Conversations

• Encore: Ben Lee, the chutzpah mystic, Bondi rock prodigy, Noise Addict

  Ben Lee was a teen rock prodigy at the age of 14, and began decades of making music, Hollywood fame, and a journey into alternative spirituality. He lived in an Ashram in India, and explored his subconscious through ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic from the Amazon (R).Ben Lee grew up in Bondi in the 1980s when it was a place of bikie gangs, Yiddish-speaking grandmas and tribes of kids living next to one of the world's most beautiful beaches. He was educated at a local Jewish school where he confounded his Rabbi by asking some surprising questions about Moses.Ben was always a seeker, and even as a boy, he also possessed a whole lot of chutzpah.At the age of 14 he saw Nirvana play at the Big Day Out. The next day he started his own band and just two years later Ben was flying to America to support Sonic Youth.After many wild years, Ben emerged with a crucial realisation about his life story.  He is now living back in Australia with his wife Ione and their teenage daughter.This episode of Conversations was produced by Nicola Harrison and the Executive Producer was Carmel Rooney.It explores music, songwriting, drugs, drug taking, ayahuasca, what does ayahuasca feel like, ecstasy, do drugs change your brain, your brain on drugs, your subconscious mind, Claire Danes, how to be famous, what it feels like to be famous, mental health, identity crisis, seasons of life, rock star wife, rock star husband, Evan Dando, Evan Dando drug addiction, Lemonheads, ego, big ego, tall poppy syndrome, catch my disease, gamble everything for love, fame, rock music, singing, Bondi, Noise Addict, Sonic Youth, alternative spirituality, Judaism, Australian music, celebrity, Ione Skye.To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

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• How a ‘heroine of Singapore’ survived jail and torture in WWII

  Historian Tom Trumble tells the story of the cunning World War II Australian sabotage mission known as Operation Jaywick, and how two survivors outsmarted the Imperial Japanese Army police, the Kempeh Tai.Deep in the years of World War II, Australian commandos in the Pacific theatre executed a cunning and quite dastardly plan to sneak up on Japanese warships in the occupied Singapore Harbour.They managed to get away with an incredible operation, but in doing so, triggered intense paranoia and embarrassment for Japan.The Japanese were furious, and were convinced Chinese-Singaporeans were behind this humiliating setback.They enacted a terrifying regime of massacres, arrests and torture.Japanese authorities suspected Elizabeth Choy and Robert Heatlie Scott were involved with the sabotage, and the two paid dearly for that assumption during their time in prison.Further informationSurvival in Singapore: The triumph and tragedy of Australia's greatest commando operation is published by Penguin Random House.This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan, Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. It explores Changi, Changi Prison, smuggling money, the double tenth incident, sook ching massacre, fall of Singapore, WWII, military history, WWII history, fishing vessel, sabotage, commando operation, Australian commandos, Ivan Lyon, SOE, Special Operations Executive, revenge, Sumida Haruzo and spies.To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

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• How a heroine of Singapore survived jail and torture in WWII

  Historian Tom Trumble tells the story of the cunning World War II Australian sabotage mission known as Operation Jaywick, and how two survivors outsmarted the Imperial Japanese Army police, the Kempeh Tai.Deep in the years of World War II, Australian commandos in the Pacific theatre executed a cunning plan to sneak up on Japanese warships in the occupied Singapore Harbour.They managed to get away with an incredible operation, but in doing so, triggered intense paranoia and embarrassment for Japan.The Japanese were furious, and were convinced Chinese-Singaporeans were behind this humiliating setback.They enacted a terrifying regime of massacres, arrests and torture.Japanese authorities suspected Elizabeth Choy and Robert Heatlie Scott were involved with the sabotage, and the two paid dearly for that assumption during their time in prison.Further informationSurvival in Singapore: The triumph and tragedy of Australia's greatest commando operation is published by Penguin Random House.This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan, Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. It explores Changi, Changi Prison, smuggling money, the double tenth incident, sook ching massacre, fall of Singapore, WWII, military history, WWII history, fishing vessel, sabotage, commando operation, Australian commandos, Ivan Lyon, SOE, Special Operations Executive, revenge, Sumida Haruzo and spies.To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

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• The unlikely outback publican of the 'Taj Mahal of the Warrego’

  Fran Harding was a stay-at-home mother of eight children when her pharmacist husband came home one night with the news that the family were moving to Charleville in Western Queensland to run a pub.Gordan had spontaneously leased a pub, and Fran was to be its new publican.So, with their kids in tow (including a little baby), they set off.Fran set up her sewing machine behind the bar and did her best to work out how to pull beers, understand what the locals were saying and keep tabs on her brood.Then Fran’s husband fell in love with the pub across the street – the once grand hotel, The Corones.The Harding family moved in, learning about its history as ‘The Taj Mahal of the Warrego’ and doing their best to return the pub to its former glory.Fran has published two books about her life and about the Corones Hotel, called The Accidental Australians and The Accidental Publican.This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.It explores Australian history, stories, outback, the bush, Queensland, Quilpie, Migration, Great Australians, 1990 flood, recovering after natural disasters, social history, outback characters, hospitality, running a business, big families, motherhood, historic hotels, writing, books, memoir, Greek-Australians, small town Australia, working mothers, how to run a pub, renovating historic buildings, Harry Corones, Kythira, Poppa, Greece, Mediterranean Islands, Greek Orthodox, Greek diaspora, Australian pioneers.To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

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• Journeying to the Hadal Zone in a two-man submarine

  Dr Todd Bond is marine ecologist who goes where very few humans have ever been: the underworld, or the deep ocean. There, he studies the strange, scary and often cute creatures who call the deepest parts of our oceans home.This part of the ocean starts at 6000 metres deep, and is known as the 'Hadal Zone'.Todd travels there in a small titanium submersible, not much bigger than his own 6'4'' frame.Waiting there for Todd, in the inky darkness, is mysterious and magic, and is still largely unexplored by humans.And when he can't get there himself, Todd sends cameras down to poke around these trenches and caverns.Dr Todd Bond is the Deputy Director of the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre at The University of Western Australia. You can read more about what the centre does online.This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.It explores fish, marine biology, marine science, Twiggy Forrest, deep sea, space, exploration, human curiosity, why fish matter, bio-medicine, submarines, OceanGate, Titan submersible implosion, James Cameron, Anglar Fish, snail fish, UWA, university, PhD, doctorate, how to study fish, why we study fish, Mariana Trench, Christmas Island, Java Trench, puffer fish, Antarctica, marine park, conservation, off-shore mining, manganese mining, deep sea mining, ethical science.To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

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