British radio series
Radio show
Great Lives 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 it feels 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 person's 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.
[ edit ] 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 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 and former Cabinet Minister Sylvia Pankhurst , suffragette Frank Delaney , writer and broadcaster Henri Matisse , French artist Jonathan Miller , theatre and opera director, physician Marshall McLuhan , communication theorist and philosopher Fay Weldon , writer H. G. Wells , visionary author Rabbi Lionel Blue , rabbi 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 and former Cabinet Minister King Alfred the Great , 9th-century King of Wessex
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Ned Sherrin , broadcaster, television producer 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 and former Foreign Secretary 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
[ edit ] 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 , Caribbean revolutionary and cricket writer 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 and former Cabinet Minister Greg Dyke , media executive Captain James Cook , explorer
[ edit ] 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
[ edit ] 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 ad Labour peer 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
[ edit ] 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 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, former Chancellor of the Exchequer Benjamin Disraeli , 19th century Conservative Prime Minister Lord May , scientist Joseph Banks , naturalist and botanist
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Dillie Keane , actress, singer and comedian Gilbert & Sullivan , librettist and 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 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 chief executive 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
1 The programme originally scheduled was by the guest film-maker David Puttnam (who nominated the Irish nationalist leader Michael Collins ). It was withdrawn due to "production quality".[ 1] [ edit ] Carpenter died on 4 January 2005, this was his last Great Lives programme 1 [ edit ] 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 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
[ edit ] 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 Adam Hart-Davis , historian and broadcaster Nevil Shute , novelist and aeronautical engineer Helen Lederer , writer and actress Dorothy Parker , writer and poet Annie Nightingale , radio broadcaster Marty Feldman , comedian and actor
[ edit ] 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 singer1 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 , journalist and broadcaster W. G. Grace , English cricketer Krishnan Guru-Murthy , journalist and broadcaster Robin Day , broadcaster and political interviewer
1 Coward was previously nominated by Peter Bazalgette in Series 4 Programme 1
[ edit ] 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 , broadcaster and journalist 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 and former Minister Stanley Baldwin , Conservative Prime Minister Joanna MacGregor , pianist Nina Simone , singer and civil rights activist Adair Turner , businessman and academic Charles Darwin , naturalist and evolutionary scientist
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Joe Boyd , record producer John H. Hammond , record producer Matthew Parris Lesley Abdela , feminist campaigner Millicent Garrett Fawcett , suffragist 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 and former government minister Pope John Paul II
[ edit ] 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 and physicist Pauline Black , singer and actor Billie Holiday , American jazz singer Fiona Bruce , television presenter and 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 , broadcaster, physician and comedian George Bernard Shaw , Irish dramatist and Fabian Society pamphleteer
[ edit ] 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
[ edit ] 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
[ edit ] 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 and 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
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Jon Snow , journalist and broadcaster Lord Longford , Labour politician and prison reformer Matthew Parris David Lammy , politician Richard Pryor , comedian David Attenborough , zoologist 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, engraver and satirist
[ edit ] 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 Rachel De Thame , horticulturalist Margot Fonteyn , ballerina Ken Livingstone , former mayor of London Robert F. Kennedy , American politician and brother of President John F. Kennedy
[ edit ] 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 and physician Fred Astaire , dancer and actor Misha Glenny , journalist Giovanni Falcone , Italian judge and anti-Mafia campaigner
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Andrew Motion , Poet Laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson , Poet Laureate Matthew Parris David Miliband , Member of Parliament and (then) Foreign Secretary 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 television presenter and artist Kyffin Williams , Welsh artist Boris Johnson , (then) 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 , poet and author
[ edit ] 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 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 , actor and 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 and evolutionary biologist Bill Hamilton , evolutionary theorist
[ edit ] 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
[ edit ] 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 Member of Parliament and 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
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Mark Borkowski , public relations Malcolm McLaren , impresario and talent manager Matthew Parris John Hegley , poet D. H. Lawrence , novelist Gerry Robinson , businessman Samuel Beckett , Irish playwright Lionel Blair , dancer and television personality Sammy Davis Jr. , dancer, singer and entertainer Neil Kinnock , former Leader of the Labour Party Aneurin Bevan , founder of the NHS and Labour Cabinet Minister Barry Cryer , comedian J. B. Priestley , novelist and playwright Jim Al-Khalili , Iraqi-born physicist Gertrude Bell , writer, traveller, politician and administrator Katherine Whitehorn , journalist Mary Stott , campaigning journalist Kwame Kwei-Armah , playwright and actor Marcus Garvey , African-American political leader 1
Garvey was previously nominated by Yvonne Brown in Series 7 Programme 7 1 [ edit ] 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 , author of Alice in Wonderland and mathematician Caroline Lucas , British Green Member of Parliament Petra Kelly , German Green politician Matthew Syed , sports journalist Jack Johnson , "the Galveston Giant", boxer Diane Abbott , Member of Parliament Harold Pinter , playwright
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Tim Butcher , journalist Graham Greene , author 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 and 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 and conservationist
[ edit ] 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 and former government minister Razia Sultana , 13th-century Indian princess
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Owen Sheers , Welsh poet Dylan Thomas , Welsh poet Matthew Parris Will Self , journalist and novelist Oscar Wilde , Irish dramatist and writer Erin Pizzey , writer and campaigner Gertrude Stein , writer, philanthropist and art collector Tom Robinson , singer, broadcaster and activist 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 literary editor, novelist and memoirist Francisco Goya , Spanish painter Lynn Barber , British journalist and interviewer Sebastian Walker , founder of Walker Books, a publishing house for children
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Des Lynam , sports commentator Henry Cooper , English heavyweight boxer Matthew Parris Janine di Giovanni , foreign correspondent and author Josephine Bonaparte , wife of Napoleon Bonaparte Rory Stewart , Conservative Member of Parliament, author and 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 and one half of the duo Laurel and Hardy Stephen Frears , film director Karel Reisz , film director Alan Johnson , politician and former Labour Home Secretary George Orwell , writer Naomi Wolf , commentator and author of The Beauty Myth Edith Wharton , novelist, wit and feminist
[ edit ] 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, artist 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
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Peter Hitchens , author and columnist George Bell , Anglican theologian and bishop Matthew Parris Bobby Friction , DJ and 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 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 Holocaust survivor, writer and chemist Dr Lucy Worsley , Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces Florence Nightingale , nurse, health administrator and statistician
[ edit ] 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
[ edit ] 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
[ edit ] 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 television 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
[ edit ] 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 , former Director General of MI5 and writer Dorothy L. Sayers , crime writer Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis , politician and academic Joseph Bazalgette , Victorian engineer responsible for London's main sewers Edith Hall , classicist Lucille Ball , American actress and comedian
[ edit ] 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 Tom Solomon , neurologist Roald Dahl , children's writer Philippa Langley , historian Richard III , 15th -century King of England Michael Dobbs , politician and 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 , Prime Minister and President of Finland during World War II
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Trevor McDonald , news presenter Learie Constantine , Trinidadian cricketer and politician Matthew Parris Rachel Johnson , author & journalist Lady Ottoline Morrell , literary hostess and associate of the Bloomsbury Group Kulvinder Ghir , comedian & 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
[ edit ] 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 , former Conservative Party leader 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 and former Cabinet Minister 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 & actress Katharine Hepburn , Hollywood actress
[ edit ] 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 and producer Jeff Buckley , singer-songwriter Eliza Manningham-Buller , former Director General of MI5 Abraham Lincoln , 16th President of the United States
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Anthony Horowitz , novelist and screenwriter Alfred Hitchcock , film director Matthew Parris Nancy Dell'Olio , lawyer Lucrezia Borgia , Italian princess 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 Quakers Frank Turner , folk singer Joseph Grimaldi , comedian
[ edit ] 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
[ edit ] 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
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Gary Kemp , songwriter Edward William Godwin , architect Matthew Parris Germaine Greer , feminist writer Dame Elisabeth 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 Iain Lee , broadcaster Andy Kaufman , entertainer and performance artist
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Maxine Peake , actor Ellen Wilkinson , Labour MP and Cabinet Minister Matthew Parris Stephen Fry , comedian, actor and writer P.G. Wodehouse , writer, creator of Jeeves Sathnam Sanghera , journalist and author Alexander Gardner , explorer Don McCullin , photojournalist Norman Lewis , travel writer Tracy Chevalier , novelist Mary Anning , fossil collector and working-class woman from Lyme Regis Helen Sharman , first British in space Elsie Widdowson , dietitian Nicholas Stern , Economist Muhammad Ali , boxer and civil rights activist Andrea Catherwood , presenter and journalist Constance Markievicz , Irish politician and suffragette Helena Morrissey , City boss Rachael Heyhoe Flint , cricketer and businesswoman
[ edit ] 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 , presenter Hertha Ayrton , physicist, and suffragette Gisela Stuart , Labour MP Joseph Chamberlain , Liberal MP Justin Marozzi , historian Herodotus , Ancient Greek historian Liza Tarbuck , actress Nikola Tesla , Serbian inventor
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Vic Reeves , comedian, actor and artist Captain Beefheart , American musician Matthew Parris Ayesha Hazarika , comedian and political commentator Jayaben Desai , trade unionist 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 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
[ edit ] 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 Helen Glover , Olympic rower Alison Hargreaves , mountaineer Greg Jenner , historian Gene Kelly , American dancer Cherie Blair , barrister Rose Heilbron , England's first woman judge Mark Carwardine , zoologist Douglas Adams , writer Christina Lamb , author and correspondent Benazir Bhutto , former Prime Minister of Pakistan
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Samira Ahmed , freelance journalist, Laura Ingalls Wilder , American writer Matthew Parris Russell Kane , writer, comedian Evelyn Waugh , English writer Tim Smit , businessman Humphrey Jennings , English documentary filmmaker 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 , 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
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Shappi Khorsandi , comedian Emma, Lady Hamilton , spouse of Lord Nelson Matthew Parris Helen Lewis , journalist Catherine de' Medici , Queen consort of France Tom Holland , historian Aethelflaed , Lady of the Mercians Ian McMillan , poet Malcolm Lowry , writer Kirill Gerstein , Russian American pianist Ferruccio Busoni , composer Caroline Criado-Perez , feminist campaigner Jane Austen , writer Jeremy Deller , artist Brian Epstein , The Beatles' manager Shirley Collins , folk singer Alan Lomax , American song-hunter Kamila Shamsie , writer Asma Jahangir , human rights lawyer
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Lucy Irvine , adventurer and author Robinson Crusoe , fictional characters Matthew Parris Ed Balls , British Labour and Co-operative politician Herbert Howells , composer Laura Marling , folk singer-songwriter Lou Andreas-Salome , first woman psychoanalyst Caroline Quentin , actress Sir John Vanbrugh , playwright and architect Shaun Ley , Broadcaster Ramsay MacDonald , First UK Labour Prime Minister Philippa Perry , psychotherapist Maria Montessori , Italian educator Fiona Shaw , actress Eleonora Duse , actress Sindhu Vee , comedian Prince Rogers Nelson Chibundu Onuzo , author Constance Cummings-John , Sierra Leonean educationist
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Peter Oborne , journalist William Brown and his creator, Richmal Crompton Matthew Parris Lindsey Hilsum , Channel 4 News reporter Lee Miller , War photographer and model Jeremy Paxman , broadcaster Nicholas Ashley-Cooper, 12th Earl of Shaftesbury , politician Janice Turner , journalist Enid Blyton , novelist Bill Bailey , comedian Alfred Russel Wallace , naturalist Ken Clarke , politician Charlie Parker , Jazz sax player Josie Long , comedian Kurt Vonnegut , American author Andi Oliver , chef Toni Morrison , American Nobel Prize-winning author
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Rick Stein , chef Jim Morrison , rock singer Matthew Parris Frank Cottrell-Boyce , script writer Tove Jansson , creator of the Moomins Kate Stables , musician Ursula K. Le Guin , American author Olivette Otele , historian Maya Angelou , African-American writer Daniel Rigby , TV author Victoria Wood , comedian Sally Phillips , comedian Myrna Loy , American film actress Anand Menon , political scientist Billy Bremner , footballer Sara Wheeler , author Sybille Bedford , author Dolly Alderton , author Doris Day , American actress
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Margaret MacMillan , Canadian historian Benito Mussolini , Italian fascist dictator Matthew Parris Jessie Burton , author Frida Kahlo , Mexican painter Peter Frankopan , historian Konstantin Tsiolkovsky , Soviet rocket scientist Jessie Ware , English singer Donna Summer , American singer Frances O'Grady , trade unionist Ernest Bevin , Labour politician and trade unionist Tom Allen , comedian Kenneth Williams , English actor David Adjaye , Ghanaian-British architect Okwui Enwezor , Nigerian curator James Graham , playwright John Maynard Keynes , economist Michael Wood , historian Xuanzang , Chinese monk and traveller
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Philippa Gregory , novelist Katherine Parr , sixth wife of Henry VIII Matthew Parris David Spiegelhalter , professor Frank Ramsey , mathematician Diane Morgan , comedian Hugh Dowding , Air Chief Marshal Robert Rinder , barrister Jessica Mitford , civil rights activist and investigative journalist David Jonsson , actor Jean-Michel Basquiat , American artist Caroline Catz , actor Delia Derbyshire , composer Cori Crider , human rights lawyer Cesar Chavez , Rights activist
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Jonathan Kent , director Patricia Highsmith , author of The Talented Mr Ripley Matthew Parris Yasmin Alibhai-Brown , journalist and author Chinua Achebe , novelist Eddie Piller , broadcaster and record producer Kenny Lynch , singer, songwriter, entertainer KT Tunstall , singer-songwriter Ivor Cutler , poet, author, artist and humorist Jonathan Dimbleby , broadcaster Harry Hopkins , American statesman Arlo Parks , singer-songwriter Elliott Smith , singer Ben Miller , actor, comedian and author William Hazlitt , critic and essayist Rosie Millard , journalist and broadcaster Edward III of England , king
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Michael Booth , author Hans Christian Andersen , author Matthew Parris Tasmin Little , violinist Yehudi Menuhin , violinist Devi Sridhar , professor of global public health Althea Gibson , tennis player Lindsay Johns , writer and broadcaster Frantz Fanon , psychiatrist and philosopher Tristram Hunt , director of the V&A Josiah Wedgwood , master potter Peggy Seeger , folk singer Ewan MacColl , folk singer and activist Dorothy Byrne , president of Murray Edwards College Catherine of Siena , saint, mystic, activist and author Yanis Varoufakis , politician and economist Hypatia , ancient Greek mathematician Ruth Rogers , chef and restaurateur James Baldwin , African-American writer
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Niall Ferguson , historian J. R. R. Tolkien , author of The Lord of the Rings Matthew Parris Rory Sutherland , marketing guru Johnny Ramone , musician Nina Sosanya , actor Jeanne Baret , first female circumnavigator Priyanga Burford , actor Noor-un-Nissa Inayat Khan , princess and WWII special agent Richard Walker , MD of Iceland William Lever , founder of Unilever Lady Hale , judge Lady Rhondda , suffragette and businesswoman Roma Agrawal , engineer and author Mrinalini Sarabhai , Indian classical dancer Henry Normal , poet Spike Milligan , author and Goon
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Brian Cox , actor Lindsay Anderson , film director Matthew Parris Donald Macintyre , journalist Tom Hopkinson , newspaper editor Janet Ellis , Blue Peter Kaye Webb , Puffin Books editor Lolita Chakrabarti , playwright and actor Ira Aldridge , actor Joe Swift , garden designer Gil Scott-Heron , poet and musician Terry Christian Tony Wilson , "Mr Manchester" Rob Newman , comedian Franklin D. Roosevelt , US President Anna Maxwell Martin , actor Joan Rhodes , strongwoman Susie Boyt , novelist Judy Garland , film-star
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Pat Nevin , footballer Johan Cruyff , Dutch footballer Matthew Parris Holly Walsh , comedian BS Johnson , novelist Bobby Seagull , mathematics teache Ravi Shankar , Indian sitarist John Timpson , businessman Kathleen Ollerenshaw , educationalist Kate Bingham , venture capitalist Rosalind Franklin , chemist Romy Gill , food writer Amrita Pritam , poet Lesley Garrett , soprano singer, George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood , opera manager Cressida Cowell , children's author, Astrid Lindgren , creator of Pippi Longstocking Bonnie Greer , playwright The women of the Morant Bay rebellion
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Olia Hercules , Ukrainian chef and food writer Alla Horska , Ukrainian painter Matthew Parris Olivia Laing , writer Christopher Lloyd , gardener and writer Noddy Holder , frontman of Slade Chuck Berry , Rock'n'roll pioneer Bob Harris , radio presenter Matt Busby , football player and manager Minette Batters , President of NFU Henry Plumb, Baron Plumb , politician Nick Hayes & Patrick Barkham Roger Deakin , writer, wild swimmer, environmentalist Chris McCausland , comedian Kurt Cobain , musician in Nirvana Adjoa Andoh , actor Zora Neale Hurston , writer and anthropologist
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Qasa Alom , broadcaster Arthur Ashe , tennis champion Matthew Parris Christopher Clark , historian Frederick the Great , King of Prussia Dwayne Fields , 2nd black man to reach North Pole Matthew Henson , 1st black man to reach North Pole John Robins , comedian Frank Zappa , musician Gillian Burke , biologist and TV presenter Kofi Annan , UN Secretary-General Jesse Norman , government minister Edward Coke , prosecutor of Guy Fawkes Ian Hislop Jon Ronson , journalist Terry Hall , musician with The Specials Jake Arnott , novelist John Gay , 18th-century writer
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Ellie Gibson , comedian Tony Benn , politician Matthew Parris Susie Dent , etymologist, Thomas Mann , German writer Matthew Gould , diplomat Stamford Raffles , colonialist Sophie Scott , neuroscientist Hattie Jacques , actress Kate Raworth , scientist Donella Meadows , environmentalist Chris Watson , musician Ludwig Koch , broadcaster David Bintley , ballet dancer Ninette de Valois , dancer Patrick Holden , dairy farmer Lady Eve Balfour , organic farmer Chi-chi Nwanoku , musician Jessye Norman , American opera singer Ken Loach , film director Gerrard Winstanley , religious reformer
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Walter Murch , American film director Mohammad Mossadegh , former Iranian prime minister Matthew Parris Iszi Lawrence , broadcaster Diana Barnato Walker , aviator John Gray , philosopher JG Ballard , writer Faye Tozer , singer Eartha Kitt , singer Jimmy Wales , co-founder of the Wikipedia Thomas Jefferson , 3rd President of the United States Mr Motivator , fitness instructor Harry Belafonte , singer and civil rights activist Niamh Cusack , actor Mary Oliver , poet Simon Mayo , radio DJ Alan Freeman , radio DJ
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Harry Enfield , comedian Gerard Hoffnung , cartoonist Matthew Parris Steve Richards , broadcaster Sir Bruce Forsyth , television presenter Baroness Ros Altmann , Conservative peer Antoni Gaudí , architect Katherine Rundell , writer E. Nesbit , writer James Dyson , inventor and businessman Frank Whittle , aircraft engineer Alice Roberts , TV presenter and author Queen Emma , Queen Hayaatun Sillem , CEO Lady Rachel MacRobert , geologist and feminist Harriet Harman , Labour MP Maria Callas , opera singer Mary Portas , retail consultant and broadcaster Anita Roddick , businesswoman
[ edit ] Guest Nominee Presenter Miriam Margolyes , actress Charles Dickens , writer Matthew Parris Zing Tsjeng , journalist Hilma af Klint , painter Julien Temple , film director Christopher Marlowe , playwright Conn Iggulden , writer Nero , Roman Emperor Henry Marsh , neurosurgeon Ignaz Semmelweis , physician and scientist Jo Brand , comedian Bessie Smith , blues singer Anneka Rice , TV and radio presenter Jane Morris , model and muse Ekow Eshun , writer and broadcaster Justin Fashanu , the first professional footballer to be openly gay Doug Allan , wildlife cameraman and photographer Jacques Cousteau , French naval officer, oceanographer , filmmaker and author Hannah Critchlow , scientist, writer and broadcaster Colin Blakemore , neurobiologist , specialising in vision and the development of the brain Lauren Cuthbertson , ballerina Margot Fonteyn , ballerina Pen Hadow , Arctic region explorer and advocate Peter Scott , conservationist, founder of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust Reginald D. Hunter , comedian Eugene V. Debs , five-time candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States
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