Woman's Hour

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Hello, I'm Nuala McGovern and welcome to Woman's Hour from BBC Radio 4.

Just to say that for rights reasons, the music in the original radio broadcast has been removed for this podcast.

Hello and welcome to the programme.

Welcome back to the programme, I should say, first, Philippa.

Thank you so much.

I was just thinking how many, many years I have been on Woman's Hour one way or another, you know, man and boy, really, before the mast, including I used to be a journalist and one of the greatest moments of my life was getting a piece on Woman's Hour, which was notoriously difficult to get on.

How lovely to hear that.

Hello and welcome to the programme, bringing you highlights from the Woman's Hour week.

Coming up, Bridget Jones's diary author Helen Fielding on her new writing prize.

She's looking for funny northern voices.

Research suggests... that it could reduce the risk of dementia, with one study showing benefits were stronger in women.

But we start with comedian Katherine Ryan.

She joined me yesterday in the Woman's Hour studio to discuss her new memoir about being a first-born daughter and all the ways this may have affected her approach to life, from marriage to motherhood, fertility to facelifts.

Catherine has earned a reputation for her unflinching honesty, whether it's in a stand-up, on TV panel shows, on podcasts or her reality show.

And this latest book is no different as she shares her take on navigating society as a woman, a wife and a daughter.

We hope you join us next week when Catriona and I will be back for our post-episode debrief, when we'll take a closer look at one of the themes that emerged from our conversation with Suzanne.

And if you enjoyed listening to Suzanne, I'd recommend going back to Series 3, Episode 5, when we spoke with Dublin-born journalist and broadcaster Nuala McGovern presents BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour another really interesting woman whose work involves listening to people's stories often in quite difficult circumstances and finding ways to bring those stories to a wider audience and finally if you know someone who you think might enjoy this conversation or our podcast in general please do share the recommendation as I always say there's nothing quite like a recommendation from someone who knows you and what you like until next time thank you for listening to desert island dress

But yeah, I mean, I've been in crazy kind of situations because of the platform I've been lucky enough to have.

Um, you know, I've, I've been on live television in, you know, um, Sky Studios in London and been to BBC Broadcasting House to be on Women's Hour and this, you know, amazing studio of this show that I've listened to for years that millions of people tune into.

I've met some pretty random celebrities that kind of book festivals and events and things.

And the very first, very first public speaking I ever did was an event for my publishers before Hard Pushed even came out.

It was The Moment or the soundtrack to Wuthering Heights.

Rob, Judi Dench told Radio 4's Woman's Hour about being invited to lunch with the real-life head of MI6 due to her involvement with which spy film? Oh, James Bond.

Correct.

Chloe, tourists and locals gathered to see a golden sunbeam illuminate a 3,000-year-old Egyptian temple.

Why does it have to take for you to go and do that? Like, none of this makes sense.

I was listening to, I think it was on Women's Hour, and it was, what's her name from Motherland? Anna Maxwell Martin, my favourite.

She's brilliant.

But she's just like, the system is so broken.