Nights for Tuesday 1 April 2025
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April Fools pranks through the years
10:40 PM.We look at its history, and some of the most famous April Fool's Day jokes, including the BBC's Spaghetti Tree story. Read more Audio
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How to talk about death
10:30 PM.Scott Marlow is head of service delivery at Public Trust and joins Emile Donovan to answer all your uncomfortable questions about wills. Read more Audio
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Much ado about teaching
10:17 PM.Studying Shakespeare is one of a number of compulsory requirements proposed under the new draft English curriculum. Shakespeare expert, Hannah August joins Emile Donovan to discuss. Read more Audio
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Shower Thoughts: Why do we cook food?
9:35 PM.Associate professor in the department of food science at the University of Otago, Dr Graham Eyres, joins Nights to explain. Read more Audio
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High-end menswear brand still strutting stuff 40 years later
9:25 PM.Chris Dobbs started Working Style in the mid-1980s and joins Emile Donovan. Read more Audio
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Capital punishment? Why Gen-Z loves lowercase
8:30 PM.Dr Andreea Calude joins Emile Donovan to discuss how lowercase writing reflects a generational shift - and what it means for language. Read more Audio
8:10 The House
Tonight on our Parliament show - The House - Phil Smith and the mood in Parliament's classroom.
8:15 Pacific Waves
A daily current affairs programme that delves deeper into the major stories of the week, through a Pacific lens, and shines a light on issues affecting Pacific people wherever they are in the world. Hosted by Susana Suisuiki.
8:30 Capital punishment? Why Gen-Z loves lowercase
Have you noticed that young people are ditching capital letters in favour writing in all lowercase?
In one well publicised instance, capitalisation was omitted in an email dismissing over nine-hundred people from a publicly listed workplace.
Dr Andreea Calude is associate professor of linguistics at University of Waikato.
She joins Emile Donovan to discuss how lowercase writing reflects a generational shift - and what it means for language.
Photo: Unslpash
8:45 The Reading
An historical novel set in Wellington in 1839. Huw, a Welsh immigrant and procurer of Maori land, working for Colonel Wakefield; his wife, Martha, travelling by boat to meet her husband; and a woman, Hineroa, who has become a slave to Te Rauparaha after losing her tribe in battle.
Tonight we have part six of Harbouring by Jenny Pattrick, told by Ni Dekkers-Reihana and Amy McClean.
9:07 Nights Quiz
Do you know your stuff? Come on the air and be grilled by Emile Donovan as he dons his quizmaster hat.
If you get an answer right, you move on to the next question. If you get it wrong, your time in the chair is up, and the next caller will be put through. The person with the most correct answers at the end of the run goes in the draw for a weekly prize.
9:25 High-end menswear brand still strutting stuff 40 years later
Fashion retail can be a brutal business especially for small independent operations.
Pandemics, economic woes, working from home or just changing styles all have an impact on the bottom line.
But some find a way to succeed.
Working Style, a high-end men's fashion retailer, has been selling premium menswear for nearly four decades.
Chris Dobbs started the business in the mid-1980s, and today, it's still going strong with six stores across the country.
He joins Emile Donovan.
While Working Style is selling fewer business suits these days, special occasion suits for weddings and smart tidy work clothes are still in high demand. Photo: Working Style
9:35 Shower Thoughts: Why do we cook food?
Every Tuesday we find an expert to answer weird questions you may have about the world and why it works the way it does.
Tonight: why do we cook food? What changes, chemically, when we cook our food? Were our bodies designed to eat raw or cooked food -- and why do fried foods just taste so good?
Associate professor in the department of food science at the University of Otago, Dr Graham Eyres, joins Nights to explain.
Photo: Sam Edwards/CAIA IMAGE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
10:17 Much ado about teaching
The new draft English curriculum for New Zealand schools has been released this week after nearly a year of work behind the scenes.
Under the new model, Year 12 and 13 English students will have to be taught one of Shakespeare's texts.
It's one of a number of compulsory requirements proposed, including mandating the teaching of New Zealand works at every level of English.
Is this a good thing? Or are we placing Shakespeare on a pedestal?
Hannah August is a Shakespeare expert, a senior lecturer in English at Massey University with a PhD from the London Shakespeare Centre at King's College London.
She joins Emile Donovan.
Shakespeare portrait by Cobbe Photo: Public Domain
10:30 How to talk about death
Talking about death doesn't need to be uncomfortable
In a recent Public Trust poll, 57 percent of respondents said talking about death makes them feel so uncomfortable, that they'd rather avoid the topic entirely.
Scott Marlow is head of service delivery at Public Trust and joins Emile Donovan to answer all your uncomfortable questions about wills.
Scott Marlow is head of service delivery at Public Trust. Photo: Supplied
10:45 April Fools pranks through the years
Around the globe there has been much hilarity for April Fools Day.
The tradition, on April 1st sees practical jokes and hoaxes carried out on unsuspecting recipients, with jokesters often fessing up by shouting "April Fools!
Although there are many theories, the exact origin of the day is not exactly known.
We look at its history, and some of the most famous April Fool's Day pranks through the years, including the BBC's Spaghetti Tree story.
A colorised still from the BBC’s infamous 1957 “spaghetti tree” broadcast. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
11:07 Worlds of Music
Trevor Reekie hosts a weekly music programme celebrating an eclectic mix of 'world' music, fusion and folk roots.
