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100-Year-Old Phyllis Ramsay and The Century Girls

Chris speaks to Tessa Dunlop, the author of The Century Girls as well as centenarian Phyllis Ramsay who shares her fascinating story. Plus we learn about the effects of willpower.

Chris is joined by Tessa Dunlop, author behind The Century Girls, a book exploring how life for women in Britain has changed over the last 100 years through the eyes of six women born in 1918 or before. Chris speaks to 100-year-old Phyllis Ramsay, who features in the book and shares her extraordinary story. We hear from Exercise Psychologist Dr Ian Taylor from ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ One's The Truth About Getting Fit who tells us the difference between willpower and self-discipline. Vassos is joined in the Sports Locker by Winter Olympic Gold-medallist Amy Williams. We ask for your claims to fame of American Cop Cars in today's Top Tenuous and our Pause For Thought comes from Senior Rabbi Julia Neuberger.

2 hours, 59 minutes

Last on

Tue 6 Feb 2018 06:30
ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 2

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Clips

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Music Played

  • The Divine Comedy

    National Express

    • New Hits 99 (Various Artists).
    • Sony Music TV.

  • Simple Minds

    Magic

  • Blues Brothers

    Shake A Tail Feather

    • The Blues Brothers OST.

  • Alison Moyet

    Is This Love?

    • Alison Moyet Singles.
    • Columbia.
    • 8.

  • Take That

    Greatest Day

    • (CD Single).
    • Polydor.
    • 1.

  • The Banana Splits

    The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana)

    • Television's Greatest Hits Vol. 5: In Living Color (Various Artists).
    • TVT Records.

  • Chic

    Le Freak

    • The Very Best Of.
    • Rhino.

  • Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

    It's A Beautiful World

    • Who Built The Moon?.
    • Sour Mash.

  • The J. Geils Band

    Centrefold

    • And The Road Goes On Forever Vol 1.
    • Debutante.

  • The Animals

    House Of The Rising Sun

    • The Hits Of 1964 (Various Artists).
    • MFP.

  • Brown & Gray

    Top Down

    • (CD Single).
    • NHM.
    • 001.

  • Earth, Wind & Fire

    Let's Groove

    • 15th Anniversary Music Celebration (Various Artists).
    • Rhino.

  • The Mock Turtles

    Can You Dig It? (Remix)

    • (CD Single).
    • Virgin.

  • Texas

    Summer Son

    • Texas - The Greatest Hits.
    • Mercury.

  • Tom Speight

    Waiting

    • (CD Single).
    • Kobalt.
    • 001.

  • Glenn Miller

    Moonlight Serenade

    • Housewives Choice (Various Artists).
    • Music & Memories.

  • The Beatles

    I Want To Hold Your Hand

  • Rick Astley

    Together Forever

    • NOW - Yearbook 1988 (Various Artists).
    • NOW.

  • Howard Jones

    New Song

    • Fantastic 80's - 3 (Various Artists).
    • Parlophone.

  • Snap!

    The Power

    • Holiday Hits: Non Stop Euro Pop (Var).
    • Virgin.

  • Paloma Faith

    Till I'm Done

    • The Architect.
    • RCA.

  • Jackie Wilson

    (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher

    • Midnight Soul (Various Artists).
    • Music Club.

  • Sting

    Englishman In New York

    • The Very Best Of Sting & The Police.
    • A&M.

  • Hoseah Partsch

    Paper Planes

    • (CD Single).
    • Virgin/EMI.

  • Rose Royce

    Car Wash

    • Now 12 (Various Artists).
    • Now.

  • Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston

    It Takes Two

    • Duets - 36 Of The World's Greatest Ev.
    • Telstar.

Pause for Thought

Pause for Thought
FromΒ Julia Neuberger, Senior Rabbi at the west London Synagogue:

I was in Ireland this past weekend- with gorgeous bright weather, and an uncharacteristic bitingly cold north easterly wind. Normally, we get the prevailing south westerly, bringing rainfall in as it hits shore after the Atlantic. This north easterly knocked back the waves coming in over the beach, so there was sea spray in the air, and we were soaked just standing there.

That made me think of our ancient ancestors, who worshipped sun gods and were desperate for good weather. You can see why. This weekend, the wind made the sea behave unnaturally. Early human beings must have been terrified. They performed rituals to get the sun to rise each morning. They prayed and offered sacrifices in order to be blessed with rain and dew. They had no idea about human effects on the weather- it all seemed remote, to be placated with offerings, prayer and dance.

Their ancient sun worship developed into legends, and rituals, featuring a mother goddess and a bull. In ancient Crete, women jumped over bulls. In India, there was the bull Nandi and Shakti Hinduism. There was bull sacrifice in Classical Greece, with Dionysus (as the Bull) being accompanied by his earth mother, Semele, and his wife, Ariadne. In Iron Age Ireland, there was Queen Maeve in the TΓ‘in BΓ³ Cuailnge, the Battle of the Bulls. The goddess-like Queen regenerates the cycle of the moon and the sun in her quest for the fertile forces of the bull.

Those stories tell us that our ancestors found bad weather or extensive darkness frightening and inexplicable. We think we’re more sophisticated now, but we Jews still pray for rain all winter in our daily prayers, describing God as the one who β€œcauses the wind to blow and the rain to fall.” We too are victims of drought, like Cape Town right now. We too are frightened by weather beyond our control. And we still need to treat the weather with respect. And pray for water, and sunlight, to keep our world going. Not so different from ancient humanity really……..Β 

Broadcast

  • Tue 6 Feb 2018 06:30
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 2

Farewell Chris Evans: The best bits from his last shows at Radio 2

After eight years of hosting the Breakfast Show, Chris Evans leaves Radio 2.

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