Doorstop (n): 1. An interview by a journalist in which the interviewee is approached unknowingly at their place of residence or work. 2. An uninvited interview by paparazzi or tabloid reporter (Source: All the Best dictionary). Armed with microphones, our producers chase down their unsuspecting targets to ask them the big questions in life, on the spot.
The Fortune Teller
Produced by Merran Winchester
The Water Artist
Produced by Tess Lawley
The Spam Buyer
Produced by Mike Kermode
Music credits: ‘The Bird’ by Jimmy McGriff, ‘A Taste of Honey’ by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass.
The One that Got Away
Produced by Jessica Minshall
Music credit: ‘Lightbox’ by East Forest
Presenter: Georgia Moodie
Features Executive Producer: Belinda Lopez
Executive Producers: Giordana Caputo, Eliza Sarlos, and, for the last time, Jesse Cox. (Jesse is retiring after an amazing three years on All the Best. As one of its founders, he helped build up the house we’re in, and we’re truly grateful. Thanks.)
All the Best brings you stories of people whose flames burn brightly, against the odds. A sonic submerging into the world of a woman who stutters, a 103 year old lady who’d probably put you to shame on the athletics field, and a former self-harmer tells how she lifted herself from the depths of depression.
Hear Me
Airynna Tannberg used to have panic attacks when the telephone started ringing. And going on a date was unthinkable. Having stuttered ever since she could remember, Airynna grew to fear the sound of her own voice.
Produced by Mel Tolnay.
Golden Girl
Ruth Frith is 103 years old. While she concedes that most people her age are pushing up daisies, she’s throwing javelins out on the athletics field, competing in international Masters’ competitions. That is, of course, if she can find anyone in her age category to compete against. But after spending a lifetime on the sidelines, Ruth is just making up for lost time.
Produced by Liam Knierim.
Field recordings by Ellie Freeman.
Losing Myself, Finding Myself.
Miriam, or Mim, is twenty years old. Reaching that age is a huge achievement in itself given the experience of her teenage years. As she tells All the Best contributor Rachel Fisher— the two of them have been friends since they were 15— she dealt with the pain of her family life through self harm. But she found a way out.
Produced by Rachel Fisher.
Presenter: Georgia Moodie
Features Executive Producer: Belinda Lopez
Executive Producers: Giordana Caputo, Eliza Sarlos, Jesse Cox.
Picture credit: ‘Golden Girl’ Ruth Frith by Belinda Mason.
The false starts, stumbles and humble beginnings of successful people before they ‘made it’. All the Best tells the early stories of foodies, fashionistas and… Germaine Greer. Long before The Female Eunuch sparked a feminist revolution, Germaine Greer was a frightened schoolgirl, surviving World War 2 in a dysfunctional family.
A Hunger to Make It
Nahji Chu today calls herself the ‘Queen of the Rice Paper Roll’, and runs a burgeoning group of restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne. But back in 1978, she was called Nga Chu: the name featured on her refugee visa when she arrived in Australia, escaping the Pathet Laos Regime is Laos. From surviving refugee camps to defeating schoolyard bullies in Melbourne, Nahji shares her emotional, hilarious story.
Nahji Chu is featured in Urban Walkabout’s Revolutionary Minds photography exhibition, which opens Wednesday November 14th at Gaffa Gallery, in the Sydney CBD.
Produced by Kate Montague
Technical production by Antonia Gauchi.
Creative commons music credits: ‘Fall Moon’ by Buildings and Mountains; ‘The Buddha’ by Dan Warren; ‘The Turtle’ by Dan Warren
The Barbie and I
Gary Begeni is today a successful fashion designer. But when he was a kid, his passion for fashion was an undercover mission, involving theft, vandalism, and some very funny attempts to cover it all up.
Gary is also featured in Urban Walkabout’s Revolutionary Minds photography exhibition.
Produced by Kate Montague
Technical production by Antonia Gauchi.
Inventing Greer
Human beings have an inalienable right to invent themselves –Germaine Greer.
In 1940s Australia, a schoolgirl named Germaine Greer was terrified of fireworks, mistaking the loud bangs for the possibility that World War 2 had finally arrived on her suburban doorstep. As Greer tells All the Best, her formation as a professional trouble maker began with a problematic relationship with her parents, some early acts of defiance in the ‘awful’ 1950s, and surviving the intellectual warfare of Sydney’s Push counter-culture movement.
Interview and recording by Liam Knierm at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas, organised by the St James Ethics’ Centre.
Edited by Belinda Lopez
Presenter: Georgia Moodie
Features Executive Producer: Belinda Lopez
Executive Producers: Giordana Caputo, Eliza Sarlos, Jesse Cox.
Picture Credit: Urban Walkabout
Good things come to those who wait… good things such as this week’s show! Sit with us and wait. We’ll wait for the tide to come in. For answers. For things to turn around. We’ll wait on highways and open plains, looking to hitch a ride home for Christmas. And, once the waiting is done, we’ll hear from a woman who waited a very long time to tell her boss exactly what she thought of him.
75 Ways of Waiting
Do you ever think about all the things you wait for throughout your day? All the small fragments of time that see you nervously, excitedly, or vacantly anticipating what will, won’t, or may… happen? We present a weighty list of things requiring patience in life.
Produced by Mike Kermode.
Creative commons music credits: Tres Tristes Tangos by Planta Baja; Latché Swing by Sweet Georgia Brown
Waiting in Motion
40 years ago, hitchhiking was actually really popular in Australia, but for a few reasons (Ivan Milat, anyone?) it’s all but faded into oblivion. So there’s a chance you’ve never tried it yourself. For those who haven’t: hitching often means extended periods of waiting, laced with a relentless uncertainty about who’s going to pick you up and when. But it also means exchanging the universal hitchhiking currency: stories.
Produced by Mike Kermode.
Dear Mr Lechter
Last month Julia Gillard made international headlines for standing up in parliament and telling Tony Abbott exactly what she thought of him for 15 minutes. She accused him of sexism and misogyny and you kind of got the feeling that she’d been waiting to say this to him for a very long time. But Melissa Jacob has waited far longer to tell her boss exactly what she thinks of him. She does so now, for your listening pleasure.
Written by Melissa Jacob.
Produced by Belinda Lopez.
Original composition and sound design by Tim Jenkins.
Presenter: Georgia Moodie
Features Executive Producer: Belinda Lopez
Executive Producers: Giordana Caputo, Eliza Sarlos, Jesse Cox.
Picture credit: Lauren Carrol Harris
