Midweek: Diverse Conversation

Libby Purves meets cabaret performer Eve Ferret, World War Two Hurricane pilot Eric Carter, director and playwright Ray Cooney and photographer Cambridge Jones.

Libby Purves meets ventriloquist Steve Hewlett; mountaineer Jamie Andrew; singer/songwriter Ayo and former sheep farmer turned barrister Philip Walling.

Libby Purves meets Gary Morecambe, son of Eric; novelist Rebecca Gowers; filmmaker Sara Ishaq and photographer and musician Mike McCartney.

Libby Purves meets language enthusiast Benny Lewis; literary critic Professor John Carey; flamenco guitarist Eduardo Niebla and comedian Lynn Ruth Miller.

Libby Purves meets Merry 'Corky' White who is a professor of anthropology, a writer and cook. Her book Cooking for Crowds is published by Princeton University Press; Cassidy Little is a former Royal Marine turned actor who plays the title role in The Two Worlds of Charlie F; Emma Bridgewater is a pottery designer and her book Toast and Marmalade and Other Stories is just published and finally Sam Etherington is a young engineer who has just joined Britain's engineering Hall of Fame with his wave powered generator.

Libby Purves meets Dr Amy Lehman, founder of The Lake Tanganyika Floating Health Clinic; legendary soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa; writer Alex Shearer and champion jockey turned photographer Richard Dunwoody MBE.

Libby Purves meets educationalist Sacha Corcoran; film fans Austin and Howard Mutti-Mewse; writer Gideon Lewis-Kraus and auctioneer David Probert.

Libby Purves meets plant hunter Tom Mitchell; psychologist Dr Akiko Mikamo; Martin White, professor of theatre at the University of Bristol and comedian Arthur Smith.

Libby Purves meets primatologist Ben Garrod; Australian Aboriginal actor Jack Charles; musician Clare Salaman and photographer Colin Jones.

Libby Purves meets rollercoaster designer John Wardley, novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford, comedian Marc Lucero and former showgirl and actor Mandy Rice-Davies.

Libby Purvis talks to Dan Hurley is a science journalist. His new book Smarter: The New Science of Building Brain Power is published by Viking;Steven Isserlis is the renowned cellist, writer and teacher who performs with orchestras around the world. Steven and his sisters have released Julius Isserlis: Piano Music featuring newly discovered work by their Russian Jewish grandfather - pianist and composer Julius Isserlis. Julius Isserlis: Piano Music is on Hyperion Records:Sally Magnusson is a journalist, broadcaster and writer.In her new book she writes about her mother Mamie’s battle with dementia. Where Memories Go: Why Dementia Changes Everything is published by Two Roads and finally Tommy Hanover is a registrar at Westminster Register Office. Births, Deaths and Marriages is Broadcast on ITV.

Robert Powell is an actor who is known for his TV and film appearances in projects ranging from Doomwatch to Holby City. This year he plays Agatha Christie’s Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in a new production of Black Coffee, her first play. Mike Rutherford is a musician and songwriter. He is a founding member of rock band Genesis. He formed his band Mike + The Mechanics in 1985. In his memoir, The Living Years, Mike writes about his career in music and his relationship with his late father. Catherine Weate is a voice and dialect coach who has trained students and actors around the world. She has just launched the Real Accent App with her business partner Gavin Howard. Harry Shearer is an actor, comedian, author and musician. He is best known as the voice of Mr Burns in the Simpsons . In his latest project he reprises his role as former US President Richard Nixon for TV series Nixon's The One. Nixon's The One is broadcast on Sky Arts 1.

Libby Purves speaks to gallery owner and art dealer Philip Mould; fly fisherwoman Lilla Rowcliffe who caught her first fish in her fifties; Labour MP for Neath and former Cabinet minister Peter Hain who has written a book about his freedom fighter parents Ad and Wal and the writer and daughter of Lucian Freud Susie Boyt who has written a musical about Judy Garland for the Nottingham Playhouse Theatre Company.

Libby Purves with pantomine guests Clive Rowe, Jo Brand, Henry Winkler and Richard Mawbey.

Libby Purves meets crossword compiler John Halpern, historian and travel writer John Julius Norwich, journalist Mary Kenny and actor Imogen Stubbs.