Breaker Morant

With special guest:

• Peter FitzSimons
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

“Shoot straight you bastards! Don’t make a mess of it.” These are the last words of Breaker Morant as he sat on a chair looking at the firing squad about to kill him.

These words are well known in Australia as one of the few relics from the first time troops from the Australian continent went into the battlefield in the Boer War. But after reading Peter FitzSimons’ new book titled Breaker Morant the inescapable conclusion is that there are a lot of unknowns in the story of the Breaker. Many of the things we thought we knew are actually fictions usually started by the Breaker himself.

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Foreskin Revolution

With special guest:

• Michael Winnel
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Most people are surprised when this topic is raised. Is circumcision still being practised in Australia outside strict religious groups?

The answer is unfortunately yes. And Medicare will still pay benefits for the procedure unlike for example Great Britain where the National Health stopped subsidising male circumcision in the 1940’s.

The percentage of young boys who suffer this mutilation in Australia is down to about 10% but that still adds up to a lot of boys going under a knife with no anaesthetic for dubious reasons.

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Heroes Next Door

With special guest:

• Samuel Johnson
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Samuel Johnson is well known to Australian television audiences. He has won the Gold Logie for his performance in the miniseries Molly.

But to others in the Australian community he is the hero who has raised over $10 million for cancer research. In that connection Samuel rode his unicycle around Australia in a fund raising effort and in the process of cycling 15,000 kilometres broke a world record. Clearly this man knows a hero when he sees one.

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Remembrance Day 2020

With special guest:

• Dr Will Davies
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

In a very unusual year for commemorations of any sort we have the opportunity to speak with historian Dr Will Davies on the 102^nd anniversary of peace being declared at the end of the First World War.

Will is always great to speak to because he knows the human side of that conflict and tells the real stories behind the history to bring it alive.

We start by going back to March 1918 when the outcome of the war was far from certain. The Germans had launched a spring offensive which they hoped would lead to victory. However the Allied forces prevailed and a big part of that was the heroic action taken by the Australian diggers. Any Australian visitor to the battlefields of France even today will still feel the gratitude of the French people for having the Australians on their side.

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