20/04/2011

This week Libby Purves is joined by Dion Dublin, Robert Irwin, Gary Wiltshire and Molly Naylor. Dion Dublin is a retired English footballer turned amateur percussionist and musician. He has invented a percussion instrument called "The Dube". During his football career he played for teams including Norwich City, Manchester Utd, Aston Villa and Celtic and was capped four times for England. Since retiring he has become a football pundit for Sky and has co-presented 5 Live's 606 and currently the BBC's Late Kick Off East programme. Robert Irwin is a writer on the history and culture of the Islamic world and is Middle East editor of the TLS. In his book, 'Memoirs of a Dervish' he tells of how he left Oxford in the summer of 1964 and went to Algiers, while a military coup was taking place there, in search of enlightenment. 'Memoirs of a Dervish - Sufis Mystics and the 60s' is published by Profile Books. Gary Wiltshire worked as a market trader, van boy for R. White's Lemonade, porter at Smithfield and betting shop board man before becoming a licenced bookmaker. He became famous for losing £1.4 million when jockey Frankie Dettori rode seven winners at one meeting at Ascot in September 1996. Now a racing pundit for the BBC and Sky Sports, he is also known as 'The Belly from the Telly'. His book 'Winning it Back - the autobiography of Britain's biggest gambler' is published by Racing Post Books. Molly Naylor is a poet, scriptwriter and puppeteer. Her latest work is inspired by events that took place in London on 7th July 2005. 'Whenever I get blown up I think of you' tells of how Molly moved to London full of naive dreams and high hopes, until that day in July 2005, when she found herself on an underground train blown up by terrorists and her life takes a different direction. During the tour, Whenever I Get Blown Up I Think Of You will be broadcast as a BBC Radio 4 play to mark the anniversary of London's 7/7 terrorist bombings.