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BBC Radio 4
  • 4.1 (98)
  • Documentary
  • Updated Biweekly

An insight into the character of an influential figure making news headlines

  1. 20h ago

    Gadi Eisenkot

    Israelis are about to vote in the country's first general election since the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023. According to the polls, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his Likud Party face their steepest competition yet from Gadi Eisenkot and his relatively new party, Yashar! Gadi Eisenkot was born in Tiberias to working-class parents from Morocco. If he wins, it would make him Israel's first Mizrahi prime minister, meaning that, like around half the country's population, he has Middle Eastern and North African Jewish heritage rather than a European, or Ashkenazi, background. Joining the Israel Defense Forces' Golani Brigade for national service in 1978, Eisenkot ascended through the ranks, becoming commander of the brigade in 1997. He went on to become Chief of the General Staff of the IDF in 2015. After retiring from the military, he won a seat in the Israeli parliament and joined Netanyahu's war cabinet in the immediate aftermath of the 7 October 2023 attacks. The war with Hamas took its toll on his personal life: his son, Gal, was killed in Gaza in December 2023. He subsequently lost two nephews in the conflict. Eisenkot formed his centrist poltiical party Yashar! - which is Hebrew for ‘straight’, ‘true’ or ‘honest’ - as recently as September 2025. He has vowed to destroy Hamas's military wing and dismantle its leadership within 18 months of taking office should he win. He has also said that he will end the surge in settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. Production: Presenter: Mark Coles Producers: Tom Gillett and Beth Ashmead Researcher and Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele Technical Producer: Neil Churchill Editor: Justine Lang

  2. Oct 17

    Navi Pillay

    Navanetham 'Navi' Pillay has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2026. The 85 year old South African jurist and former UN Human Rights chief initially thought the news was a joke. Born in Durban, South Africa, to a Tamil family, her grandparents had come to South Africa as indentured labourers to work in the sugarcane fields. Born under apartheid rule neither of her parents were educated and her mother fought for her daughters to attend school where Navi's teachers saw her potential. The community then raised money enabling her to attend university. In 1967 she was the first woman to establish a law practice in Natal Province defending apartheid activists and political prisoners. She made international news in 1973 when she secured greater legal rights for the prisoners on Robben island including future president, Nelson Mandela. Once president, Mandela appointed Pillay the first non white woman judge in the South African High Court. Soon after she was made a judge on the UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. She became UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and then in 2021 she chaired a UN Commission which accused Israel of genocide in Gaza. Israel has said awarding Pillay the Nobel Prize legitimised "anti-Israel hatred" and and both the US and Israel have since issued sanctions on the International Criminal Court. But elsewhere she has received congratulations from across the human rights community. Nobel Committee chair Jorgen Watne Frydnes, said she had been instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted. Production: Presenter: Becky Milligan Producers: Tom Gillett, Bethan Ashmead Latham Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele Technical Producer: Neil Churchill Editor: Justine Lang

  3. Oct 10

    Kemi Badenoch

    This week’s Conservative Party conference saw Kemi Badenoch further cement her position at the helm of her party. But can her increased personal popularity help a party that is still lagging behind Reform UK in the polls? The daughter of a GP and a professor of physiology, Kemi Badenoch was born in Wimbledon but grew up in Lagos, Nigeria. At the age of 16, she moved to London where she worked various jobs including at McDonalds. She studied at Sussex University and it was an introduction to identity politics there that she credits with confirming her conservatism. After graduating, she worked as a software engineer, a systems analyst before embarking on a career in finance. In 2015 she became digital director at the Spectator magazine. In 2005, aged 25, she joined the Conservative Party and in 2015 she became a member of the London Assembly. At the 2017 snap general election she successfully ran to be Conservative MP for Saffron Waldon in Essex. After landing a number of ministerial roles under Boris Johnson she unexpectedly stood for Party Leader when he stood down as Prime Minister in 2022. She came fourth in that contest but ultimately won the leadership contest after the Labour landslide General Election result of 2024. This week she promised to scrap inheritance tax on family homes, proposed a new ‘Britannia Shield’ missile defence system and ruled out a pact with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. But can she overcome the odds and return the Conservative Party to power? Production: Presenter: Mark Coles Producers: Tom Gillett, Bethan Ashmead Latham Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele, Sabine Schereck Technical Producer: James Beard Editor: Justine Lang

  4. Oct 2

    Claudia Winkleman

    Presenter Claudia Winkleman, with her trademark fringe, is the host of The Celebrity Traitors season two. The London-born broadcaster has been a familiar face on television for more than three decades - but who is the woman behind the hair? The daughter of journalist Eve Pollard, known as ‘The First Lady of Fleet Street’, and book publisher Barry Winkleman, as a child Claudia was taken to the National Gallery on weekends by her father to look at one painting at a time for 40 minutes. This early exposure to the world of art helped secure her place at Cambridge University to study History of Art, while making a name for herself as the only student with a tanning bed in her bedroom. The start of her career saw her presenting the BBC’s Holiday programme, along with a host of late-night shows including ‘Liquid News’, ‘God’s Gift’ and even a stint on Good Morning with Anne and Nick as the resident dating guru. But it was moving to co-present Strictly Come Dancing, along with a primetime Radio 2 hosting slot, that led to her biggest role to date - presenting BBC One’s The Traitors, which cemented her status as a household name. Now, as the second season kicks off, Stephen Smith looks back at the life and career of the woman with the most avant-garde outfits on television. Production Producers: Ben Carter and Keiligh Baker Sound mix: Neil Churchill Production co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele Editor: Justine Lang Archive: Elizabeth Day 'How to Fail' British Museum Bayeux Tapestry trailer

  5. Sep 26

    Alice Weidel

    Mark Coles profiles Alice Weidel, the some say, unlikely joint leader and public face of the far right, nationalist AfD - the Alternative for Germany party. Weidel's a right wing populist and a self confessed fan of Margaret Thatcher. Yet in some respects, particularly when it comes to her private life is seemingly at odds with, almost the antithesis of what her party stands for. Her supporters don't seem to mind. Weidel and the AfD have notched up a series of big win in local elections this month, including Saxony Anhalt, causing huge headaches for beleaguered German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s, Christian Democratic Union. With the AfD currently topping opinion polls, many are now wondering out loud if Weidel could become Germany’s first far right leader since the Second World War. Production team: Producers: Ben Carter and Bethan Ashmead Sound mix: James Beard Production co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele Editor: Justine Lang

  6. Sep 18

    Amy Hunt

    Amy Hunt, 24, was born and grew up in Newark, Nottinghamshire. In the classroom, on the sports field, playing cello or tap dancing, she excelled at whatever she did. She wasn't always a quick runner though. Her teacher, Phil Shepherd, recalls that when she was nine or ten 'she had incredibly long legs and her body hadn't grown into it.' But it didn't take long. Aged 12, she joined Grantham Athletic Club, and at first she did middle distance running and triathlon. but after doing a rapid 200m her coaches suggested that she entered some championships. At the age of 20, she was selected to represent Great Britain at the Under 20 European Championships in Mannheim, Germany. She won in 22.42 seconds, which was the fastest time ever by someone under 18. But she was keen to prove that it's possible to be an 'academic badass and track goddess'. She attended Cambridge and obtained a BA in English. But sprinting called and she moved to Italy to work with coach, Marco Airale. Silver medals at the Olympics in Paris, and the World Championships in Tokyo followed by she became the first person in the history of the European Championships to win four gold medals in Birmingham this summer. Becky Milligan looks at Amy's life and career. Production team: Sound mix: Neil Churchill Production co-ordinators: Maria Ogundele and Sabine Schereck Producers: Ben Carter and Bethan Ashmead Editor: Justine Lang Archive: Good Morning Britain, ITV Novig advert

  7. Sep 12

    Richard Osman

    The writer, presenter and podcaster Richard Osman has released his latest novel – We Chase Shadows, the second book in his We Solve Murders series. The release follows the success of his Thursday Murder Club novels which have sold millions of copies since the first book was published in 2020. It has since been made into a film produced by Steven Spielberg. Known for his TV presenter role on the hit game shows Pointless and Richard Osman’s House of Games, Osman started his career in showbusiness as a producer, devising formats for TV game shows which he pitched to broadcasters. He became the creative director of the television company Endemol and landed his first on screen gig on Pointless after standing in as co-presenter during run-throughs for the BBC. With Alexander Armstrong he went on to present over a thousand episodes before stepping down in 2022 to concentrate on his writing. Growing up in Hayworth’s Heath, Sussex, he showed an early interest in games and quizzes as well as TV and radio programmes. When he was 15 year old, he wrote to BBC Radio Sussex’s Turn It Up youth music programme, securing a role behind the microphone. He went on to study politics and sociology at Cambridge University where he first met his presenting partner Alexander Armstrong. Today, Osman presents the Rest is Entertainment podcast with Guardian columnist Marina Hyde. PRODUCTION: Presenter: Mark Coles Producer: Tom Gillett Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Sabine Schereck Sound: Neil Churchill Editor: Justine Lang ARCHIVE: Pointless and Richard Osman's House of Games - Remarkable Entertainment Family Fortunes - ATV

  8. Sep 5

    Jon Ossoff

    The Democrat Senator Jon Ossoff is suddenly the name on everyone's lips. With his careful oratory and intangible 'it factor' comparisons have been made with a young Barack Obama. But who is the 39-year-old from Atlanta? Born in 1987 Ossoff grew up in Georgia where he attended a private school in the wealthy neighbourhood of Druid Hills. While at school Ossoff wrote to the civil rights leader and U.S. representative John Lewis who offered Ossoff an internship. He attended Georgetown University before moving to London to study at the London School of Economics. While in London Ossoff founded a media company where he worked as an investigative journalist producing films about corruption and human rights abuses. In 2017 he made his first foray into politics when a seat became available in his native Georgia. Despite being a complete unknown Ossoff broke fundraising records for a U.S. House candidate and received a large share of the vote. He didn't win the first time instead securing a seat in 2021. As a Jewish Democrat in a state with strong Republican support many say that Ossoff has his work cut out. Yet he appears to have mass appeal. Having been vouched for by Congressman John Lewis Ossoff has won the trust of many of Georgia's black voters. He's also developed a reputation for forensic takedowns of his opponents in government recently hitting the headlines after taking a crack at Donald Trump and his assistant Natalie Harp. Ossoff has said he has no plans to run for president himself but as veteran Democrat strategist Hank Sheinkopf observes 'He would say that wouldn't he?' Production: Presenter: Stephen Smith Producers: Annabel Deas and Bethan Ashmead Production Coordinator: Sabine Schereck Sound: James Beard Editor: Justine Lang

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4.1
out of 5
98 Ratings

About

An insight into the character of an influential figure making news headlines

Information

  • Creator
    BBC Radio 4
  • Years Active
    2007 - 2026
  • Episodes
    700
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © (C) BBC 2026
  • Show Website
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