Sometime around midnight of September 17 1961, a plane approached an airstrip near Ndola in what was then northern Rhodesia. The plane was a DC6, and on board the second ever secretary general of the United Nations, an aristocratic Swede called Dag Hammarskjold. He was on his way to try and mediate a war in the Congo, but the plane crashed and Hammarskjold was killed. Was it an accident? The debate continues to this day. Joining Matthew Parris to discuss the life and death of Hammarskjold are th...
Aug 26, 2016•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Comedian Sara Pascoe champions the life of Virginia Woolf, author of 'Mrs Dalloway' and 'A Room of One's Own', describing her as a sensible feminist. Sara explains why she thinks if she were alive today, Woolf would be a comedian, and how through her diaries and letters she's discovered the witty, manic and egotistical Virginia. Presenter Matthew Parris confesses to struggling with her work. Professor Alexandra Harris is the expert. Producer: Toby Field First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2...
Aug 16, 2016•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Alex Salmond chooses Thomas Muir for Great Lives, whom he describes as the Father of Scottish Democracy. "I have devoted myself to the cause of The People. It is a good cause - it shall ultimately prevail - it shall finally triumph." (Thomas Muir) Born in 1765, Thomas Muir trained as a lawyer and spent much of his early years advocating political reform and greater representation. These views brought him to the attention of the authorities who tried and convicted him of "unconscious sedition". S...
Aug 09, 2016•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast A singer, comedian, music hall and film star from Rochdale, Gracie Fields was the nation’s darling. But in the midst of World War II, and at the phenomenal peak of her career, our great life fell in love and married an Italian and had to flee to America. She was disowned by the British public who called her a deserter and she was slated in every newspaper. Championing this week’s Great Life is businesswoman and TV personality Hilary Devey known to viewers of BBC 2's Dragons' Den and Channel 4's ...
Aug 02, 2016•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Frank Turner chooses Joseph Grimaldi, the first celebrity of Pantomime who changed the face of Clowning forever. Matthew Parris presents, and Mattie Faint is the expert. Grimaldi was born into a theatrical family, making his stage debut aged two dressed as a monkey and being flung around the stage on the end of a chain by his tyrannical father. The chain snapped but Grimaldi survived, making the papers and turning Grimaldi into a little celebrity. His performances as 'Clown', combining acrobatic...
May 31, 2016•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast George Fox, born in 1624 in Leicestershire, is best known as the founder of the Quakers. In early life he was apprenticed to a shoemaker, and for a while he worked as a shepherd as well. But it was as a preacher travelling widely across the land that he made his name, and also received the most abuse. As he writes: "... the people fell upon me in great rage, struck me down and almost stifled and smothered me. And I was cruelly beaten and bruised by them with their hands, Bibles and sticks." Nomi...
May 24, 2016•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Gordon Hamilton-Fairley was a brilliant cancer specialist, the father of oncology in the UK. Then in 1975 he was killed by an IRA bomb intended for a politician who lived in his street. Former editor of the Daily Telegraph Charles Moore chooses a man cut down in his prime. Joining him in the studio are three members of the Hamilton-Fairley family; plus the cancer specialist Ray Powles, who provides a compelling picture of how basic treatment for cancer sufferers used to be. Presenter: Matthew Pa...
May 17, 2016•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Richard the Lionheart has been portrayed on screen by Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins and Patrick Stewart, quite a starry list. But what is the reality behind the legend of this famous king? Richard's nominator is Timmy Mallett, a legend of children's TV but also unexpectedly a history graduate. Great historical characters, he says, have great stories attached to them, and Richard's life was not short of adventure, particularly on the Third Crusade. Applying a cool head to Richard's life is the hi...
May 16, 2016•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Lt-Gen Sir Graeme Lamb, former head of British special forces, champions the life of wartime spy Christine Granville, assisted by her biographer Clare Mulley. Christine, born Kristina Skarbek, was a glamorous swashbuckling heroine who skied into occupied Poland to distribute Allied propaganda, and parachuted into southern France to work with the Resistance after D Day. Murdered after the war by a jilted lover, she is little known today - thanks partly to the efforts of a group of men she had bee...
May 03, 2016•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast She was known as 'the grand old lady of Indian cinema' who starred in many Bollywood films famous in India, but not at first in Britain. We got to know her best in her later years when Zohra Sehgal starred in the TV series – 'The Jewel in The Crown' and films such as 'Bend it like Beckham'. When interviewed aged 101 and asked what she had enjoyed most in her life she said 'Sex, sex and more sex '. Nominating this week's Great Life is actress and playwright Sudha Bhuchar who along with the expert...
Apr 26, 2016•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast To his followers Lenny Bruce was a genius and a free speech hero. To his detractors he was labelled sick and dirty. Bruce shocked his audiences intentionally. In his uncompromisingly frank humour he took on organized religion, government, jingoism, capitalism, the death penalty, war, and sexual mores. But he was eventually destroyed by the battle he fought with the US justice system. The comedian, Ray Peacock nominates Lenny Bruce as his great life as he regards him as a pioneer in stand-up. Alo...
Apr 21, 2016•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nancy Dell'Olio champions Lucrezia Borgia, a Renaissance woman who was much maligned. Lucrezia Borgia was the Pope's daughter and, over the centuries, her name has been a byword for poison, incest and intrigue. Novels, television series, plays and an opera have been written about her. But was she just a victim of malicious gossip that vastly exaggerated her actual misdeeds? Nancy Dell'Olio explains why she identifies with Lucrezia Borgia and with the help of historian Sarah Dunant attempts to de...
Apr 21, 2016•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Anthony Horowitz regards Alfred Hitchcock as a genius who changed the language of cinema and made some of the most memorable films of the 20th century. However, the film director is also seen as a troubled man who was at times abusive towards some of his leading ladies. The expert witness is Nathalie Morris; Senior Curator at the BFI, National Archive. Presenter: Matthew Parris Producer: Perminder Khatkar First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2016.
Apr 07, 2016•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Former director of MI5, Eliza Manningham-Buller, tells Matthew Parris why she regards Abraham Lincoln as a great life. But will her hero stand up to intensive scrutiny and merit the description of having led a great life? The expert is Dr Tony Hutchison, from the American Studies Department at the University of Nottingham. The producer is Perminder Khatkar. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016.
Jan 26, 2016•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Musician and performer Nitin Sawhney champions the life of Jeff Buckley who he regards as a genius singer, songwriter. The expert is Steve Abbott who was a friend of Buckley's and released his debut record. Presenter: Matthew Parris Producer: Perminder Khatkar. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016.
Jan 20, 2016•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Biographical series in which guests select someone who has inspired their lives. Comedian Susan Calman chooses the Scottish actress Molly Weir. Molly began her long career on BBC radio before moving into TV and becoming one of the first Scottish female voices on national media in the 1950s. She memorably mopped floors for many years in a long-running series of TV commercials. Presented by Matthew Parris. Producers: Maggie Ayre & Perminder Khatkar. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 20...
Jan 13, 2016•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, you might not know the name of the Great Life but you have probably walked past his work. At London's Hyde Park Corner - the 'Royal Artillery Memorial' stands – a huge stone monument. Charles Sargeant Jagger was arguably the first British sculptor to try to capture the horror of war. A full-sized gun – a 9.2 howitzer protrudes from the top; four masculine soldiers surround the base – one a corpse. Martin Jennings also a British sculptor, nominates Jagger as his Great Life. Along...
Jan 05, 2016•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Matthew Parris's guest this week is the epidemiologst Precious Lunga, who nominates for Great Life status that of the Kenyan environmental activist Wangari Muta Maathai. In the course of her life, Professor Maathai made a huge contribution to re-establishing environmental integrity to Kenya by working with the women who lived there. She founded the Green Belt Movement and became a politician. In 2004 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The expert witness is Maggie Baxter from the Green Belt M...
Jan 04, 2016•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Alvin Hall is the friendly face of financial reality, lecturing, writing and broadcasting on the subject of managing money. But he is also passionately interested in fine art, music and literature, and his nomination for a Great Life is that of writer and Civil Rights activist, James Baldwin. Baldwin was born in 1924 in Harlem and his achievements in overcoming a difficult start in life were prodigious. For much of his life he lived outside the United States, returning in the late 1950s to suppo...
Dec 22, 2015•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Matthew Parris invites fashion designer Roger Saul, who created the Mulberry brand, to nominate a great life. He has chosen the early 20th century garden designer Gertrude Jekyll whose beautiful gardens instilled in him a love of plants and landscaping. Inspired by William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement, together with architect Edward Lutyens, Gertrude Jekyll designed many great gardens including Hestercombe in Somerset and at her home in Surrey. Producer: Maggie Ayre First broadcast on...
Dec 16, 2015•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Harold 'Dickie' Bird, now retired but one of our best known cricket umpires champions the life of Sir Leonard Hutton. According to Dickie, this Yorkshireman is one of the greatest opening batsmen of all time, who made history by becoming the first professional England captain. Joining him, the Sunday Times cricket correspondent and author Simon Wilde. Matthew Parris is the presenter. Producer: Perminder Khatkar First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.
Dec 08, 2015•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Toyah Willcox chooses the actress and Hollywood legend, Katharine Hepburn. Dubbed an 'oddity' and 'box office poison', Hepburn liked to goad the press and public with her eccentric behaviour and unconventional love life. Her Hollywood career spanned six decades, during which she starred alongside other Hollywood greats, including James Stewart, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart and Spencer Tracy. The four time Oscar award-winning actress is championed by singer and actress Toyah Willcox - who met and ...
Sep 29, 2015•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week's Great Life might have become an Afrikaner Nationalist Prime Minister of apartheid South Africa, but instead became its most prominent white opponent. A formidable advocate, he led the defence of Nelson Mandela in the Rivonia Trial. It is no exaggeration to say Bram Fischer saved Mandela's life, and it is said Mandela would have made him his vice-president, had he lived to see Mandela's release. He's nominated by former English High Court Judge Sir Nick Stadlen along with Lord Joffe. ...
Sep 22, 2015•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hannah Rothschild champions the life of the jazz musician Thelonious Monk. Brilliant, eccentric and one of the true giants of jazz, Monk was an incredible pianist, the composer of jazz standards such as 'Round Midnight', the co-creator of bebop and a close friend of Hannah's great-aunt, the Jazz Baroness Nica Rothschild. Matthew Parris chairs as Hannah and music writer Richard Williams chart Monk's progress through the jazz clubs and recording studios of mid-twentieth century New York. Producer:...
Sep 15, 2015•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sir Richard Francis Burton was an explorer, adventurer, soldier, author, poet, sexologist and translator. He brought us the Kama Sutra and spoke 29 languages. The author Monica Ali champions this racy character and tells Matthew Parris why this 19th-century explorer is a Great Life. They are also joined by historian and broadcaster Matthew Ward. Producer: Perminder Khatkar. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.
Sep 01, 2015•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast George Washington Williams was an incredibly early, mould-breaking, self-made black intellectual who fought in the American civil war and went on to write the first history of African Americans. He met King Leopold of Belgium and exposed that country's treatment of Africans under Belgian colonial rule. Nominating the life of George Washington Williams is television presenter, and former Paralympic medallist, Ade Adepitan. The expert witness is Dr David Brown, Senior Lecturer in American Studies ...
Aug 25, 2015•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Matthew Parris meets the former leader of the Conservative Party Michael Howard to discuss the life of Elizabeth I of England. They're joined by Professor Paulina Kewes of Jesus College Oxford. Producer: Maggie Ayre First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.
Aug 19, 2015•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Matthew Parris's guest is Vicky Pryce, the Greek born economist, who attracted media headlines on her conviction over speeding points incurred by her former husband, Chris Huhne. Vicky has chosen the film star turned politician, Melina Mercouri who believed culture to be as important as money or power - if not more so. As Minister for Culture, she promoted Greece's cultural heritage and fought for the return of the Elgin Marbles. Some consider one her greatest achievements to be the founding of ...
Aug 11, 2015•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast On May 29 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Everest. Both men immediately became famous worldwide. Actor Sir Ian McKellen, then a young teenager in Burnley, was clearly struck by the achievement. In later life he met Hillary in New Zealand and has strong memories of a modest man whose first job was beekeeping. Hillary also took a tractor to the South Pole in 1958 and became High Commissioner to India in 1985 "I did a good job on Everest," Hillary once said, "but have ...
Aug 04, 2015•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Val McDermid thinks crime writing is most definitely a suitable job for a woman. She believes women are good at observing the minutiae of life and incorporating them into clue development. Despite writing a book entitled 'An Unsuitable Job For A Woman', PD James evidently thought the same. Val McDermid discusses her grea life with the help of James's friend, the literary critic Peter Kemp. Presented by Matthew Parris. Producer: Maggie Ayre First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2015....
Jun 02, 2015•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
