Radio show
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, bookshop owner
|
Clement Attlee former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
|
Joan Bakewell
|
| Rosie Boycott, journalist
|
Sir Ernest Shackleton, polar explorer
|
| Terence Conran, food and design entrepreneur
|
André and Édouard Michelin, French inventors of the detachable pneumatic tyre and the travel guide
|
| Ralph Steadman, cartoonist and caricaturist
|
Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher
|
| Barbara Castle, Labour politician
|
Sylvia Pankhurst, suffragette
|
| Frank Delaney, writer and broadcaster
|
Henri Matisse, French artist
|
| Jonathan Miller, theatre and opera director
|
Marshall McLuhan, communication theorist and philosopher
|
| Fay Weldon, writer
|
H. G. Wells, visionary author
|
| Rabbi Lionel Blue, journalist and 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
|
King Alfred the Great, 9th-century King of Wessex
|
Series 1, May – August 2002
| Guest
|
Nominee
|
Presenter
|
| Ned Sherrin, broadcaster, author and 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
|
Field Marshal Viscount Slim, military leader
|
| Frederic Raphael, author and screenwriter
|
Alexander the Great
|
| Janet Street-Porter, journalist and media executive
|
Marquis de Sade, French philosopher, revolutionary politician and libertine
|
| Chris Barber, jazz trombonist and bandleader
|
Louis Armstrong, American jazz trumpeter and singer
|
| Sue Limb, writer and 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 and cell biologist,
|
Erasmus Darwin, 18th century physician
|
| Darcus Howe, writer and broadcaster,
|
C. L. R. James, sportsman and revolutionary
|
| Bea Campbell, journalist and author,
|
Rachel Carson, marine biologist and conservationist
|
| Muriel Gray, journalist and broadcaster,
|
M. R. James, writer of ghost stories
|
| Ahdaf Soueif, novelist and cultural commentator,
|
Umm Kulthum, Egyptian singer, songwriter and 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
|
| 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 and composer
|
Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian-American composer
|
| John Sergeant, journalist and broadcaster
|
Arthur Ransome, author and journalist
|
| Benjamin Zephaniah, writer and poet
|
Bob Marley, Jamaican reggae musician
|
| Steve Jones, geneticist
|
James Hogg, poet and novelist
|
| Richard Ingrams, journalist and satirist
|
G. K. Chesterton, writer
|
| Stacey Kent, jazz singer,
|
Powell and Pressburger, film-makers
|
| Richard Holmes, military historian
|
the Man in the Iron Mask, mysterious French prisoner in the Bastille
|
| Tanni Grey-Thompson, Welsh athlete and broadcaster,
|
David Lloyd George, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
|
| Esther Rantzen, journalist and broadcaster,
|
Queen Elizabeth I, Queen of England and Ireland
|
Series 4, October – December 2003
| Guest
|
Nominee
|
Presenter
|
| Peter Bazalgette, television executive
|
Noël Coward, playwright, composer, director, actor and singer
|
Humphrey Carpenter
|
| Kit Wright, writer
|
Samuel Johnson, author and 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 and politician
|
Octavia Hill, co-founder of the National Trust
|
| Clement Freud, broadcaster, writer, politician and chef
|
Tommy Cooper, comedian and magician
|
| Armando Iannucci, comedian and writer
|
Charles Dickens, novelist
|
| Linda Smith, comedian
|
Ian Dury, singer
|
| Ann Leslie, journalist
|
Mary Kingsley, writer and explorer
|
Series 5, April – June 2004
| Guest
|
Nominee
|
Presenter
|
| Lord Alistair McAlpine, Conservative politician
|
Machiavelli
|
Humphrey Carpenter
|
| Denis Healey, Labour politician
|
Ernest Bevin, Labour politician
|
| Ruth Lea, economist
|
Pyotr Tchaikovsky, composer
|
| George Monbiot, environmental activist and writer
|
Thomas Paine, American author and revolutionary
|
| Benedict Allen, explorer
|
Horatio Nelson, naval hero
|
| Charles Wheeler, journalist and 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
|
Benjamin Disraeli, 19th century Conservative Prime Minister
|
| Lord May, scientist
|
Joseph Banks, naturalist and botanist
|
Series 6, October – December 2004
| Guest
|
Nominee
|
Presenter
|
| Dillie Keane, actress, singer and comedian
|
Gilbert and Sullivan, librettist and composer of comic operettas 1
|
Humphrey Carpenter
|
| Baroness Jay, former 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 and political thinker
|
| Gerry Anderson, broadcaster
|
Burt Lancaster, American actor
|
| Tim Marlow, art historian and broadcaster
|
Marvin Gaye, soul singer
|
| Shami Chakrabarti, civil-rights campaigner
|
George Orwell, author and journalist
|
| Marjorie Wallace, writer and charity worker
|
Sir Edward Elgar, composer
|
| David Puttnam, film-maker
|
Michael Collins, Irish nationalist leader (repeat of Programme 1?)
|
| Lucinda Lambton, writer and broadcaster
|
Captain Henry Morgan, privateer
|
- 1The programme originally scheduled by wtih 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
- Carpenter died on 4 January 2005, this was he's last Great Lives programme 1
Series 7, April – June 2005
| Guest
|
Nominee
|
Presenter
|
| Joe Queenan, humorist, critic and 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 and 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 and statesman
|
Series 8, October 2005 – February 2006
| Guest
|
Nominee
|
Presenter
|
| Kathy Lette, writer
|
Mae West, Hollywood actress
|
Francine Stock
|
| Carole Stone, author and broadcaster
|
R. D. Laing, psychiatrist
|
| Howard Goodall, composer
|
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, composer
|
| Antony Beevor, historian, and Gillian Slovo, novelist
|
Vasily Grossman, Soviet writer
|
| Robert Thomson, journalist
|
Zhao Ziyang, Chinese premier
|
| Derek Wilson, historian and author
|
Thomas Cromwell, 16th century politician
|
| Fiona Reynolds, Director-General of the National Trust
|
Beatrix Potter, writer
|
| Annie Nightingale, radio broadcaster
|
Marty Feldman, comedian and actor
|
| Adam Hart-Davis, historian and broadcaster
|
Nevil Shute, novelist and aeronautical engineer
|
| Helen Lederer, writer and actress
|
Dorothy Parker, writer and poet
|
Series 9, April – June 2006
| Guest
|
Nominee
|
Presenter
|
| Penelope Keith, actress
|
Morecambe and Wise, comedy double act
|
Matthew Parris
|
| Jeff Randall, journalist
|
Andrew Carnegie, Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist
|
| Julian Clary, comedian
|
Noël Coward, playwright, composer, director, actor and singer; Coward was previously nominated by Peter Bazalgette in Series 4 Progamme 1
|
| Craig Brown, critic and satirist
|
Sigmund Freud, Austrian neurologist and psychotherapist
|
| Ivan Massow, entrepreneur
|
Ella Fitzgerald, jazz singer
|
| Duncan Goodhew, athlete
|
Johnny Weissmuller, American athlete-turned Tarzan actor
|
| Frances Cairncross, economist, journalist and academic
|
Ignaz Semmelweis, Hungarian physician and pioneer of antiseptic procedures
|
| Anna Raeburn, broadcaster and agony aunt
|
Tamara Karsavina, Russian ballerina
|
| Piers Morgan, journallist and broadcaster
|
W. G. Grace, English cricketer
|
| Krishnan Guru-Murthy, journalist and broadcaster
|
Robin Day, broadcaster and political interviewer
|
Series 10, August – September 2006
| Guest
|
Nominee
|
Presenter
|
| Christopher Hitchens, author and 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, journalist and broadcaster
|
W. H. Auden, poet
|
| Elaine Showalter, feminist literary critic
|
Julia Ward Howe, 19th-century American abolitionist, social activist and poet
|
| Lord John Biffen, Conservative politician
|
Stanley Baldwin, Conservative Prime Minister
|
| Joanna MacGregor, pianist
|
Nina Simone, singer and civil rights activist
|
| Adair Turner, businessman and academic
|
Charles Darwin, naturallist
|
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 and broadcaster
|
Albert Einstein, German-American physicist
|
| Victor Spinetti, actor
|
Joan Littlewood, theatre director
|
| Alan Davies, actor and comedian
|
Richard Beckinsale, actor
|
| Camilla Wright, journalist
|
Martha Gellhorn, American war reporter
|
| Anne Fine, author
|
William Beveridge, economist and social reformer
|
| Ann Widdecombe, former Conservative MP
|
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 and writer
|
Claude McKay, poet
|
| Barry Cunliffe, archaeologist
|
Julius Caesar, Roman Emperor
|
| Phil Hammond, comedian & broadcaster
|
George Bernard Shaw, Irish writer & activist
|
Series 13, August – October 2007
| Guest
|
Nominee
|
Presenter
|
| Jude Kelly, theatre director and producer
|
Lilian Baylis, theatrical producer and manager
|
Matthew Parris
|
| David Trimble, politician
|
Elvis Presley, American singer
|
| Maggi Hambling, painter and sculptor
|
Rembrandt, Dutch artist
|
| The Earl of Snowdon, photographer, and Alex Moulton, engineer
|
Alec Issigonis, car designer
|
| Michael Craig-Martin, conceptual artist
|
John Cage, avant-garde composer
|
| David Rowntree, drummer with Blur and 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 and pathologist
|
| Roger Graef, documentary maker
|
Groucho Marx, American comedian and 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 and writer
|
Peter Cushing, actor
|
Matthew Parris
|
| Rhona Cameron, comedian
|
Charles Bukowski, novelist and 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 and civil rights activist
|
| Simon Armitage, poet
|
Ian Curtis, lead singer with Joy Division
|
| Nicholas Parsons, actor and radio & TV presenter
|
Edward Lear, painter and poet
|
| Arabella Weir, comedian, actress and writer
|
Joyce Grenfell, actress, comedian and singer-songwriter
|
| Colin Dexter, crime writer
|
A. E. Housman, scholar and poet
|
Series 16, August – September 2008
| Guest
|
Nominee
|
Presenter
|
| Jon Snow, journalist and broadcaster
|
Lord Longford, politician and social reformer
|
Matthew Parris
|
| David Lammy, politician
|
Richard Pryor, comedian
|
| David Attenborough, naturalist and 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 and spy
|
| Ian Hislop, editor of Private Eye
|
William Hogarth, painter and 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 and writer
|
Beachcomber, columnist
|
| David Soul, actor
|
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian and Resistance figure
|
| Tracy-Ann Oberman, actress
|
Bette Davis, American film actress
|
| Pam Ayres, poet
|
Tony Hancock, comedian and 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 and 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, doctor and broadcaster
|
Fred Astaire, dancer and actor
|
| Misha Glenny, journalist
|
Giovanni Falcone, Italian judge and 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 and Minister
|
Joe Slovo, South African ANC leader
|
| George Galloway, Member of Parliament
|
John Cornford, poet and activist
|
| Dervla Murphy, travel writer
|
Freya Stark, travel writer
|
| Rolf Harris, Australian musician and 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 and anti-apartheid activist
|
| Paul Daniels, magician
|
Harry Houdini, American escapologist
|
| John Major, former British Prime Minister
|
Rudyard Kipling, author and poet
|
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 playwright
|
| Neil Innes, musician and performer
|
Vivian Stanshall, musician and comic writer
|
| Munira Mirza, London Mayoral advisor on arts and culture
|
Hannah Arendt, German-American political philosopher
|
| Christopher Biggins, acto
|
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 and evolutionary biologist
|
Bill Hamilton, evolutionary theorist
|
Series 21, April – May 2010
| Guest
|
Nominee
|
Presenter
|
| John Godber, playwright
|
Bertolt Brecht, writer and 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 and television producer
|
Richard Buckminster Fuller, architect and futurist
|
| Stuart Rose, chairman of Marks and Spencer
|
Matthew Flinders, cartographer
|
| Baroness Sarah Hogg, economist and journalist
|
Charlotte Guest, polymath and businesswoman
|
| Brian Cox, physicist
|
Carl Sagan, astronomer and astrophysicist
|
| Viv Anderson, England footballer
|
Arthur Wharton, athlete and football player
|
Series 22, August – September 2010
| Guest
|
Nominee
|
Presenter
|
| John Harris, journalist and 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 and social reformer
|
| Eleanor Bron, actress
|
Simone Weil, French philosopher and mystic
|
| Edwina Currie, former MP
|
Golda Meir, former Prime Minister of Israel
|
| Digby Jones, former director of the CBI
|
Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
|
Series 23, November 2010 – January 2011
| Guest
|
Nominee
|
Presenter
|
| Mark Borkowski, PR man
|
Malcolm McLaren, the rock & roll swindler
|
Matthew Parris
|
| John Hegley, poet
|
DH Lawrence, writer
|
| Gerry Robinson, business guru
|
Samuel Beckett, Irish playwright
|
| Lionel Blair, dancer & TV celebrity
|
Sammy Davis Jr, dancer, singer & entertainer
|
| Neil Kinnock, former MP
|
Aneurin Bevan, founder of the NHS
|
| 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 and composer
|
| Diana Quick, actress
|
Simone de Beauvoir, French philosopher
|
| Sue MacGregor, broadcaster
|
Kathleen Ferrier, contralto singer
|
| Lynne Truss, writer and journalist
|
Lewis Carroll, mathematician and author of Alice in Wonderland
|
| 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, playwright and 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 and poetry curator
|
William Shakespeare, poet and playwright
|
| Simon Day, comedian
|
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 and 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 and 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 and campaigner against nuclear weapons
|
| Emma Kennedy, actress
|
Gracie Allen, comedian
|
| Clare Gerada, doctors' leader
|
Vera Brittain, writer, feminist and pacifist .
|
| Baroness Warsi, Conservative politician
|
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 and novelist
|
Oscar Wilde, Irish writer and poet
|
| Erin Pizzey, writer and campaigner
|
Gertrude Stein, writer and art collector
|
| Tom Robinson, singer and leader of the Tom Robinson Band
|
George Lyward, educationalist, teacher and psychotherapist who worked at Finchden Manor
|
| Alexei Sayle, comedian
|
Edward Said, Palestinian-American literary theorist and campaigner for Palestinian rights
|
| Eric Pickles, politician
|
John Ford, American film director
|
| Diana Athill, British novelist, memoirist and diarist
|
Francisco Goya, Spanish painter
|
| Lynn Barber, British journalist
|
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, author and foreign correspondent
|
Josephine Bonaparte, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte
|
| Rory Stewart, Tory Member of Parliament, author and adventurer
|
Sir Walter Scott, Scottish author
|
| Bill Paterson, actor
|
Leonard Maguire, Scottish actor
|
| Natalie Haynes, comedian
|
Juvenal, Roman poet
|
| Ken Dodd, comedian
|
Stan Laurel, film actor and one half of the duo Laurel and Hardy
|
| Stephen Frears, film director
|
Karel Reisz, film director
|
| Alan Johnson, politician and former home secretary
|
George Orwell, writer
|
| Naomi Wolf, commentator and author of The Beauty Myth
|
Edith Wharton, novelist, wit and feminist
|
Series 29, December 2012 – January 2013
| Guest
|
Nominee
|
Presenter
|
| Martin Broughton, chairman of British Airways and the British Horse Racing Board
|
Dick Francis, crime novelist and former jockey
|
Matthew Parris
|
| Francesca Simon, children's writer and author of the Horrid Henry books
|
Jean Cocteau, French writer and film director
|
| Lemn Sissay, author and broadcaster
|
Prince Alemayehu, favourite prince of Queen Victoria
|
| Stuart Maconie, radio presenter and music critic
|
Ralph Vaughan Williams, composer and 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 and biographer
|
| Carol Klein, gardening expert
|
William Robinson, Irish-born journalist and gardener
|
Series 30, April – May 2013
| Guest
|
Nominee
|
Presenter
|
| Peter Hitchens, author and columnist
|
George Bell, Anglican theologian
|
Matthew Parris
|
| Bobby Friction, DJ and presenter
|
Galileo Galilei, Italian pioneer astronomer
|
| Chris Tarrant, DJ and former television presenter
|
Kenny Everett, comedian and former disc jockey
|
| John Blashford-Snell, explorer
|
David Livingstone, explorer
|
| Gyles Brandreth, writer and 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 and writer
|
Primo Levi, Italian chemist and Holocaust writer
|
| Dr Lucy Worsley, Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces
|
Florence Nightingale, nurse, health administrator and statistician
|
Series 31, August - October 2013
| Guest
|
Nominee
|
Presenter
|
| Russell Grant, astrologer and broadcaster
|
Ivor Novello, composer and 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 and 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 and TV personality
|
Dave Allen, comedian
|
| Mark Constantine, businessman and 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 and 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 and actor
|
Jake Thackray, singer-songwriter
|
| John Craven, journalist and TV presenter
|
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, 19th-century British engineer
|
| Emma Kirkby, soprano singer
|
Henry Purcell, 17th-century composer
|
| Michael Palin, Python, writer and broadcaster
|
Ernest Hemingway, American writer
|
Series 34, August - October 2014
| Guest
|
Nominee
|
Presenter
|
| Jonathan Meades, writer and broadcaster
|
Edward Burra, artist
|
Matthew Parris
|
| Jazzie B, DJ and music entrepreneur
|
James Brown, American singer
|
| Oona King, politician
|
Ida B. Wells, American journalist and civil rights leader
|
| Ray Mears, woodsman and TV presenter
|
Rommel, German field marshal of World War II
|
| Tom Shakespeare, sociologist
|
Gramsci, Italian Marxist politician
|
| Labi Siffre, poet and singer-songwriter
|
Arthur Ransome, author and journalist
|
| Stella Rimington, writer and former Director General of MI5
|
Dorothy L. Sayers, crime writer
|
| Andrew Adonis, politician and academic
|
Joseph Bazalgette, Victorian engineer responsible for London's main sewers
|
| Edith Hall, classicist
|
Lucille Ball, American actress and 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 and politician
|
| Philippa Langley, historian
|
Richard III, 15th -century King of England
|
| Tom Solomon, neurologist
|
Roald Dahl, children's writer
|
| Michael Dobbs, politician and novelist
|
Guy Burgess, spy
|
| Eve Pollard, journalist and 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 - June 2015
| Guest
|
Nominee
|
Presenter
|
| Trevor McDonald, news presenter
|
Learie Constantine, Trinidadian cricketer and politician
|
Matthew Parris
|
| Rachel Johnson, author and journalist
|
Lady Ottoline Morrell, literary hostess and associate of the Bloomsbury Group
|
| Kulvinder Ghir, comedian and actor
|
Zoran Mušič, Slovene artist and survivor of Dachau
|
| Helen Ghosh, Director General of the National Trust
|
James Lees-Milne, writer and 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, April - June 2015
| Guest
|
Nominee
|
Presenter
|
| Ian McKellen, actor
|
Edmund Hillary, mountaineer and explorer
|
Matthew Parris
|
| Vicky Pryce, Greek-born former British Government economist
|
Melina Mercouri, Greek actress, singer and politician
|
| Michael Howard, Conservative politician
|
Queen Elizabeth I, English monarch
|
| Ade Adepitan, television personality and Paralympian
|
George Washington Williams, American Civil War veteran and historian
|
| Monica Ali, novelist
|
Richard Francis Burton, explorer and adventurer
|
| Frances Crook, prison reformist
|
Barbara Castle, Labour Party politician
|
| Hannah Rothschild, philanthropist and documentary filmmaker
|
Thelonious Monk, jazz musician
|
| Nick Stadlen, former High Court judge
|
Bram Fischer, South African lawyer and anti-apartheid activist
|
| Toyah Willcox, singer and actress
|
Katharine Hepburn, Hollywood actress
|
Series 38, August 2015 - January 2016
| Guest
|
Nominee
|
Presenter
|
| Dickie Bird, cricket umpire
|
Sir Leonard Hutton, England Test cricker
|
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 and producer
|
Jeff Buckley, singer-songwriter
|
| Eliza Manningham-Buller, former Director General of MI5
|
Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States
|
Series 39, April 2016 - present
| Guest
|
Nominee
|
Presenter
|
| Anthony Horowitz, novelist and 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 2016 - present
| 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 Hammarskjold, 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
|
References
External links
United Kingdom
