Podcast
Great Lives
Hosted by BBC Radio 4 · EN
Biographical series in which guests choose someone who has inspired their lives.
32episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Jock Stein, first British football manager to win the European Cup
Oct 600:27:41Tap to summarizeJock 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
Transcribe →Benjamin Franklin
Sep 2900:26:59Tap to summarizeMatthew 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
Transcribe →Miles Jupp on JL Carr, author of A Month in the Country
Sep 2200:27:28Tap to summarize"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
Transcribe →Helen Castor on Richard II
Sep 1500:27:37Tap to summarizeToday'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
Transcribe →DJ Deb Grant on John Prine
Sep 800:26:51Tap to summarizeDJ 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
Transcribe →Sir Seretse Khama, first president of Botswana
Jun 30, 202500:27:43Tap to summarizeSeretse 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
Transcribe →Emily Williamson, co-founder of the RSPB
Jun 23, 202500:27:32Tap to summarizeFor 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.
Transcribe →Tina Turner
Jun 16, 202500:27:43Tap to summarizeRock 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
Transcribe →Raymond Blanc on Professor Nicholas Kurti
Jun 9, 202500:27:39Tap to summarizeThe 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
Transcribe →Yanis Varoufakis on Hypatia
Sep 21, 2021Tap to summarizeThe Greek politician and economist takes us back to ancient Alexandria and the life of the first woman to make her name as a mathematician. But Hypatia is best known now for being brutally murdered. Yanis Varoufakis makes the case for her as a philosopher and mathematician, and explores how her story has been interpreted and misinterpreted in the centuries after her death. He's joined by the writer and broadcaster, Professor Edith Hall.Presented by Matthew Parris and produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Chris Ledgard
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