Sunday Morning for Sunday 11 August 2024

8:10 Lydia Ko Wins Gold

Golfer Lydia Ko has bagged Olympic gold in Paris and qualified for the LPGA Hall of Fame.  RNZ's Barry Guy caught up with her after her win.

8:15 Marking the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions 

On the 12 August 1949, fifty-eight countries, hoping to limit the kinds of horrors seen during the Second World War, signed the four Geneva Conventions.   

Waikato University's International Law professor Alexander Gillespie joins us 

8:20 The Sunday Morning Quiz with Jack Waley-Cohen   

Our quiz master Jack Waley-Cohen is back for another Sunday Morning quiz.   

Jack is the mind behind the questions on BBC quiz show ‘Only Connect’ which is known for being both difficult to crack and totally obvious.     

It’s Sunday morning, so wake up your brain and have a go!       

8:30 Calling Home: Bryan Donaldson in Pontoon Co Mayo Ireland 

From humble beginnings performing magic tricks in Hamilton shopping centres to travelling the world as a trapeze artist with a circus, Bryan Donaldson’s life reads something like a movie script.  

Now settled in Ireland with his wife and two young sons, Bryan runs 'High Performance’ the UK's only specialist circus rigging company. 

9:10 Mediawatch 

Mediawatch looks back at how our media reported increased tension over race relations this week - and a highly-political front page ad that angered Māori journalists.   

Also - how social media amplified anger during the recent riots in the UK - and boxing at the Olympics. 

9:35 What is "sleep divorce" and could it save your relationship?  

‘Sleep Divorce’ is a growing trend around the world, with new research from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine finding that more than a third of Americans choose to sleep apart from their partners. 

Sleep psychologist Dan Ford, the clinical director of the Better Sleep Clinic in New Zealand specialises in sleep and insomnia therapies; having worked with military special operations teams and professional sports teams on improving their sleep. He shares the pros and cons of sleeping separately.  

10:10 ‘Unmasking Monsters' - criminal profiling in NZ 

Dave “Chook” Henwoods work developing criminal profiling in New Zealand, lead to catching some of New Zealand's worst rapists and murderers. Including the offender in New Zealand police’s longest and largest manhunt, Joseph Thompson. And Susan Burdett’s rapist and killer Malcolm Rewa, exonerating Teina Pora who had spent more than 20 years in prison, falsely accused. The latter didn’t win Chook many friends amongst the police force.  

Now at 72, Chook’s sharing his journey from growing up on a Hauraki Plains dairy farm, to becoming a police cadet at 17, and going on to lead the National Criminal Profiling Unit, chasing the worst criminals in New Zealand in his book ‘Unmasking Monsters’. 

10:45 Argue with Science 

Mary Argue is back guiding us through the latest weird and wonderful headlines from the world of science.    

11:10 ‘Grid’ the unsung New Zealand war hero 

First World War airman Keith ‘Grid’ Caldwell played a pivotal role in sustaining military aviation in interwar New Zealand, yet he’s a name most are unfamiliar with. 

Dr Adam Claasen is a leading military historian at Massey University. His new book ‘Grid: The life and times of First World War fighter ace Keith Caldwell’ has been five years in the making, detailing Caldwell’s journey from early flight training in Auckland to his death-defying combat missions over enemy lines on the Western Front. 

11:40 Dave Gerrard: Notes from the Paris Olympics 

Olympian Dave Gerrard reached the semi-finals of the 200 metres butterfly at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964.  Since then, he’s been to 12 Summer Olympic games in various roles – including team doctor. 

He looks back on the highs and lows of the Olympic Games in Paris.