Saturday Morning for Saturday 6 August 2022

8.10 Dr José Esparza: mysterious virus protects against monkeypox

Monkeypox cases continue to rise globally with more than 26,000 now confirmed in at least 75 different countries, including New Zealand. There is however a global shortage of vaccines to combat the outbreak, and currently they are only produced by Denmark-based manufacturer Bavarian Nordic.

The vaccine was originally developed to fight smallpox, as both viruses are part of the orthopoxvirus family. For many years it’s been assumed the vaccine was made from cowpox, but recent research by Baltimore-based vaccinologist Dr José Esparza and a team at the Robert Koch Institute in Germany have found that’s not the case.

 

8.35 Vanessa Braganza: decoding messages left by Catherine of Aragon

Self-described “book detective” and literary scholar at Harvard University, Vanessa Braganza has recently uncovered what she believes to be a long-overlooked example of defiance by the first wife of King Henry VIII.

While studying a pendant design by court painter Hans Holbein, Braganza used a method she describes as “early modern Wordle” to decode a cipher she believes is a sign of the Tudor Queen’s conviction of her own enduring legitimacy.

Braganza posits that the pendant was commissioned by Catherine of Aragon during the period when the King was trying to divorce her to marry Anne Boleyn, with whom he had become infatuated.
 

 

9.05 Patrick Radden Keefe: collecting criminals and con artists for new book Rogues

Award-winning investigative journalist Patrick Radden Keefe paints deeply human portraits of victims and vigilantes alike in his latest page-turner, Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks.

Bringing together a dozen of his articles published in The New Yorker since 2007, Rogues sees Radden Keefe dive into everything from the world of counterfeit wines to Swiss banking to the illegal arms trade.

Radden Keefe’s previous books include Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty and Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland. He also created and hosted the popular podcast Wind of Change.

Patrick Radden Keefe is appearing in conversation from New York with Guyon Espiner as part of the Word Christchurch Festival on 2 September. Head over here for more information.

 

9.40 Nick Holm: how New Zealand comedy embraces being a bit s**t

While New Zealand comedy is often branded as self-deprecating, laconic and deadpan, media studies lecturer Nick Holm says the defining characteristic is that it’s a bit s**t.

However, Holm points out that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Some of our most successful comedy actively embraces its own awfulness: rough edges, questionable content, and disarmingly odd behaviour — from the Number 8 wire stylings of John Clarke and Billy T James, to current day favourites Flight of the Conchords and television show Wellington Paranormal.

Holm is a lecturer at Massey University, and has written on Fred Dagg, meme comedy and deadpan jokes.

He has curated a special collection of clips for NZ On Screen called 'NZ Comedy is Bit S**t… But in a Good Way' which launched this week.

10.05 The complicated legend of Leonard Cohen’s most famous song

Largely ignored following its release on Leonard Cohen’s 1984 album Various Positions, ‘Hallelujah’ took a long, winding road to become a modern day anthem, covered by hundreds of artists around the globe.

The song’s unlikely ascent underpins new documentary Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song, in which directors Dayna Goldfine and Daniel Geller (Ballets Russes, The Galapagos Affair) take a deep-dive into the life and legacy of the late Canadian musician, poet and novelist.

Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song is screening as part of the NZ International Film Festival. Head over here for details.

 

11.05 Lynne O’Donnell & Massoud Hossaini: the fall of Kabul one year on

A year on from the fall of Kabul, Australian reporter Lynne O’Donnell returned to Afghanistan, and now says she’ll never go back. 

O’Donnell returned for three days last month, only to be detained, forced to retract articles, and coerced into making a public apology for accusing the Taliban of sex slavery.

During this harrowing time, she was in close contact with Massoud Hossain, a Kabul-born photojournalist. The pair have worked together in Afghanistan for years, and both are on a Taliban death list. Hossain is currently based in New Zealand, where he has been given asylum.

O’Donnell is a Foreign Policy columnist and was Afghanistan bureau chief for Agence France-Presse (AFP) and the Associated Press between 2009-2017. Hossaini is a Pulitzer prize-winning photojournalist who joined AFP in 2007. In 2021 he won the William Randolph Hearst Award for Excellence in Professional Journalism.
 

 

Books mentioned in this show:

Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks
By Patrick Radden Keefe
Publisher: Doubleday
ISBN: 9780385548519

 

Songs featured on this show:

Hallelujah
By Leonard Cohen
Played at 10.05am

Hallelujah
By Bob Dylan
Played at 10.25am

Hallelujah
By Jeff Buckley
Played at 10.35am

Hallelujah
By KD Lang
Played at 10.50am

100% Endurance (Elton John version)
By Yard Act
Played at 11.50am