

BBC Radio 4’s Jane Garvey has travelled extensively, albeit under duress. She went backpacking as far as Belgium, didn’t have a great time reporting from the Olympics in Atlanta and really doesn’t fancy going anywhere exotic like India. She does however have some brilliant stories to tell about her surprisingly extensive – taking in Ghana, South Africa, seeing her beloved Liverpool play in Istanbul and plenty of Greece. A lively and entertaining conversation with one of the UK’s best broadcasters.
On this episode we cover
How she hates travel
But has enjoyed some of it!
The joys of coming home
Her work on Woman’s Hour
Her podcast for BBC Radio 4, Fortunately, with Fi Glover
Why people want to hear women talking like they do in real life
‘A continuation of woman’s hour three quarters of the way down a bottle of Prosecco)
Liverpool in the 1960s
The cautious, unofficial Garvey family motto
Not going to the Cavern or hanging around with the Beatles
Paul McCartney and James Corden
Lipa performing arts and studios
Travelling all the way from Liverpool to Birmingham
How Birmingham has changed – New Street Station, the Bullring shopping centre
Birmingham QU hospital and NHS trust
More canals in Birmingham than the whole of Venice!
Not having fun at the Olympics in Atlanta
Atlanta’s International House of Pancakes (IHOP)
Presenting for BBC 5Live in the middle of the night
How Atlanta felt very segregated and was run by Coca Cola
Enjoying the Athens Olympics
Her recent trip to Greece
The Mediterranean quality of life
Watching the Greek locals early in the morning
Greek Tavernas and having enough beans
Comic Relief trips to Ghana, Africa
Visiting townships in Durban to raise HIV awareness
Cape Town and the Cape Flats
Cape Town’s injustices and gilded cages
British class divides and our reluctance to talk about them
Being part of the ‘liberal establishment’
Growing up in a lower middle class home
Getting a government grant to private school
Not having a Scouse accent
Veering between Northern tones and Southern
How surviving the Southall train crash changed her attitude to travel
The trauma of having to report on the crash
How trauma can impact peoples lives
How the memories come flooding back
Not enjoying flying
Her teenage children
Different health and safety levels abroad
Not wanting to go to India
How witnessing poverty abroad affects travellers
The complex emotions of visiting war sites and similar
The Anthony Gormley sculptures at Crosby Beach
Lancashire’s golf courses
Her typical Liverpool/Irish family
How Irish immigrants were negatively received in Liverpool
How immigration is in all our families
Liverpool and the slave trade
Loving Gower in Wales
The vibrancy and grit of Glasgow and Glaswegians
Being a big Liverpool fan
The FA Cup final in Wembley where Liverpool lost to Manchester United
DNA tests
How Liverpool can bring out the emotional
The moving sound of The Kop singing You’ll Never Walk Along
How the young people left Liverpool
Her failed backpacking experience (ending in Belgium)
Interrailing to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam
Her daughter’s plans for backpacking
The perils of wheelie suitcases on cobbled streets
Budapest, Hungary and Croatia
Loud-sounding Croatians
Belgian chips, mayonnaise and beer
Elton John’s In Belgium
Geographical playlists
The emotion of pulling into Liverpool Lime Street
The perils of changing train platforms
Is Lime Street lime (note: we never confirmed whether it was or not so if you can tell us let us know)..?