Podcast Episodes

Janet Ellis on Puffin editor Kaye Webb

Writer, broadcaster and Blue Peter presenter Janet Ellis champions the life of Kaye Webb, who burst on to the children's publishing scene in 1961 and…

4 years, 1 month ago

Tom Hopkinson, editor of Picture Post

What does it take to be a great news editor? Tom Hopkinson was sacked by the proprietor of Picture Post for trying to run a true story during the 195…

4 years, 1 month ago

Brian Cox on Lindsay Anderson

Actor Brian Cox chooses his one-time mentor and fellow Scot, Lindsay Anderson. "His effect is still on me to this day, and I can't throw him off. H…

4 years, 1 month ago

Spike Milligan

Henry Normal thinks Spike Milligan changed his life, in particular with his 1973 poetry collection, Small Dreams of a Scorpion.

Spike's other work -…

4 years, 4 months ago

Roma Agrawal on Mrinalini Sarabhai

Mrinalini Sarabhai was an Indian classical dancer specialising in Bharatanatyam and becoming the first woman to perform Kathakali. She was very succ…

4 years, 4 months ago

Lady Hale on Lady Rhondda

Suffragette, businesswoman, and founder of Time and Tide magazine, Margaret Haig Thomas, is also known as Lady Rhondda.

She’s nominated by judge and f…

4 years, 4 months ago

William Lever, Lord Leverhulme, founder of Unilever

William Lever was a grocer's son who went on to make a fortune selling soap. Lifebuoy, Lux ... and eventually Unilever are just some of his creations…

4 years, 4 months ago

Noor-Un-Nissa Inayat Khan

Noor-Un-Nissa Inayat Khan was an Indian muslim princess who became an under-cover agent for the ‘SOE’ – Churchill’s Special Operational Executive. Sh…

4 years, 5 months ago

Jeanne Baret, first woman to sail round the globe

It all began with a small portrait in the Greenwich museum - of a sexless looking character in wide stripey trousers. Actor Nina Sosanya says she was…

4 years, 5 months ago

Rory Sutherland on Johnny Ramone

Johnny Ramone is a founding member of the seminal New York punk band, the Ramones. Famed for their blisteringly short songs played at breakneck spee…

4 years, 5 months ago