Stephen Smith profiles the former racing driver and marketing guru who's turned around McLaren's fortunes and led them to Formula 1 glory. Born in California in 1971, friends and colleagues paint a picture of a fiercely competitive man with ‘noble intentions’. After dropping out of high school Zak Brown’s life changed after meeting former F1 world champion Mario Andretti when he was 15. He traded watches he’d won on the Wheel of Fortune game show to buy a go-kart. Brown won races as a driver but...
Dec 06, 2025•15 min
The Coventry MP who left the Labour party and joined Jeremy Corbyn's new left-wing ‘Your Party'. Zarah Sultana's husband and friends tell us how her upbringing shaped her politics and reveal her questionable taste in music. 'I think she would describe her taste as no taste', claims her husband Craig Lloyd. She was born in Birmingham to political parents who were both members of the Labour party. Her father even took her on a Labour party delegation to the occupied West Bank when she was a studen...
Nov 29, 2025•15 min
Marjorie Taylor Greene is a darling of MAGA. But this week a disagreement with Trump over the Epstein files has seen him brand her as a traitor. Born in 1974 in the suburbs of Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Greene had a conventional upbringing. She graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Business Administration, and later owned her family’s construction business and a stake in a CrossFit gym. But like so many Americans, Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign was a turning point fo...
Nov 22, 2025•15 min
David Hockney has died aged 88. This programme was broadcast in 2025. David Hockney is arguably Britain’s most loved living artist. He's known as a colourful character, not only because of his vibrant, colour rich paintings of Californian landscapes, glittering blue pools, and thick Yorkshire woodlands, but also his own carefully curated image from the 1960s- bright blond hair and oversized thick black round glasses. He was born in Bradford in 1937, and knew by the age of 10 he wanted to be an a...
Nov 15, 2025•15 min
Afua Kyei, Chief Financial Officer at the Bank of England, has been named Britain's most influential black person. She grew up in South London, reading copious numbers of Enid Blyton books and listening to Boyzone, got 6 A levels and went to university a year early. She studied chemistry at Oxford and Princeton, but then had a change of heart . She became a chartered accountant and - in 2019 at the age of just 36 - she was appointed Chief Financial Officer at the Bank of England, the Bank's youn...
Nov 08, 2025•15 min
As Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership of the Labour party comes under increasing pressure and criticism, we profile a man who may well be waiting in the wings. Andy Burnham, a Labour stalwart who started his political career in the Blair and Brown era, seems determined to have his say in the party’s future too. Last month, he caused a political storm when he was widely interpreted as openly challenging Sir Keir Starmer’s authority during the party conference, confirming that MPs had contacted him abo...
Nov 01, 2025•15 min
Sanae Takaichi is the first female prime minister of Japan. Once the drummer in a heavy metal band, she is now a staunch conservative, tough on immigration and against same sex marriage. More Iron Lady than Iron Maiden, the 64-year-old models her strong leadership style on Margaret Thatcher. She entered politics in 1993, the same year as future prime minister Shinzo Abe. A loyal ally, she quickly rose the ranks in his cabinet. After several unsuccessful leadership attempts, she finally became pr...
Oct 27, 2025•15 min
Luke Littler, the 18-year-old darts star, is already one of the most famous people in British sport. This week he won yet another title, the World Grand Prix. Born in Warrington, he started throwing arrows while he was still wearing nappies. By the time he was 10, Littler was competing in under-21 competitions and would win his first senior title at 14. He shot to national fame in early 2024 when he reached the world championship final aged 16. Despite losing the match, he sparked ‘Littlermania’...
Oct 18, 2025•14 min
Marina Abramović is the self proclaimed ‘grandmother of performance art’. Her latest work, a reimagining of Slavic fertility rites, opened in Manchester earlier this week. Notorious for committing extreme acts to her body, the Serbian first achieved fame with her “Rhythm 0” performance, where she stood still in a room and invited guests to do anything they liked to her. They removed her clothes, cut her neck and held a loaded gun to her head. Many of her biggest works were made in collaboration ...
Oct 11, 2025•15 min
Kristi Noem is the controversial Secretary of Homeland Security. A staunch MAGA loyalist, she's in charge of ICE detention facilities, including one in Dallas, Texas, that was attacked this week. As the face of the Trump administration's intensified raids and arrests by US Immigration and Enforcement (ICE) agents, Kristi Noem has become a lightening rod in America, both loved and hated for her combative approach and her many viral media moments - some call her the 'ICE Barbie'. A former South Da...
Sep 27, 2025•15 min
Deborah Griffin is a pioneer of women's rugby. She played in the first known women's game in England in 1978 and helped create the first Women's Rugby World Cup in 1991. Having never picked up a rugby ball until she created a team at university in the late seventies, Griffin quickly became one of the sport’s most instrumental figures. The RFU originally had little interest in female teams, so Griffin and her rugby friends established a separate Women’s Rugby Football Union in 1983. The WRFU and ...
Sep 20, 2025•15 min
Peter Mandelson has been sacked from his role as British Ambassador to the US over his association with the late convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. It is the third time he has been forced to leave government. An instrumental part of Tony Blair’s landslide election victory in 1997, Mandelson was rewarded with a seat in the cabinet. But he was soon forced to resign as Business Secretary after failing to declare a six-figure loan from a fellow minister. His second resignation came in 2001 after ...
Sep 13, 2025•15 min
Zack Polanski scored a resounding victory in The Green Party leadership election on a platform promising bold communication and "eco-populism". Polanski has had an unorthodox path into politics, previously working as an actor, hypnotherapist and mental health counsellor. But he’s been dogged by a 2013 article in The Sun involving a reporter who claimed he helped her try to boost her bust size through the power of thought. Born in 1982, Polanski is gay and Jewish, and changed his name at 18 to em...
Sep 06, 2025•15 min
South African – born space physicist Michele Dougherty has been awarded the honorary title of Astronomer Royal. She becomes the first woman to hold the title in the 350 – year -old history of the role. Although her all-girls school in Durban did not offer science as an option, her father sparked her love for planetary science when he built a telescope in the back garden of the family home. After qualifying as a mathematician and moving to Germany for a fellowship, Dougherty changed focus and joi...
Aug 30, 2025•15 min
From Disney to Microsoft, via Vodafone and Virgin Media, Cindy Rose has been a top executive at some of the world’s best known companies. Born and raised in the US, one of her early passions was figure skating – a sport she confessed left her covered in bumps and bruises. After qualifying as a lawyer, she later switched to corporate roles, relocating to Europe then London. Her time at Disney included a shift dressed as Mickey Mouse’s loyal hound, Pluto, welcoming guests to the Californian theme ...
Jul 19, 2025•15 min
Piers Litherland has been called a modern-day Indiana Jones. He’s a former banker-turned-archaeologist who led the discovery of the lost tomb of Tutankhamun's relative, Thutmose II. As a child, Litherland was obsessed with Egypt. It was a passion that never left him, even as he pursued a career in finance. But it was only after a chance meeting with an eminent Egyptologist from Cambridge that he decided to ditch the office job and follow his heart. Since then, Litherland has headed a joint Anglo...
Jul 12, 2025•15 min
Zohran Mamdani is the Democratic candidate for New Yok City mayor after a stunning victory in the primary race. If he goes on to win the mayoral election in November he will become the first Muslim and Indian American to lead the nation's largest city. His nomination came as a shock to some in the mainstream Democratic party who worry his policies are too extreme and could alienate swing voters. Before turning to politics Mr Mamdani had a brief career in the music industry. Mark Coles interviews...
Jul 05, 2025•15 min
Charlie xcx is known to fans for her avant-garde, innovative approach to pop music. For many, the singer-songwriter, who’s won 5 BRIT awards and 3 Grammys, is one of the most influential figures in 21st century pop. Born Charlotte Aitchison in Cambridge in 1992 and raised in Essex, she was still at school when she began posting songs on MySpace and performing at warehouse raves, eventually landing a record deal in 2010. Her stage name, Charli xcx is a nod to her MSN screen name from when she was...
Jun 28, 2025•15 min
Current Director-General of Technology and Innovation, Blaise Metreweli, was recently appointed as the new chief of the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service, MI6. She’s the first woman to assume the role. She attended Westminster School, where she got a glimpse of leadership in her role as head girl. In 1995, she went on to study Anthropology at Cambridge University. Beyond the lecture halls, Blaise Metreweli was a keen sportswoman. In 1997, the Cambridge women's team she was in beat their rivals Ox...
Jun 21, 2025•14 min
Actress and disability campaigner, Liz Carr, is probably best known for her role as forensic examiner, Clarissa Mullery, in the TV crime drama, Silent Witness. She’s also done comedy, theatre and even written a musical, about what she calls ‘assisted suicide’. Last year she fronted the award-winning BBC TV documentary, Better Off Dead, making the case against assisted dying. Born and raised in Merseyside, Liz Carr became seriously ill when she was seven and has used a wheelchair since she was el...
Jun 14, 2025•14 min
Donald Trump calls Susie Wiles the “ice maiden” for her ability to stay cool under pressure. It’s an invaluable skill in her role as White House Chief of Staff - responsible for who has access to the President. Aged 68, Susie Wiles has spent more than 40 years in Republican politics – steering powerful men to elected office. She’s worked for US presidents, governors, mayors and Congress members. But she likes to stay out of the limelight. Most of her experience has been in Florida, where she’s h...
Jun 07, 2025•15 min
Tom Fletcher heads the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and has been at the forefront of recent efforts to deliver aid into Gaza. Last week, he was criticised for making inaccurate claims about the impact of the Israeli blockade. No stranger to tough jobs, he was previously a foreign policy advisor to three British Prime Ministers and the UK Ambassador to Lebanon as the country dealt with the civil war in neighbouring Syria. He once fought the mayor of Nairobi in a...
May 31, 2025•14 min
In April 2024 Rosemary Coogan became only the third person from the UK to qualify as an astronaut after completing basic training with the European Space Agency (ESA). Originally from Northern Ireland, she excelled academically and holds two master's degrees from Durham University and a PhD in astronomy from the University of Sussex. She became an ESA astronaut after a challenging selection process which whittled down 22,000 applicants. The agency hopes to send Rosemary to the International Spac...
May 24, 2025•15 min
Earlier this month the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was also made President Trump's National Security Advisor. The last person to undertake both roles simultaneously was Henry Kissinger in the 1970s. The son of Cuban immigrants, Mr Rubio has had a turbo-charged career; rising from junior positions in his home city of Miami, to the US Senate which he reached before he turned 40 and now a Cabinet position where he dominate US foreign policy. As a boy he dreamed of being President and he made ...
May 17, 2025•14 min
Reform UK triumphed in May’s local elections, winning many more council seats up for grabs than the other major parties. Behind the scenes, the party has gone through major changes. Millionaire businessman and donor Zia Yusuf was appointed chairman last summer, and has been credited with professionalising the party. The son of Sri Lankan immigrants, he made his money co-founding a luxury concierge business, before moving into politics; and all before the age of 40. But where do his ambitions lie...
May 10, 2025•14 min
President Trump shocked the world earlier this year when he announced plans to impose tariffs affecting nearly all goods entering America. But rather than coming as a surprise, the US President had made the policy one of the key cornerstones of his re-election campaign. He'd also implemented some tariffs during his first term in office too. Despite strong opposition to the move, President Trump enjoys the unflinching support of economist Peter Navarro, who is seen by many as the architect of the...
May 03, 2025•15 min
Canadians are gearing up to vote in a snap General Election. It's been called by Mark Carney, the former Governor of the Bank of England, who in recent months replaced Justin Trudeau as leader of Canada's ruling Liberal Party. Carney is hoping to receive a fresh mandate from the public, and face down US President Donald Trump, whose rhetoric towards America's neighbour in the north has become increasingly belligerent since returning to the White House. It's been a long journey for 60-year-old Ca...
Apr 26, 2025•15 min
Beloved Britpop band Pulp have released their first new music in almost a quarter of a century, the single 'Spike Island'. Their talismanic frontman Jarvis Cocker has always been the band's star turn, with his second-hand 70s style, mesmeric stage presence and biting lyrics. Following some difficult early years in his hometown of Sheffield, Cocker formed the band in 1978, but had to wait over a decade before breaking through on the crest of the Britpop wave in the mid-90s. The band released some...
Apr 19, 2025•15 min
Stephen Smith profiles the actor Lesley Manville, winner of a second Olivier theatre award. From growing up in Hove to her long-time collaboration with film-maker Mike Leigh, Manville has a reputation as the complete professional. With contributions from Mike Leigh, Director Rob Icke, Actor Tim McCullan, former teacher Julia Clarey, Observer critic Susannah Clapp and friend Rebecca Blond. Presenter: Stephen Smith Production Team: Bob Howard, Chloe Scannapieco, Devian Maside Editor: Max Deveson S...
Apr 12, 2025•15 min
Steve Witkoff started out as a New York lawyer, until a late night encounter with Donald Trump in a sandwich shop inspired him to move into real estate. Known as "Smoking Steve", he has amassed a property empire worth millions, become friends and golf buddies with Trump, and has now been appointed as his Middle East Envoy and go-to international negotiator and trouble shooter. To his critics he's dangerously unqualified and out of his depth. To his supporters, he's the straight-talking fresh pai...
Apr 05, 2025•15 min
