Alumni Sounds

Whether you are curled up on the sofa or out on a New Year’s resolution run, having some good company via your headphones can make all the difference on a winter’s day. Here’re a couple of audio treats from Alleyn’s alumni:

What happens when a diagnosis changes everything? One afternoon, alumna Helena Merriman (Brading’s 1999) walked into a doctor's surgery and was given a shock diagnosis. In her new podcast series Room 5, the award-winning journalist, author and broadcaster behind the global hit BBC podcast Tunnel 29 now brings us eight stories about how we handle adversity and uncertainty.  She interviews people who, like her, were changed by a diagnosis. Room 5 refers to the room at her doctor’s surgery where she received the news. Told through an immersive sound design, this intimate series shines a light on misunderstood conditions, asking how we cope when our bodies and our minds no longer behave as we want them to:

“Three years ago, on a hot August day, I walked into Room 5 at a doctor’s surgery. The consultant gave me a diagnosis that would change my life. Ten minutes later, I left the room, a slightly different person to the one who’d come in. On the bus home, I found myself reaching for my phone, reading story after story, about others - like me - who’d walked into a room, been given a diagnosis, and who’d been spun back out into the world, forever changed. Room 5 is a collection of stories about lives changed and the process of recovery. I hope listeners find them as inspiring as I do.”

Combining intimate storytelling, immersive sound design, candid interviews, science and a large dose of compassion, Room 5 is a gripping portrait of extraordinary people at a moment when everything changes. It is currently broadcast every Tuesday at 9pm on Radio 4 and is available on-demand only on BBC Sounds from Tuesday 11 January 2022 here

Felix White (Roper’s 2003) is no stranger to audio success, as part of the trio which has brought us cricketing wisdom via the much acclaimed and well-established Tailenders podcast (BBC 5Live). You can currently hear him on Radio 4 reading from his new book It’s Always Summer Somewhere; his funny and heartwarming memoir not just about cricket but about growing up, coping with grief and slowly replacing an ambition to be a left arm spinner in his school cricket team with the dazzling realities of life in a world renowned band The Maccabees. It is also available on BBC Sounds. The  Sunday Times bestseller is available from all good bookshops near you and, to quote Stephen Fry: 'Felix White's beautifully, elegantly and passionately written book reminds me why I love cricket so much. And reading, come to that.'