Today’s guest was Bristol-based wildlife film producer Dan Freeman. Dan has produced over thirty wildlife documentaries and has written five books and numerous articles. His recent book, Mangroves and Man Eaters and Other Wildlife Encounters , is a fascinating account of some of his adventures – some funny, some sad, some frankly terrifying. From meeting the original James Bond to wading in with piranhas to getting to know the blackbirds in his own garden, Dan has some amazing stories to tell. His book also gives an insight into the work of wildlife film makers, and is a reminder that we depend on wild habitats as much as the animals who live in them. If you’re interested in filming or photographing wildlife, why not go along to the Bristol Wildscreen Festival? The Festival runs from 10 to 14 October. For details of events and bookings visit the Wildscreen Festival website. Also this month is Bristol Festival of Literature from 20 to 29 October. See the Bristol Festival of...

  Today’s guest was crime thriller writer A A Abbott, known as Helen. Helen writes pacy thrillers inspired by the corporate world in which she works as an accountant. Her books are set in Birmingham, where she lived for many years before moving to Bristol, and also shift to more exotic locations such as Amsterdam, Paris and Shanghai. She has published four novels: The Bride’s Trail and its sequel, the recently published The Vodka Trail ; After the Interview ; and Up in Smoke . She has also written numerous short stories, some with a supernatural twist – and she’s even giving away a collection of short stories to anyone who signs up for her newsletter on her website Helen is also a member of the Bristol Fiction Writers Group, who have published a collection of horror stories, and have just published a crime story collection. You can hear Helen and other members of the group reading from their stories in an event that is part of the Bristol Festival of Literature on 28 Oct...

I’ve always been interested in the way history reflects the age in which it is written. I recently came across a striking example of this in M R Brailsford’s book Quaker Women 1650-1690 , which was published in 1915. When I started reading the book I didn’t know who M R Brailsford was, but it wasn’t long before I realised that her book was profoundly influenced by the stirring events of the women’s suffrage campaign in the years before the First World War. For example, Brailsford expresses “a reluctant sympathy” for preachers confronted by women like Elizabeth Hooton who spoke out in church. Brailsford wrote that a preacher’s meetings, like those of “Cabinet Ministers of later date, were subject to interruption without warning, and his most eloquent discourses broken at any moment by the sudden shouting of home truths from a member of his congregation”. Heckling government ministers was one of the tactics used by the militant Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) from the st...