BUDE’s Danni Diston will front a new Learn Cornish podcast for BBC Sounds from May 1, learning key phrases in Kernewek across 12 weekly episodes produced by BBC Radio Cornwall.

Special guests will include BAFTA-winning director Mark Jenkin, actor-comedian Edward Rowe (aka Kernow King), an engineer from Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station, and Grand Bard Jenefer Lowe - leader of Gorsedh Kernow, an organisation established in 1928 to promote and protect Cornish Celtic culture, history and language.

The BBC commissioned the show to celebrate the Cornish language’s recent upgrade to top-level protection by the government alongside Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh. It will sit alongside existing offerings in Kernewek including Friday news bulletins, the Cornish Weather Word at weekends, and BBC Bitesize content for primary schoolchildren.

Danni, a former presenter of Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast Show, said: “Cornwall is the most special place in the world to me. It’s where I grew up and where my family live - it’s home.

“I went into this podcast as someone who knew very little Cornish and felt super-welcomed into the Kernewek community. Even if you speak a tiny bit of Kernewek or none at all, as long as Cornwall holds a place in your heart, this podcast is for you.”

Danni is helped by Sarah Buck from Cornwall Council’s Cornish language team, who encouraged listeners to use Kernewek in everyday life. “A dydh da for hello or a meur ras for thank you is an easy place to start,” she said. “Our language is for everyone, something we can all be proud of.”

Steph Marshall, BBC head of content production for the West and South West, said: “For too long, the Cornish language has been almost forgotten, but now there is a revival and passion for Kernewek. We want to get everyone speaking Cornish.”