Great Lives

BBC Radio 4
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  • EVERY TWO MONTHS
Great Lives

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

  1. 23 SEPT

    Ekow Eshun on the first openly gay footballer, Justin Fashanu

    In 1981 Brian Clough paid £1 million pounds to bring Justin Fashanu to Nottingham Forest. It was the climax of a meteoric career, but within months the goals had dried up, he'd been going to gay nightclubs, and Fashanu had also become become a born again Christian. Four decades later Justin Fashanu remains top flight English football's only openly gay player. From his beginnings in care with brother John as Barnardo's boys, via adoption, boxing, football and failed pop star, this is an extraordinary life, beautifully highlighted by his nominator, Ekow Eshun. "He was a pioneer - he broke ground. He was a prominent black footballer at a time when to be black and a footballer was fraught territory, when players were barracked from the terraces for no other reason than the colour of their skin." Ekow Eshun Also in studio is Richard Williams of the Guardian, who saw Fashanu play on the way and on the way down. Plus there is moving archive of Fashanu himself, and also from his niece, Amal Fashanu, talking at the time of the release of her documentary, Britain's Gay Footballers. The producer for BBC Studios Audio is Miles Warde

    28 min

  2. 16 SEPT

    Anneka Rice picks the largely forgotten Jane Morris, muse to Rossetti and wife of William Morris

    The biography show where famous guests picks someone they admire or love. Jane Morris was the wife of William Morris and muse of Gabriel Dante Rossetti. Anneka Rice believes her contribution to 19th-Century art and culture has been largely overlooked. "I'm not a big fan of needle point," she says, "but we cannot ignore what she brings to art history". Plus she comes from absolutely NOWHERE to marry Morris and have an affair with Rossetti. Joining Anneka in the discussion is Suzanne Fagence Cooper, the author of How We Might Live: At Home with Jane and William Morris. The presenter is Matthew Parris.

    28 min

  3. 2 SEPT

    The surgeon Henry Marsh picks 'the saviour of mothers' Dr Semmelweis

    The biography show where famous guests pick someone from history they admire or they love. Our only rule is they must be dead. Today neurosurgeon Dr Henry Marsh chooses “the saviour of mothers” Dr Ignaz Semmelweis The Hungarian doctor discovered the link between childbirth and puerperal fever in 19th century Vienna but he was ridiculed, ignored and demoted as his discovery challenged the medical orthodoxy. Post-mortems at the time were carried out by doctors before they practised on wards, with no hygiene step between the two. Semmelweis recommended handwashing for doctors, and gathered statistics to prove his theory. Despite the evidence, the medical establishment was resistant to change and Semmelweis became increasingly traumatised, frustrated and angry. In his final months, he seems to have also developed an organic brain disorder which led to his friends and wife having him restrained and sectioned in a mental asylum where he subsequently died from injuries. Nominator Dr Henry Marsh is the author of Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery. With the playwright Stephen Brown who cowrote Dr Semmelweis with Sir Mark Rylance. Presented by Matthew Parris and produced for BBC Studios Audio by Ellie Richold

    28 min

  4. 26 AUG

    The Roman Emperor Nero

    An unexpected choice for Great Lives, the Roman Emperor Nero has a reputation for debauchery and murder. He was also surprisingly popular, at least during the early years of his reign, and the writer Conn Iggulden argues he may be a victim of bad press. The Christians decided he was the anti-christ some three centuries after he died, and the three main sources are no more positive about his achievements and life. But a recent exhibition at the British Museum - entitled the man behind the myth - worked hard to soften Nero's terrible reputation. So is there more to Nero than we think? Joining Conn Iggulden in studio is Dr Shushma Malik of Cambridge University. Matthew Parris presents. Conn Iggulden is co-author of The Dangerous Book for Boys and the best-selling historical fiction about Nero with the strapline, "Rome wasn't burned in a day." The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde

    28 min

  5. 19 AUG

    Film director Julien Temple on Elizabethan bad boy Christopher Marlowe

    Julien Temple, director of The Great Rock n Roll Swindle, Glastonbury and Absolute Beginners, chooses Christopher Marlowe, writer of brilliant plays including Doctor Faustus and Tamburlaine the Great. "I'm excited to talk about him," he says, "because I've known him for more than 50 years." The link? An attempt as a student to summon up Marlowe in his old college cellar room. Christopher Marlowe was born in 1564 - the same year as Shakespeare. He was a spy, a writer, a counterfeiter .. and he famously died in a bar room brawl in Deptford in 1593. Was it an accident, or was he killed deliberately? Helping us negotiate the mythic moments of Marlowe's life is Professor of Shakespeare studies Emma Smith. Julien Temple's film credits include The Filth and the Fury, Pandaemonium, Earth Girls are Easy and Joe Strummer: The Futureis Unwritten The presenter is Matthew Parris, the producer in Bristol for BBC Studios is Miles Warde

    28 min

  6. 13 AUG

    Zing Tsjeng on Swedish painter Hilma af Klint

    Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) was barely known during her lifetime but an exhibition of her work at the Guggenheim Museum in 2018 shattered attendance records. it was called Paintings for the Future, and the giant abstract work astounded visitors who had not heard of her before. Joining journalist Zing Tsjeng in the studio to discuss her life is Jennifer Higgie, who wrote in her book, The Other Side: A Journey into Women, Art and The Spirit World, "For Hilma af Klint, the very air throbbed with unseen energies. The question was - how to interpret them? How to give them shape?" The artist often used seances for inspiration. If curious about where creativity begins, this is a story you may want to hear. Zing Tsjeng is a former editor-in-chief of Vice UK and presenter of Good Bad Billionaire. She is author of the Forgotten Women series of books. The producer for BBC Studios Audio in Bristol is Miles Warde Future programmes include Anneka Rice on Jane Morris, wife of William Morris; Jo Brand on blues singer, Bessie Smith; and Conn Iggulden on the emperor Nero.

    28 min

  7. 5 AUG

    Miriam Margolyes on Charles Dickens

    The great Miriam Margolyes chooses Charles Dickens, author of Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol. "He's the man in my life. He's tugged me into his world and never let me go. He writes better prose than anyone who's ever lived. He's told the most interesting stories, invented 2000 of the best characters, and because he was a wicked man." Miriam Margolyes is author of Oh Miriam! Helping the award-winning actor and chat show terror explore the wicked life of Charles Dickens is Professor Kathryn Hughes, author of Victorians Undone: Tales of the Flesh in the Age of Decorum. Programme includes archive of Simon Callow and Armando Iannucci. Future episodes include Reginald D Hunter on Eugene V Debs, five times socialist candidate for the US presidency; Dr Hannah Critchlow on Colin Blakemore; director Julien Temple on Christopher Marlowe, and Zing Tsjeng on Hilma af Klint, a Swedish painter who was virtually unknown throughout the twentieth century. Her recent Paintings for the Future show at the Guggenheim was the most visited in their history. Also Conn Iggulden on the Emperor Nero, and comedian Jo Brand picks the American blues singer Bessie Smith. PLUS! AN Wilson on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; Anneka Rice on the largely forgotten wife of William Morris; and Ekow Eshun on Britain’s first openly gay footballer, Justin Fashanu The presenter is Matthew Parris and the producer for BBC studios is Miles Warde who launched the series over twenty years ago in Bristol.

    28 min

  8. 27 MAY

    Mary Portas on Anita Roddick

    Dame Anita Roddick started The Body Shop in Brighton as a way to earn a living while her husband was travelling the Americas by horseback. Her idea for ethically-sourced beauty products which were initially sold in urine sample bottles soon flew. The first shop that she began with a £4,000 loan and painted green to disguise the damp on the walls then developed into a global empire which was eventually sold to L'Oreal for £652m in 2006. Retail consultant and broadcaster Mary Portas has chosen Anita Roddick as her Great Life for her extraordinary creativity, her playfulness and her innovation. She is joined by Anita Roddick's daughter Sam who now works with the Roddick Foundation which distributes some of her fortune to charitable causes. They reflect on how Anita Roddick put principles ahead of profit. She championed cruelty-free beauty and drew inspiration from her international travels to bring exotic-sounding products to the High Street. She pioneered the introduction of creches at work and used her shop windows to promote the environmental campaigns she believed in, leading her to be dubbed the "Queen of Green". They discuss her legacy and ask whether there is still a place for The Body Shop today. Archive includes Anita Roddick talking on the Nine O' Clock News on 16th April 1984 and from the BBC Life And Times television programme from 2000. It also features Peter Kyle MP talking about his time working for Anita Roddick on the Political Thinking Podcast from 2003. Presenter: Matthew Parris Producer: Robin Markwell for BBC Studios Audio in Bristol

    28 min
See All (361)

About

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

Information

  • Creator
    BBC Radio 4
  • Years Active
    2007 - 2024
  • Episodes
    361
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © (C) BBC 2024
  • Show Website
    Great Lives

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