When I was given my first job in BBC radio I almost felt as if I had been destined to work there. I come from Chelmsford, Essex, and on the outskirts of the town there are brown tourist signs which declare the place to be the "birthplace" of the wireless.

This boast does rather overlook the fact that the development of radio can be attributed to the work of a [...]

It's difficult to imagine the horror experienced by those families caught up in the recent Australian bushfires.

More than 200 people were killed in February when savage flames swept across the state of Victoria leaving a trail of devastation in their wake.

An estimated 1,800 homes were destroyed some 7,500 people displaced. Rightly or wrongly, at times of disasters we tend to think first of those people we [...]

The tragic death of Daniel James has naturally provoked a huge amount of ethical debate. Since it emerged that he had chosen to kill himself with the help of a Swiss clinic, rather than spend the rest of his life paralysed from the neck down, there has been much discussion as to whether British law should be changed to allow assisted suicide here.

However, while it is important to [...]

Matters of life and death have been preoccupying me a lot recently. On New Year's Eve, as the minutes ticked down to midnight, I couldn't help thinking about Daniel James, the talented young sportsman who became paralysed from the neck down in a rugby accident.

He didn't live long enough to see the arrival of 2009. Unable to face the prospect of spending the rest of his life as [...]

So who is the most dangerous disabled person in history? Who could possibly beat Kaiser Wilhelm and Joseph Goebbels? Well, the man's name is Thomas Midgley. Never heard of him? Then let me enlighten you. In the first half of the 20th century Midgley was one of America's leading scientists and inventors, receiving virtually every major prize in chemistry. However, his life wasn't all plain sailing. Unusually, in middle age [...]

In second place is Wilhelm II (1859-1941), Kaiser of Germany from 1888, who played a large role in starting World War I and thus contributed to the deaths of more than 8 million people. Described variously as mentally unstable, immature, narcissistic and a megalomaniac, most historians regard him as being unsuitable for leadership. By pursuing an aggressive foreign policy, Wilhelm II created the conditions that made the outbreak of a [...]

Unless you've been living on the planet Mars for the last 20 years, you'll be well aware that modern television is very fond of lists. The 100 best pop songs, the 50 most watched films, the top 10 celebrity breast implants (OK, I admit it, I made the last one up).

Anyway, I thought it was about time I came up with my own version.

My initial plan [...]

Contrary to what Hamlet claims, "to be or not to be" is not the question, as far as I'm concerned. The choice which has preoccupied me frequently during my life is - manual or electric? As I'm paralysed from the neck down, I cannot propel myself in a manual wheelchair. To drive a chair on my own, I need to use a battery-powered one and control it using my left [...]

During my university years I took great delight in confusing the shoppers of Cambridge. In those days I often used a battery-powered wheelchair which I controlled using a foot switch. When I went into the city centre, I could see a puzzled expression pass over the faces of other pedestrians as they noticed the joystick on the wheelchair's arm and then realised that my hands weren't touching it. I could [...]

At the time of writing I am going through a bout of insomnia. Last night I lay in bed and watched the green numbers on my digital clock flick through the hours of the night at the same pace as a snail carrying a heavy bag of shopping. By the time dawn arrived, it felt as if those numbers were taunting me. (Lack of sleep does strange things to one's [...]