Memoirs on motherhood in all its light and shade episode artwork

EPISODE · May 8, 2026 · 52 MIN

Memoirs on motherhood in all its light and shade

from The Radio National Hour · host Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Sunday is Mother’s Day — a tradition wrapped in flowers, cards, and a very neat idea of what motherhood is. But in reality motherhood is an experience shaped by history, circumstance, and the stories families tell, and keep hidden. In their new memoirs, journalists Cynthia Banham and Sheryle Bagwell exploring the secrets, absences and complicated bonds that define the sacred connection between mother and child. Not many people get to live on planet earth for a century and few people have seen as much of it as broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough.The great narrator and defender of our natural world is 100 years old today. His friend and collaborator Australian cinematographer Chadden Hunter says he's as generous and entertaining off camera as he is on it. 

Sunday is Mother’s Day — a tradition wrapped in flowers, cards, and a very neat idea of what motherhood is. But in reality motherhood is an experience shaped by history, circumstance, and the stories families tell, and keep hidden. In their new memoirs, journalists Cynthia Banham and Sheryle Bagwell exploring the secrets, absences and complicated bonds that define the sacred connection between mother and child.  Not many people get to live on planet earth for a century and few people have seen as much of it as broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough.The great narrator and defender of our natural world is 100 years old today. His friend and collaborator Australian cinematographer Chadden Hunter says he's as generous and entertaining off camera as he is on it.

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Memoirs on motherhood in all its light and shade

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This episode was published on May 8, 2026.

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Sunday is Mother’s Day — a tradition wrapped in flowers, cards, and a very neat idea of what motherhood is. But in reality motherhood is an experience shaped by history, circumstance, and the stories families tell, and keep hidden. In their new...

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