Today’s guest was Bristol writer Mike Manson. Mike has written a number of non-fiction books about Bristol, including Riot! The Bristol Bridge Massacre of 1793 ;   Bristol Beyond the Bridge: The Turbulent Story of Redcliffe, Temple and St Thomas from the Middle Ages to Today , and most recently Vice and Virtue: Discovering the Story of Old Market, Bristol . It was while researching Bristol’s history that Mike realised he wanted to take the stories further, and that to do so he needed to write fiction. His first novel, Where’s My Money , is set around Bristol’s Nelson Street dole office in the 1970s. It was one of the books selected for the BBC television programme The Books That Made Britain . Mike’s second novel is Rules of the Road , a quirky coming of age tale set in 1975 about two young men’s journey across Europe to Greece looking for love and adventure. The book looks back to the days before Rough Guides, and to research it Mike and his wife travelled from Mon...

The closure of Holloway Prison in July 2016 prompted many people to remember some of the women imprisoned there since it opened in 1852, amongst them militant suffragettes. Some of the most well known were Women’s Social and Political Union leaders Emmeline Pankhurst and Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence; Ethel Smyth, who composed the suffragette anthem, The March of the Women ; and Emily Wilding Davison, who died after running in front of the King’s horse at the 1913 Derby. Many of these women went on hunger strike in support of their claim for political prisoner status, and were forcibly fed. Although the hunger strike was the most extreme, there were many other ways in which suffragette prisoners could defy the prison regime. They talked in spite of the silence rules; sang suffragette songs; and refused to do the work, such as making men’s shirts, allotted to them. And like prisoners before and since, they scrawled messages on the prison walls. Discovering graffiti by a...

Today’s guest was Bristol artist Jenny Urquhart. Jenny creates contemporary, vibrant paintings of her favourite places, working with acrylic, ink, collage, computer-based graphics, and photography. She is best known for her paintings of Bristol scenes with balloons. Her paintings also feature scenes from Devon, Cornwall and North Wales. One of Jenny’s favourite Bristol subjects is the Bristol Suspension Bridge. If you are travelling through Temple Meads any time soon you will see some of her work, and that of other Bristol artists, on display in the station. Jenny taught biology for ten years before switching careers and painting full time. In 2015 she painted two Shaun the Sheeps for the 2015 Shaun in the City campaign to raise money for sick children. Her Shauns are Lambmark Larry, which was displayed in London Paddington Railway Station, and Baalloon, which was displayed in Bristol. Jenny has recently published a Bristol colouring book featuring some of her best-lov...