BROADCASTS.com

The Honourable Lady Rita Rae is a lawyer and judge, and the current Rector of the University of Glasgow. Early in her career she was a rare woman in the heavily male-dominated legal world. She went on to work on many high profile criminal cases over five decades as a solicitor, an advocate and subsequently a judge in Scotland\u2019s Supreme Court.

Rita grew up in Plains, Airdrie, to the east of Glasgow. She was a shy child but earned the nickname \u2018The Last Word\u2019 from her parents because of her need to argue her case when she felt something wasn\u2019t right. She was inspired to become a lawyer by her maternal grandfather, a noted advocate and anti-fascist from Naples.

Her parents met in a munitions factory in Italy where her mother was working. Her father was a Scottish bomb disposal expert helping to dismantle munitions after the war. They married and moved to Scotland, but Rita and her brother were not accepted by her Scottish family because of their Catholicism.

Rita became a solicitor in 1974, entering a world dominated by men. When told by a senior colleague that women were \u2018emotionally unsuitable for court work\u2019, she set about proving him wrong. She became a partner in her firm at the age of 27, and was called to the bar in 1982, one of just 13 female advocates in Scotland at the time. She was made a Sheriff in 1997 and a Judge of the Supreme Courts in 2014.

In 2021 she was elected Rector of the University of Glasgow, the first female working rector in the university\u2019s 570-year history.

DISC ONE: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18 - III. Allegro scherzando. Composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff, performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy (piano) and London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andr\xe9 Previn \nDISC TWO: \u201cAh! Dite alla giovine\u201d from Act 2 of La Traviata. Composed by Giuseppe Verdi, performed by Angela Gheorghiu (soprano), Leo Nucci (baritone) and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, conducted by Sir Georg Solti\nDISC THREE: Mamma - Beniamino Gigli \nDISC FOUR: Aranjuez mon amour - Massimo Ranieri \nDISC FIVE: Cheap Flights - Fascinating A\xefda\nDISC SIX: \u201cThe Flower Song\u201d (\u201cLa fleur que tu m\u2019avais jetee\u201d), Carmen, Act II. Composed by Georges Bizet, performed by Jos\xe9 Carreras (tenor) and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, conducted by Jacques Delac\xf4te\nDISC SEVEN: Ave Maria. Composed by Giulio Caccini (Arr. Brinums) and performed by Inessa Galante (Soprano), Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Aleksandrs Vilumanis \nDISC EIGHT: Climb Ev\u2019ry Mountain - Peggy Wood

BOOK CHOICE: The Pursuit of Italy: A History of a Land, its Regions and their Peoples by David Gilmour \nLUXURY ITEM: A solar powered car \nCASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Mamma - Beniamino Gigli

Presenter Lauren Laverne\nProducers Paula McGinley and Tim Bano