Great Lives

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Sally Phillips on Hollywood star Myrna Loy May 13, 2020

Show notes

When actress Sally Phillips first saw Myrna Loy, she burst into tears.

It was in a film called The Best Years of Our Lives, about three veterans returning to their wives after the Second World War.

Myrna Loy was most famous for the Thin Man series, and she also played voluptuous baddies in flicks like The Mask of Fun Manchu. But it's not just her screen career that inspires Sally, a star herself for work in Smack the Pony and Bridget Jones.

Myrna Loy was a hardworking and often fearless person, heavily involved with The Red Cross and UNESCO after the war.

The author of Fast Talking Dames, Maria di Battista, joins the discussion from Princeton.

Producer: Miles Warde

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2020.

Victoria Wood May 05, 2020

Show notes

Actor and comedian Daniel Rigby chooses the creator of Acorn Antiques, As Seen on TV and Dinnerladies, Victoria Wood.

Victoria grew up in a bungalow high up on the moors in Lancashire. The rooms were partitioned off with plywood, and she loved to play the piano on her own.

She became the biggest comedy star in the UK, writing, directing, acting, and winning BAFTAS for being funny, and being serious too.

Nominating the star of Wood and Walters, Dinnerladies and Housewife, 49 is Daniel Rigby.

Daniel won a BAFTA playing Eric Morecambe in 2011, with Victoria Wood as his mum. She also became his landlady.

Joining the often joyful discussion is Jasper Rees - author of the authorised biography of Victoria Wood.

Presenter: Matthew Parris

Producer: Miles Warde

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2020.

Maya Angelou Apr 29, 2020

Show notes

Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in 1928. She was a mother, writer, dancer, director, performer, friend of presidents, and author of seven volumes of memoir. The very first - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - returned to the top of the best-seller lists when she died in 2014. So why were people fascinated by her life? Nominating her is Bristol University's recently appointed professor of slavery, Olivette Otele. "I l love her, I really do." She's joined by Patricia Cumper who has adapted many of Maya Angelou's books for radio. The presenter is Matthew Parris. The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde

Ursula Le Guin nominated by Kate Stables Apr 21, 2020

Show notes

Ursula le Guin was born in California, USA in 1929.

Her books - including A Wizard of Earthsea and The Left Hand of Darkness - have been described as masterpieces.

Yet she battled prejudice all her life from the literary elite.

On the line from Paris, British musician Kate Stables tells Matthew Parris about her love of le Guin's books.

And Arwen Curry is in San Francisco. She knew the author and made the film The Worlds of Ursula K Le Guin with the strapline 'A Wizard's Work is Never Done'.

Produced at BBC Bristol by Toby Field and Miles Warde

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2020.

Frank Cottrell Boyce on Tove Jansson Apr 14, 2020

Show notes

"One of the best things a children's writer can do is to implant sign posts in childhood to things that are good, and to the small pleasures that will get you through life" Frank Cottrell-Boyce

Tove Jansson was born in Helsinki in 1914. An artist, illustrator and writer she became best known as the creator of The Moomins, the little white trolls who lived in Moominvalley with other fantastical creatures such as the Hattifatteners, Mymbles and Whompers.

Acclaimed screenwriter and children's author Frank Cottrell-Boyce has described Tove Jansson as his 'Guardian Angel' having first discovered Moominvalley one Saturday morning in his local library in Liverpool. He encountered Comets, Great Floods and a little Midsummer Madness all of which were met with the warmth and wisdom of Moomin-Mamma, the gentle observance of Snufkin and the inventiveness of Little My.

Fantastical in their adventures but rooted in reality and humanity, Frank Cottrell-Boyce champions the creator of Mooninvalley who poured her fascinating life into her books. Drawing inspiration from childhood disagreements about the philosopher Immanuel Kant, creative ways to survive a war and a forbidden - but wonderful - love story that lasted a life time.

Producer in Bristol is Nicola Humphries Presented by Matthew Parris Guest Expert Boel Westin Author of 'Tove Jansson: Life, Art, Words'

(Pre-recorded earlier this year)

Rick Stein on Jim Morrison Apr 10, 2020

Show notes

Chef , writer and presenter Rick Stein chooses the lead singer of The Doors, Jim Morrison.

As a 21 year old man travelling the world, a young Rick Stein discovered The Doors and became fascinated by the band's lead singer, Jim Morrison.

Over the subsequent 50 years, the life and legend of one of rock and roll's brightest stars had a lasting impact on the restauranteur.

Joining Matthew Parris and Rick Stein to uncover the mysteries of Jim's life is the broadcaster Paul Gambaccini, who found The Doors when he was a student radio disc jockey at university.

With contributions from Frank Lisciandro, filmmaker and friend of Jim, and Kirsten Norrie, poet and singer.

Producer: Camellia Sinclair

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2020.

Andi Oliver on Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison Jan 21, 2020

Show notes

When Andi Oliver first read Toni Morrison's 'The Bluest Eye' she felt as though someone climbed inside her head.

Morrison's books saved the chef and broadcaster's life - both emotionally and cerebrally.

The author, editor and college professor Toni Morrison chronicled the lives of African-Americans in novels such as 'Beloved', 'Sula' and 'Song of Solomon'.

She once said that what drove her to write was "the silence of so many stories untold and unexamined". Born in Ohio, she was granddaughter to a slave, and her work often drew on the legacies of slavery, how it's carried down the generations.

Awarded both the Pulitzer and the Nobel Prize for Literature, her work was internationally acclaimed.

Joining Matthew Parris and Andi Oliver is Morrison's close friend Fran Lebowitz, and Howard University professor Dana Williams.

Producer: Eliza Lomas

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2020.

Kurt Vonnegut Jan 10, 2020

Show notes

"I am a German American, a pure one, dating back to when German Americans were still marrying each other." Kurt Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis in 1922, but the most important event in his life happened in Dresden in 1945. He was a POW and underground in a meat locker during the firebombing. When he emerged he found the city totally destroyed. It took him another two decades to work out how to write his book, Slaughterhouse-Five.

Nominating Vonnegut is the comedian Josie Long, who says that finding a writer you love is like finding a friend. Because no expert was available for this recording, Kurt Vonnegut will be taking on this role himself. Kurt died in April 2007.

The presenter is Matthew Parris, the producer in Bristol is Miles Warde.

Charlie Parker nominated by Ken Clarke Jan 03, 2020

Show notes

From Kansas City to New York, young Charlie Parker conquered the world of jazz.. He was famous during his life, and even more famous after he died aged 34. He's nominated here by former health minister, home secretary and chancellor of the exchequer, Kenneth Clarke. Together with Richard Williams and Val Wilmer, Ken recounts what made Bird great, and why he died so very young.

"If you look at the street scenes of Harlem in 1940, it was a squalid place. Club life in New York was probably a smart escape." Ken Clarke

The programme also includes clips by Dizzy Gillespie and Annie Ross. and music such as Koko and Now's the Time. The presenter is Matthew Parris, and the producer in Bristol is Miles Warde.

Bill Bailey on his hero Alfred Russel Wallace Dec 24, 2019

Show notes

Bill Bailey has not just travelled in naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace's footsteps, he's crazy about him too. "I love him, I really do." Wallace is best known for what used to be known as the Wallace-Darwin theory of evolution. When he died in 1913, the New York Times called him the last of the 'giants belonging to that wonderful group of intellectuals ... whose daring investigations revolutionised and evolutionised the thought of the century." Born in 1823, Wallace was a collector, a writer, a keen conservationist, and Bill has been to Borneo to see Wallace's famous flying frog. With Sandy Knapp of the Natural History Museum, and presented by Matthew Parris. The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde.

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