Great Lives

Professor Alice Roberts, best known as the presenter of Digging for Britain, picks the wife of two E

Frank Whittle’s fascination with aeroplanes started as a nine-year-old boy when he was nearly decapi

Bestselling children's author Katherine Rundell discusses the extraordinary life of E Nesbit who wro

Baroness Ros Altmann, a Conservative peer and former pensions minister, was “blown away” by the arch

The political writer and broadcaster Steve Richards remembers the 1970s as a “dark decade.” But one

Gerard Hoffnung’s life was short. He died in 1959 at the age of 34, but this cartoonist, musician,

In 1961 Alan 'Fluff' Freeman took over as the host of the BBC Radio's 'Pick of the Pops' and changed

The Pulitzer Prize winning poet Mary Oliver died in 2019. She was best known for her poetry that re

Harry Belafonte became the King of Calypso with hits like 'Day-O' and 'Jump in the Line' but he woul

In 1776 Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence, kick-starting the movement against

Eartha Kitt was born in South Carolina in 1927. She had a tough upbringing but found her talent whi

Philosopher John Gray chooses as his great life the iconic British writer of dystopian and speculati

Broadcaster and author Iszi Lawrence chooses the aviator Diana Barnato Walker. Coming from a privile

Walter Murch picks Mohammad Mossadegh, prime minister following the nationalisation of the Anglo-Ira

The award-winning Sound Recordist and Musician, Chris Watson nominates his hero, Ludwig Koch. In 188

An aristocrat in an eye patch, a jazz saxophonist, a crime novelist and a pioneering organic farmer.

Veteran British film director Ken Loach nominates the 17th century radical pamphleteer and and leade

On the 11th June 1988 Jessye Norman performed a spine-tingling rendition of 'Amazing Grace' to a pac

The Godmother of English - and Irish - ballet, Dame Ninette De Valois or ‘Madam’ as she was known to

Born in 1922, Hattie Jacques began her career in music hall before graduating onto the radio comedie