Rnz: Afternoons With Jesse Mulligan

For one week in the run up to Christmas University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign operates a 24/7 carol singing hotline Dial-A-Carol. You can call up, request a rendition of your favourite Xmas song, and have it preformed live by a student It's a tradition that stretches all the way back to 1960. Jesse rolls the dice and calls the hotline. What or who will answer?

This week Mary asks: are we celebrating Christmas the best way? Mary has tips on how not to break the bank this Christmas. She also has a list of some charities you could consider giving to these holidays.

In a career that spanned 18 years, Daniel Vettori established himself as one of the finest left-arm spinners in cricket history.

Ximena Smith reviews two podcasts for your playlist. Firstly, the new investigative show from Newsroom called Powder Keg, then the new Apple Original show hosted by actor Will Sharpe: Extrasensory.

A rouge information center cold call! Jesse rolls the dice and calls a random iSite in this fair land. They don't know he's calling and he doesn't know who will be on the other end of the line.

Your well-heeled friend invites you on a lavish holiday, one that you might have trouble paying for. What's the advice of financial advisors for such a difficult social dilemma?

In 2016 Tui the tabby cat disappeared then, 8 years later, Tui came home! 

Is there really any harm in letting the 16-year-old have a Gizzy Gold at Christmas?

Claire Concannon heads to Auckland Zoo to meet their resident tuatara.   Tuatara are pretty special, the only remaining species of reptile from an order that lived alongside the dinosaurs. And they haven’t changed much in millions of years.   University of Auckland PhD candidate Cam Hoffbeck has been investigating the tuatara gut microbiome, to see whether it is also unique.   First though, ectotherm keeper Chye-Mei Huang brings Claire inside the tuatara display enclosure to have a closer look as she feeds them some small locusts. 

Most of the time, when we talk about climate change, we talk about the consequences of getting it wrong. Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson wants to flip the script and ask what would happen if we succeed in averting environmental disaster? 

Brining is the secret to succulent chicken breasts, whether you cook them on the barbecue or in the oven.

Jesse talks to one of Aotearoa's cycling legends. He's also written about the bikepacking trend and how you can experience it in New Zealand.

Professor Sarah Medland - is a world-renowned geneticist, She specialises in the impact of genomics on human behaviour and mental health 

Christmas in Riverton is Tanya Colyers time to shine.

Christmas party season has officially begun. There are thousands of introverts out there, being forced to socialise outside of their comfort zone.

Cheap and cheerful ways to pamper yourself these holidays. Katy Gosset talks to a public health specialist about simple, free ways we can all boost our wellbeing.

If you want to learn about history, culture and economics, just look at what people put between two slices of bread. Just about every cuisine around the world has a sandwich recipe going back hundreds of years and marketing consultant and former Netflix exec Barry Enderwick has tried more than a thousand of them. He makes a new, old sandwich recipe every day on his TikTok, Sandwiches of History, starting with an oyster sandwich, made with chopped raw oysters, olive oil and Worcestershire sauce. He now has thousands of followers, millions of views and a new cookbook called Sandwiches of History: The Cookbook: All the Best (and Most Surprising) Things People Have Put Between Slices of Bread.

Our regular date with Mr Australia, Brad Foster, our Aussie correspondent.

Director of Library at Auckland Grammer, Catherine Ross has some recommendations for books that are beautifully written, challenging, touching, desperately sad but also wonderfully uplifting.

To help you prepare your BBQ for summer, Emile talks to Consumer NZ BBQ expert James Le Page.