The Boland Show Guest List Tuesday 8th June: First up is one of the worlds foremost rock keyboard musicians Rick Wakeman, best know as the keyboard front man in the progressive rock band Yes. He is considered by many to be one of the best rock keyboardists of all time. He is known now for his TV appearances on Grumpy old Men and Countdown as well as his hugely popular Saturday morning radio show on Planet Rock.
Next up is the amazing story of Zoya Phan who was born in the remote jungles of Burma, to the Karen ethnic group. For decades the Karen have been under attack from Burma's military junta. Zoya's mother was a guerrilla soldier, her father a freedom activist. At the age of 14 her childhood was shattered as the Burmese army attacked and with their house in flames, Zoya and her family fled. So began two terrible years of running from guns as she joined thousands of refugees hiding in the jungle. Zoya now lives in London and works for the human rights organization Burma Campaign.
Maurice is looking forward to this one: 'Prince Charles is a 'Fruitcake' who abuses his power by using his birthright to further his own beliefs and causes, a conference has heard. The heir to the throne was also branded an 'old fogey' at a conference of the anti-monarchy group Republic. Charles's complicated psychology and obsessive compulsive tendencies formed much of the discussion headlined ' An activist king?' Graham Smith is from the pressure group Republic which supports a republican constitution in place of the monarchy. Boland loves the Royal family so this should be fun.
And finally: As commercial whaling looks set to start again after 24 years, award winning author Philip Hoare gives a heartfelt plea and says ' if whales could scream, no man could tolerate their slaughter'. The more we learn abut the whales that roam our ocean depths, the more marvelous and complex these creatures are shown to be. Which is what makes it such a travesty that nearly 25 years after we said good bye to commercial whaling, it looks set to start again. Philip is the author of six books, the most recent being ' Leviathan or, The Whale, winner of the 2009 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize. It charts his lifelong obsession with whales
Boland on Tuesday@11am