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Kanya King

Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir are joined by Kanya King, founder of the MOBO Awards; George the Poet; and Ben Collins, aka the Stig. With Inheritance Tracks from Bonnie Langford.

Presented by Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir.

Kanya King MBE is the founder and CEO of the MOBO Awards, Europe's leading urban music brand, which has played a major role in bringing black music and culture to the mainstream. Now in its 19th year, it reaches in excess of 400 million viewers. Kanya reveals how she started it from a makeshift office in her bedroom, and by re-mortgaging her home.

George The Poet describes his dizzying itinerary from Uganda to the Albert Hall via Stonebridge Park, and King's College Cambridge and performs from his latest work about fatherlessness and premature parenthood.

Ben Collins is better known as "The Stig" from the 麻豆社's internationally acclaimed Top Gear TV show. He discusses how he has coached hundreds of celebrities from Tom Cruise to Lionel Richie and his twenty year career as one of the best drivers in the world - from Le Mans Series racing to NASCAR, piloting the Batmobile and dodging bullets with James Bond.

JP Devlin goes to meet Mike Cobb. As a budding songwriter in the 1970s Mike found himself recording at a studio in Leatherhead. It was located above the local Co-Op dairy. His songs didn't go anywhere but he ended up staying on at the studio as a studio manager for the next 11 years. The Police recorded their album Outlandos D'Amour there and all the while the milk floats whirred in and out. They'd start at 5am when many bands like The Police were in the middle of recording. Milkmen would bump into bleary eyed rock stars. Did the early morning sound of the milk floats inspire some of the great tunes of the 70s and 80s?

Phil Worsley and pupils from The Joseph Whitaker School in Nottingham explain how they are preparing to smash the world speed record for a model car.

Bonnie Langford shares her Inheritance Tracks - Bring Me Sunshine by Morecambe and Wise, and The Overture of Gypsy by Stephen Sondheim and Jule Styne, performed by the National Symphony Orchestra.

And Len Biddlecombe has written 47 poems for his wife Barbara, to mark every year they have spent together. Barbara now has Alzheimer's and lives in a nursing home. Len shares his last poem to her.

The MOBO Awards 2014 - will take place on 22 October at The SSE Arena, Wembley.

George the Poet's new EP is Chicken and Egg. He will be performing at the Scala London on 13 October.

How to Drive - The Ultimate Guide - from the man who was The Stig, by Ben Collins, is published by Macmillan.

Bonnie Langford is appearing in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at the Savoy Theatre in London.

Life of Love by Len Biddlecombe is published in paperback by Blackheath Dawn Ltd.

Available now

1 hour, 28 minutes

Last on

Sat 4 Oct 2014 09:00

The Final Poem: A Life of Love

The time has come to draw a close to the poems I鈥檝e written for you,

Our truly wonderful lifetime of love is very nearly through.

After I wrote the last one I found it hard to understand听

My life received a nasty shock when fate called and took a hand.

You were diagnosed with Alzheimer鈥檚, a disease so cruel and sad

It drove a wedge between our love and all the fun we鈥檇 had.

Well over a thousand words I鈥檝e penned especially for you,

I鈥檇 gladly write a thousand more if you鈥檇 understand a few

But your powers of observation and the precious gift of speech

Both have sadly left you and are now well out of reach.

You鈥檙e living in a silent world with normal feelings gone

And yet you鈥檙e never giving up, you just keep struggling on.

I see you every single day though you鈥檙e in full time care

I cry myself to sleep each night because you鈥檙e never there.

I鈥檓 not looking for your sympathy for me or for my wife

We鈥檝e both been very lucky in a long and happy life,

Some people have no life at all or are cut down in their prime

Victims of an accident or a cruel and hideous crime

So when the curtain closes and the call comes from above

I pray we鈥檒l be together to share another lifetime of true love.

Copyright: Len Biddlecombe.

Studio Photo

George the Poet, Aasmah Mir, Richard Coles, Ben Collins, Kanya King and Emmanuel Stanley.

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Richard Coles
Presenter Aasmah Mir
Interviewed Guest Kanya King
Interviewed Guest George The Poet
Interviewed Guest Ben Collins
Interviewer JP Devlin
Interviewed Guest Mike Cobb
Interviewed Guest Phil Worsley
Interviewed Guest Bonnie Langford
Interviewed Guest Len Biddlecombe

Broadcast

  • Sat 4 Oct 2014 09:00

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