Great Lives

George Fox, born in 1624 in Leicestershire, is best known as the founder of the Quakers. In early life he was apprenticed to a shoemaker, and for a while he worked as a shepherd as well. But it was as a preacher travelling widely across the land that he made his name, and also received the most abuse. As he writes: "... the people fell upon me in great rage, struck me down and almost stifled and smothered me. And I was cruelly beaten and bruised by them with their hands, Bibles and sticks."Nominating the dissenting George Fox is Ann Limb, chair of the Scout Association. Also in studio, Jonathan Fryer, editor of George Fox and the Children of the Light.Matthew Parris presents, and the producer in Bristol is Miles Warde.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016.

Gordon Hamilton-Fairley was a brilliant cancer specialist, the father of oncology in the UK. Then in 1975 he was killed by an IRA bomb intended for a politician who lived in his street. Former editor of the Daily Telegraph Charles Moore chooses a man cut down in his prime. Joining him in the studio are three members of the Hamilton-Fairley family; plus the cancer specialist Ray Powles, who provides a compelling picture of how basic treatment for cancer sufferers used to be.Presenter: Matthew Parris Producer: Miles WardeFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016.

Richard the Lionheart has been portrayed on screen by Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins and Patrick Stewart, quite a starry list. But what is the reality behind the legend of this famous king? Richard's nominator is Timmy Mallett, a legend of children's TV but also unexpectedly a history graduate. Great historical characters, he says, have great stories attached to them, and Richard's life was not short of adventure, particularly on the Third Crusade. Applying a cool head to Richard's life is the historian and broadcaster Helen Castor. She concedes that much of Timmy's enthusiasm is probably deserved. Presenter Matthew Parris attempts to discover the truth about whether the Lionheart was in fact gay.Producer: Miles Warde.Produced in BBC Bristol and first broadcast on Radio 4 in May 2016.

Lt-Gen Sir Graeme Lamb, former head of British special forces, champions the life of wartime spy Christine Granville, assisted by her biographer Clare Mulley.Christine, born Kristina Skarbek, was a glamorous swashbuckling heroine who skied into occupied Poland to distribute Allied propaganda, and parachuted into southern France to work with the Resistance after D Day. Murdered after the war by a jilted lover, she is little known today - thanks partly to the efforts of a group of men she had been close to, who formed a committee to "protect her reputation" from suggestions of sexual impropriety. Matthew Parris chairs the discussion. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016.

She was known as 'the grand old lady of Indian cinema' who starred in many Bollywood films famous in India, but not at first in Britain. We got to know her best in her later years when Zohra Sehgal starred in the TV series – 'The Jewel in The Crown' and films such as 'Bend it like Beckham'. When interviewed aged 101 and asked what she had enjoyed most in her life she said 'Sex, sex and more sex '.Nominating this week's Great Life is actress and playwright Sudha Bhuchar who along with the expert witness, Film Historian Lalit Mohan Joshi, tell the presenter Matthew Parris, how Sehgal broke boundaries to become the first Indian actor to have an international career. The producer is Perminder Khatkar.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016.

To his followers Lenny Bruce was a genius and a free speech hero. To his detractors he was labelled sick and dirty. Bruce shocked his audiences intentionally. In his uncompromisingly frank humour he took on organized religion, government, jingoism, capitalism, the death penalty, war, and sexual mores.But he was eventually destroyed by the battle he fought with the US justice system.The comedian, Ray Peacock nominates Lenny Bruce as his great life as he regards him as a pioneer in stand-up. Along with expert Dr Oliver Double and presenter Matthew Parris they uncover a controversial life.To illustrate the life of Lenny Bruce this programme does play some audio which some listeners may find offensive.The producer is Perminder Khatkar.

Nancy Dell'Olio champions Lucrezia Borgia, a Renaissance woman who was much maligned.Lucrezia Borgia was the Pope's daughter and, over the centuries, her name has been a byword for poison, incest and intrigue. Novels, television series, plays and an opera have been written about her. But was she just a victim of malicious gossip that vastly exaggerated her actual misdeeds?Nancy Dell'Olio explains why she identifies with Lucrezia Borgia and with the help of historian Sarah Dunant attempts to debunk some of the myths.Produced by Perminder Khatkar.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016.

Anthony Horowitz regards Alfred Hitchcock as a genius who changed the language of cinema and made some of the most memorable films of the 20th century.However, the film director is also seen as a troubled man who was at times abusive towards some of his leading ladies.The expert witness is Nathalie Morris; Senior Curator at the BFI, National Archive.Presenter: Matthew ParrisProducer: Perminder KhatkarFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2016.

Former director of MI5, Eliza Manningham-Buller, tells Matthew Parris why she regards Abraham Lincoln as a great life. But will her hero stand up to intensive scrutiny and merit the description of having led a great life? The expert is Dr Tony Hutchison, from the American Studies Department at the University of Nottingham. The producer is Perminder Khatkar.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016.

Musician and performer Nitin Sawhney champions the life of Jeff Buckley who he regards as a genius singer, songwriter. The expert is Steve Abbott who was a friend of Buckley's and released his debut record. Presenter: Matthew Parris Producer: Perminder Khatkar.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016.

Biographical series in which guests select someone who has inspired their lives.Comedian Susan Calman chooses the Scottish actress Molly Weir.Molly began her long career on BBC radio before moving into TV and becoming one of the first Scottish female voices on national media in the 1950s.She memorably mopped floors for many years in a long-running series of TV commercials. Presented by Matthew Parris. Producers: Maggie Ayre & Perminder Khatkar.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2016.

In this episode, you might not know the name of the Great Life but you have probably walked past his work. At London's Hyde Park Corner - the 'Royal Artillery Memorial' stands – a huge stone monument. Charles Sargeant Jagger was arguably the first British sculptor to try to capture the horror of war. A full-sized gun – a 9.2 howitzer protrudes from the top; four masculine soldiers surround the base – one a corpse. Martin Jennings also a British sculptor, nominates Jagger as his Great Life. Along with the expert, art historian Ann Compton, they tell Matthew Parris how the First World War shaped and made Jagger. The producer is Perminder Khatkar.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016.

Matthew Parris's guest this week is the epidemiologst Precious Lunga, who nominates for Great Life status that of the Kenyan environmental activist Wangari Muta Maathai. In the course of her life, Professor Maathai made a huge contribution to re-establishing environmental integrity to Kenya by working with the women who lived there. She founded the Green Belt Movement and became a politician. In 2004 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The expert witness is Maggie Baxter from the Green Belt Movement. Producer Christine HallFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.

Alvin Hall is the friendly face of financial reality, lecturing, writing and broadcasting on the subject of managing money. But he is also passionately interested in fine art, music and literature, and his nomination for a Great Life is that of writer and Civil Rights activist, James Baldwin.Baldwin was born in 1924 in Harlem and his achievements in overcoming a difficult start in life were prodigious. For much of his life he lived outside the United States, returning in the late 1950s to support the nascent Civil Rights movement, though the Movement itself had some problems with his homosexuality. Throughout his life he continued to write about the experiences of being black in 20th century America and is now widely regarded as the pre-eminent African-American writer of the century. Dr Douglas Field of the University of Manchester, who has written several books on James Baldwin, discusses Baldwin's life and achievements with Alvin and with Matthew Parris.Presented by Matthew Parris. Producer: Christine HallFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2015.

Matthew Parris invites fashion designer Roger Saul, who created the Mulberry brand, to nominate a great life. He has chosen the early 20th century garden designer Gertrude Jekyll whose beautiful gardens instilled in him a love of plants and landscaping. Inspired by William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement, together with architect Edward Lutyens, Gertrude Jekyll designed many great gardens including Hestercombe in Somerset and at her home in Surrey. Producer: Maggie AyreFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.

Harold 'Dickie' Bird, now retired but one of our best known cricket umpires champions the life of Sir Leonard Hutton.According to Dickie, this Yorkshireman is one of the greatest opening batsmen of all time, who made history by becoming the first professional England captain. Joining him, the Sunday Times cricket correspondent and author Simon Wilde.Matthew Parris is the presenter. Producer: Perminder KhatkarFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.

Toyah Willcox chooses the actress and Hollywood legend, Katharine Hepburn.Dubbed an 'oddity' and 'box office poison', Hepburn liked to goad the press and public with her eccentric behaviour and unconventional love life. Her Hollywood career spanned six decades, during which she starred alongside other Hollywood greats, including James Stewart, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart and Spencer Tracy.The four time Oscar award-winning actress is championed by singer and actress Toyah Willcox - who met and worked with her. The expert is Dr Mark Glancy – Reader in Film History, at Queen Mary, University of London. Presented by Matthew Parris. Producer: Perminder Khatkar.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2015.

This week's Great Life might have become an Afrikaner Nationalist Prime Minister of apartheid South Africa, but instead became its most prominent white opponent. A formidable advocate, he led the defence of Nelson Mandela in the Rivonia Trial. It is no exaggeration to say Bram Fischer saved Mandela's life, and it is said Mandela would have made him his vice-president, had he lived to see Mandela's release. He's nominated by former English High Court Judge Sir Nick Stadlen along with Lord Joffe. Presenter Matthew Parris. Producer Perminder Khatkar. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2015.

Hannah Rothschild champions the life of the jazz musician Thelonious Monk. Brilliant, eccentric and one of the true giants of jazz, Monk was an incredible pianist, the composer of jazz standards such as 'Round Midnight', the co-creator of bebop and a close friend of Hannah's great-aunt, the Jazz Baroness Nica Rothschild. Matthew Parris chairs as Hannah and music writer Richard Williams chart Monk's progress through the jazz clubs and recording studios of mid-twentieth century New York.Producer: Julia JohnsonFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.

Sir Richard Francis Burton was an explorer, adventurer, soldier, author, poet, sexologist and translator. He brought us the Kama Sutra and spoke 29 languages. The author Monica Ali champions this racy character and tells Matthew Parris why this 19th-century explorer is a Great Life. They are also joined by historian and broadcaster Matthew Ward.Producer: Perminder Khatkar.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.

George Washington Williams was an incredibly early, mould-breaking, self-made black intellectual who fought in the American civil war and went on to write the first history of African Americans. He met King Leopold of Belgium and exposed that country's treatment of Africans under Belgian colonial rule.Nominating the life of George Washington Williams is television presenter, and former Paralympic medallist, Ade Adepitan. The expert witness is Dr David Brown, Senior Lecturer in American Studies at the University of Manchester. The presenter is Matthew Parris.Producer: Perminder KhatkarFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.

Matthew Parris meets the former leader of the Conservative Party Michael Howard to discuss the life of Elizabeth I of England. They're joined by Professor Paulina Kewes of Jesus College Oxford. Producer: Maggie AyreFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.

Matthew Parris's guest is Vicky Pryce, the Greek born economist, who attracted media headlines on her conviction over speeding points incurred by her former husband, Chris Huhne. Vicky has chosen the film star turned politician, Melina Mercouri who believed culture to be as important as money or power - if not more so. As Minister for Culture, she promoted Greece's cultural heritage and fought for the return of the Elgin Marbles. Some consider one her greatest achievements to be the founding of the European Capital of Culture. Expert witness is Adrian Wootton OBE, Chief Executive of Film London and Victoria Solomonidis contributesProducer Maggie AyreFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.

On May 29 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Everest. Both men immediately became famous worldwide. Actor Sir Ian McKellen, then a young teenager in Burnley, was clearly struck by the achievement. In later life he met Hillary in New Zealand and has strong memories of a modest man whose first job was beekeeping. Hillary also took a tractor to the South Pole in 1958 and became High Commissioner to India in 1985 "I did a good job on Everest," Hillary once said, "but have always known my limitations and I found being classified as a hero slightly embarrassing."Joining Sir Ian McKellen, is the author of Everest 1953, Mick Conefrey. He reveals the epic story of the first ascent, plus discusses Hillary's work with the Himalayan Trust.Presented by Matthew Parris. Producer: Miles WardeFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2015.

Val McDermid thinks crime writing is most definitely a suitable job for a woman. She believes women are good at observing the minutiae of life and incorporating them into clue development. Despite writing a book entitled 'An Unsuitable Job For A Woman', PD James evidently thought the same. Val McDermid discusses her grea life with the help of James's friend, the literary critic Peter Kemp.Presented by Matthew Parris. Producer: Maggie AyreFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2015.

Matthew Parris hears why David Blunkett has chosen Louis Braille, the 18th century French boy who blinded himself in his father's workshop, as his great life - with the help of guest expert the RNIB's Kevin Carey. Producer: Maggie AyreFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2015.

Matthew Parris meets the American Ambassador Matthew Barzun whose choice of great life is his wartime predecessor, John Gil Winant - the man widely held to have helped seal the special relationship between Britain and America and to have brought the US into the war effort.Producer: Maggie AyreFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.

Marlon Brando - greatest actor of the 20th century? Film critic Antonia Quirke definitely thinks he is. But the star of the Godfather, On the Waterfront and A Streetcar Named Desire divides opinion in this lively assessment of his life. Presented by Matthew Parris. With contributions from writer Robyn Karney and Joe Queenan in the USA. Producer: Miles Warde First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2015.

"John Clare, I cried last night for you" wrote Wendy Cope in a poem dedicated to the earlier poet, who overcame monumental setbacks such as a poverty-stricken upbringing and a long struggle with mental illness. However, Clare managed to write some of the most sensitive poetry in the English language. At one point he was known as "the English Robert Burns" but then his fame dropped away and many people now remember him solely for his cri de coeur, "I Am." Expert witness is John Clare's biographer, Sir Jonathan Bate. Producer Christine HallFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2015

Matthew Parris's guest is Dame Helen Ghosh, Director General of the National Trust, who chooses as her Great Life James Lees-Milne who worked for the Trust between 1936 and 1966. He was responsible for acquiring many of the Trust's most iconic properties and his particular talent was his ability to persuade the aristocratic owners of the houses into handing them over to the Trust for protection. His other talent was in writing, and it is his deliciously indiscreet diaries for which many people know him.Merlin Waterson, who was a friend of Lees-Milne's, is the expert witness.Producer Christine Hall. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.

Comedian and actor Kulvinder Ghir nominates the life of the artist Zoran Music. Matthew Parris finds out about Music who sketched corpses during and after he survived the horrors of being held at Dachau- a concentration camp in 1944.They are also joined by art critic, curator Michael Peppiatt who was a friend and an admirer of Zoran Music in this week's Great Life.Producer: Perminder Khatkar. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.

Rachel Johnson author and journalist champions the life of Ottoline Morrell. The Bloomsbury hostess, a mistress, a dominant figure in the arts without being an artist herself was often mocked and ridiculed. Rachel tells Matthew Parris why her extraordinary life was a great life. They are also joined by author and one of Lady Ottoline's biographers Miranda Seymour. Producer : Perminder Khatkar.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.

The veteran broadcaster Sir Trevor McDonald chooses the life of Learie Constantine, the Trinidadian cricketer, politician and broadcaster who championed the rights of West Indians in Britain during the war years and afterwards. Producer: Maggie AyreFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.

Mervyn King, former Governor of the Bank of England tells Matthew Parris why the life of the Prime Minister of Finland Risto Ryti was so remarkable. They are also joined by expert and biographer Martti Turtola. Producer: Perminder Khatkar.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.

Former newspaper editor and writer Eve Pollard tells Matthew Parris why Nora Ephron, the screenwriter of hit films such as 'When Harry Met Sally', 'Heartburn', and 'Sleepless in Seattle', is a Great Life.They are joined by Dr Jennifer Smyth, an historian whose teaching includes women in Hollywood at the University of Warwick. Producer: Perminder Khatkar

Michael Dobbs champions the life of Guy Burgess - journalist, diplomat and spy. Between 1935 and 1951, Guy Burgess worked for a Conservative MP, the BBC, MI6 and the Foreign Office. Brilliant, flamboyant and apparently shambolic, he also shot like an arrow to the heart of the Establishment and secretly and systematically betrayed its secrets to the KGB. Matthew Parris chairs as Michael explains why he believes that Guy Burgess was a Great Life. Burgess’s biographer Stewart Purvis, who uncovered the only known audio recording of Guy Burgess, is the expert witness. Producer: Julia JohnsonFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.

When Philippa Langley and other members of the Richard III Society helped to discover the body of the king in a Leicester car park, Richard's life once again became a hotly contested debating point. Philippa joins Matthew Parris to defend Richard III as a Great Life, with expert witness and Richard biographer Annette Carson. Can the man who may have been responsible for the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower really be described as "great"? Or was he the victim of Tudor propaganda and Shakespearian slander? Producer Christine HallFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.

Writer Roald Dahl is well known as the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr Fox and The BFG, but he was also fascinated by medical science. Professor Tom Solomon, who looked after him during his last illness, spent hours discussing medicine with Dahl.Tom talks to Matthew Parris about Dahl's life and work, through the prism of his forensic interest in the workings of the human body. With them is Donald Sturrock, Dahl's biographer.Producer Christine Hall. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.

Brian Eno has worked with David Bowie, David Byrne and U2 but his choice of Great Life is not a rock star but the sociologist Lord Young of Dartington. Michael Young wrote the Labour Party's 1945 election manifesto, researched slum clearance in the East End of London, set up the Consumers' Association, coined the word "meritocracy", co-founded the Open University and planned the colonisation of Mars. With the help of Michael's son Toby, Brian considers the life and work of one of the architects of post-war Britain. Producer: Julia JohnsonFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.

Laura Bates, journalist and curator of the Everyday Sexism Project, explains to Matthew Parris why the 19th century children's author Louisa May Alcott has her vote for a Great Life. They are joined by Sarah Churchwell, Professor of American Literature at the University of East Anglia. Louisa May Alcott is best known as the writer of "Little Women", the story of four sisters growing up during the Civil War in America. Generations of girls have read the book, which at first sight seems to be an improving tract on growing up and becoming a good Christian wife.Both Laura and Sarah have a very different reading of the book and believe Louisa May Alcott to have been a remarkable woman and a dedicated feminist. Producer Christine HallFirst heard on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.

Matthew Parris – himself current holder of the House of Commons marathon record time – meets comedian Arthur Smith, who also turns out to have been a runner when he was younger.His choice for a Great Life is an athlete whom he has admired since his childhood.Emil Zátopek emerged onto the international stage in 1948 when he became a sensation at the Olympics in London, but it was his performance in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics which put him in the record books. Already an established distance runner, he bagged gold in the 5000 and 10000 metres and then, having previously given no hint that he would be a champion marathon runner, he also won that race.The expert witness is Pat Butcher, writer and ex-runner, who is working on a biography of Zátopek, and he argues that no-one is likely ever to equal Zátopek's achievement in winning gold in three different distance events.Zátopek retired from competitive running in 1957 and later fell heavily out of favour with the post- Dubcek regime in Czechoslovakia.But he was rehabilitated after 1989 and remains a much-cherished hero in Czech Republic and among the running community.Producer Christine Hall. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2014.

Matthew Parris discovers that Edith Hall, Professor of Classics at King’s College, London, has a surprising nomination for a Great Life.She's chosen Lucille Ball, the vivacious redhead, who in the 1950s and 1960s was one of the best-known and best-loved actresses on TV, both in the United States and here. What makes a professor of Greek and Roman writing such a great fan of a zany American actress? What was Lucy like behind the TV persona? Matthew finds out in the company of Carole Cook, Lucy’s long-time friend and protégée. Producer: Christine HallFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2014.

Matthew Parris hears from Labour peer Lord Adonis why Joseph Bazalgette, the Victorian engineer, has his nomination as a Great Life. Bazalgette, the grandson of a French immigrant who made a fortune lending money to the Hanoverian royal family, is one of the most important of the great Victorian engineers. He not only built a sewage system for London which wiped out cholera in the city, he also built the famous Embankments, laid out several of the main thoroughfares and built or improved many of the city's landmark bridges. Yet he is far less well-known than his flamboyant contemporary Brunel and less celebrated than the creators of the railways. With the help of Joseph Bazalgette's great-great-grandson Sir Peter Bazalgette, the man responsible for Ready Steady Cook and Big Brother and now Chairman of the Arts Council, Matthew pieces together the story of Sir Joseph Bazalgette, "The Sewer King." Producer Christine HallFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.

Dame Stella Rimington, former director of MI5 and a celebrated crime writer herself, nominates for a Great Life that of Dorothy L Sayers. Sayers' first Lord Peter Wimsey novel was published in the 1920s, the Golden Age of crime fiction, and he is still very much with us, appearing often on BBC Radio 4 Extra. She went on to enjoy a huge popularity with her crime novels and then turned to writing Christian essays and plays, most notably the series for the BBC on the life of Christ – which stirred up a great controversy as no-one had before impersonated Jesus on the radio. Dame Stella tells Matthew Parris why the paradoxes and contradictions in Dorothy Sayers' life fascinate her, and explains how Sayers' writing influences her own. With Seona Ford, chairman of the Dorothy L Sayers Society.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.

Singer-songwriter Labi Siffre discusses the life and work of Arthur Ransome. Siffre says that the Swallows and Amazons books taught him responsibility for his own actions and also a morality that has influenced and shaped him throughout his life.Series in which Matthew Parris invites his guests to nominate the person who they feel is a great life. Producer: Maggie AyreFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2014.

Dr Tom Shakespeare is a lecturer at the Medical School in the University of East Anglia and prominent campaigner for the rights of the disabled.He explains to Matthew Parris why the life and work of the Italian left-wing revolutionary Antonio Gramsci means a great deal to him personally. They're joined in the studio by Professor Anne Sassoon. Producer: Christine HalFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2014.l

The life of Erwin Rommel, for a time Hitler's favourite general is nominated by Ray Mears. Matthew Parris hears why this German soldier was a "great life". They are also joined by Dr Niall Barr, Reader in Military History, Defence Studies Department at Kings College, London. Producer: Perminder Khatkar.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.

Matthew Parris leads a discussion on Ida B. Wells the African American civil rights and women's rights activist who was a political trailblazer. She is the great life chosen by Baroness Oona King. Throughout her life, Wells was militant in her demands for equality and justice for black Americans and she encouraged the African American community to fight for positive change through their own efforts. She was an investigative journalist who highlighted the practice of lynching in the United States, showing how it was used as a way to control or punish blacks , often under the guise of trumped up rape charges. Ida was also active in women's rights and the women's suffrage movement, establishing several notable women's organizations. She was a skilled and inspiring rhetorician, and travelled internationally on lecture tours. With Madge Dresser.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.

Soul II Soul’s Jazzie B tells Matthew Parris why he nominates James Brown, the “Godfather of Soul”, for this series.Jazzie B, who was awarded a CBE for services to black British music, spent time latterly with James Brown and he became “like a big brother.” He shares personal reflections on Mr Brown’s life and legacy, with help from the music journalist Charles Shaar Murray.Producer: Maggie AyreFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2014.

Writer Jonathan Meades nominates the English artist Edward Burra, who died in 1976, for "great life" status, arguing that he deserves to be better known. Burra painted sailors, drinkers and prostitutes in Toulon; jazz musicians in Harlem; surreal wartime pictures of soldiers in terrifying bird masks; and, in his later years, landscapes in which anthropomorphic and malevolent machines bite chunks out of the countryside. Disabled with rheumatoid arthritis from an early age, Burra barely went to school and so escaped the Edwardian upper class upbringing that would otherwise have been his destiny. At once camp yet apparently celibate, Burra was intensely private and disliked talking about either himself or art - or, as he called it, "fart". Matthew Parris chairs the discussion, and is joined by Burra's biographer Jane Stevenson. Producer: Jolyon JenkinsFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.