Guest information for Saturday 14 June 2008

8:12 Lindsay Diggelmann: Magna Carta

Dr Lindsay Diggelmann completed his MA in English at the University of Auckland then worked in the banking sector for 13 years. He returned to his first love, medieval history, in 1999, and is now a lecturer at the History Department of the University of Auckland.

8:25 William Lane Craig

Christian philosopher Dr William Lane Craig is Research Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California. He has written a number of books and lectures on issues related to the philosophy of religion and the historical Jesus, which are detailed on his Reasonable Faith website. Dr Craig is in New Zealand for a series of public lectures and debates until 21 June.

9:05 Cherie Blair

Cherie Blair pursued her own career as an attorney while carrying out a number of official duties as the wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. She tells her story in her book, Speaking For Myself: The Autobiography (Little, Brown, ISBN: 978-1-4087-0099-0).

9:45 Grant Davidson

Dr Grant Davidson is a graduate of the industrial design programme at the former Wellington Polytechnic. While studying, he applied for a summer placement at Philips Design in the Netherlands and on completing his studies took up a full time position with the company, rising to the position of Vice-President. At the end of May, he received an honorary doctorate from Massey University.

10:05 Gin Wigmore

Auckland singer/songwriter Gin Wigmore started performing at age 14. In 2004, she entered two songs in the US-based International Songwriting Competition, and as well as winning the Teen category, she became the youngest and only unsigned Grand Prize winner in the history of the competition. She is now based in Sydney, and her debut EP, Extended Play (Island Records) has just been released.

11:05 John Kennedy

Dr. John Kennedy is a psychologist and Director of Life Sciences at the University of Toronto, whose work has been described by the New York Times as "One of the Ideas that Change the Way we Think", and by The Times as one of the "Top Ten Ideas of the Year". He researches the psychology of perception and cognition in both sighted and blind people, and his specialty field is tactile pictures drawn by the blind, including the Turkish painter Esref Armagan who, among other feats, intuitively understood the perspective breakthrough made by Renaissance architect Filipio Brunelleschi. John Kennedy and Esref Aramagan can be seen in this video.

11:45 Ali Foster

Masterton author Ali Foster won the Mitre 10 Takahe Rescue writing contest last year for her story about the late Elwyn Welch, who in the 1950s raised takahe chicks in secret for the Wildlife Service. The resulting children's book, Elwyn's Dream (Random House, ISBN: 978-1-86979-006-6), is illustrated by Vivienne Walker, who also entered the competition, and is a descendant of Elwyn Welch.

NB. The scheduled interview with Roi Colbert on sport and television had to be postponed because of technical problems. It will play next week.

Music played on the programme

Loretta Lynn: God Makes No Mistakes
From the 2004 album: Van Lear Rose
(Interscope)
Played at around 8:30am

Gin Wigmore: Hallelujah
From the 2008 EP: Extended Play
(Island/Universal)
Played at around 10:05am

Gin Wigmore: SOS
Live in the Wellington studio of Radio New Zealand
Played at around 10:35am

Gin Wigmore: Under My Skin
From the 2008 EP: Extended Play
(Island/Universal)
Played at around 10:40am

T-Bone Burnett: Dope Island
From the 2008 album: Tooth of Crime
(Nonesuch)
Played at around 10:50am

Thomas Dybdahl: From Grace
From the 2002 album: That Great October Sound
(CCAP/EMI)
Played at around 10:55am

Laurie Anderson: Excellent Birds
From the 1984 album: Mister Heartbreak
(Warner Brothers)
Played at around 10:55am

Studio operators

Wellington engineer: Chris Adams
Auckland engineer: Jeremy Ansell
Dunedin engineer: Rod Morgan