Legendary television news correspondent, Jim Laurie, was a 22-year-old adventurer when he arrived in Cambodia in 1970.  Five years later in April 1975 he reported on the catastrophic collapse of first Cambodia and then Vietnam. 

And he was in love. 

His stunning and highly-acclaimed memoir, The Last Helicopter: Two Lives in Indochina, is a story of a young woman left behind and a reporter coming of age in a world of war; a gripping memoir of Indo China in the 1970s. 

Jim was helicoptered out of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, by the U.S. Military. In the chaos and fog of war,  his love, Soc Sinan, was left behind.  As the genocidal Khmer Rouge swept through the country, Sinan ended up in one of their brutal concentration camps. 

Jim vowed to get her out. Join this very moving Goldster Inside Story to find out what happened. 

Drawn from recorded interviews with Sinan and Jim’s own experiences, The Last Helicopter captures the tensions, fears, and extremes of the early 1970s. It also recalls life in places of grace and exotic beauty that have disappeared forever. 

Jim went on to become an award-winning reporter interviewing key global figures such as China’s Deng Xiaoping, India’s Indira Gandhi and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.   Join Jim Laurie in conversation with Humphrey Hawksley, 12.00 Friday August 5th 2022 on Goldster Inside Story. 

On the morning of 11 October 1921, Michael Collins, leader of the ‘Irish murder gang’, bounded through the door of 10 Downing Street and shook hands with the British Prime Minister. So began the first day of the most important political negotiations in modern Anglo-Irish history. Nearly two months later, in the early hours of 6 December 1921, the talks culminated in the signing of what in Ireland is known simply as ‘the Treaty’ – a document that had been designed to end one violent conflict, but which soon gave rise to another. 

A year later, four months before the treaty was implemented Michael Collins was assassinated by extremist Irish republicans.  

A century on, in The Treaty, award-winning journalist Gretchen Friemann has produced a gripping account of the tense and protracted negotiations between the Irish and British delegations, shining a fresh light on the complex politics and high-stakes bargaining that produced the agreement. 

This stunning Goldster Inside Story will mark the centenary of the Michael Collins’ murder and,  in their hour long conversation, Gretchen and Humphrey will explore a vivid arc of narrative history that resonates across the intervening century to the age of Brexit.  Gretchen will also bring to life the key players including Lloyd George, Churchill and Chamberlain of the British team, and Collins, Griffith, Gavan Duffy and Erskine Childers of the Irish delegation.

Join Humphrey Hawksley and Gretchen Friemann at 12.00 August 25th to explore the tumult of Anglo-Irish history and how what unfolded then is still impacting all our lives today.

James Rosone and Miranda Watson are one of the most successful self-published husband-wife writing teams on Amazon. James began his writing career as a form of therapy after his experiences as an interrogator in Iraq. He has turned a hobby into a career. In her spare time as a nurse, Miranda helped him. Both James and Miranda have now given up their day jobs to write best-sellers, often bringing in other co-authors. The series include Falling Empires about cyber-attacks and the threat to America from within, Red Storm which includes a volume called Battlefield Ukraine, and The Monroe Doctrine, which in its range of issues includes Artificial Intelligence and China. In conversation with James, Humphrey Hawksley will explore the crime-thriller genre asking what issues and types of characters attract. He will also ask James and Miranda to share their incredible experience of self-publishing from their first book to their successful formula now. James will also tell how he encourages other military veterans from the Iraq and Afghan wars to find a new purpose as authors. We all read stories about the millionaire self-published authors, but rarely do we get to know how it actually works. From writing to technical social media wizardry, from world turmoil to casting the compelling lead character, join Humphrey with James Rosone Thursday September 1st 2022 on Goldster Inside Story. Hopefully, Miranda will break free from her schedule to join them. 

The Mercenary River tells the story of the River Thames and London’s struggle to supply its citizens with water from the Middle Ages to the present day.  Humphrey Hawksley is with author and journalist Nick Higham to discuss his page-turning narrative that uncovers a series of incredible stories about Britain’s most famous river: 

How the most powerful steam engine in the world was first brought to London; how one Victorian London water company deliberately cut off 2,000 households, even though it knew they had no alternative source of supply; a financial scandal which brought two of the water companies close to collapse in the 1870s; and the Chelsea Waterworks which was the first in the world to filter the water it supplied its customers, the same technique still used to purify two-thirds of London’s drinking water..  The final question Humphrey will put to Nick – are today’s 21st century water companies any improvement on their Victorian predecessors?   Mercenary River is a tale of remarkable technological, scientific and organisational breakthroughs. It is also a story of greed and complacency, high finance and low politics. Nick Higham is a Londoner, who spent thirty years with the BBC, fifteen as their arts and media correspondent and also hosting ‘Meet the Author’ on the BBC News Channel. So he may have some tips for Goldster’s Inside Story presenters. Join Nick and Humphrey 12.00 Friday September 2nd  on a historical trip down the river on Goldster Inside Story.