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Performing Arts Professor Green Professor Green ​ Stephen Paul Manderson (born 27 November 1983), better known by his stage name Professor Green or simply Pro Green, is a British rapper, songwriter and television personality from London. Growing up on a council estate in east London, Stephen was raised by his grandmother, great-grandmother and uncles. Green went on to become a multi-platinum artist, with 3.5 million combined sales in the UK. He is the former co-host of Lip Sync Battle UK on Channel 5. His autobiography featured on the Times bestseller list, and he is the patron of the suicide prevention charity Calm. External Website

Radio & Podcast Maya Angelou (radio) World Book Club 2014 Maya Angelou reflects on some of her earliest and most difficult memories and talks about her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in this special commemorative edition of World Book Club from the archive. External Website

Authors C The Mousetrap ➝ Back to Top

Radio & Podcast JRR Tolkien's religious legacy God Forbid 2023 In this discussion, it's the influence of JRR Tolkien's religious convictions that are under discussion. Tolkien was a devout Catholic and a ward of a priest when he was a child..The Lord of the Kings is embedded throughout with Christian symbolism. However, this is much pagan symbolism in his work as well. External Website

Poets Mikhail Lermontov Mikhail Lermontov ​ Russian poet Mikhail Lermontov (1814-1841) grew up in the kinship care of his grandmother. Lermontov's mother died when he was only 3. His maternal grandmother, Yelizaveta Arsenyeva, came to an agreement with the boy's father that Mikhail live with her until he was 16. He saw little of his father while living with his grandmother who provided well for her (often ill) grandson. Mikhail Lermontov began writing poetry while at Moscow University. Lermontov was only 26 years of age when he died. At the time he'd had published only one collection of poetry but 3 volumes were published posthumously. The town of Lermontov is named after him. External Website

Radio & Podcast Discovering you are not who you thought you were ABC God Forbid ​ What happens when you find out new knowledge about yourself via DNA and other means? This is the question posed to 2 adoptees in this podcast, Vietnamese born and Australian raised Lynelle Long and Marlene Sciclune, whose heritage is Australian First Nations and Maltese. External Website

Films/Videos Taking Hold of Our Heritage (film) ​ 2020 This project wants to give the power back to the care experienced young person so they can tell the stories they want heard about their lives. This heritage project will work with young people to investigate the complex nature of the identity of care leavers, producing an archive of artefacts including oral histories, photography and photovoice. The young people will investigate the memories and experiences of Leicestershire’s leaving care community, by looking at themselves, but also visiting and interviewing and documenting care experience young people. External Website

Poetry The Adoption Papers Jackie Kay 1991 Forward Prize for Best First Collection. Jackie Kay tells the story of a black girl's adoption by a white Scottish couple from three different viewpoints: the mother, the birth mother and the daughter. This unique and honest volumeof poems has been adapted for radio. Also included in thebook are new poems reflecting issues of sexuality, Scottishness and being working-class. External Website

Radio & Podcast Sherlock Holmes The Rest is History 2021 In this episode, historians Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss the enduring influence of the character created by Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock Holmes has remained a popular literary character for more than a century and has influenced the detective genre considerably. External Website

Radio & Podcast How Brendan Watkins claimed his birthright Conversations (Brendan Watkins) 2023 In this episode of Conversations, Brendan Watkins talks about his discovery that his birth mother was a nun and his birth father was a priest. Brendan was 8 when he was told his was adopted (he grew up in Melbourne) – which made sense for him of why no one in his family looked alike. In his 20s, Brendan began seeking out his birth parents. He was surprised to find out that his birth mother was 27 when she ‘gave him up’. It took until 2018 before Brendan found out – via a DNA test – that he was “the son of a celebrated missionary priest.” External Website

News - broadcast, print, internet, magazine articles The Show Must Go On: On Billie Holiday's Last Live Performance Literary Hub (Billie Holliday) 2024 In this moving article Paul Alexander talks about the last months of Billie Holliday’s life. He includes the final formal interview she gave to a journalist, to Mary Sampas—not that Billie Holliday knew at the time it would be her last. External Website

Radio & Podcast The 31: Ukraine's stolen children Slow News (2) 2023 On 17 March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Blova, Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights. The allegations are that the pair are responsible for the “unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation…at least from 24 February 2022.” In this disturbing podcast, we hear about a Ukrainian man, now living in Latvia, whose 3 children were stolen. They were 3 in a group of 31 Ukrainian children who were snatched from Mariupol and taken to Russia. https://shows.acast.com/the-tortoise-podcast/episodes/the-31-ukraines-stolen-children External Website

Films/Videos The Grinch ​ 2000 Jim Carrey is The Grinch (2000) - a Christmas-hating Grinch who wants everyone as miserable at Christmas as he is. (As a baby, Grinch was adopted by two elderly sisters.) With Christmas approaching, a bungled attempt by the Grinch to ruin a tree-lighting ceremony results in him having a flashback about his disjointed childhood spent alone and unwanted in an orphanage. The Grinch soon decides that he will steal Christmas from Whoville to assuage his distress. He learns the true meaning of Christmas through the loving Whos in Whoville. External Website

Radio & Podcast ‎John Lennon - Part 1: Composer of Longing on Apple Podcasts Personology ​ ‎Show Personology, Ep John Lennon - Part 1: Composer of Longing - Apr 20, 2020 External Website

Radio & Podcast Loco Parentis Podcast Twayna Mayne ​ Loco Parentis Podcast is a fostering and adoption podcast featuring former cared for children and adoptees hosted by Twayna Mayne. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience The Girl in the Spider's Web (novel) David Lagercrantz 2015 The Girl in the Spider's Web is the 4th novel in the Millennium series (the 1st 3 were written by Stieg Larsson). It uses the characters of hacker Lisbeth Salander and journalist Mikael Blomkvist. The book was written in secrecy by David Lagercrantz who worked on a computer that didn't have an internet connection. Larsson's estate is controlled by Larsson's brother and father who hired Lagercrantz. In the novel, Lisbeth Salander becomes entangled with the Spider Society which is run by Lisbeth's sister, Camilla, who has taken over the criminal operation run by the girls' father. Lagercrantz has gone on to write 2 more books in the series - The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye (2017) and The Girl Who Lived Twice (2019). External Website

Radio & Podcast Darcey & Chloe - How the system failed to save two baby girls Background Briefing (3) ​ In this 2-part series (originally aired February 2023), we hear the distressing story of 2 tiny girls – Darcey (2) and Chloe (1) —who died, in part because of the failure of the Queensland, Australia Department of Child Safety to heed ‘red flags’. Darcey and Chloe died after they were left in a car for 9 hours by their mother who is now serving a prison sentence for manslaughter. The ABC’s Background Briefing podcast revealed that there were repeated warnings to the Department, including by Darcey’s father, in the weeks prior to the children’s deaths. Darcey had already been in foster care for a time, and was returned to mother with a “safety plan” in place. However, when alarms were later raised by the father, the Department decided they were the result of a custody dispute and therefore took no action. External Website

Authors O Every childhood lasts a lifetime: personal stories from the frontline of family breakdown ➝ Back to Top

Radio & Podcast Alone with J.S. Bach The History Listen 2021 German composer, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was in kinship care for 5 years after being orphaned at age 10. He and his older brother, Jacob, were sent to live with their older brother who had recently married. In this podcast, 6 violinists talk about their experience with Bach's music. External Website

Performing Arts Ray Charles Ray Charles ​ Ray Charles Robinson (1930 – J2004) was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and composer. Among friends and fellow musicians he preferred being called "Brother Ray." He was often referred to as "The Genius." Charles was blinded during childhood due to glaucoma. Ray's mother, Aretha Robinson, found a local school to accept him; he then attended a special school in Floriday from 1937-1945. After his mother died when Ray was 14, the boy moved to Jacksonville to with a friend of his mother's. He played piano in bands and gained a reputation as a talented musician. In 1947, Charles moved to Tampa and then on to Seattle, Washington where he formed his own band. He pioneered the soul music genre and received numerous awards, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987. External Website