Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchCartoonist Naji al-Ali
Naji al-Ali was one of the best known cartoonists in the Arab world. His creation, a little boy called Handala, always stands with his back to the vi…
10 hours ago
Cleopatra picked by Kate Williams
"Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety." She's the most famous character in antiquity, made more famous by Shakespeare and Hol…
1 day, 10 hours ago
Ade Edmondson on singer Sandy Denny
Ade Edmondson - star of The Young Ones, The Comic Strip Presents, Bottom and much more besides - chooses the singer Sandy Denny. "I think a large par…
2 weeks ago
Tony Garnett picked by Harry Bradbeer
Tony Garnett was born in Birmingham and, after a brief career as an actor, found a new role behind the scenes of The Wednesday Play. These rapidly ga…
2 weeks ago
Peter Cook picked by Jon Harvey aka Count Binface
Peter Cook was at the centre of the satire boom of the early sixties, both on stage with Beyond the Fringe and with his Soho club, The Establishment.…
2 weeks ago
Coco Khan picks Edith Garrud, the jujitsu fighting suffragette
Writer and podcaster Coco Khan nominates the little-known but formidable Edith Garrud, a woman who turned Edwardian expectations on their head. A pio…
2 weeks ago
William Gladstone, four-time PM
"Gladstone became prime minister at 82, and not as a figurehead. That is the Gladstone who has inspired me." Trevor Lyttleton.
Born in 1809, William G…
2 weeks ago
Alistair McGowan on HE Bates
HE Bates is probably best known for the Darling Buds of May and Fair Stood the Wind for France, but Alistair McGowan is surprised that he is not know…
3 weeks, 1 day ago
Beverley Knight on Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the godmother of rock and roll
She influenced Elvis, Johnny Cash, Churck Berry, Little Richard and host of British blues acts of the 1960s. Sister Rosetta Tharpe, with her Gibson S…
3 weeks, 1 day ago
Daisy Dunn on Marcus Agrippa, ancient Rome's king of cement
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa was a Roman general best known for his military victories, but he also helped rebuild Rome, providing aqueducts, statues and…
3 months ago