Terry Gross

Journalist, novelist and playwright Thulani Davis traces her roots in My Confederate Kinfolk: a Twenty-First Century Freedwoman Discovers Her Roots. Among the revelations Davis uncovered was that her ancestors include a Scots-Irish clan of cotton planters as well as Africans from Sierra Leone.

Comedian, writer, producer and actor Steve Coogan is an icon of British comedy. A trained actor, Coogan has emerged from playing his recurring media-buffoon character Alan Partridge to the title role in Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story.

"We think it's all a bit vulgar, you know, cashing in on Christmas," Lowe says of the British. He says he took it as a challenge: Quality Street tackles old classics and adds originals to the mix.
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