Rough Trade Pictures

During the 1940s, Nevil Shute had a steady job as an engineer in the British military but in his spare time, he wrote novels that were being well-received. Once the war was over, Shute choose to move to Australia and focus on writing, soon becoming an internationally acclaimed novelist. His novel On The Beach, particularly hit a chord with the international community, depicting the impact of global nuclear destruction. This documentary studies Shute's career and the adaptation of his most famous novel into a feature film in Melbourne, as his predictions of a post-Hiroshima world seem to be foreboding in their accuracy.

For almost a century the town of Grafton, NSW, has celebrated the magnificence of its jacaranda trees with an inspired festival.In the 1880s a German immigrant planted imported Jacaranda tree seeds along the avenues of Grafton in northern NSW. In 1935 the tree-lined avenues were of such splendour that the council of the day decided to hold a festival to celebrate the blossoming of the trees and the arrival of spring. This program shows how this festival has become an annual event that includes the crowing of The Jacaranda Queen.

Six songs recorded live at the BBC as a bonus disc to The Life Pursuit CD. Tracks include: "Another Sunny Day", "Dress Up in You", "To Be Myself Completely", "Mornington Crescent", "Funny Little Frog" and "White Collar Boy".