Jenni Murray on hosting the Saga podcast
Journalist and broadcaster Dame Jenni Murray on what she really thinks of Woman's Hour and her joy at getting back behind the mic for the Saga podcast.
Journalist and broadcaster Dame Jenni Murray on what she really thinks of Woman's Hour and her joy at getting back behind the mic for the Saga podcast.
"I love interviewing people," says Dame Jenni Murray. "I’ve done it for so long, but then experience is everything!" Those last three words also happen to be the name of Saga’s new podcast, presented by Jenni – one of the finest interviewers in the history of radio.
"I’ve really enjoyed going back into the studio again," she says, happy to be hosting Experience is Everything five years after leaving the BBC in a dispute over what she could and could not say.
Jenni had presented Newsnight and the Today programme before presiding over Woman’s Hour on Radio 4 for 33 years, helping turn a cosy daily chat into a wide-ranging, sometimes joyful, often hard-hitting and agenda-setting exploration of life.
"I am really proud of what we achieved," she says, remembering how a probing interview with the current Prime Minister could be followed by a careful, tender discussion about the menopause or some other subject that was previously taboo.
"Woman’s Hour was wonderful because we spoke to such a huge range of people. Sometimes it was politics, but sometimes you were helping them tell difficult, personal stories or share exciting things they were doing. And that’s kind of where we are with the new podcast."
Dame Jenni’s enthusiasm is obvious as we sit together at her home in Hampstead Garden Suburb, north London, where she lives with two chihuahuas called Minnie and Maggie and a Burmese cat called Soo.
She’s just getting over Covid, but there is something so familiar and reassuring about seeing Jenni peer over her glasses and speak with what broadcaster Charles Wheeler once called, "The most beautiful voice on radio, ever."
One of the guests she’s interviewed so far on the Experience is Everything podcast is Professor Tim Spector, the bestselling expert on gut health. "A very interesting man," Jenni says. "I don’t believe all scientists all the time, but I totally believe everything Tim Spector says. I’ve got a bag of his 35-plant material on the table over there – you just spoon it onto your food."
She hopes a certain member of her family will listen: "My oldest son Ed is a vet. He’s very into the microbiome thing. He makes sauerkraut because that’s supposed to be good for you, so I’m hoping he’ll approve."
[Hero image credit: Mark Harrison]
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