Private Passions

BBC Radio 3
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  • MUSIQUE
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Guests from all walks of life discuss their musical passions and talk about the influence music has had on their lives.

  1. -6 J

    Sandra Knapp

    The botanist Dr Sandra Knapp is a senior researcher at the Natural History Museum - but that title doesn’t convey the sheer adventure of her work. She’s a kind of Indiana Jones of the plant world, travelling to remote regions of Central and Southern America and beyond. Her speciality is the Solanum genus, which includes potatoes, tomatoes and aubergines – and she has found and named more than a hundred new varieties. The rainforests, where she has worked for more than 40 years, are a long way from the dry rural deserts of New Mexico, where she was born. Her music choices include works by Mozart, Brahms, Hindemith and Holst, as well as music inspired by the biodata of some of her beloved plants. Presenter Michael Berkeley Producer Katy Hickman

    55 min

  2. 25 JANV.

    Paul Chahidi

    Paul Chahidi is an actor whose versatility shines through in prize-winning performances from Shakespeare to satire. He delighted West End and Broadway audiences as Maria in Twelfth Night and won acclaim from filmgoers as the hapless Nikolai Bulganin in The Death of Stalin. On TV, he’s played a well-meaning vicar in the BAFTA-winning This Country, an archangel in Good Omens, and he’s currently a spook in the BBC thriller The Night Manager. Such shape-shifting came early: Paul was born Ghiv Khatib-Chahidi in Iran before moving as a child to the Oxford countryside. He studied Arabic and Persian at university with an eye to becoming a foreign correspondent, before the lure of Shakespeare and Sondheim won him over. His choices include music from Iran, as well as Vaughan Williams, Chopin, Beethoven and Palestrina. Presenter Michael Berkeley Producer Katy Hickman

    54 min

  3. 18 JANV.

    Peter Purves

    Michael Berkeley's guest is actor and TV presenter Peter Purves. Purves has been involved in two of TV’s longest-running and best-loved institutions - he was one of the earliest companions to travel in the TARDIS with Doctor Who (1965-66), and for ten and a half years from 1967 to 1978, alongside John Noakes, Valerie Singleton and Leslie Judd, he presented Blue Peter – entertaining the nation’s children with demonstrations in everything from competitive swimming to scaling the Fourth Road Bridge. A dog lover, he has also presented TV coverage of dog show Crufts for many years. Purves's musical passions include Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Elgar and Sondheim, alongside tracks by Louis Armstrong and Count Basie - both of whom he remembers seeing perform live in concert. Presenter: Michael Berkeley Producer: Graham Rogers

    48 min

  4. 11 JANV.

    Vanessa Williams

    Vanessa Williams is musical theatre royalty. She’s worked with Stephen Sondheim on Broadway and is currently commanding the London stage as the fearsome fashion editor Miranda Priestly in the musical The Devil Wears Prada. She’s also topped the American pop charts, starred in Hollywood movies with the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, and played key roles in prize winning TV series including Ugly Betty. And before all that she was crowned Miss America 1984 - the first Black American to take the title – although she was later forced to relinquish it in controversial circumstances. Her choices include music from her homeland by Samuel Barber, Jennifer Higdon, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein, as well as works by Bach and Delius. Presenter Michael Berkeley Producer Katy Hickman

    51 min

  5. 4 JANV.

    Alison Weir

    The best-selling writer Alison Weir knows precisely what sparked her interest in history: at the age of 14 she read what she calls a ‘really trashy novel’ about Katherine of Aragon – and a lifelong passion began. Since then she has written 38 books, selling more than three million copies around the world. Her non-fiction titles include biographies of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Isabella of France, Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth of York. She has also written many historical novels – including a book about each of Henry VIII’s six wives. In her most recent novel, The Cardinal, she focuses on the rise and fall of Thomas Wolsey, who enjoyed a prominent and powerful role in the court of Henry VIII. Alison's music choices include Bach, Beethoven, Ravel and Purcell.

    49 min

  6. 21/12/2025

    Pam Ayres

    Michael Berkeley’s guest is the poet Pam Ayres, who shares the music that matters most to her, including some seasonal favourites. It’s now 50 years since Pam first won a vast national audience on the TV talent show Opportunity Knocks, with poems including her much-loved wintry verse 'Sling another chair leg on the fire, Mother!' Her musical choices include Rachmaninov, Elgar and Johnny Mathis.

    55 min

  7. 23/11/2025

    Louise Penny

    The Canadian crime fiction writer Louise Penny has sold more than 18 million books around the world – and she was a late starter: she was 45 when her first book appeared, after working for two decades as a broadcaster and journalist. Success as a fiction writer came quickly: her first novel Still Life won numerous awards, and introduced Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, who works in rural Quebec. Louise has just published her 20th book featuring Gamache: in The Black Wolf, he’s taking on a powerful conspiracy attempting to make Canada the 51st state in a fight over natural resources. Louise's music includes works by Beethoven, Michael Nyman, Bach and Neil Young. Presenter Michael Berkeley Producer Clare Walker

    53 min

  8. 16/11/2025

    Lea Ypi

    Lea Ypi, a professor of political theory at the London School of Economics, grew up in Albania under communism, when it was the last Stalinist outpost in Europe. She was 10 years old when the Berlin Wall fell, and a year later she saw the collapse of communism in Albania. Statues of Stalin and Enver Hoxha, the country’s leader for 40 years, were toppled. Democratic elections followed - but so did civil unrest. Lea wrote about these turbulent years in her book Free, which won prizes and widespread acclaim: 'essential - just as much for Britons as Albanians' according to one critic. She has delved further into her family history, looking into the past of her grandmother, in her book Indignity. Lea's musical choices include Beethoven, Wagner, Dizdari and Bach.

    53 min
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À propos

Guests from all walks of life discuss their musical passions and talk about the influence music has had on their lives.

Informations

  • Création
    BBC Radio 3
  • Années d’activité
    2013 - 2026
  • Épisodes
    486
  • Classification
    Tous publics
  • Copyright
    © (C) BBC 2026
  • Site web de l’émission
    Private Passions

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