Great Lives

Naji al-Ali was one of the best known cartoonists in the Arab world. His creation, a little boy called Handala, always stands with his back to the viewer, hands behind his back, watching whatever Naji al-Ali has drawn. He's been picked by the Pulitzer prize winning data journalist Mona Chalabi - but is she picking the artist, or his creation, the observant little boy? Joining Mona in studio to discuss a life that was cut short is the cartoonist Martin Rowson. Naji al-Ali was assassinated in London in 1987 at just fifty years of age. The case remains unresolved. A powerful programme that includes the voice of Naji al-Ali's son plus news archive from 1987 and 2017, the thirtieth anniversary of his death.The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde

"Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety." She's the most famous character in antiquity, made more famous by Shakespeare and Hollywood films. But this Cleopatra is not the one Kate Williams has come to nominate. She wants to move from the cliches and reclaim her as an astute politician determined to keep Egypt from falling to Rome. The discussion includes Professor of Egyptology Joyce Tyldesley and is presented by Matthew Parris.The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde

Ade Edmondson - star of The Young Ones, The Comic Strip Presents, Bottom and much more besides - chooses the singer Sandy Denny. "I think a large part of my Englishness comes from Sandy Denny," he says of the singer perhaps best known for her work with Fairport Convention. The programme includes archive of Richard Thompson, Mick Houghton and Sandy herself, plus help from Patrick Humphries, who interviewed Sandy Denny shortly before her early death aged just 31.The producer for BBC Studios is Miles Warde

Tony Garnett was born in Birmingham and, after a brief career as an actor, found a new role behind the scenes of The Wednesday Play. These rapidly gained a reputation in the sixties for social realism, and together with Ken Loach and Roger Smith, Tony produced short, pioneering films that are still famous today. Cathy Come Home was a shocking expose of homelessness, while Up The Junction contained a trip to the abortionist that drew hundreds of complaints. Tony's own mother had died following an illegal backstreet abortion, and his father committed suicide shortly after. Ken Loach reckons that tragedy hung over him his whole life.Nominating Tony Garnett is Harry Bradbeer, winner of multiple awards for his involvement in series such as Fleabag and Killing Eve. He worked with Tony Garnett on the hit nineties tv series about young lawyers in London, This Life. Also contributing to this special episode of Great Lives are Susanna Capon, who was a trainee script editor on The Wednesday Play; and Ken Loach himself, now almost ninety and interviewed in his current hometown of Bath by producer Miles Warde. The presenter is Matthew Parris and Great Lives is a BBC Studios production in Bristol.

Peter Cook was at the centre of the satire boom of the early sixties, both on stage with Beyond the Fringe and with his Soho club, The Establishment. Later he became a famous double act with Dudley Moore, and was also less well known as Lord Gnome, the proprietor of Private Eye."I can't believe that after 600 episodes of Great Lives, no one has ever nominated him before."A funny half hour on the life of Peter Cook, featuring archive of him both young and old. Jon Harvey makes the case for this comedy great along with the voices of biographer Harry Thompson, Jonathan Miller, Ian Hislop, Richard Ingrams, and - in an interview from 1993 - Chris Morris. Also includes an extract of The Strange Death of the Establishment from Radio 4 in 2004The producer for BBC Studios is Miles Warde

Writer and podcaster Coco Khan nominates the little-known but formidable Edith Garrud, a woman who turned Edwardian expectations on their head. A pioneer of ‘Suffrajitsu’, she taught women Japanese martial arts so they could defend themselves from arrest. Joining Coco is Dr Naomi Paxton, who brings Edith Garrud to life as a woman who promoted her cause through public performance.The programme was produced by Hannah Hufford.

"Gladstone became prime minister at 82, and not as a figurehead. That is the Gladstone who has inspired me." Trevor Lyttleton.Born in 1809, William Gladstone's political life straddled the century - he moved from the tories to the liberal party, was Chancellor of the exchequer and became Prime Minister an unequalled four times. Queen Victoria didn't like him, but campaigner Trevor Lyttleton sees him as a champion for the amazing abilities of older people everywhere. Trevor is the founder of Re-Engage, a long running charity which aims to conquer loneliness among the elderley.Joining Trevor and Matthew Parris in studio is Dr Ruth Windscheffel from York St John University.

HE Bates is probably best known for the Darling Buds of May and Fair Stood the Wind for France, but Alistair McGowan is surprised that he is not known for his short stories, which he believes are the best ever written. "To me it's a minor literary tragedy that he is so little known and so little trumpeted." Joining him in studio is HE Bates' granddaughter, Vicky Wicks; and from South Africa his son, Richard Bates who was executive producer of the wildly successful tv adaptations of the Darling Buds of May starring David Jason. The programme also includes Bates own voice plus an extract from Fair Stood the Wind for France, his second world war novel about a British plane that crash lands in German occupied France.Produced in Bristol for BBC Studios by Miles Warde

She influenced Elvis, Johnny Cash, Churck Berry, Little Richard and host of British blues acts of the 1960s. Sister Rosetta Tharpe, with her Gibson SG and wondrous voice, was a pioneer, and she's been nominated for Great Lives by Beverley Knight, singing star turned west end actress. The programme also features the great Joe Boyd, who was tour manager of the Blues and Gospel Caravan that came to Britain in 1964 with Sister Rosetta and Muddy Waters too. This is a show you have to hear. Also features archive of Little Richard, Dionne Warwick, and Sister Rosetta's biographer Gayle Wald, author of Shout, Sister, Shout!Beverley Knight's hits include Shoulda Coulda Woulda and she won an Olivier award for her role as Emmeline Pankhurts in Sylvia at the Old Vic in London; she is currently appearing in Marie and Rosetta in the West End. The presenter is Matthew Parris, the producer Miles Warde.Future guests on the series include Alistair McGowan, Coco Khan, Ade Edmondson and Count Binface who has picked Peter Cook.

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa was a Roman general best known for his military victories, but he also helped rebuild Rome, providing aqueducts, statues and the original Pantheon. Nominating him is Dr Daisy Dunn, author of The Missing Thread, who dubs him ancient Rome's king of cement. Joining her is Dr Shushma Malik from Cambridge University who throws light on the man who won the battle of Actium and was for many years second in command to the emperor Augustus.The programme is presented by historian Helen Carr and was produced in Bristol by Miles Warde.

Matthew Parris invites a fellow Radio 4 presenter into the studio to nominate a Great Life. Dr Sian Williams, who as well as a broadcaster is a counselling psychologist chooses Anna Freud, daughter of Sigmund and considered by many to be the founder of psychoanalytic child psychology.Anna Freud was born in Vienna in 1895, the youngest child of Sigmund Freud and Martha Bernays. She was brought up in a city alive with pioneering culture and with a father at the forefront of new work in psychoanalysis. Although the youngest of the family, Anna had a close relationship with her father, sitting in on his psychoanalysis meetings from a young age before the conservative limitations of the time lead her into teaching. After the trauma of the 1st World War she started a nursery in VIenna that sought to help the young children of the poorest members of society. With the Anschluss of Austria in 1938 she was arrested by the Gestapo but freed. It was enough to persuade her father, who was dying of cancer, to take the family out of the country. They settled in London but Sigmund died soon after. With the onset of war, and in a completely new environment, Anna rekindled her work with the launch of the Hampstead Nurseries. Again the aim was to provide support and help for very young children who's parents had either been killed or were away in the armed forces. The nurseries pioneered a supportive, observational system, giving children the space to express themselves in play and without the threat of punishment. Her reputation survives her in the form of the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families.Matthew and Sian are joined by Nick Midgley, Professor of Psychological Therapies for Children and Young People in the Research Department of Clinical, Educational, and Health Psychology at University College London as well as working at Anna Freud.Producer; Tom Alban

Matthew Paris is joined by the pianist and broadcaster Keelan Carew, who nominates the Great Life of the early 20th century composer Nicolai Medtner.It’s often the case that in a world of strong contenders, there are 'Great Lives' hidden by the scale and success of their contemporaries. That’s certainly a case that can be made in the case of Nicolai Medtner. Born towards the end of the 19th century in Moscow he followed in the immediate footsteps of Sergei Rachmaninov who would state later in life that 'in my opinion, [Medtner] was the greatest composer of our time.' Many have begged to differ since, but Medtner's was undoubtedly an extraordinary life and he has a particular hold over pianists stretching back over the last hundred years. After the Russian revolution Rachmaninov himself would help and support Medtner as he tried to establish himself in the west. However, where Rachmaninov acceded to the requests made of him, Medtner was fiercely conservative in his tastes at a time when modernism held sway in Europe. To help tell his story Matthew and Keelan are joined by pianist and composer, Francis Pott, another Medtner enthusiast who has explored a life that took Nicolai from pre-revolutionary Russia to a house in north London where he eventually settled in the 1930s. His reputation and output might have languished were it not for the support of the Maharajah of Mysore, who founded the Medtner society and funded the recording of many of Medtner's works including his piano concertos and songs, the former played by the now elderly composer. As well as the music, illustrated from the keyboard by Keelan himself, Nicolai's personal life involved marrying the wife of his brother. The three lived together for many years. We also hear from the last person who knew Medtner and recalls taking the composer on countryside trips in the 1950s where he loved nothing better than to sit by the river Thames eating ice-cream.Producer: Tom Alban

Born Joan Molinsky in 1933, Joan Rivers shot to fame on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, who she later infuriated by hosting a late night chat show of her own. Comedian and writer Helen Lederer, author of Not That I Am Bitter, picks Joan for her fearless ability to take on the men, particularly those who interviewed her. "In 1984 I went to see an Audience with Joan Rivers, and she was like this angel with blonde hair and glitter ... with gags, with content, ferocious, aggressive, intelligent."Joining the discussion from New York is the critic Joe Queenan, twice a guest on Joan Rivers' show. "She told the audience in no uncertain terms, you better laugh at everything he says. She radiated this affection, she was great."Presented by Kirsty Lang and produced in Bristol by Miles Warde for BBC Studios.

Johnny Green was a hippy, a driver, a writer, a father and the road manager of The Clash. He wrote about this experience in a memorable book, A Riot of Our Own. Then he found a new passion, cycling, and so he wrote Push Yourself a Little Bit More: Backstage at the Tour de France. Both books are gonzo and stylish, as was Johnny Green. Nominating him is John Cooper Clarke, punk poet and bard of Salford, who hired Johnny as his driver and gentleman travelling companion on the road. "I think about him every day," he says.With contributions from Topper Headen, drummer with The Clash; plus Chris Salewicz the author of Redemption Song, a biography of Joe Strummer. He says Strummer helped Johnny Green financially with his cycling book. There are multiple, memorable contributions from Johnny Green himself, who was an occasional visitor to Radio 4; and joining John Cooper Clarke and Matthew Parris in studio are two of his daughters, Polly and Ruby Broad.The producer is Miles Warde who also produced Fear and Loathing in Harrogate. This was a Radio 4 show about a group of punk poets responding to the opening day of the Tour de France.

Christine de Pizan was born in Italy but most of her life was spent in Paris, where her father was astrologer to the King of France. After her husband died she was left alone to bring up her three children. Christine's most famous work is The Book of the City of Ladies, and historian Helen Carr says she has been inspired by her ever since seeing one of her manuscripts in the British Library. Joining her on stage at the Gloucester History Festival is Christine's biographer Charlotte Cooper-Davis for a lively recording about an important character who was definitely ahead of her time.The producer for BBC Studios is Miles Warde

After a childhood in care in Surrey, Alex Wheatle was moved to a hostel in Brixton aged fourteen. Later he was involved in the riots and given a prison sentence, events which were covered in one of the Small Axe anthology of films by Steve McQueen. But it is Wheatle's writing career that has prompted Ashley John Baptiste to pick him for Great Lives - and his success was rapid and inspiring before his early death in 2025. Joining Ashley in this celebration of the life and career of the Brixton Bard is Lemn Sissay and Vanessa Walters, author of Rude Girls and The Nigerwife.Includes archive of Alex Wheatle MBE at the Hay Festival in 2024 and on Graham Norton's radio show. The producer for BBC Studios in Bristol is Miles Warde

"It was brilliant to read some of the old techniques the Spitfire test pilots were using, and in some respects test pilot flying isn't that different today, but we don't have to do everything by notebook and pencil and stopwatch." Tim PeakeJeffrey Quill was born in 1913, and flew the Spitfire prototype in 1936. Tim Peake was born in 1972 and was launched into space exactly ten years ago, on December 15 2015. Joining him in studio is the aviation historian Dr Victoria Taylor. The story of Jeffrey Quill's inspiring life includes archive of Raymond Baxter and Quill himself.This is series 67 of Great Lives and future programmes focus on Joan Rivers, Marcus Agrippa, and Johnny Green, road manager with The Clash. Presented by Matthew Parris and produced in Bristol by Miles Warde

"Postgate's work is deep inside me and I think that's true for so many of my generation...His work represents nothing less than a touchstone for our national imagination and in that sense it's profoundly important"Andrew Davenport, writer, composer, and creator of Teletubbies and In the Night Garden, nominates Oliver Postgate, who, along with his Smallfilms business partner, the artist Peter Firmin, invented the children's television shows Ivor the Engine, The Clangers and, perhaps most loved of all, Bagpuss.Postgate was a late bloomer. Following Dartington school (which he hated) a stint in jail and working the land, several odd jobs and even odder inventions, he eventually discovered a love of stop-motion animation and created some of the most enduring worlds and best-loved characters in television, all from a cowshed in Kent.Including clips of his programmes, contributions from singer and musician Sandra Kerr. and archive from Postgate's 2007 Desert Island Discs interview.With cultural historian Matthew Sweet. Produced by Ellie Richold. Presented by Matthew Parris.

Lucy Jones, author of Matrescence, chooses the writer Sylvia Plath. Sylvia Plath was a precocious, prize-winning child,. Her mother had high expectations for her. Her father had died when she was 8 (but could have been saved if only he'd gone to see a doctor). When she was well, Plath was energetic, fun, bright, attractive, funny and incredibly smart.Her first depressive episode at the age of 20, was 'treated' with botched electric shock therapy. She was awake throughout the ordeal, which left her terrified and traumatised.Lucy Jones believes that Plath has an unfair reputation as a depressing writer, because of the shadow that her suicide casts backwards over her life. But Jones finds Plath's poetry incredibly alive, brave, comforting and inspiring. "I don't think I would have been able to write Matrescence without Plath's work"Both Lucy Jones and Plath's biographer, Heather Clark, believe that at the end of her life, recently separated and struggling through a particularly bad winter with two very small children, she may have been suffering from post-natal depression.With archive recordings of Sylvia Plath reading her poems Daddy and Mushrooms, as well as being interviewed with Ted Hughes.Produced in Bristol by Ellie Richold and presented by Matthew Parris

"One of the things that she claimed was that her mother had been impregnated by the sun god Amon-Ra." Elizabeth Day's interest in the female pharaoh Hatshepsut was sparked by a trip to Egypt less than a year ago. What intrigued her was how this woman survived and thrived as ruler in a traditionally male role. Joining her in discussion is Professor Joyce Tyldesley, recent winner of archaeologist of the year. She says that Hatshepsut changed her life when she wrote her biography. Matthew Parris presents.Elizabeth Day is the author of six novels and host of How to Fail. The producer for BBC Studios in Bristol is Miles Warde

"The area I mostly work in is generally known as free - the free music area. And free is one of those four letter words, like rock or jazz or punk maybe. It started out meaning something." Derek BaileyBorn in 1930 in Sheffield, Bailey worked as a session musician in dance bands and orchestras before turning his back on that world. Free improvisation was where he made his name, and he took inspiration from whatever he heard. Stewart Lee first heard him in the 1990s and spoke at his funeral in 2005."Are there any parallels between his approach and yours?" "There probably are ... in that I've copied him."Also contains the voices of Ian Greaves and Tim Fletcher, a brief clip of Mastermind, and a recording of Derek Bailey's collaborator in the Joseph Holbrooke Trio, Gavin Bryars. Stewart Lee is a comedian and writer, the presenter is Matthew Parris and the producer for BBC Studios is Miles Warde. We regret that this description barely scrapes the surface of the wonder of this episode - the ideas, the music, the archive, the brief row.

Jock Stein, first British football manager to win the European Cup, picked by composer Sir James MacMillan and aided by Jock Stein’s biographer, Archie MacPherson. Jock Stein was manager of Celtic FC when they won the European Cup in Lisbon in 1967. He later died while managing Scotland in a world cup qualifier against Wales – the date, September 1985, exactly forty years ago."I saw in my grandfather and my father certain characteristics that I saw in Jock Stein." Sir James MacMillanIncludes archive of Jock Stein, Gordon Strachan and Billy Connolly, a big fan of the European Cup winning Celtic team.Archie MacPherson is the author of Jock Stein: The Definitive Autobiography, and a familiar face to viewers of Scottish football in the eighties and nineties and beyond. The presenter is Matthew Parris and the producer for BBC Studios is Miles Warde

Matthew Parris heads to the house where Benjamin Franklin lived for almost 17 years to meet banker and philanthropist John Studzinski.Franklin was born in Boston when it was still a part of the British empire, ran away to Philadelphia and lodged near Charing Cross at 36 Craven Street in London for over a decade. He was an agent for the Pennsylvania assembly, and also an ambassador to Paris where he helped persuade the French to join the breakaway American states in their war against the British. His nominator John Studzinski is chair of the board that runs the Benjamin Franklin House in London and says that he would have loved to have been the great man's apprentice. Joining the conversation is Professor Kathleen Burk who admires Franklin the enlightened writer but is less sure about his treatment of his wife. Kathleen Burk is author of Old World, New World: Great Britain and America from the Beginning.The producer for BBC Studios Audio in Bristol is Miles Warde

"I find his novels extraordinarily beautiful .. and they're an excellent length."Miles Jupp picks an author he loves, but knows little about. JL Carr was born in Yorkshire and was a teacher, mapmaker, and an eccentric. Joining the comedian in studio to discuss Carr is a man who knew him well - DJ Taylor - who paints a picture of a man who hated London literary parties and knew how to have fun with anyone sent to interview him. A delightful episode that includes archive of Carr himself, plus Kenneth Branagh reading from his biography, God's Englishman by Byron Rogers. Carr's novel - A Month in the Country - was shortlisted for the Booker and turned into a film starring Kenneth Branagh, Colin Firth and Natasha Richardson in 1987.The producer for BBC Studios in Bristol is Miles Warde

Today's great life is possibly more famous as a Shakespearean character - King Richard II who was deposed by his cousin Henry Bolingbroke in 1399. He's been chosen by historian Helen Castor, author of The Eagle and the Hart, who shines a light on what really happened towards the end of his reign. Also helping is Professor Emma Smith who explains why the play was a hit two hundred years later under Elizabeth I. With archive of John Hurt as Richard and David Suchet as his cousin and usurper, Henry Bolingbroke.The producer for BBC Studios Audio in Bristol is Miles Warde

DJ Deb Grant picks US mailman turned country-folk singer John Prine, whose beautiful songs captured the world in which he lived. Bob Harris, who first met him on the Old Grey Whistle Test, adds to the conversation."I came to know him through him speaking about his own music - it's his character, his personality and his attitude that I fell for," says Deb Grant. "When he died I was absolutely inconsolable."Programme includes archive of John and his wife, talking after her husband died of complications arising from covid. There's also a reading of the lyrics from Sam Stone, his tale of a Vietnam vet returning from the war. "There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes," he sings.This is series 67 of Great Lives and future guests include Miles Jupp, Stewart Lee and Elizabeth Day.The producer for BBC Studios Audio in Bristol is Miles Warde

Seretse Khama was born in 1921 in Bechuanaland when it was still a British Protectorate. In 1966 he became Botswana's first president. In between he married a white Londoner, Ruth Williamson, was exiled by the British, and made to renounce his interest in succeeding as head of the Bangwato. It's an extraordinary and notable life, and he's been nominated by Professor Mike Bode, an astrophysicist and visiting professor to Botswana. As well as archive of Seretse Khama, the programme includes contributions from Bishop Trevor Mwamba and Susan Williams, author of Colour Bar: The Triumph of Seretse Khama and His Nation.The producer for BBC Studios Audio in Bristol is Miles Warde

For over a hundred years no one thought too much about the origins of the RSPB, but among its founders was a woman in Didsbury opposed to the use of feathers in fashionable hats. Emily Williamson was outraged by the widespread slaughter of egrets and the crested grebe. She had tried to join the all-male British Ornithological Union, and when that failed she established her own Society for the Protection of Birds. Nominating Emily is Hannah Bourne-Taylor, author of Fledgling and Nature Needs You, which is about her own campaign for the introduction of swift bricks into all new buildings. Helping Hannah discover more about this little known life is author Tessa Boase, who discovered Emily's role; plus Beccy Speight the current head of the RSPB. Matthew Parris presents. The producer in Bristol for BBC Studios Audio in Miles Warde.

Rock Icon Tina Turner proposed by the actress and author Rebecca Humphries. Tina Turner began life as Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tennessee, joining Ike Turner's band in St Louis at the age of 17. Her presence, her performances and her voice captivated audiences, but this is really a story of triumph over abuse. After she left Ike Turner with nothing but her name, she built a successful solo career in her 40s and rose to become one of the best-selling artists of all time, filling arena into her 70s. Tina Turner is nominated by Rebecca Humphries. Presented by Matthew Parris, produced in Bristol for BBC Studios Audio by Ellie Richold

The chef Raymond Blanc nominates his mentor and friend, the physicist Professor Nicholas Kurti. Kurti was born in Hungary but fled to Oxford when Hitler came to power. Pushing the frontiers of low-temperature physics during his career, he went on to create‘molecular gastronomy’ in retirement. Raymond Blanc approached Kurti after a lecture the professor gave in his 80s. Blanc asked to help him understand the science behind his trials with leaky puff pastry and souffles that wouldn’t rise. Kurti agreed and so began a friendship of fun and great respect. As Raymond Blanc says; “Imagine! Two complete geniuses!” Raymond Blanc also promises to give Matthew “The best steak of your life”.Presented by Matthew Parris and produced by Ellie Richold in Bristol for BBC Studios Audio

At the age of 10 Dervla Murphy was given an atlas and a bicycle, and so began an adventurous life. Her account of a journey to India became a classic called Full Tilt but she also went to Cuba, Ethiopia and the Andes where our guest first met her in a doss house. Hilary Bradt is the founder of the Bradt Travel Guides and is picking Dervla Murphy as a great example of the adventurous female traveller, never afraid of a little hardship. Joining her in studio is Rose Baring who edited Dervla's last three books. A joyful episode which includes some excellent archive of Dervla Murphy plus the writer Antonia Quirke.The producer for BBC studios Audio in Bristol is Miles Warde

We don't even know if Ned Ludd was real, but perhaps that was the point. "You could say he was everyone and no one - and that's what made him so terrifying for the authorities." Leader of the Luddites, who often signed letters and proclamations Ned Ludd, he is shown in one engraving wearing mismatched shoes and a blue polka dot dress, suggesting a world turned upside down. He's been picked by the popular historian Alex von Tunzelmann, and joining her in studio to discuss Ned and the Luddites (and the neo-Luddites too) is Katrina Navickas, historian of protest; plus the playwright Joe Ward-Munrow who recently staged The Legend of Ned Ludd at the Liverpool Playhouse.Alex von Tunzelmann is the author of Fallen Idols and presenter of The Lucan Obsession on Radio 4. The presenter is Matthew Parris and the producer for BBC Studios Audio in Bristol is Miles Warde

Richey was, beautiful says Cummins, a natural icon and a gift to photograph. He also believes his writing has been overshadowed by the fact of his disappearance in 1995. "I think nobody has looked beyond that for quite a long time.”Manic Street Preachers biographer, Simon Price, also knew Richey Edwards and says he was "the most intelligent rock star I've ever met".This programme covers alcoholism, anorexia, and self-harm, but it also celebrates Richey’s sensitivity and, as Price says, the fact that he is one of those "icons of alienation" like Ian Curtis and Kurt Cobain who will " always be there for people to discover the genius of his work".Presented by Matthew Parris and produced for BBC Studios by Ellie Richold.

Biography show in which the guest picks someone they admire. Benny Hill is a thorny choice but playwright Jonathan Maitland is determined that - despite accusations of sexism and racism later in his career - Britain's most successful comedian deserves a second look. Benny was fired by Thames TV in 1989. "The show was past its sell-by date," was the official line. Critics had been questioning The Benny Hill Show for almost a decade, but in the 1950s and 1960s he was seen as a pioneer, particular for his work on TV. Joining the discussion is the comedian and writer Helen Lederer, bringing a little nuance to the show. Contains archive of Ruth Jones, Barry Cryer, David Cameron and Benny himself.The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde

“Henrietta's eyes looked into one's soul at the same time exposing her own. She posed for me most Mondays for the last seven months until two days before she died.” In a raw and very funny opener to the new series of Great Lives, painter and sculptor Maggi Hambling chooses someone she knew extremely well - her lover Henrietta Moraes. Born in India, Henrietta was rejected by both her parents and the grandmother she grew up with in Britain. She found a new home in post war Soho, was painted by Francis Bacon and Lucien Freud, and took on various jobs including gypsy storyteller and cat burglar. According to one obituary she was, "foul-mouthed, amoral, a thief, a violent drunkard and a drug addict. Yet she was witty, wonderfully warm and lovable. Her presence in any room immediately told you that life is more thrilling than we dull folk imagine.”Maggi Hambling is best known for her public works including A Sculpture for Mary Wollstonecraft and the Scallop made of steel on Aldeburgh Beach. She is joined in studio by painter Darren Coffield who has developed a second career as an entertaining historian of Soho with books such Queens of Bohemia and Other Misfits.The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde

The legendary opera star Maria Callas was lauded for her magnetic stage presence and extraordinary vocal range. Born in New York in 1923 to Greek immigrant parents, she moved with her mother and sister to Greece aged 13. In 1939 she attended the Athens Conservatoire where she embarked on a rigorous vocal training in the Italian "bel canto" tradition. After the Second World War she moved to Italy, where she was mentored by the leading conductor Tullio Serafin, and became one of the most celebrated opera stars of the day, making triumphant appearances at La Scala in Milan, Covent Garden in London and the Metropolitan in New York.Labour MP and former Deputy Prime Minister Harriet Harman is a lifelong fan, who says that despite Callas' tremendous talent and hard work she was unfairly vilified for behaving like a "diva" in the pejorative sense. She says that Callas was one of the first celebrities to get the full "tabloid treatment", and endured prurient press interest in her relationship with the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. We hear from Robert Sutherland, a pianist who accompanied Maria Callas during her world tour in 1973-1974, about their friendship. Joining Harriet and Matthew in the studio is singer, musician, teacher and researcher Nina Horrocks, also known by her stage name Ziazan. She specialises in the "bel canto" technique that Callas trained in, and has a YouTube channel dedicated to the subject called Phantoms of the Opera (https://www.youtube.com/c/PhantomsoftheOpera).Archive includes: Maria Callas in conversation with Edward Downes, 1967, Angel Records Maria Callas: Today interview with Barbara Walters, 1974, NBCPresenter: Matthew Parris Producer: Beth McLeod for BBC Studios Audio

Born in Illinois in 1941, Dana Meadows studied Chemistry and Molecular Biology, before turning her back on a post doc position at Harvard, to pursue environmentalism. She joined her husband Dennis Meadows as part of the team working on Professor Jay Forester's World3 computer model of the world economy at MIT and wrote the report on the results of that model, which predicted overshoot and collapse if economic growth were not curbed. The report, called Limits to Growth, was published in 1972 to much publicity, alarm and ridicule. Donella said "We were at MIT. We had been trained in science. The way we thought about the future was utterly logical: if you tell people there’s a disaster ahead, they will change course. If you give them a choice between a good future and a bad one, they will pick the good. They might even be grateful. Naive, weren’t we?" Following the publication of Limits to Growth, Dana dedicated her life to living by the principles of sustainability (a word coined by the Limits to Growth team) and to teaching the principles of 'systems' thinking, which she believed could help people understand and live more harmoniously with the planet.Choosing Dana is Economist Kate Raworth, who believes that economics needs a broader, more holistic model to be fit for the 21st century. To this end, she founded the Doughnut Economics Action Lab, which champions regenerative and distributive economics, that can meet the needs of people within the means of the living planet. Kate never met Dana, but felt an immediate kinship when she picked up her book, Thinking in Systems, and now believes that all children should be taught to think about the balancing and reinforcing loops of systems. Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Ellie Richold.

George Harrison was a musician, singer and songwriter who became one of the most famous people in the world as one quarter of the Beatles. That alone would merit a place in the Great Lives pantheon, but his work in the decades after the band broke up indicates a man of diverse and arguably underestimated talents. Erupting onto the pop music scene in the 1960's, the Beatles' success was swift and dizzying; and for the rather private George, sometimes dubbed ‘the quiet Beatle’, this celebrity and adulation seems to have never quite sat comfortably. Nevertheless, he became a musical icon: responsible for a captivating collection of songs, from those he wrote with the Beatles through to his solo work; collaborating with a host of international artists; popularising Indian music and instruments; and even venturing into the movie-making business. At the same time, like many others thrust into the spotlight, George appears to have struggled with balancing success and the celebrity lifestyle with a more meaningful and spiritual existence.This tension and how it drove George Harrison as an artist is part of what attracts crime writer, occasional musician and self-professed Beatles fanatic Mark Billingham to his story, and why he's nominated him today. Also in the studio to offer her insights is Dr Holly Tessler, a senior lecturer in music industries at the University of Liverpool, where she leads their MA programme: 'Beatles, Music Industry and Heritage'.Presented by Matthew Parris and produced for BBC Studios Audio by Lucy Taylor.

John Gay, eighteenth-century satirist and author of The Beggar's Opera, is nominated by the writer Jake Arnott - whose novels, including The Long Firm and He Kills Coppers, are also set in London's criminal underworld. Editor of Private Eye, Ian Hislop, is the presenter, and Dr Rebecca Bullard of the University of Oxford is on hand to help uncover the life of a man who was perhaps as keen to expose the corruption and sleaze he saw around him as he was to climb the greasy pole of professional success. After reaching middle age in the shadow of his much more famous friends, Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope, what was it about The Beggar's Opera that suddenly brought him the fame he craved? And was John Gay, in fact, gay? Presented by Ian Hislop Produced by Beth Sagar-Fenton

One dubbed "the biggest, loudest and indisputably the rudest mouth on the battleground", Florynce Kennedy was a force to be reckoned with. She was a lawyer, a vocal figure in the American civil rights and feminist movements of the 1960s and '70s, and a champion of numerous other causes besides; from legalising abortion to campaigning for sex-worker rights - proving that it was possible to care about and campaign for causes even if they didn't affect her directly.Flo was famous in her own time, not only for her passionate commitment to fighting injustice and her incredible talent as a phrase-maker - delivering punchy comments peppered with colourful language - but also for her flamboyant style, notably her trademark Australian hat. And yet today Flo's reputation has dwindled; she's arguably far less well-known than she should be according to her nominator Ellen E Jones, a journalist and broadcaster focusing on film and television who co-hosts the Radio 4 programme 'Screenshot'. Joining the discussion remotely from the United States, is Sheri Randolph, author of the biography ‘Florynce "Flo" Kennedy: The Life of a Black Feminist Radical’; also an associate professor of history at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and founder of the Black Feminist Think Tank.Matthew and his guests also hear from Flo's friend and fellow activist Gloria Steinem, who says: "Wherever we went, somehow she created a community of our own by her presence. She was effervescent and smart and outgoing and irresistable... Flo, in her jodhurs and her Aussie hat, was just a symbol of all the movements together."Presented by Matthew Parris and produced for BBC Studios Audio by Lucy Taylor.

"I've chosen him because I think he was possibly the most interesting human being who has ever lived". A N WilsonBorn in the middle of the 18th century in Frankfurt, Goethe went on to become the pre-eminent figure in German literature. As well as writing plays and poetry (including Faust) he was a statesman, a scientist, an artist and a critic. Queen Victoria was a huge fan of his work and his philosophy, but his fame in this country subsequently suffered because of anti-German sentiment. Joining A N Wilson in the nest of Goethe worshippers is Dr Charlotte Lee, Director of German at Cambridge.She notes that Goethe's "immense charisma" was there physically as well. But was he a nice man? Wilson argues that we shouldn't even ask such questions of someone like Goethe. "I just don't feel asking whether he was nice or not gets you anywhere."Presented by Matthew Parris and produced for BBC Studios Audio by Ellie Richold

"The Queen Boadicea, standing loftily charioted, Brandishing in her hand a dart and rolling glances lioness-like, Yell'd and shriek'd between her daughters in her fierce volubility": so wrote Alfred, Lord Tennyson in the 19th Century, celebrating the story of an ancient English warrior queen who sparked a brutal and bloody rebellion against Roman rule in the first century AD. Today, Boudica - or as the Victorians renamed her, Boadicea - remains a symbol of bravery, independence, and that indomitable British underdog spirit; although how much of that is true and how much should be attributed to the romanticising of her story in later years, is open to debate...Bringing that debate to the Great Lives studio is comedian and erstwhile Boudica impersonator Jessica Fostekew, along with expert insight from Professor Miranda Aldhouse-Green, known for her research on the Iron Age and the Celts as well as books including 'Boudica Britannia: Rebel, War-leader and Queen'.So was Boudica a brutal giant of a women hell-bent on personal revenge, or a forward-thinking feminist leader determined to overthrow her country's conquerors? And could her death possibly have been down to a war elephant? Jess, Miranda and Matthew thrash it out. Presented by Matthew Parris, produced for BBC Studios Audio by Lucy Taylor.

Eugene Victor Debs, born 1855 in Indiana USA, was a railway worker, a trade unionist and a five time candidate for the presidency. He was imprisoned during the First World War for sedition. He'd urged resistance to the draft; President Woodrow Wilson called him a traitor to the nation, but Debs still ran for the presidency in 1920. His sentence was commuted the following year.Reginald D Hunter is an American stand up based in the UK. His many credits include Have I Got News For You and Reginald D Hunter's Songs of the South. Last year at Edinburgh his show Fluffy Fluffy Beavers briefly became headline news. In studio with Reginald and presenter Matthew Parris is Professor Clive Webb, author of Vietdamned. The producer for BBC Studios in Bristol is Miles Warde

"Make the boy interested in natural history," wrote Captain Scott from his tent in the Antarctic. He was talking about his son, three year old Peter Scott, whom he never saw again and who went on to found the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust and campaign against the hunting of whales. The son also designed the panda logo for the Wold Wide Fund for Nature and was its first chairman. David Attenborough called Scott the patron saint of conservation and he appears in this programme. Nominating him in studio is the adventurer Pen Hadow, whose father knew Scott and with whom he shared a nanny. The programme also features two of Scott's children, Dafila and Falcon, as well as some rarely heard archive. From his early years as an arctic adventurer, Pen Hadow has developed into an ardent conservationist with the 90 North Foundation. He describes this programme as an enormous responsibility and wonders why Sir Peter Scott, the founder of Slimbridge, is not better known today.The producer for BBC Audios Studio in Bristol is Miles Warde

Margot Fonteyn was an icon: a ballerina who helped build and indeed embodied the traditional image of a dancer, just as the artform was finding its feet on the British cultural scene. From humble beginnings she became an international star, enjoying a dazzling career with the Royal Ballet, a glamorous social life as a diplomat’s wife, and an electric dancing partnership with Rudolf Nureyev. But it was also a life infused with disappointment, controversy and heartbreak; much of which seems to have been hidden behind Margot's smiling public facade. Dedicated listeners might remember that Margot Fonteyn has been the subject of a previous episode and although we rarely revisit past greats, when we do it’s an opportunity to look afresh and see more. So today, with the assistance of nominating guest Lauren Cuthbertson - herself a dancer who has been with the Royal Ballet for more than 20 years - we take a closer look at the highs and lows of Margot's life. Joining Matthew and Lauren to share their expert perspectives are Rosie Gerhard, a Lecturer in Dance Studies at the Royal Academy of Dance and creator of the blog 'British Ballet Now and the film director and author Tony Palmer, who directed the 2005 film ‘Margot’.Presented by Matthew Parris and produced for BBC Studios Audio by Lucy Taylor.

Professor Colin Blakemore was a famous communicator of science, the youngest ever Reith lecturer on the BBC. He was also targeted by members of the animal rights movement, which sent bombs and letters lined with razor blades to his home address. Born in 1944 and brought up in Coventry, Colin Blakemore was committed to brain research and the connection between vision and early development of the brain. Nominating him is the author and neuroscientist Dr Hannah Critchlow, who knew him before he died in 2022.The programme includes contributions from his friends and colleagues, including Professor Barbara Sahakian and David Nutt; plus moving archive of his daughter, Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore and reports from the animal rights campaigners who protested outside his Oxford house.Dr Hannah Critchlow is the author of Joined Up Thinking and The Science of Fate. She's based at Cambridge University.Presented by Matthew Parris and produced for BBC Studios Audio by Miles Warde

Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau was an oceanographer, filmmaker and explorer who made the seas a subject of fascination for millions.During his time in the French Navy, Cousteau co-invented the Aqua-Lung: the first self-contained kit that allowed a diver to breathe underwater. This and his fascination with capturing images of the subaquatic world paved the way for a career filming the first underwater documentaries. Travelling the seas with his trusty crew on their boat, the Calypso, Captain Cousteau in his trademark knitted red cap became a household name; thanks to shows including his TV series ‘The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau’. He came across as a charming and eloquent showman - but his life wasn't without its tragedies and controversies...Nominating Cousteau is wildlife cameraman and and trained biologist Doug Allan, whose career filming animals, primarily in polar regions and underwater, was hugely inspired by the Frenchman. Doug says: "There's a mischievousness about him that he carried thorugh his whole life... I think he was just a really powerful, charismatic character."The presenter is Matthew Parris and the producer for BBC Studios Audio is Lucy Taylor.

In 1981 Brian Clough paid £1 million pounds to bring Justin Fashanu to Nottingham Forest. It was the climax of a meteoric career, but within months the goals had dried up, he'd been going to gay nightclubs, and Fashanu had also become become a born again Christian. Four decades later Justin Fashanu remains top flight English football's only openly gay player. From his beginnings in care with brother John as Barnardo's boys, via adoption, boxing, football and failed pop star, this is an extraordinary life, beautifully highlighted by his nominator, Ekow Eshun."He was a pioneer - he broke ground. He was a prominent black footballer at a time when to be black and a footballer was fraught territory, when players were barracked from the terraces for no other reason than the colour of their skin." Ekow EshunAlso in studio is Richard Williams of the Guardian, who saw Fashanu play on the way and on the way down. Plus there is moving archive of Fashanu himself, and also from his niece, Amal Fashanu, talking at the time of the release of her documentary, Britain's Gay Footballers.The producer for BBC Studios Audio is Miles Warde

The biography show where famous guests picks someone they admire or love. Jane Morris was the wife of William Morris and muse of Gabriel Dante Rossetti. Anneka Rice believes her contribution to 19th-Century art and culture has been largely overlooked."I'm not a big fan of needle point," she says, "but we cannot ignore what she brings to art history". Plus she comes from absolutely NOWHERE to marry Morris and have an affair with Rossetti. Joining Anneka in the discussion is Suzanne Fagence Cooper, the author of How We Might Live: At Home with Jane and William Morris. The presenter is Matthew Parris.

The biography show where famous guests pick someone from history they admire or they love. Our only rule is they must be dead. Today neurosurgeon Dr Henry Marsh chooses “the saviour of mothers” Dr Ignaz Semmelweis The Hungarian doctor discovered the link between childbirth and puerperal fever in 19th century Vienna but he was ridiculed, ignored and demoted as his discovery challenged the medical orthodoxy. Post-mortems at the time were carried out by doctors before they practised on wards, with no hygiene step between the two. Semmelweis recommended handwashing for doctors, and gathered statistics to prove his theory.Despite the evidence, the medical establishment was resistant to change and Semmelweis became increasingly traumatised, frustrated and angry. In his final months, he seems to have also developed an organic brain disorder which led to his friends and wife having him restrained and sectioned in a mental asylum where he subsequently died from injuries. Nominator Dr Henry Marsh is the author of Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery. With the playwright Stephen Brown who cowrote Dr Semmelweis with Sir Mark Rylance. Presented by Matthew Parris and produced for BBC Studios Audio by Ellie Richold