Cover image of Great Lives

Great Lives

Biographical series in which guests choose someone who has inspired their lives.

Ranked #1

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George Orwell

George Orwell

Whilst at school, a young Alan Johnson was given some money by a teacher and told to go and buy four copies of any book ... Read more

28 Sep 2012

28mins

Ranked #2

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Tom Shakespeare on Gramsci

Tom Shakespeare on Gramsci

Dr Tom Shakespeare is a lecturer at the Medical School in the University of East Anglia and prominent campaigner for the... Read more

2 Sep 2014

28mins

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Ranked #3

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Robinson Crusoe

Robinson Crusoe

Was Robinson Crusoe real? According to the book it was 'written by himself'.To establish the facts, Matthew Parris is jo... Read more

13 Aug 2019

24mins

Ranked #4

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Russell Kane on Evelyn Waugh

Russell Kane on Evelyn Waugh

Comedian Russell Kane nominates the novelist Evelyn Waugh. One of the greatest prose stylists of 20th century literatu... Read more

11 Dec 2018

27mins

Most Popular Podcasts

Ranked #5

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Laura Marling on Lou Andreas-Salome

Laura Marling on Lou Andreas-Salome

Laura Marling nominates the first female psychoanalyst, Lou Andreas-Salomé.Folk singer-songwriter, Laura has been unrave... Read more

13 Aug 2019

27mins

Ranked #6

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Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde, author of The Importance of Being Earnest and The Ballad of Reading Gaol, is proposed by Will Self, a write... Read more

10 Apr 2012

28mins

Ranked #7

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Toyah Willcox on Katharine Hepburn

Toyah Willcox on Katharine Hepburn

Toyah Willcox chooses the actress and Hollywood legend, Katharine Hepburn.Dubbed an 'oddity' and 'box office poison', He... Read more

29 Sep 2015

27mins

Ranked #8

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Sarah Vine on Dante

Sarah Vine on Dante

"Whenever I have too much to drink, I bang on about Dante ...." Sarah Vine makes a choice from the heart - the great Ita... Read more

8 Apr 2014

27mins

Ranked #9

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Ian McKellen on Edmund Hillary

Ian McKellen on Edmund Hillary

On May 29 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Everest. Both men immediately became famous worl... Read more

4 Aug 2015

27mins

Ranked #10

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Stephen Fry on PG Wodehouse

Stephen Fry on PG Wodehouse

Stephen Fry nominates his hero PG Wodehouse, a writer who he says simply cheers him up like no one else. Fry wrote to hi... Read more

8 Aug 2017

29mins

Ranked #11

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Mark Steel on Charlie Chaplin

Mark Steel on Charlie Chaplin

Mark Steel makes the case for Charlie Chaplin being one of the most radical comedians of his time. He reckons it's sad t... Read more

25 Dec 2018

27mins

Ranked #12

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Barbara Stocking on Catherine the Great

Barbara Stocking on Catherine the Great

Catherine the Great assumed power in a St Petersburg coup, extended the empire into Crimea, Ukraine and Alaska. is Russi... Read more

29 May 2018

28mins

Ranked #13

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Tim Smit on Humphrey Jennings

Tim Smit on Humphrey Jennings

Tim Smit has admired Humphrey Jennings since seeing Danny Boyle’s Olympics Opening Ceremony in 2012. Jennings was a film... Read more

19 Dec 2018

27mins

Ranked #14

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Suzannah Lipscomb on CS Lewis

Suzannah Lipscomb on CS Lewis

Step though the wardrobe - as historian Suzannah Lipscomb selects the creator of the Narnia Chronicles, CS Lewis. The wr... Read more

3 Jan 2017

27mins

Ranked #15

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Eliza Manningham-Buller chooses Abraham Lincoln

Eliza Manningham-Buller chooses Abraham Lincoln

Former director of MI5, Eliza Manningham-Buller, tells Matthew Parris why she regards Abraham Lincoln as a great life. B... Read more

26 Jan 2016

27mins

Ranked #16

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Eve Pollard on Nora Ephron

Eve Pollard on Nora Ephron

Former newspaper editor and writer Eve Pollard tells Matthew Parris why Nora Ephron, the screenwriter of hit films such ... Read more

26 Jan 2015

27mins

Ranked #17

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Marcus du Sautoy on Jorge Luis Borges

Marcus du Sautoy on Jorge Luis Borges

Mathematician Marcus de Sautoy champions the blind Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges. He is fascinated by the conne... Read more

22 Apr 2014

28mins

Ranked #18

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Philippa Langley on Richard III

Philippa Langley on Richard III

When Philippa Langley and other members of the Richard III Society helped to discover the body of the king in a Leiceste... Read more

6 Jan 2015

27mins

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