Great Lives

Great Lives
Genre	discussion
Running time	28 mins
Country of origin	Great Britain
Language(s)	English
Home station	BBC Radio 4
Hosted by	Joan Bakewell; Humphrey Carpenter; Francine Stock; Matthew Parris
Produced by	Chris Ledgard
Original release	24 August 2001 – present
No. of series	44
No. of episodes	282
Website	Website
Podcast	Podcast RSS feed

Great Lives is a BBC Radio 4 biography series, produced in Bristol. It has been presented by Joan Bakewell, Humphrey Carpenter, Francine Stock and currently (since April 2006) Matthew Parris. A distinguished guest is asked to nominate the person they feel is truly deserving of the title "Great Life". The presenter and a recognised expert (a biographer, family member or fellow practitioner) are on hand to discuss the life. The programmes are 28 minutes long, originally broadcast on Fridays at 23:00, more recently at 16:30 on Tuesday with a repeat at 23:00 on Friday.

Programmes

Series 0, August – November 2001

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Tim Waterstone, founder of bookshop chain	Clement Attlee former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom	Joan Bakewell
Rosie Boycott, journalist	Sir Ernest Shackleton, polar explorer
Terence Conran, food & design entrepreneur	André & Édouard Michelin, French inventors of the detachable pneumatic tyre & the travel guide
Ralph Steadman, cartoonist & caricaturist	Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher
Barbara Castle, Labour politician & former Cabinet Minister	Sylvia Pankhurst, suffragette
Frank Delaney, writer & broadcaster	Henri Matisse, French artist
Jonathan Miller, theatre & opera director, physician	Marshall McLuhan, communication theorist & philosopher
Fay Weldon, writer	H. G. Wells, visionary author
Rabbi Lionel Blue, rabbi & broadcaster	Swami Vivekananda, 19th-century Hindu missionary
Jackie Stewart, racing driver	King Hussein of Jordan
Joan Littlewood, theatre director	Brendan Behan, Irish writer
Lord Tebbit, Conservative politician & former Cabinet Minister	King Alfred the Great, 9th-century King of Wessex

Series 1, May – August 2002

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Ned Sherrin, broadcaster, television producer & stage director	Sir Donald Wolfit, actor-manager	Humphrey Carpenter
Elizabeth Filkin, former Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards	George Eliot, novelist
Steven Isserlis, cellist	Franz Schubert, Austrian composer
Lord Carrington, Conservative politician & former Foreign Secretary	Field Marshal Viscount Slim, military leader
Frederic Raphael, author & screenwriter	Alexander the Great
Janet Street-Porter, journalist & media executive	Marquis de Sade, French philosopher, revolutionary politician & libertine
Chris Barber, jazz trombonist & bandleader	Louis Armstrong, American jazz trumpeter & singer
Sue Limb, writer & broadcaster	Lord Byron, poet
Frank Keating, sports writer	Tom Spring, 19th-century bare-knuckle boxer
Kirsty Young, broadcaster	Katharine Graham, American newspaper publisher

Series 2, October – December 2002

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Bernard Manning, comedian,	Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Albanian Roman Catholic nun	Humphrey Carpenter
Sir Paul Nurse, geneticist & cell biologist,	Erasmus Darwin, 18th century physician
Darcus Howe, writer & broadcaster,	C. L. R. James, Caribbean revolutionary & cricket writer
Bea Campbell, journalist & author	Rachel Carson, marine biologist & conservationist
Muriel Gray, journalist & broadcaster,	M. R. James, writer of ghost stories
Ahdaf Soueif, novelist & cultural commentator,	Umm Kulthum, Egyptian singer, songwriter & actress
Professor Sir Harry Kroto, chemist,	Spinoza, Portuguese philosopher
Steve Bell, political cartoonist,	James Gillray, 18th-century caricaturist
Tam Dalyell, Labour politician,	Richard Crossman, Labour politician & former Cabinet Minister
Greg Dyke, media executive,	Captain James Cook, explorer

Series 3, April – June 2003

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Beryl Bainbridge, novelist	Robert Falcon Scott, polar explorer	Humphrey Carpenter
Leonard Slatkin, conductor & composer	Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian-American composer
John Sergeant, journalist & broadcaster	Arthur Ransome, author & journalist
Benjamin Zephaniah, writer & poet	Bob Marley, Jamaican reggae musician
Steve Jones, geneticist	James Hogg, poet & novelist
Richard Ingrams, journalist & satirist	G. K. Chesterton, writer
Stacey Kent, jazz singer,	Powell & Pressburger, film-makers
Richard Holmes, military historian	the Man in the Iron Mask, mysterious French prisoner in the Bastille
Tanni Grey-Thompson, Welsh athlete & broadcaster,	David Lloyd George, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Esther Rantzen, journalist & broadcaster,	Queen Elizabeth I, Queen of England & Ireland

Series 4, October – December 2003

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Peter Bazalgette, television executive	Noël Coward, playwright, composer, director, actor & singer	Humphrey Carpenter
Kit Wright, writer	Samuel Johnson, author & lexicographer
Kate Adie, war reporter	Flora Sandes, pioneer female soldier
Jenny Eclair, comedian	Sarah Bernhardt, French actress
Brian Keenan, writer	Bernardo O'Higgins, Chilean independence leader
Brenda Dean, trade unionist & Labour peer	Octavia Hill, co-founder of the National Trust
Clement Freud, broadcaster, writer, politician & chef	Tommy Cooper, comedian & magician
Armando Iannucci, comedian & writer	Charles Dickens, novelist
Linda Smith, comedian	Ian Dury, singer
Ann Leslie, journalist	Mary Kingsley, writer & explorer

Series 5, April – June 2004

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Lord Alistair McAlpine, Conservative politician	Machiavelli	Humphrey Carpenter
Denis Healey, Labour politician, former Chancellor of the Exchequer	Ernest Bevin, Labour politician, former Foreign Secretary
Ruth Lea, economist	Pyotr Tchaikovsky, composer
George Monbiot, journalist, environmental activist & writer	Thomas Paine, American author & revolutionary
Benedict Allen, explorer	Horatio Nelson, naval hero
Charles Wheeler, journalist & broadcaster	Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States
Kimberley Fortier	Edith Wharton, writer
Richard Eyre, theatre director	Anton Chekhov, Russian dramatist
Kenneth Clarke, Conservative politician, former Chancellor of the Exchequer	Benjamin Disraeli, 19th century Conservative Prime Minister
Lord May, scientist	Joseph Banks, naturalist & botanist

Series 6, October – December 2004

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Dillie Keane, actress, singer & comedian	Gilbert & Sullivan, librettist & composer of comic operettas ¹	Humphrey Carpenter
Baroness Jay, former Labour Leader of the House of Lords	Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy RN, captain of HMS Beagle
Christina Gorna, barrister	Vivien Leigh, actress
Jilly Goolden, wine expert	Leonard Woolf, writer, publisher & political thinker
Gerry Anderson, broadcaster	Burt Lancaster, American actor
Tim Marlow, art historian & broadcaster	Marvin Gaye, soul singer
Shami Chakrabarti, civil-rights campaigner	George Orwell, author & journalist
Marjorie Wallace, writer & charity chief executive	Sir Edward Elgar, composer
David Puttnam, film-maker	Michael Collins, Irish nationalist leader (repeat of Programme 1?)
Lucinda Lambton, writer & broadcaster	Captain Henry Morgan, privateer

¹The programme originally was scheduled by the guest film-maker David Puttnam who nominated the Michael Collins, Irish nationalist leader) was withdrawn due to "production quality".^[1]

Hogmanay Special, 31 December 2004

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Eddi Reader, Scottish singer-songwriter	Robert Burns, Scottish poet	Humphrey Carpenter¹

Carpenter died on 4 January 2005, this was his last Great Lives programme ¹

Series 7, April – June 2005

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Joe Queenan, humorist, critic & author	Genghis Khan, founder of the Mongol Empire	Francine Stock
Mary Kenny, author	George Sand, writer
Valerie Grove, journalist	Charles M. Schulz, the Peanuts cartoonist
Douglas Dunn, poet	Robert Louis Stevenson, writer
Michael Morpurgo, Children's Laureate	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer
Martin Smith, Chairman of English National Opera	John D. Rockefeller, American industrialist, investor & philanthropist
Yvonne Brown, lawyer	Marcus Garvey, Pan-Africanist leader
Amanda Vickery, historian	Elizabeth Gaskell, novelist
Lord Powell	Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States
Frederick Forsyth, novelist	the 1st Duke of Wellington, soldier & statesman

Series 8, October 2005 – February 2006

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Kathy Lette, writer	Mae West, Hollywood actress	Francine Stock
Carole Stone, author & broadcaster	R. D. Laing, psychiatrist
Howard Goodall, composer	Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, composer
Antony Beevor, historian, & Gillian Slovo, novelist	Vasily Grossman, Soviet writer
Robert Thomson, journalist	Zhao Ziyang, Chinese premier
Derek Wilson, historian & author	Thomas Cromwell, 16th century politician
Fiona Reynolds, Director-General of the National Trust	Beatrix Potter, writer
Annie Nightingale, radio broadcaster	Marty Feldman, comedian & actor
Adam Hart-Davis, historian & broadcaster	Nevil Shute, novelist & aeronautical engineer
Helen Lederer, writer & actress	Dorothy Parker, writer & poet

Series 9, April – June 2006

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Penelope Keith, actress	Morecambe & Wise, comedy double act	Matthew Parris
Jeff Randall, journalist	Andrew Carnegie, Scottish-American industrialist & philanthropist
Julian Clary, comedian	Noël Coward, playwright, composer, director, actor & singer; Coward was previously nominated by Peter Bazalgette in Series 4 Programme 1
Craig Brown, critic & satirist	Sigmund Freud, Austrian neurologist & psychotherapist
Ivan Massow, entrepreneur	Ella Fitzgerald, jazz singer
Duncan Goodhew, athlete	Johnny Weissmuller, American athlete-turned Tarzan actor
Frances Cairncross, economist, journalist & academic	Ignaz Semmelweis, Hungarian physician & pioneer of antiseptic procedures
Anna Raeburn, broadcaster & agony aunt	Tamara Karsavina, Russian ballerina
Piers Morgan, journallist & broadcaster	W. G. Grace, English cricketer
Krishnan Guru-Murthy, journalist & broadcaster	Robin Day, broadcaster & political interviewer

Series 10, August – September 2006

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Christopher Hitchens, author & journalist	Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary	Matthew Parris
Garry Bushell, newspaper columnist	Max Miller, comedian
Helena Kennedy, civil liberties lawyer	Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States
Jeremy Vine, broadcaster & journalist	W. H. Auden, poet
Elaine Showalter, feminist literary critic	Julia Ward Howe, 19th-century American abolitionist, social activist & poet
Lord John Biffen, Conservative politician & former Minister	Stanley Baldwin, Conservative Prime Minister
Joanna MacGregor, pianist	Nina Simone, singer & civil rights activist
Adair Turner, businessman & academic	Charles Darwin, naturalist & evolutionary scientist

Series 11, December 2006 – January 2007

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Joe Boyd, record producer	John H. Hammond, record producer	Matthew Parris
Lesley Abdela, feminist campaigner	Millicent Garrett Fawcett, suffragette
Kathy Sykes, scientist & broadcaster	Albert Einstein, German-American physicist
Victor Spinetti, actor	Joan Littlewood, theatre director
Alan Davies, actor & comedian	Richard Beckinsale, actor
Camilla Wright, journalist	Martha Gellhorn, American war reporter
Anne Fine, author	William Beveridge, economist & social reformer
Ann Widdecombe, former Conservative MP & former government minister	Pope John Paul II

Series 12, April – May 2007

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Phill Jupitus, comedian	Joe Strummer, frontman of The Clash	Matthew Parris
Nick Danziger, photographer	Tintin, fictional Belgian reporter
William Boyd, author	Anton Chekhov, Russian playwright
Pallab Ghosh, BBC science correspondent	Marie Curie, Polish chemist & physicist
Pauline Black, singer & actor	Billie Holiday, American jazz singer
Fiona Bruce, television presenter & newsreader	Mata Hari, Dutch accused spy
Yvonne Brewster, theatre director, actress & writer	Claude McKay, poet
Barry Cunliffe, archaeologist	Julius Caesar, Roman Emperor
Phil Hammond, broadcaster, physician & comedian	George Bernard Shaw, Irish dramatist & Fabian Society pamphleteer

Series 13, August – October 2007

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Jude Kelly, theatre director & producer	Lilian Baylis, theatrical producer & manager	Matthew Parris
David Trimble, politician	Elvis Presley, American singer
Maggi Hambling, painter & sculptor	Rembrandt, Dutch artist
The Earl of Snowdon, photographer & Alex Moulton, engineer	Alec Issigonis, car designer
Michael Craig-Martin, conceptual artist	John Cage, avant-garde composer
David Rowntree, drummer with Blur & political activist	Lord Denning, judge
John Motson, football commentator	Brian Clough, football manager
Prue Leith, restaurateur	Elizabeth David, food writer
General Sir Michael Rose, British Army officer	George Washington, first President of the United States

Series 14, December 2007 – January 2008

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Jan Ravens, impressionist	Thora Hird, actress	Matthew Parris
Quentin Blake, illustrator	George Cruikshank, caricaturist
Redmond O'Hanlon, travel writer	Alfred Russel Wallace, naturalist
Sir Richard Sykes, biochemist	Howard Florey, pharmacologist & pathologist
Roger Graef, documentary maker	Groucho Marx, American comedian & film star
Jacqueline Wilson, author of children's literature	Katherine Mansfield, writer
Joe Simpson, mountaineer	Hermann Buhl, mountaineer

Series 15, April – May 2008

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Mark Gatiss, actor & writer	Peter Cushing, actor	Matthew Parris
Rhona Cameron, comedian	Charles Bukowski, novelist & poet
Steve Cram, former athlete	Paavo Nurmi, Finnish runner
Stirling Moss, racing car driver	Juan Manuel Fangio, Argentine racing car driver
Anna Ford, TV newsreader	Paul Robeson, black singer, actor & civil rights activist
Simon Armitage, poet	Ian Curtis, lead singer with Joy Division
Nicholas Parsons, actor & radio & TV presenter	Edward Lear, painter & poet
Arabella Weir, comedian, actress & writer	Joyce Grenfell, actress, comedian & singer-songwriter
Colin Dexter, crime writer	A. E. Housman, scholar & poet

Series 16, August – September 2008

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Jon Snow, journalist & broadcaster	Lord Longford, Labour politician & prison reformer	Matthew Parris
David Lammy, politician	Richard Pryor, comedian
David Attenborough, zoologist & broadcaster	Robert Hooke, 17th century scientist
Bob Harris, radio presenter	Alan Freed, disc jockey
George Osborne, then shadow chancellor	Henry VII, king
Lesley Riddoch, broadcaster	David Ervine, Northern Ireland politician
Mike Jackson, army general	Bill Slim, second world war Field Marshal
Deborah Meaden, businesswoman	Lady Hester Stanhope, traveller, diplomat & spy
Ian Hislop, editor of Private Eye	William Hogarth, painter, engraver & satirist

Series 17, December 2008 – February 2009

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Harvey Goldsmith, performing arts promoter	Luciano Pavarotti, Italian operatic tenor	Matthew Parris
Michael Grade, broadcasting executive	Billy Marsh, theatrical agent
Raymond Briggs, illustrator & writer	Beachcomber, columnist
David Soul, actor	Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian & Resistance figure
Tracy-Ann Oberman, actress	Bette Davis, American film actress
Pam Ayres, poet	Tony Hancock, comedian & actor
Redmond O'Hanlon, travel writer	Alfred Russel Wallace, naturalist
Rachel De Thame, horticulturalist	Margot Fonteyn, ballerina
Ken Livingstone, former Mayor of London	Robert Kennedy, American politician & brother of president John F. Kennedy

Series 18, April – May 2009

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Stuart Hall, broadcaster	Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France	Matthew Parris
Polly Toynbee, journalist	Roy Jenkins, Labour politician
David Mellor, politician	Thomas Beecham, conductor
Ruby Wax, American comedian	Carl Jung, Swiss founder of analytical psychology
Colin Murray, broadcaster	Frank Sinatra, American singer
Andy Sheppard, saxophonist	John Coltrane, saxophonist
Michael O'Donnell, broadcaster & physician	Fred Astaire, dancer & actor
Misha Glenny, journalist	Giovanni Falcone, Italian judge & anti-Mafia campaigner

Series 19, August – September 2009

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate	Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate	Matthew Parris
David Miliband, Member of Parliament & (then) Foreign Secretary	Joe Slovo, South African ANC leader
George Galloway, Member of Parliament	John Cornford, poet & activist
Dervla Murphy, travel writer	Freya Stark, travel writer
Rolf Harris, Australian television presenter & artist	Kyffin Williams, Welsh artist
Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London	Samuel Johnson, writer of the great dictionary
Kate Humble, TV presenter	Miriam Makeba, South African singer & anti-apartheid activist
Paul Daniels, magician	Harry Houdini, American escapologist
John Major, former British Prime Minister	Rudyard Kipling, poet & author

Series 20, December 2009 – February 2010

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Sir Ranulph Fiennes, explorer	Henry V, King of England	Matthew Parris
Rich Hall, stand-up comedian	Tennessee Williams, American dramatist
Neil Innes, musician & performer	Vivian Stanshall, musician & comic writer
Munira Mirza, London Mayoral advisor on arts & culture	Hannah Arendt, German-American political philosopher
Christopher Biggins, actor & television presenter	Nero, Roman Emperor
Jenny Agutter, actress	Lise Meitner, Austrian physicist
David Bailey, photographer	Pablo Picasso, Spanish artist
John Williams, composer	Agustin Barrios Mangore, Paraguayan guitarist
Richard Dawkins, ethologist & evolutionary biologist	Bill Hamilton, evolutionary theorist

Series 21, April – May 2010

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
John Godber, playwright	Bertolt Brecht, writer & theatre director	Matthew Parris
Clive Stafford Smith, human rights lawyer	Robin Hood, folklore hero
Peter White, broadcaster	Douglas Jardine, England cricket captain
John Lloyd, comedy writer & television producer	Richard Buckminster Fuller, architect & futurist
Stuart Rose, chairman of Marks & Spencer	Matthew Flinders, cartographer
Baroness Sarah Hogg, economist & journalist	Charlotte Guest, polymath & businesswoman
Brian Cox, physicist	Carl Sagan, astronomer & astrophysicist
Viv Anderson, England footballer	Arthur Wharton, athlete & football player

Series 22, August – September 2010

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
John Harris, journalist & author	John Lennon, musician	Matthew Parris
Bettany Hughes, historian	Sappho, Ancient Greek poet
Dominic Sandbrook, historian	Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States
Camila Batmanghelidjh, founder of Kids Company	Mary Carpenter, educational & social reformer
Eleanor Bron, actress	Simone Weil, French philosopher & mystic
Edwina Currie, former Member of Parliament & government minister	Golda Meir, former Prime Minister of Israel
Digby Jones, former director of the CBI	Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Robert Winston, surgeon, scientist, broadcaster and politician	Michel de Montaigne, writers of the French Renaissance
Gerald Scarfe, cartoonist	Walt Disney, animator

Series 23, November 2010 – January 2011

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Mark Borkowski, public relations	Malcolm McLaren, impresario & talent manager	Matthew Parris
John Hegley, poet	D.H. Lawrence, novelist
Gerry Robinson, businessman	Samuel Beckett, Irish playwright
Lionel Blair, dancer & television personality	Sammy Davis Jr, dancer, singer & entertainer
Neil Kinnock, former Leader of the Labour Party	Aneurin Bevan, founder of the NHS & Labour Cabinet Minister
Barry Cryer, comedian	J. B. Priestley, novelist & playwright
Jim Al-Khalili, Iraqi-born physicist	Gertrude Bell, writer, traveller, politician & administrator
Katherine Whitehorn, journalist	Mary Stott, campaigning journalist
Kwame Kwei-Armah, playwright & actor	Marcus Garvey, African-American political leader ¹

Garvey was previously nominated by Yvonne Brown in Series 7 Programme 7 ¹

Series 24, April – May 2011

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Clive Sinclair, British inventor	Thomas Edison, American inventor	Matthew Parris
Charles Hazlewood, conductor	Leonard Bernstein, conductor & composer
Diana Quick, actress	Simone de Beauvoir, French philosopher
Sue MacGregor, broadcaster	Kathleen Ferrier, contralto singer
Lynne Truss, writer & journalist	Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland & mathematician
Caroline Lucas, British Green MP	Petra Kelly, German Green politician
Matthew Syed, sports journalist	Jack Johnson, "the Galveston Giant", boxer
Diane Abbott, Member of Parliament	Harold Pinter, playwright

Series 25, August – September 2011

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Tim Butcher, journalist	Graham Greene, author & critic	Matthew Parris
Janice Long, broadcaster	Kirsty MacColl, singer-songwriter
Gwyneth Lewis, poet	Emily Dickinson, American poet
Antonio Carluccio, Italian restaurateur	Eduardo Paolozzi, artist
Daisy Goodwin, broadcaster & poetry curator	William Shakespeare, poet & playwright
Simon Day, comedian & actor	Hans Fallada, German writer
Simon Jenkins, journalist	Edwin Lutyens, architect
Cerys Matthews, musician	Hildegard of Bingen, German mystic
Graeme le Saux, former England footballer	Gerald Durrell, author & conservationist

Series 26, December 2011 – January 2012

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Michael Sheen, actor	Philip K. Dick, science fiction writer	Matthew Parris
Raymond Tallis, philosopher	Ludwig Wittgenstein, German philosopher
Steven Pinker, psychologist & cognitive scientist	Thomas Hobbes, philosopher
Brian Sewell, art critic	Ludwig II of Bavaria
Jim Carter, actor	Lonnie Donegan, skiffle musician
Martin Rees, astrophysicist	Joseph Rotblat, physicist & campaigner against nuclear weapons
Emma Kennedy, actress	Gracie Allen, comedian
Clare Gerada, doctors' leader	Vera Brittain, writer, feminist & pacifist
Baroness Warsi, Conservative politician & former government minister	Razia Sultana, 13th-century Indian princess

Series 27, April – May 2012

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Owen Sheers, Welsh poet	Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet	Matthew Parris
Will Self, journalist & novelist	Oscar Wilde, Irish dramatist & writer
Erin Pizzey, writer & campaigner	Gertrude Stein, writer, philanthropist & art collector
Tom Robinson, singer, broadcaster & activist	George Lyward, educationalist, teacher & psychotherapist who worked at Finchden Manor
Alexei Sayle, comedian	Edward Said, Palestinian-American literary theorist & campaigner for Palestinian rights
Eric Pickles, politician	John Ford, American film director
Diana Athill, British literary editor, novelist & memoirist	Francisco Goya, Spanish painter
Lynn Barber, British journalist & interviewer	Sebastian Walker, founder of Walker Books, a publishing house for children

Series 28, July – September 2012

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Des Lynam, sports commentator	Henry Cooper, English heavyweight boxer	Matthew Parris
Janine di Giovanni, foreign correspondent & author	Josephine Bonaparte, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte
Rory Stewart, Conservative Member of Parliament, author & adventurer	Sir Walter Scott, Scottish novelist
Bill Paterson, actor	Leonard Maguire, Scottish actor
Natalie Haynes, comedian	Juvenal, Roman poet
Ken Dodd, comedian	Stan Laurel, film actor & one half of the duo Laurel and Hardy
Stephen Frears, film director	Karel Reisz, film director
Alan Johnson, politician & former Labour Home Secretary	George Orwell, writer
Naomi Wolf, commentator & author of The Beauty Myth	Edith Wharton, novelist, wit & feminist

Series 29, December 2012 – January 2013

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Martin Broughton, chairman of British Airways & the British Horse Racing Board	Dick Francis, crime novelist & former jockey	Matthew Parris
Francesca Simon, children's writer & author of the Horrid Henry books	Jean Cocteau, French writer, artist & film director
Lemn Sissay, author & broadcaster	Prince Alemayehu, favourite prince of Queen Victoria
Stuart Maconie, radio presenter & music critic	Ralph Vaughan Williams, composer & folk music collector
Richard Herring, comedian	Grigori Rasputin, Russian Orthodox mystic
Max Mosley, former president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA)	John Stuart Mill, philosopher
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, interior designer	Aubrey Beardsley, artist of the Aesthetic movement
Grace Dent, journalist	Nancy Mitford, novelist & biographer
Carol Klein, gardening expert	William Robinson, Irish-born journalist & gardener

Series 30, April – May 2013

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Peter Hitchens, author & columnist	George Bell, Anglican theologian & bishop	Matthew Parris
Bobby Friction, DJ & presenter	Galileo Galilei, Italian pioneer astronomer
Chris Tarrant, television presenter	Kenny Everett, comedian and former disc jockey
John Blashford-Snell, explorer	David Livingstone, explorer
Gyles Brandreth, writer & broadcaster	Arthur Conan Doyle, author
Justine Roberts, founder of Mumsnet, a website for parents	Bill Shankly, football manager
John Cooper Clarke, poet	Salvador Dalí, Spanish surrealist painter
Edmund de Waal, ceramicist & writer	Primo Levi, Italian Holocaust survivor, writer & chemist
Dr Lucy Worsley, Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces	Florence Nightingale, nurse, health administrator & statistician

Series 31, August – October 2013

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Russell Grant, astrologer & broadcaster	Ivor Novello, composer & actor	Matthew Parris
Gabriel Gbadamosi, playwright	Fela Kuti, Nigerian musician
Tanika Gupta	Rabindranath Tagore, Indian poet
Julie Burchill, writer	Ava Gardner, American film star
Paul Mason, journalist and broadcaster	Louise Michel, 19th century French anarchist
Peter Bowles, actor	George Devine, theatre director
Konnie Huq, television presenter & writer	Ada Lovelace, computing pioneer
Brendan Barber, trade unionist	John Steinbeck, American novelist
Al Murray, comedian	Bernard Montgomery, WW2 British General

Series 32, December 2013 – January 2014

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Ricky Ross, singer with Deacon Blue	Hank Williams, singer-songwriter	Matthew Parris
Michael Horovitz, poet	Allen Ginsberg, Beat poet
Meg Rosoff, novelist	Isabella Bird, Victorian traveller
David Chipperfield, architect	Le Corbusier, Swiss-French architect
David Baddiel, comedian	John Updike, novelist
Adil Ray, actor & TV personality	Dave Allen, comedian
Mark Constantine, businessman & founder of Lush cosmetics	Kahlil Gibran, poet
Sara Cox, radio presenter	Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes, hip-hop artist

Series 33, April – May 2014

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Evelyn Glennie, percussionist	Jacqueline du Pré, cellist	Matthew Parris
Sarah Vine, newspaper columnist	Dante Alighieri, 12th-13th century Italian poet
Mark Walport, Chief Scientific Adviser	Hans Sloane, art collector & benefactor of the British Museum
Marcus du Sautoy, mathematician	Jorge Luis Borges, Argentinian writer
Deborah Moggach, novelist	Arnold Bennett, 19th-century novelist
Isy Suttie, comedian, musician & actor	Jake Thackray, singer-songwriter
John Craven, journalist & television presenter	Isambard Kingdom Brunel, 19th-century British engineer
Emma Kirkby, soprano singer	Henry Purcell, 17th-century composer
Michael Palin, Python, writer & broadcaster	Ernest Hemingway, American writer

Series 34, August – October 2014

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Jonathan Meades, writer & broadcaster	Edward Burra, artist	Matthew Parris
Jazzie B, DJ & music entrepreneur	James Brown, American singer
Oona King, politician	Ida B. Wells, American journalist & civil rights leader
Ray Mears, woodsman & TV presenter	Rommel, German field marshal of World War II
Tom Shakespeare, sociologist	Gramsci, Italian Marxist politician
Labi Siffre, poet & singer-songwriter	Arthur Ransome, author & journalist
Stella Rimington, former Director General of MI5 & writer	Dorothy L. Sayers, crime writer
Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis, politician & academic	Joseph Bazalgette, Victorian engineer responsible for London's main sewers
Edith Hall, classicist	Lucille Ball, American actress & comedian

Series 35, December 2014 – January 2015

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Arthur Smith, comedian	Emil Zátopek, Czechoslovak distance runner	Matthew Parris
Laura Bates, feminist writer	Louisa May Alcott, 19th century American author of Little Women
Brian Eno, musician	Michael Young, sociologist & politician
Philippa Langley, historian	Richard III, 15th -century King of England
Tom Solomon, neurologist	Roald Dahl, children's writer
Michael Dobbs, politician & novelist	Guy Burgess, spy
Eve Pollard, journalist & former newspaper editor	Nora Ephron, American screenwriter
Mervyn King, former Governor of the Bank of England	Risto Ryti, Governor of Bank of Finland and Prime Minister and President of Finland during World War II

Series 36, April – May 2015

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Trevor McDonald, news presenter	Learie Constantine, Trinidadian cricketer & politician	Matthew Parris
Rachel Johnson, author & journalist	Lady Ottoline Morrell, literary hostess & associate of the Bloomsbury Group
Kulvinder Ghir, comedian & actor	Zoran Mušič, Slovene artist & survivor of Dachau
Helen Ghosh, Director General of the National Trust	James Lees-Milne, writer & expert on country houses
Wendy Cope, poet	John Clare, 19th-century poet
Antonia Quirke, film critic	Marlon Brando, American actor
Matthew Barzun, American ambassador	John Gil Winant, American ambassador to UK 1941-46
David Blunkett, blind politician	Louis Braille, 18th-century French inventor of Braille
Val McDermid, crime writer	P. D. James, crime writer

Series 37, August – September 2015

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Ian McKellen, actor	Edmund Hillary, mountaineer & explorer	Matthew Parris
Vicky Pryce, Greek-born former British Government economist	Melina Mercouri, Greek actress, singer & politician
Michael Howard, former Conservative Party leader	Queen Elizabeth I, English monarch
Ade Adepitan, television personality & Paralympian	George Washington Williams, American Civil War veteran & historian
Monica Ali, novelist	Richard Francis Burton, explorer & adventurer
Frances Crook, prison reformist	Barbara Castle, Labour Party politician & former Cabinet Minister
Hannah Rothschild, philanthropist & documentary filmmaker	Thelonious Monk, jazz musician
Nick Stadlen, former High Court judge	Bram Fischer, South African lawyer & anti-apartheid activist
Toyah Willcox, singer & actress	Katharine Hepburn, Hollywood actress

Series 38, December 2015 – January 2016

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Dickie Bird, cricket umpire	Sir Leonard Hutton, English cricketer	Matthew Parris
Roger Saul, founder of the Mulberry fashion label	Gertrude Jekyll, garden designer
Alvin Hall, financial journalist	James Baldwin, African American writer
Precious Lunga, epidemiologist	Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmental and political activist
Martin Jennings, sculptor	Charles Sargeant Jagger, sculptor of British World War One war memorials
Susan Calman, Scottish comedian	Molly Weir, Scottish actress
Nitin Sawhney, musician & producer	Jeff Buckley, singer-songwriter
Eliza Manningham-Buller, former Director General of MI5	Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States

Series 39, April – May 2016

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Anthony Horowitz, novelist & screenwriter	Alfred Hitchcock, film director	Matthew Parris
Nancy Dell'Olio, lawyer	Lucrezia Borgia, Italian princesses
Ray Peacock, Comedian	Lenny Bruce, Comedian
Sudha Bhuchar, actress	Zohra Sehgal, Indian actress
Graeme Lamb, SAS commando	Christine Granville, spy
Timmy Mallett, TV presenter	Richard the Lionheart, King
Charles Moore, journalist	Gordon Hamilton-Fairley, medical oncology
Ann Limb, chair of the Scout Association	George Fox, founder of the Quaker
Frank Turner, folk singer	Joseph Grimaldi, comedian

Series 40, August – September 2016

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Hilary Devey, television personality	Gracie Fields, actress	Matthew Parris
Alex Salmond, Scottish former First Minister	Thomas Muir, Father of Scottish Democracy.
Sara Pascoe, stand-up comedian	Virginia Woolf, writer
Georgina Godwin, journalist	Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary General of the United Nations
Tony Hawks, comedian	Marshall Rosenberg, psychologist
Maureen Lipman, actress	Cicely Saunders, nurse
Eliza Carthy, folk musician	Caroline Norton, poet
A. A. Gill, writer	Neville Chamberlain, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Cyrus Todiwala, chef	Dadabhai Naoroji, first British Indian MP

Series 41, December 2016 – January 2017

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Lucy Porter, comedian	Cary Grant, American actor	Matthew Parris
Ben Kingsley, actor	Elie Wiesel, Romanian-born, American Jewish Nobel laureate
Orlando Murrin, food writer	Dinu Lipatti, Romanian pianist
Ruth Holdaway, sports personality	Helen Rollason, sports journalist
Suzannah Lipscomb, historian	C. S. Lewis, novelist
Akram Khan, choreographer	Srinivasa Ramanujan, mathematician
Len Goodman, dancer	Lionel Bart, composer
Chris Patten, Chancellor of the University of Oxford	Pope John XXIII, pope

Series 42, April – May 2017

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Gary Kemp, songwriter	Edward William Godwin, architect	Matthew Parris
Germaine Greer, feminist writer	Dame Elizabeth Frink, sculptor
Ermonela Jaho, soprano	Mother Teresa, nun
Anton du Beke, dancer	Arnold Palmer, golfer
Peaches Golding, consultant	Shirley Chisholm, Member of U.S. Congress (Dem)
Steven Knight, screenwriter	Sitting Bull, Lakota chief
Sue Cameron, columnist	Emma of Normandy, queen consort
Peter Williams, businessman	Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Inc

Series 43, August – September 2017

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Maxine Peake, actor	Ellen Wilkinson, Labour MP & Cabinet Minister	Matthew Parris
Stephen Fry, comedian, actor & writer	P.G. Wodehouse, writer, creator of Jeeves
Sathnam Sanghera, journalist & author	Alexander Gardner, explorer
Don McCullin, photojournalist	Norman Lewis, travel writer
Tracy Chevalier, novelist	Mary Anning, fossil collector & working class woman from Lyme Regis
Helen Sharman, first British in space	Elsie Widdowson, dietitian
Nicholas Stern, Economist	Muhammad Ali, boxer & civil rights activist
Andrea Catherwood, presenter & journalist	Constance Markievicz, Irish politician & suffragette
Helena Morrissey, City boss	Rachael Heyhoe Flint, cricketer & businesswoman

Series 44, December 2017

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Will Gregory, musician	Flann O'Brien, novelist	Matthew Parris
Cornelia Parker, sculptor	Marcel Duchamp, French painter
Louise Richardson, political scientist	Daniel O'Connell, Barrister
Nazir Afzal, Chief Crown Prosecutor	Mahatma Gandhi, Indian independence leader
Helen Arney, physicist	Hertha Ayrton, mathematician
Gisela Stuart, Labour MP	Joseph Chamberlain, Labour MP
Helen Arney, presenter	Hertha Ayrton, physicist, and suffragette
Justin Marozzi, historian	Herodotus, Ancient Greek historian
Liza Tarbuck, actress	Nikola Tesla, Serbian inventor
Gisela Stuart, Labour MP	Joseph Chamberlain, Secretary of State

Series 45, April 2018 – May 2018

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Jim Moir, comedian, actor and artist	Captain Beefheart, American musician	Matthew Parris
Adrian Utley, musician	Miles Davis, American jazz musician
Laura Serrant, professor	Audre Lorde, American poet and activist
Tej Lalvani, businessman	Richard Feynman, American theoretical physicist,
Ayesha Hazarika, comedian and political commentator	Jayaben Desai, trade unionist
Simon Callow, actor	Orson Welles, American actor
Mica Paris, soul singer	Josephine Baker, American Vaudeville performer
Suzy Klein, TV and Radio presentator	Hedy Lamarr, actress
Barbara Stocking, former head of Oxfam	Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia

Series 46, September 2018 – December 2018

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Hanif Kureishi, writer	David Bowie, musician	Matthew Parris
Erica Wagner, former literary editor of The Times	Roald Amundsen, Norwegian polar explorer
Simon Evans, comedian	John Stuart Mill, philosopher
Patricia Greene, actor	Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury
Greg Jenner, historian	Gene Kelly, American dancer
Cherie Blair, barrister	Rose Heilbron, England's first woman judge.
Mark Carwardine, zoologist	Douglas Adams, writer
Helen Glover, Olympic rower	Alison Hargreaves, mountaineer
Christina Lamb, author and correspondent	Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan
Samira Ahmed, freelance journalist,	Laura Ingalls Wilder, American writer
Russell Kane, writer, comedian	Evelyn Waugh, English writer
Tim Smit, businessman	Humphrey Jennings, English documentary filmmaker

Series 47, December 2018 – present

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Kirill Gerstein , Russian American pianist	Ferruccio Busoni, composer	Matthew Parris
Ian McMillan, poet	Malcolm Lowry, writer
Tom Holland, historian	Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians
Helen Lewis , journalist	Catherine de' Medici, Queen consort of France
Shappi Khorsandi, comedian	Emma, Lady Hamilton , spouse of Lord Nelson
Mark Steel, comedian	Charlie Chaplin, actor and comedian
Nikesh Shukla, author	Ghulam Mohammad, Great Gama, Pakistani wrestler
Suzanne O'Sullivan, neurologist	Oliver Sacks, neurologist and author
Rohan Silva, entrepreneur, columnist, former policy advisor to David Cameron and George Osborne	Colin Chapman, creator of Lotus Cars
Matt Lucas, comedian, screenwriter, actor	Freddie Mercury, musician, songwriter, lead vocalist of Queen

References

^ Great Lives at radiolistings.co.uk

External links

[1] Great Lives at radiolistings.co.uk

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