Great Lives - podcast cover

Great Lives

BBC Radio 4www.bbc.co.uk

Biographical series in which guests choose someone who has inspired their lives.

Episodes

Sir Bruce Forsyth

The political writer and broadcaster Steve Richards remembers the 1970s as a “dark decade.” But one shining light for the teenage Steve was Saturday evening telly, especially the Generation Game on BBC One. He was captivated by the performance of the show’s host, Bruce Forsyth. Brucie was in his pomp, with the programme getting audiences of up to 19 million. Steve thought his performances were comedic genius, especially his interaction with contestants. And he came to appreciate Sir Bruce’s othe...

Apr 08, 202428 min

Harry Enfield on Gerard Hoffnung

Gerard Hoffnung’s life was short. He died in 1959 at the age of 34, but this cartoonist, musician, broadcaster and raconteur achieved a lot in that time. Born in Berlin, he lived most of his life in London. His charming cartoons which often gently poked fun at musicians and conductors were printed in magazines and books. His wife Annetta said he was always on-show and even a trip to the bank could turn into an uproarious occasion. Having caught the attention of the BBC he recorded a series of in...

Apr 01, 202428 min

Alan Freeman picked by Simon Mayo

In 1961 Alan 'Fluff' Freeman took over as the host of the BBC Radio's 'Pick of the Pops' and changed music broadcasting forever. From the opening "Greetings pop pickers" Alan would count down the hottest records of the week punctuating the end of each track with minimal detail before introducing the next. It was exhilarating radio and his staccato delivery and catchphrases of "Right, all right, stay bright" and "Not 'Arf" he influenced a generation of broadcasters. Simon Mayo was a DJ at Radio 1...

Jan 23, 202428 min

Actor Niamh Cusack on the life of poet Mary Oliver

The Pulitzer Prize winning poet Mary Oliver died in 2019. She was best known for her poetry that reflected her love of the natural world and her famous poem 'Wild Geese' is said to have literally saved people's lives with its message of hope and redemption. An abusive childhood led the young Mary to escape into the woods near her home in Ohio where she discovered a love of nature that was to sustain her throughout her life. She found love with the photographer Molly Malone Cook and they lived ha...

Jan 16, 202428 min

Mr Motivator picks Harry Belafonte

Harry Belafonte became the King of Calypso with hits like 'Day-O' and 'Jump in the Line' but he would later describe himself as an activist who became a musician and an actor. Fitness guru Derrick Evans MBE AKA 'Mr Motivator' spent much of the 90s on TV wearing brightly-coloured spandex and encouraging people to be more active. He stresses the political messages that underpin Calypso music and celebrates the stand Belafonte took in the campaign for civil rights in America in the 1960s. Derrick m...

Jan 09, 202429 min

Jimmy Wales on Thomas Jefferson

In 1776 Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence, kick-starting the movement against British rule and putting in place the foundations for democracy in what became the United States of America. But he was a man of contradictions. He argued passionately against slavery but was a slave-owner. He had a relationship with an enslaved woman, Sally Hemings which may have started in France when she was just fourteen. He became the third President of the United States, and he loved philoso...

Jan 02, 202428 min

Eartha Kitt proposed by Faye Tozer

Eartha Kitt was born in South Carolina in 1927. She had a tough upbringing but found her talent whilst in theatre school in New York. She became a star of stage and then screen, most notably as Catwoman in the series 'Batman'. She upset President Johnson's wife with her comments about the Vietnam War. Her sultry cabaret performances and trademark growl were celebrated. She would play-up to her image as a lover of men but lived much of her life alone, and she worked tirelessly until the end. Her ...

Dec 26, 202328 min

John Gray on JG Ballard

Philosopher John Gray chooses as his great life the iconic British writer of dystopian and speculative fiction, J.G. Ballard, in conversation with the author's daughter Bea Ballard. Presented by Matthew Parris Produced in Bristol by Beth Sagar-Fenton

Dec 19, 202328 min

Iszi Lawrence on Diana Barnato Walker

Broadcaster and author Iszi Lawrence chooses the aviator Diana Barnato Walker. Coming from a privileged background, Diana used her pocket money to take flying lessons, flew bombers during the Second World War, and - aged 45 - became the first British woman to break the sound barrier. Iszi is joined by Giles Whittell, author of Spitfire Women of World War II, and Diana’s son Barney Walker. Presenter: Matthew Parris Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2023....

Dec 14, 202329 min

Mohammad Mossadegh, PM of Iran ousted in a coup

Walter Murch picks Mohammad Mossadegh, prime minister following the nationalisation of the Anglo-Iranian oil company in 1951. Mossadegh was ousted in a coup in 1953. Murch became fascinated in Mossadegh's life while working on a Sam Mendes film about the first Iraq War. Walter Murch is an editor best known for Apocalypse Now, The Godfather and The Constant Gardener. He also worked on a documentary called Coup 53. This is the first in a new series of Great Lives and includes archive of Kermit Roo...

Dec 05, 202328 min

Ludwig Koch

The award-winning Sound Recordist and Musician, Chris Watson nominates his hero, Ludwig Koch. In 1889, German-born Koch was the first person ever to record birdsong (at the age of 8) onto a wax cylinder recorder, given to him by his father as a toy. Despite a promising baritone voice and being a very good violinist, the first world war put paid to Ludwig Koch's career as a musician and he began working for the German branch of EMI recording cityscapes, before going on to invent the ‘sound book',...

Sep 29, 202328 min

Lady Eve Balfour

An aristocrat in an eye patch, a jazz saxophonist, a crime novelist and a pioneering organic farmer. Lady Eve Balfour was born in 1898 into the political elite - her uncle was A J Balfour, who was Prime Minister from 1902-05. But from the age of 12 she wanted to be a farmer and, after studying at agricultural college, made her dream a reality. She started experimenting with organic farming, and eventually published a book called The Living Soil, which lead to her founding the organic farming bod...

Sep 29, 202328 min

Ken Loach on Gerrard Winstanley

Veteran British film director Ken Loach nominates the 17th century radical pamphleteer and and leader of the Diggers, Gerrard Winstanley. Born in Wigan in 1609, Winstanley began writing religious pamphlets after his cloth selling business in London went bankrupt and he was forced to move to the country. There his 'heart was filled with sweet thoughts ... that the earth shall be made a common treasury of livelihood to all mankind', for 'the great Creator Reason, made the Earth to be a Common Trea...

Sep 29, 202328 min

Chi-chi Nwanoku on Jessye Norman

On the 11th June 1988 Jessye Norman performed a spine-tingling rendition of 'Amazing Grace' to a packed Wembley Stadium, bringing to a close a concert marking the seventieth birthday of Nelson Mandela. By this point her career Jessye Norman was a global icon of opera, best-known for her performances in works by Wagner, Verdi and Mozart. She refused to take the parts traditionally offered to Black singers and once said that pigeonholes were only for pigeons. She would sing, in fact, whatever she ...

Sep 19, 202328 min

Ninette de Valois

The Godmother of English - and Irish - ballet, Dame Ninette De Valois or ‘Madam’ as she was known to those around her. She is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of ballet. She established the Royal Ballet School, the Royal Ballet and the UK’s premiere touring ballet company, which went on to become the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Under the guidance of ‘Madam’, these institutions grew and became celebrated around the world, with post WWII Ballet tours generating mu...

Sep 05, 202328 min

Sophie Scott on Hattie Jacques

Born Josephine Edwina Jacques in 1922, Hattie began her career in music hall before graduating onto 1950s radio comedies such as ‘Educating Archie', 'It's That Man Again' and 'Hancock's Half Hour', where she became a household name. TV and films followed, most notably the role of Eric Sykes' twin sister in 'Sykes' and the stern but lovelorn matron, headmistress or housekeeper in the 'Carry On' films. Hattie was teased about her weight in school and was often the figure of fun in her work. She la...

Aug 15, 202328 min

Stamford Raffles, founder of Singapore and London Zoo

It's a famous name - there's Raffles Hotel and Raffles Hospital, plus the rafflesia, the largest flowering plant in the world, an ant, a butterflyfish and a woodpecker, as well as the Raffles Cup, a horse race in Singapore. He was born in 1781 and as an agent of the East India Company, Thomas Stamford Raffles rose to become lieutenant governor of Java during the Napoleonic war. He's also often named as the founder of Singapore and also London Zoo. But how did he achieve so much so fast? Recorded...

Aug 08, 202328 min

Susie Dent on Thomas Mann

Thomas Mann was a German writer whose books explored themes around family, beauty and the creeping threat of fascism in Europe. Mann's best-known 'Death in Venice' revealed the author's attraction to young boys and it was turned into a film in 1971 starring Dirk Bogarde. Mann moved to Switzerland before the outbreak of the Second World War and lived in exile in Europe and the USA for the rest of his life. From his home in California he rubbed shoulders with the likes of Einstein and Brecht, and ...

Aug 01, 202328 min

Tony Benn

"It's the complicated ones I enjoy the most." Matthew Parris Tony Benn, MP from 1950 to 2001, packed so much into a long career. He renounced the peerage inherited from his father, served in the Labour governments of both Harold Wilson and Jim Callaghan, led the Stop the War Coalition from 2001 and became pretty much the country’s pre-eminent rock star politician in older age. Comedian Ellie Gibson says she was a Tony Benn groupie and saw him speak many times. A brilliant orator and prolific dia...

Jun 01, 202328 min

Jon Ronson picks Terry Hall of The Specials

When Jon Ronson was growing up, he went to see The Specials play in Cardiff. "I went on my own to Sophia Gardens," he says. "The crowd was fantastically wild. There’s a lot to not like about the feral nature of British street culture – i.e. getting beaten up - but out of turmoil can come great art, songs like Ghost Town and Concrete Jungle. Anyway, before The Specials came on, I made a decision: I would pretend to faint in the hope that I could watch the show from the side of the stage. It worke...

May 16, 202327 min

Sir Edward Coke, prosecutor of Guy Fawkes

Edward Coke was born in Norfolk in 1552. He's best known as a judge and Parliamentarian, the link says Jesse Norman between Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights. He was also, the programme claims, an occasionally appalling human being who used his own daughter in a marriage deal to buy himself favour with the King. Joining Jesse Norman in studio, often backing up his claims for Coke's greatness, is Dr Alexandra Gajda of Oxford University. Jesse Norman is a government minister, former payma...

May 10, 202328 min

Kofi Annan

In 1997 Kofi Annan became the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations. The nineties were a turbulent period for the organisation and it had received criticism for a lack of action in both Rwanda and Bosnia leading to thousands of deaths. Kofi was born in Ghana and after a brief spell in the USA slowly worked his way up through the organisation and his appointment was seen by many as a return to a consensus and multi-lateral approach to diplomacy. Choosing Kofi is the writer, biologist an...

May 02, 202328 min

Frank Zappa

"The most important thing to do in your life is not to interfere with somebody else's life." Frank Zappa was born December 1940 in Baltimore, USA. Comedian John Robins - who is obsessed - reckons that it was his subsequently itinerant childhood that had much to do with what happened next. Frank's musical output was prodigious and varied, but John laughs out loud when pushed on whether he had any hits. That wasn't the point of Frank Zappa - the music was everything, creating it and performing it....

Apr 25, 202328 min

Frederick the Great of Prussia

Frederick the Great had a brute of a father. When young Frederick was captured trying to run away, he was locked up and forced to watch his friend - possibly his lover - being beheaded in front of his eyes. King of Prussia from 1740, Frederick was also a musician, a composer, a writer and a chancer who took extraordinary military risks to secure his place in Europe. Adolf Hitler thought the world of Frederick the Great, but how do Germans view him today? Joining Matthew Parris to discuss a reall...

Apr 11, 202328 min

Arthur Ashe

Broadcaster Qasa Alom chooses the first African American tennis player to win the US Open and Wimbledon, Arthur Ashe. Arthur Ashe was born in Richmond, Virginia, a state in the US that in 1943 was still part of the segregated south. If Arthur wanted to compete with white players, he had to leave for St Louis and then California to play. His story is staggering, and not just his success in a notoriously elitist sport. His mother died when he was six, he had a heart attack when he was 36, and he d...

Apr 04, 202328 min

Astrid Lindgren, creator of Pippi Longstocking

The best-selling author of How to Train Your Dragon, Cressida Cowell, explains her love for the Swedish author, Astrid Lindgren. Born in 1907, Lindgren invented the Pippi Longstocking stories to tell to her children during the war years, only writing them down for a publisher years later. Following the immense success of Pippi, Astrid Lindgren went on to write Emil of Lonneberga, Children of Noisy Village and the fantasy novels Mio, my son; Ronia the Robber's Daughter; and The Brother's Lionhear...

Feb 20, 202328 min

Adjoa Andoh on Zora Neale Hurston

Actor Adjoa Andoh has a list of TV, theatre and film credits as long as your arm. She's best known worldwide as Bridgerton's Lady Danbury, and is due to direct - and star in the title role - in a new production of Richard III. Her great life is the 20th century American writer and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, author of "Their Eyes Were Watching God". An iconic figure in the literature of the jazz age, her name was all but forgotten after her death in 1960, before being pulled back into pub...

Jan 24, 202327 min

Comedian Chris McCausland on Kurt Cobain

"‘For me, it’s all about his authenticity’. Chris McCausland Kurt Cobain, lead singer, guitarist and songwriter of the band Nirvana became the voice of a generation and is to this day considered one of the most influential musicians in the history of alternative rock. His angst ridden, often politically driven lyrics challenged the conventions of the day and resonated with youth audiences around the world. He championed the underdog and stood up for all those who had ever felt excluded from the ...

Jan 17, 202328 min

Roger Deakin, wild swimmer and author of Waterlogged

Matthew Parris travels along the Thames to meet Nick Hayes - illustrator and author of The Book of Trespass - to discuss the life of Roger Deakin. They also enjoy a naked swim. Joining them, in his pants, is Patrick Barkham. His new biography of Roger Deakin is published this year. The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde.

Jan 09, 202328 min

Minette Batters on Henry Plumb

"I was born an Englishman but I'll die a European." Those are the words of Henry Plumb, Lord Plumb, a farmer who was President of the National Farmers Union in the 1970s and who became the first British person to be elected President of the European Parliament. Championing his life is the farmer and current President of the National Farmers Union, Minette Batters. She says that Henry supported her from the outset and that he would offer advice and support wherever it was needed. Minette is joine...

Jan 03, 202328 min
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