gather intelligence, and send details to the chinese authorities. we re calling him alim, and concealing his identity. he s a refugee living in the uk. it was an audio call through wechat. when they called me, i recorded it with my other phone. alim has shared recordings of those calls. we ve adapted a few to mask key details. we paid a visit to your family in xinjiang. my colleague collected their details. if you want to see them, i can set up a video call. yes, please arrange that. i just want to talk to them and find out how they are. i won t ask about anything else. 0k. no problem. i ll arrange that for you. alim was granted a very unusual video call with his mother. the officer connected them by holding two mobile phones facing each other. he used one phone to connect with my mother, and then he used another phone to contact me, allowing me to see my mother through his screen. when i saw my mother, i couldn t contain my emotions. it had been 6 7 years since i last saw he
so, this is radio drama studio. hello, i m john wilson. welcome to this cultural life, a radio four podcast in which i ask leading creative figures about the influences and inspirations that have fired their artistic imagination. my guest in this episode is sir kenneth branagh. a huge talent, a star of stage and screen for more than four decades now. he s an actor, director, writer and film maker whose credits range from hamlet to tenet, from henry v to thor. we spoke in the very atmospheric radio drama studio of bbc broadcasting house. ken, welcome to this cultural life. thank you. a show about cultural inspiration, cultural influences. what is your earliest cultural memory, do you think? something that had a big impact? i think, early doors, i can remember winston churchill s funeral, i think it was 1965, seeing it on the television and just being told about the great man. the world cup final of 1966, where the nation stopped, and in our own household, my brother had a sort
when they called me, i recorded it with my other phone. alim has shared recordings of those calls. we ve adapted a few to mask key details. we paid a visit to your family in xinjiang. my colleague collected their details. if you want to see them, i can set up a video call. yes, please arrange that. i just want to talk to them and find out how they are. i won t ask about anything else. ok, no problem. i ll arrange that for you. alim was granted a very unusual video call with his mother. the officer connected them by holding two mobile phones facing each other. he used one phone to connect with my mother, and then he used another phone to contact me, allowing me to see my mother through his screen. when i saw my mother, i couldn t contain my emotions. it had been six to seven years since i last saw her, and it was an incredibly heart wrenching moment. there was a price to pay. the officer wanted something in return. we ve heard that the uyghur activists are planning to meet nex
jamiat ulema e islam. hundreds crowded in, flags, chanting, then the explosion. emraan was one of the rally s organisers on stage at the time it happened. his ears are still ringing from the blast. what do you remember after the explosion? translation: it was all in ured people around, all dead h bodies and flesh. it was like doomsday. local people tried to help. there were not enough ambulances so people were taking their own cars. he says several people around him died. he isn t sure why he survived. these pictures show some of the chaos. stretchered or carried by any hands that could offer help. the district hospital declared a health emergency and a call was put out for blood donations. as the wards filled up, some were taken by helicopter to nearby peshawar. the death toll rose quickly. police have said that they have struggled to identify all of the dead. among those named is a local political leader. pakistan s prime minister shehbaz sharif condemned the attack. there