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Life Changing

BBC Radio 4
Life Changing
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  • The Vicar of Bray's Daughter
    In her early twenties Carol Cairns, the daughter of a priest in Ireland, had a passionate affair with a young bohemian poet called Benedict Ryan. In the Dublin of the 1960s, their improbable partnership burned bright but briefly. Somehow the gap in their backgrounds was too great. Not long after, life took her in a completely different direction. Shortly after her 70th birthday, while thinking of names for a grandson to be, she remembered Benedict. Where was he now? After a failed marriage, she used Skype to see if the flame still burned. Carol tells Dr Sian Williams about the emotional moment they reunited, after almost half a century.Producer; Tom Alban
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    28:57
  • The Singing Bus Driver
    Phillip Browne was born into a large and loving Windrush generation family in Birmingham. Church and singing were an important part of his upbringing, and when he struggled at school it was singing that gave him an escape and a status. But just as he was beginning to show signs of real potential, a devastating ear infection robbed him of his hearing completely in one ear - and Phillip was told by a doctor that a singing career was out of the question. Phillip's struggle in the aftermath of his illness and his need to find a job resulted in him becoming a London bus driver. He knew the security of employment was a relief to his father who had spent a lifetime working on the railways, but it seemed to be leading him further and further away from his dream. Until a chance meeting with an old college friend turned his life in an extraordinary new direction.Phillip tells Dr Sian Williams about that Life Changing moment - and his incredible journey to the bright lights of the West End stage. Producer: Tom Alban
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    29:00
  • The Yachtsman Survivor
    Robin Elsey Webb is a young and already very successful yachtsman with a dream of tackling the famous Vendee Globe, the single-handed round the world yacht race. But his plans were shattered during a trip to Antigua, when he was violently attacked and suffered severe head injuries. With his life hanging in the balance, it fell to his partner Liz to make swift and bold decisions about his treatment. Robin's job was to try and stay alive. Robin and Liz join Dr Sian Williams to piece together their own very different experiences of that terrifying ordeal, which changed so many things for both of them. Producer: Tom Alban
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    29:02
  • The Great Escape
    As a bright adventurous 16 year-old, Angela Tilley was thrilled to get a job in a busy London office. But after a year's unwanted attention from one of her co-workers, attention that today we would call stalking, she started having panic attacks on the way to work. The attacks became a debilitating daily occurrence, leaving her mentally and physically exhausted. Her courage in pushing back against her fears, forging a career and having a family came at a huge personal cost. But one seemingly innocuous purchase was about to change her life forever.Angela tells Dr Sian Williams about how she overcame her challenges and how she managed to stop her phobia defining her life. Producer: Tom Alban
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    28:53
  • The Reluctant Hero
    Husband and father, Larry O’Brien, loved the freedom his job as a long-distance lorry driver gave him. But on March 6th 1987, that freedom was almost lost in the horror of the Zeebrugge ferry disaster, in which almost 200 people lost their lives. Larry – who could not swim – risked his own life to pull 30 people to safety. Almost 40 years later, Larry tells Dr Sian Williams why he never felt like a hero, how he came to terms with what happened, and why – after a career change into local politics – he decided to return to the road. Producer: Tom Alban
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About Life Changing

In this series Dr Sian Williams talks to people who have lived through extraordinary events that have set their lives on an entirely different course.This podcast is all about the human experience, how people deal with obstacles that turn their lives upside down. The journeys are not always straightforward and there are often some remarkable discoveries along the way.Would you like to appear on the podcast? Do you have an extraordinary story to tell? We'd love to hear from you: [email protected]
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