Great Lives

BBC Radio 4
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Biographical series in which guests choose someone who has inspired their lives.

  1. 1 HR AGO

    Dr Sian Williams nominates Anna Freud

    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

    28 min

  2. 16 FEB

    Pianist and broadcaster Keelan Carew nominates Russian composer Nicolai Medtner

    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

    28 min

  3. 10 FEB

    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

  4. 10 FEB

    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

  5. 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

  6. 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

  7. 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

  8. 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
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Hosts & Guests

About

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

Information

  • Creator
    BBC Radio 4
  • Years Active
    2007 - 2026
  • Episodes
    398
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © (C) BBC 2026
  • Show Website
    Great Lives

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