Saturday Morning for Saturday 30 July 2022

8.10 Dov Forman: teen shares great-grandmother’s Holocaust survival story

In early 2021, during the Covid lockdowns, teenager Dov Forman started posting videos to social media with his great-grandmother Lily Ebert, a Holocaust survivor. 

Now 98 years old, Ebert quickly became a sensation on Twitter and Tiktok with her honest and frank accounts from the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp — as well as sharing her unbridled enthusiasm for life. The pair’s Tiktok account now has close to two  million followers.

Forman and Ebert co-authored the new book Lily’s Promise: How I Survived Auschwitz and Found the Strength to Live.

 

8.35 Lisa Friedman: deal could see the US's most ambitious climate action ever undertaken

What's been hailed as the largest climate change bill in the United States and indeed the world could soon be passed.  The surprise agreement, which Senate Democrats announced late Wednesday and hope to pass as early as next week, has shocked many. The announcement of a deal - after many activists had given up hope - commentators say, has almost instantly reset the role of the United States in the global effort to fight climate change.

Lisa Friedman is a reporter on the New York Times climate desk, focusing on climate and environmental policy in Washington. She previously worked for Climatewire where she led a team of 12 reporters focused on the business and politics of the changing climate.

 

9.05 Prof James Belich: how the Black Death led to the rise of Europe

Historian James Belich is well known for his trailblazing work on the New Zealand Wars and New Zealand history, but more recently his interests have broadened to include Europe’s expansion in the late medieval and early modern eras. 

Belich’s latest book The World the Plague Made explores how the Black Death of the 14th century not only halved populations but also helped bring about Europe’s rise. Labour scarcity drove new technologies and disposable incomes grew, writes Belich, bringing renewal and revolutionary change which ushered in the modern age.  

Since 2013 Belich has been Beit Professor of Imperial and Commonwealth History at Oxford University in the UK. He is cofounder of the Oxford Centre for Global History.

 

10.05 Sir Anthony Seldon: what’s next for 10 Downing Street?

Boris Johnson’s resignation as British Prime Minister earlier this month was “publicly humiliating and a bloody an end as any in the 300 year history of the office”, says Sir Anthony Seldon, the UK’s preeminent political author and contemporary historian.

Sir Anthony has written biographies on past Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, and David Cameron - and has one on Boris Johnson on the way, entitled Johnson at 10.

Sir Anthony’s most recent book is The Impossible Office? The History of the British Prime Minister. He is also the founder of the charity Action for Happiness.

 

10.35 Catherine Martin: creating costumes that capture the Elvis wiggle

From pink and black 1950s suits to bejeweled Vegas jumpsuits, the new Elvis biopic directed by Baz Luhrmann runs the gamut of groundbreaking outfits worn by the King. The costumes were created by Oscar-winning designer Catherine Martin, who is Luhrmann’s wife and chief collaborator. She has created costumes for Strictly Ballroom, The Great Gadsby, Moulin Rouge and more.

Martin undertook a huge amount of research for Elvis, reading every book about the singer and looking at every image she could get her hands on. But, she says, the key to success was conveying how Presley’s clothes connected with his body, especially to depict his highly controversial “wiggle”.
 

 

11.05 Fa'amoana John Luafutu: the story of a boy called Piano

In the touching new documentary A Boy Called Piano, playwright and musician Fa’amoana John Luafutu shares his story of coming to New Zealand from Samoa as a child in the 1950s, only to be taken from his family and made a state ward at age 12.

 Directed by Nina Nawalowalo, the film sees Luafutu embrace his voice as a storyteller and trace his journey through state care, gang membership and prison — and examine the way these experiences rippled through to his children.

A Boy Called Piano is screening as part of the NZ International Film Festival. Head over here for more information.

 

11.35 Hilary Hahn: the violin virtuoso pushing musical boundaries

Considered one of the world’s great violinists, American Hilary Hahn is a three-time Grammy Award winner passionate about making classical music more accessible. 

A staunch advocate for contemporary classical music, the 47-year-old showcases her artform through community concerts, social media projects, and cross-genre collaborations. On her 2013 album 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores, a collection of diverse miniatures that she commissioned from composers from around the globe, Hahn included a piece by New Zealand’s own Dame Gillian Whitehead entitled 'Tōrua'.

Hahn will be in New Zealand 4-7 August to perform three major works for violin by Brahms, Prokofiev and Chausson with the NZSO in Wellington and Auckland. She last performed with the orchestra on their 2010 European tour. 

 

 

 

 

Books mentioned in this show:

Lily's Promise: How I Survived Auschwitz and Found the Strength to Live
By Lily Ebert and Dov Forman
Publisher: Pan MacMillan
ISBN: 9781529073447

The World the Plague Made
By James Belich
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691215662

Galapagos Crusoes
by Bryan Nelson and June Nelson
Publisher: Bradt
ISBN: 9781784778859

 

Music featured on this show:

Plastic off the sofa
Beyonce
Played at 8.55am

O Cieco Mondo  
Huelgas Ensemble
Played at 9.55am

Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major
Hilary Hahn
Played at 11.35am

Torua
Hilary Hahn
Played at 11.50am