Kensington.

You may not have heard of Sherelyn but there are millions like her: good, hard-working people who have been forced to come to food banks for help in these difficult times.

In this episode Cole tells the story of a walk from the wealthy streets of Knightsbridge - where you can buy a bottle of water for the almost unbelievable price of £85 - up through fashionable Notting Hill and past the ruins of Grenfell Tower to north Kensington. It’s a short walk in which life expectancy falls by thirty years, the average wage plummets and the shocking inequalities of life in our major cities are revealed.

Along the way Cole meets a man who inherited millions but gave most of them away and a woman who sells hugely expensive homes to the super-rich. The story is told with style and compassion and everyone is a human met with love, equally worth hearing.

At the end of the walk is a food bank. A decade ago, they gave out 40,000 emergency parcels a year. Now that figure is 2.5 million. Cole meets a woman from the Philippines called Sherelyn who slowly shares the disturbing circumstances in which she came to this country, having been trafficked. But Sherelyn is also truly inspirational in her desire to rise above her troubles, survive and even thrive.

This story is as much about ways of seeing each other as it is about social issues. What does it really mean to love your neighbour? What if you don’t really see who they are? Do they see you? These and other questions are explored in another of Cole’s first-person, beautifully-told short stories reflecting on meetings with extraordinary humans and what we can learn from them about how to live.

Can We Talk? is based on the belief that we are better when we share our stories, so explores our human desire to connect with each other, with ourselves and with the divine, if we believe in that.

This is a series for all those with an interest in human connection, spirituality and better living, interviewing or storytelling. Or maybe you just want to be told a darn good tale that makes you laugh, feel and think a bit about life. Imagine David Sedaris meets Richard Rohr…

Acclaim for Can We Talk?

‘Cole proves in this series how we all need stories in our lives. Proper stories. Well told. In a world of clips and clicks ad shortening attention spans, this hits just the right spot’

Fi Glover, co-host of Fortunately … With Fi and Jane

‘A brilliant, sensitive storyteller, Coe Moreton produces perfectly formed mini epics that are both thought-provoking and hugely entertaining’

Bestselling author and broadcaster Anita Anand

Cole Moreton writes for national newspapers, makes programmes for BBC Radio 4 and is a regular contributor to Pause For Thought on Zoe Ball’s Radio 2 breakfast show. A former Interviewer of the Year at the Press Awards, he has won gold at the Arias, the radio industry Oscars.

As an author his debut Hungry for Home was shortlisted for the prestigious John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for a first book in any genre, alongside White Teeth by Zadie Smith.

Cole would love to hear from you so please do get in touch to tell him what you think of these stories and share your own encounters with remarkable people.

And you can pre-order Cole’s new book which accompanies the podcast, out in May 2023: bit.ly/ColeMoretonOffer

Produced by Emily Jeffery with sound magic by Andy Partington.

Thank you to Andy Lyon and all the team at Hodder Faith.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Cuckmere Valley.

Once upon a time there was a little girl called Jacqueline Wilson who made up stories and dreamed that one day she would be interviewed as a famous writer. In this story Cole goes to do exactly that - and asks how it was that little Jackie’s dreams all came true.

Today is she is a phenomenally successful writer of children’s books and young adult fiction including the Tracy Beaker series, which has been such a massive hit on CBBC. Hettie Feather, The Primrose Railway Children and Love Frankie are others among her 100 titles.

Not many authors can claim to have had a greater influence on the imaginations and character of generations of children, many of whom have now become adults. Jacqueline Wilson has sold 50 million books, met an American president, become a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and been made a dame. How does it feel to have imagined all this into being just by making stuff up in her head?

'I know,' she says. 'Isn’t it weird?'

Cole’s own story takes us to meet her at home in a magical valley in Sussex and together they explore the roots of storytelling, the power of play and the ability humans have to completely reinvent their own stories: including Jacqueline’s discovery after thirty years of marriage to a man that she was now deeply in love with a woman. Her thoughts on this will touch anyone interested in how society’s ideas about love and sexuality have changed and are changing and what that means for real lives.

This episode is another first-person, beautifully told short story in Cole’s series reflecting on meetings with extraordinary humans and what we can learn from them about how to live.

Can We Talk? is based on the belief that we are better when we share our stories, so explores our human desire to connect with each other, with ourselves and with the divine, if we believe in that.

This is a series for all those with an interest in human connection, spirituality and better living, interviewing or storytelling. Or maybe you just want to be told a darn good tale that makes you laugh, feel and think a bit about life. Imagine David Sedaris meets Richard Rohr…

Acclaim for Can We Talk?

‘Cole proves in this series how we all need stories in our lives. Proper stories. Well told. In a world of clips and clicks ad shortening attention spans, this hits just the right spot’

Fi Glover, co-host of Fortunately … With Fi and Jane

‘A brilliant, sensitive storyteller, Coe Moreton produces perfectly formed mini epics that are both thought-provoking and hugely entertaining’

Bestselling author and broadcaster Anita Anand

Cole Moreton writes for national newspapers, makes programmes for BBC Radio 4 and is a regular contributor to Pause For Thought on Zoe Ball’s Radio 2 breakfast show. A former Interviewer of the Year at the Press Awards, he has won gold at the Arias, the radio industry Oscars.

As an author his debut Hungry for Home was shortlisted for the prestigious John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for a first book in any genre, alongside White Teeth by Zadie Smith.

Cole would love to hear from you so please do get in touch to tell him what you think of these stories and share your own encounters with remarkable people.

And you can pre-order Cole’s new book which accompanies the podcast, out in May 2023: bit.ly/ColeMoretonOffer

Produced by Emily Jeffery with sound magic by Andy Partington.

Thank you to Andy Lyon and all the team at Hodder Faith.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ditchling, Sussex.

Cole tells the story of an encounter with a real legend: Dame Vera Lynn, giving her last major interview at the age of 97. The Forces Sweetheart, an inspiration to so many during the Second World War, even sang to him.

This intimate, compelling tale starts with a grandmother and her grandson in the East End during the Seventies, as she sings a song remembered from her own childhood. Fast forward to the present day and the little boy is Cole Moreton, on his way to meet the song’s original singer, who reminds him so much of his Nan.

Dame Vera treats her visitor to lemon drizzle cake and tea and tells tales of the old days, including the time she saved a man’s life during the Blitz. Then there is her jaw-dropping description of performing for ‘the boys’ in the jungles of Burma, very close to the frontline, accompanied by only a pianist and a pistol. Dame Vera reveals why she had horrors to face while others were celebrating VE Day. And Cole reflects on the way her most famous number We’ll Meet Again changed in meaning over the years.

This stirring song helped people get through wartime, but then, as the years went by, We’ll Meet Again became an expression of something deeper, older, even ancient – the idea of being reunited with our loved ones in heaven or the afterlife. And in a late surprise, We’ll Meet Again became one of the songs of the Covid pandemic, as people dreamed of seeing each other once more, face to face in safety.

Once more Dame Vera sang on behalf of us all. No wonder she was once voted among the greatest Britons of all time.

Cole Moreton examines her life and legacy in another first-person, beautifully told short story in this series reflecting on meetings with extraordinary humans and what we can learn from them about how to live.

Can We Talk? is based on the belief that we are better when we share our stories, so explores our human desire to connect with each other, with ourselves and with the divine, if we believe in that.

This is podcasting as an art form, for all those interested in human connection, spirituality and better living, as well as storytelling, interviewing and fascinating tales. Imagine David Sedaris meets Richard Rohr…

Acclaim for Can We Talk?

‘Cole proves in this series how we all need stories in our lives. Proper stories. Well told. In a world of clips and clicks ad shortening attention spans, this hits just the right spot’

Fi Glover, co-host of Fortunately … With Fi and Jane

‘A brilliant, sensitive storyteller, Coe Moreton produces perfectly formed mini epics that are both thought-provoking and hugely entertaining’

Bestselling author and broadcaster Anita Anand

Cole Moreton writes for national newspapers, makes programmes for BBC Radio 4 and is a regular contributor to Pause For Thought on Zoe Ball’s Radio 2 breakfast show. A former Interviewer of the Year at the Press Awards, he has won gold at the Arias, the radio industry Oscars.

As an author his debut Hungry for Home was shortlisted for the prestigious John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for a first book in any genre, alongside White Teeth by Zadie Smith.

Cole would love to hear from you so please do get in touch to tell him what you think of these stories and share your own encounters with remarkable people.

And you can pre-order Cole’s new book which accompanies the podcast, out in May 2023: bit.ly/ColeMoretonOffer

Produced by Emily Jeffery with sound magic by Andy Partington.

Thank you to Andy Lyon and all the team at Hodder Faith.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.