logo
episode-header-image
Jul 2019
37m 49s

Sue Biggs, DG Royal Horticultural Societ...

Bbc Radio 4
About this episode

Sue Biggs is the Director General of the Royal Horticultural Society.

She’s been at the helm of the RHS since 2010 and during that time, its membership has grown to more than half a million people. The RHS is also renowned for its spectacular flower shows and garden festivals around the country, including Chelsea, Hampton Court, Chatsworth House and Tatton Park. Sue has had a lifelong love of gardening since her mum gave her a packet of seeds on her seventh birthday.

She has enjoyed two very successful careers. Before her tenure at the RHS, she worked in the travel industry for 25 years, identifying new destinations for holidaymakers. She was the first woman to be appointed to the board of Kuoni Travel.

In her current role, she strongly believes that horticultural work and expertise do not receive the wider respect they deserve. She was made a CBE in 2017 for her services to the environment and ornamental horticulture industries.

BOOK CHOICE: The Book of Joy LUXURY ITEM: A bed CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams

Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Sarah Taylor

Up next
Yesterday
Adele on her first record deal
The singer Adele was cast away by Lauren Laverne in 2022.In 2008, she released her debut album, 19, and the following year she won the first of many Grammys. Her next three albums, 21, 25 and 30, consolidated her superstar status.She told Lauren about the day she signed her first ... Show More
2m 19s
Oct 9
Professor Sue Black on the mysteries of the human body
In 2015, the forensic anthropologist, Professor Dame Sue Black, was cast away by Kirsty Young.Brought up on the west coast of Scotland and in Inverness, she fell in love with biology at secondary school and read Human Anatomy at the University of Aberdeen. After graduation, she w ... Show More
3m 27s
Oct 8
Lemn Sissay on his foster family
The poet Lemm Sissay was cast away by Kirsty Young in 2015.As a poet, writer and playwright, much of his work tells the story of his search for his birth parents. Born to a young Ethiopian woman who wanted him temporarily looked after while she completed her studies, he was with ... Show More
3m 48s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2022
Writer Dolly Alderton. Sue Biggs CBE on moving on from her role as the RHS's DG.
Can platonic love survive romantic love as we grow up? Emma Barnett talks to to the writer Dolly Alderton about her new BBC TV series, an adaptation of her 2018 memoir ‘Everything I Know About Love’, A round-up of the weekends events for the Queen's platinum jubilee from Roya Nik ... Show More
57m 26s
Mar 2024
Gail Simmons: Food Writer, Culinary Multi-Hyphenate, and Top Chef Judge
Gail Simmons is the ultimate culinary multi-hyphenate. Though she’s perhaps best known for her 21-season tenure as judge on the competition reality show Top Chef, which debuts its latest season on March 20, she’s also made a lasting impact on so many other areas of food media. Si ... Show More
58m 52s
Sep 2021
Michaela Coel, Lockdown in paradise, Female HGV drivers, Tribunal win
In 2015, Michaela Coel’s Channel 4 series "Chewing Gum", adapted from a one-woman play she wrote while in drama school, about an awkward virgin became an instant hit. She's an established screenwriter, director, producer and actor and now well know for shows like "I May Destroy Y ... Show More
57m 34s
Dec 2021
Weekend Woman's Hour: Tamsin Greig, bell hooks, Grandparents and childcare
Actor Tamsin Greig on starring as the formidable theatrical agent Peggy Ramsay in the revival of ‘Peggy For You’, at the Hampstead Theatre. She also talks about her role in “wild” hospital comedy Green Wing, playing Debbie in The Archers since 1991, and Friday Night Dinner.Journa ... Show More
57m 40s
May 2019
Stanley Spencer, Domestic Servants, Surrogacy
Author Nicola Upson has imagined the life of Stanley Spencer from the viewpoint of his maidservant. Ella Parry-Davies researches the lives of women from the Philippines who work as domestic and care workers. The novel The Farm by Joanne Ramos imagines a surrogacy service provided ... Show More
42m 40s
Feb 2023
Happy Valley & kinship care; Conditions at Eastwood Park women's prison, Declining birthrates in China & Japan, Beyonce
A new report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons on conditions at Eastwood Park women’s prison has been released today. We speak to Sandra Fieldhouse, lead for women’s prisons at HMI Prisons about the findings. The TV drama Happy Valley has captured the public’s imagination with the fi ... Show More
55m 53s
May 2022
Weekend Woman's Hour: Amara Okereke as Eliza Doolittle, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Sean O'Neill on his late daughter's ME
Part of our exclusive Woman’s Hour interview with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. She reveals the full story of her imprisonment in Iran to Emma Barnett. Nazanin explains how she survived solitary confinement, how the love of her daughter kept her alive.Anita Rani speaks to documentar ... Show More
56m 57s
Aug 2023
Welsh Fleabag, Social media and comedy in Edinburgh; Moon Palace in Leeds
A new Welsh version of the comedy hit Fleabag is about to premiere at the National Eisteddfod in Boduan. Branwen Davies’ adaptation of the one-woman show for Theatr Clywd has been given the thumb’s up by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who wrote and starred in the original version ten year ... Show More
42m 20s
Nov 2021
Maids to the rich and famous
Rich families around the world employ butlers and maids to look after their expensive properties. These houseworkers have access to every aspect of their employers’ lives: they get to know their habits and their deepest secrets. Kim Chakanetsa talks to two former maids who worked ... Show More
27m 9s
Nov 2021
Jimmy Carr
Jimmy Carr joins Richard Coles and Nikki Bedi. After deciding to pursue a comedy career in his mid-twenties Jimmy has now toured the world as a stand up and is a household name thanks to programmes such as Channel 4’s 8 out of 10 Cats. Jimmy talks about the power of laughter and ... Show More
1h 23m