Steve Darling; Archaeology in Cookham

In Touch

Steve Darling is not the first visually impaired MP, but he is the latest, after winning Torbay in Devon for the Liberal Democrats in July's general election. In Touch speaks to Steve about the excitements and challenges of taking up his new role in the Mother of parliaments.

In Touch visits an archaeological dig site in Cookham, where an 8th century monastery is being excavated. Our main interest there, aside from the various skull and bone discoveries, is visually impaired Jonathan Charmley. Jonathan has always had a keen interest in history and decided to begin an archaeology course at university. During his studies, he lost most of his vision as the result of a brain tumour. In Touch finds out what performing archaeology is like for Jonathan since losing his vision.

Presenter: Peter White Producer: Beth Hemmings Production Coordinator: David Baguley Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word Radio in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.