logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2023
37m 12s

'Wonderstruck': The author who learned t...

BBC Sounds
About this episode

Loneliness is part of life and can be difficult to overcome, but Nikki Fox and Emma Tracey come armed with solutions, recognising those solutions are sometimes different for disabled people.

Howard Thorpe reveals he flipped his loneliness on its head by setting up events, while Stephen Morris volunteered as a Buddy to help other lonely people with the Sense charity and got a Buddy for himself too.

When author Thomas Leeds wrote his first children's book, ten publishing houses fought for it. His fantasy-adventure follows Jayben, a young hero who must save the Elf world despite the fact he has lost his memory. It's a case of art mimicking life as Thomas lost all of his childhood memories when he was hit by a car.

Produced by: Keiligh Baker, Amy Elizabeth and Emma Tracey Recorded and mixed by: Dave O'Neill Series editor: Beth Rose Editors: Damon Rose and Sam Bonham

Up next
Oct 8
Why are black people more likely to be sectioned?
Black people are four more times likely to be sectioned compared to white people, according to the mental health charity, Mind. That number is rising, but why?As the new Mental Health Act 2025 rumbles through Parliament, hoping to address some of these inequalities, we meet Shock ... Show More
35m 55s
Sep 30
John Davidson: 40 years of living with Tourette syndrome
John Davidson has been the poster boy for Tourette syndrome since 1988, when a documentary about him called ‘John’s Not Mad’ aired on BBC One. It showed the then 16-year-old from the Scottish Borders, living with explosive, often sweary tics, in a world that didn’t understand the ... Show More
32m 35s
Sep 24
The President's Paracetamol speech
It's not often the BBC has to debunk announcements made by presidents for public health reasons - but that's the case this week after President Trump claimed that taking Paracetamol during pregnancy may cause autism. We speak with Eric Garcia, an autistic political journalist in ... Show More
33m 54s
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2020
The Sunday Read: 'The Children in the Shadows'
Prince is 9 years old, ebullient and bright; he has spent much of the pandemic navigating the Google Classroom app from his mother’s phone.The uncertainty and isolation of the coronavirus lockdown is not new to him — he is one of New York City’s more than 100,000 homeless schoolc ... Show More
1h 30m
Jan 2024
The Mother Who Changed: A Story of Dementia
Across the United States, millions of families are confronting a seemingly impossible question: When dementia changes a relative, how much should they accommodate their new personality and desires?Katie Engelhart, a writer for The New York Times Magazine, tells the story of one f ... Show More
1 h
May 2023
A crisis of caregiving
The friend who has to cancel plans to look after their elderly mum. The colleague who leaves their phone on loud so they don’t miss a call about their disabled child. The neighbour you’ve barely seen since their partner’s diagnosis. We’re surrounded by people who are dealing with ... Show More
38m 44s
Feb 2021
Series 1: 9. The rest be damned
After years of insisting she’s innocent, Sam pleads guilty and Moussa’s exes reveal more about the man that led her to Syria. Sam’s team claims she was “a wife under the thumb of her violently abusive and radical husband” but the prosecution says she has “credibility issues” and ... Show More
33m 32s
May 2024
Revisiting 'The Mother Who Changed: A Story of Dementia'
Earlier this year, we shared the story of one family’s dispute over a loved one with dementia. That story, originally reported in The New York Times Magazine by Katie Engelhart, won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing this past week. Today, we're revisiting Katie’s story – and ... Show More
1h 1m
Dec 2021
A Life Well Lived: Remembering those we lost in 2021
The Times has an august history of recording the lives of significant people and has been doing so since the 19th century in the obituaries pages. Here we remember some of the people who may not be household names but are no less fascinating.This podcast was brought to you thank ... Show More
40m 4s
Mar 2023
3 Dads Walking
Matt is joined by three men whose daughters took their own lives to talk about their campaign for suicide prevention to become part of the school curriculum. Andy Airey, Mike Palmer and Tim Owen are known as the '3 Dads Walking' because they've raised more than £1m for charity th ... Show More
44m 37s
Mar 2023
Congratulations, You’re a Failure! Stephen Marche on Enduring the Life of a Writer
Stephen Marche is the author of six books, has been a columnist at Esquire, has taught Shakespeare at the college level and has contributed to The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and many other publications. By any reasonable measure, his career is an unmitigated su ... Show More
1h 11m
Jun 2024
What could have happened to Jay Slater?
Jay Slater went missing while on holiday on the island of Tenerife last week. The last known contact the 19-year-old had was during a short phone call to a friend, in which he said he had missed a bus trying to get back to his accommodation and so was attempting to walk instead - ... Show More
19m 57s