Great Lives

Latest Episodes:

Barbara Stocking on Catherine the Great May 29, 2018

Show notes

Catherine the Great assumed power in a St Petersburg coup, extended the empire into Crimea, Ukraine and Alaska. is Russia's longest lasting female ruler, and wasn't even Russian herself. All of this intrigues Dame Barbara Stocking, former head of Oxfam, who admires Catherine's leadership style. Biographer Virginia Rounding provides the details of her background and her lovers, and Matthew Parris presents.

The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde.

Suzy Klein on Hedy Lamarr May 22, 2018

Show notes

Hedy Lamarr was described by her studio as the most beautiful woman in the world. A recent film, called Bombshell, argued that she was a brilliant inventor as well. But what was going on behind that wonderful face? Suzy Klein, host of the BBC Proms, tells Matthew Parris that this was an intriguing woman who continually reinvented herself. She left her native Austria before the Second World War but, despite a successful Hollywood career, what she really wanted was to be known for being clever. Recent newspaper headlines - including 'Sex Symbol by Day, Scientific Trailblazer by Night' - suggest her wishes may have finally come true. But Professor Hans-Joachim Braun isn't so sure. Film critic Antonia Quirke joins Matthew Parris in the studio to discuss a truly extraordinary life.

The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde.

Mica Paris on Josephine Baker May 15, 2018

Show notes

For soul singer Mica Paris, when she first dreamt of becoming a singer it was Josephine Baker who inspired her most.

Baker was a young black American dancer who became an overnight sensation in Paris in 1925 after performing wild, uninhibited routines in the skimpiest of costumes.

So can Mica Paris make the case for Baker who wore a string of bananas and little else while performing the 'banana dance?

Joining presenter Matthew Parris to help tell the story of Josephine Baker is author Andrea Stuart.

Producer: Perminder Khatkar

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 May 2018.

Simon Callow on Orson Welles May 09, 2018

Show notes

Actor Simon Callow joins Matthew Parris to nominate the life of a giant of Hollywood's golden age, Orson Welles.

Aged just 26, Welles wrote, directed and starred in Citizen Kane.

He once recalled how he 'started at the top and worked his way down' - never managing to recreate his initial film success.

Welles's friend and collaborator Henry Jaglom talks about knowing him for the last years of his life.

The movie industry had turned its back on him leaving him strapped for cash and looking for work.

Producer: Maggie Ayre

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2018.

Ayesha Hazarika on Jayaben Desai May 02, 2018

Show notes

Stand up comedian and political commentator Ayesha Hazarika's hero is Jayaben Desai.

Jayaben led a two year strike at Grunwick Film processing factory in North London.

The majority of the workers were migrant women and they became known as the 'strikers in sarees'.

Matthew Parris remembers the strike in 1976 as he was working in Margaret Thatcher's office at the time, but only recalls the violence at the picket line and the fact that the strike failed.

Can Ayesha convince Matthew Parris that Jayaben Desai deserves the accolade of a great life?

With Dr Sundari Anitha, co- author of 'Striking Women'.

Producer: Perminder Khatkar

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2018.

Tej Lalvani on Richard Feynman May 01, 2018

Show notes

Richard Feynman was a physicist who helped design the atomic bomb and won the Nobel Prize.

He is the great life choice of businessman Tej Lalvani CEO of his family business Vitabiotics and the newest Dragon on the BBC show Dragon's Den.

Feynman was also regarded as something of an eccentric and a free spirit who had a passion for playing the bongos.

Helping to make the case for this great life Tej is joined by the expert witness David Berman, Professor of Theoretical Physics at Queen Mary University of London.

Presenter: Matthew Parris

Producer: Perminder Khatkar

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2018.

Laura Serrant on Audre Lorde Apr 26, 2018

Show notes

Professor of Nursing, Laura Serrant, chooses the life of the black, gay poet and activist Audre Lorde who still inspires the women's movement today.

She tells Matthew Parris why Audre has meant so much to her both personally and professionally.

Professor Akwugo Emejulu of Warwick University is the expert witness.

Presented by Matthew Parris.

Producer: Maggie Ayre

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2018.

Adrian Utley of Portishead on Miles Davis Apr 17, 2018

Show notes

**Visionary jazz musician Miles Davis joins BBC Radio 4 Extra's 100 Club – born 26th May 1926. He died in 1991 aged 65***

Miles Davis - trumpeter, composer, bandleader - is championed by Adrian Utley of Portishead.

"He's always been really important in my life, right from early on when my dad used to play him. It was part of the atmosphere of our house."

From the early years with Charlie Parker and via Kind of Blue to playing in front of 600,000 hippies on the Isle of Wight, Miles Davis was a musician who never stood still. "Always listen for what you can leave out," he used to say.

Portishead's seminal 1990s album Dummy seems to have taken advice from the man. As Adrian Utley explains to presenter Matthew Parris:

"The darkness and the sense of space is the thing that I have assimilated from Miles ... he's in my DNA."

With Richard Williams, author of The Blue Moment: Miles Davis's Kind of Blue and the Remaking of Modern Music.

Producer: Miles Warde

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2018.

Jim Moir on Captain Beefheart Apr 03, 2018

Show notes

Comedian, actor and artist Jim Moir aka Vic Reeves chooses the life of Don van Vliet.

He was the Dadesque musician and painter Captain Beefheart who has continued to influence many musicians since the 1960s.

Jim joins Matthew Parris to discuss the bizarre and complex persona developed by the Californian eccentric who died from MS in 2010.

With Beefheart's biographer, Mike Barnes.

Biographical series in which guests choose someone who has inspired their lives. Producer: Maggie Ayre

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2018.

Gisela Stuart on Joseph Chamberlain Jan 25, 2018

Show notes

Gisela Stuart, former MP for Birmingham Edgbaston champions Joseph Chamberlain to be nominated as her great life.

But can she really make the case for this former industrialist who made it to the cabinet, but had a knack for splitting political parties and switching allegiances?

Jo Chamberlain was first a Liberal then a Liberal Unionist and finally formed an alliance with the Conservative party but fell out with them too.

Gisela argues he was a man who wasn't afraid to take action, a radical who shouldn't simply be remembered for his failures but as "the man who made the weather" and for making Birmingham the best governed city in the world.

The expert witness is Peter Marsh, Honorary Professor of History at the University of Birmingham and author of 'Joseph Chamberlain, Entrepreneur in Politics.'

Presented by Matthew Parris.

Producer: Perminder Khatkar.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2018.

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