Great Lives

BBC Radio 4

4.1 (187)
DOCUMENTARY
UPDATED FORTNIGHTLY

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

5 DAYS AGO

Comedian Helen Lederer on Joan Rivers

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.

28 min
5 DAYS AGO

John Cooper Clarke on Johnny Green, road manager of The Clash

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.

27 min
28 JAN

Helen Carr picks Christine de Pizan at the Gloucester history festival

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

27 min
19 JAN

Alex Wheatle, the Bard of Brixton

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

28 min
12 JAN

Spitfire pilot Jeffrey Quill picked by astronaut Tim Peake

"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 Peake Jeffrey 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

28 min
03/11/2025

Oliver Postgate

"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.

28 min
27/10/2025

Sylvia Plath

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

27 min
20/10/2025

Elizabeth Day on Hatshepsut

"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

28 min

See All (396)

Lemn Sissay

Guest
Vanessa Walters

Guest
Tim Peake

Guest
Victoria Taylor

Guest

4.1

out of 5

187 Ratings

fascinating

22/09/2008

jamopo

These make great listening, the guest contributors themselves are inspiring and bring great insights into individuals that you may not have previously realised. Only moan is that for some reason each podcast is released for a limited time so basically you can't appreciate previously released podcasts, which is very annoying.
Great Great

06/07/2022

Elvis Diet Coke

This is what I want more of.
Freddie Mercury podcast with Matt Lucas was great

06/05/2020

SpenceDRogers

...
Enid Blyton episode a turn off

11/04/2020

Sophie meow

Ive only listened to one episode of this podcast , which will be the first and last for me. This “ analysis “ of Enid Blyton was a complete joke, what a grating snobbish, sneering discussion and completely missing the point . One star is too high a rating for this nonsense .