Podcast Episodes

Alex Salmond on Thomas Muir

Alex Salmond chooses Thomas Muir for Great Lives, whom he describes as the Father of Scottish Democracy.

"I have devoted myself to the cause of The P…

9 years, 9 months ago

Hilary Devey on Gracie Fields

A singer, comedian, music hall and film star from Rochdale, Gracie Fields was the nation’s darling. But in the midst of World War II, and at the phe…

9 years, 10 months ago

Frank Turner on Joseph Grimaldi

Frank Turner chooses Joseph Grimaldi, the first celebrity of Pantomime who changed the face of Clowning forever. Matthew Parris presents, and Mattie …

10 years ago

George Fox

George Fox, born in 1624 in Leicestershire, is best known as the founder of the Quakers. In early life he was apprenticed to a shoemaker, and for a w…

10 years ago

Charles Moore on Gordon Hamilton-Fairley

Gordon Hamilton-Fairley was a brilliant cancer specialist, the father of oncology in the UK.

Then in 1975 he was killed by an IRA bomb intended for a…

10 years ago

Richard the Lionheart

Richard the Lionheart has been portrayed on screen by Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins and Patrick Stewart, quite a starry list. But what is the reality…

10 years ago

Graeme Lamb on Christine Granville

Lt-Gen Sir Graeme Lamb, former head of British special forces, champions the life of wartime spy Christine Granville, assisted by her biographer Clar…

10 years ago

Sudha Bhuchar chooses the life of Zohra Sehgal

She was known as 'the grand old lady of Indian cinema' who starred in many Bollywood films famous in India, but not at first in Britain. We got to kn…

10 years, 1 month ago

Ray Peacock chooses the life of Lenny Bruce

To his followers Lenny Bruce was a genius and a free speech hero. To his detractors he was labelled sick and dirty. Bruce shocked his audiences inten…

10 years, 1 month ago

Nancy Dell'Olio chooses the life of Lucrezia Borgia

Nancy Dell'Olio champions Lucrezia Borgia, a Renaissance woman who was much maligned.

Lucrezia Borgia was the Pope's daughter and, over the centuries,…

10 years, 1 month ago