Private Passions
BBC Radio 3 · BBC
Show overview
Private Passions has been publishing since 2013, and across the 13 years since has built a catalogue of 511 episodes. That works out to roughly 320 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a fortnightly cadence.
Episodes typically run thirty-five to sixty minutes — most land between 33 min and 40 min — and the run-time is fairly consistent across the catalogue. It is catalogued as a EN-language Music show.
The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed 6 days ago, with 30 episodes already out so far this year. Published by BBC.
From the publisher
Guests from all walks of life discuss their musical passions and talk about the influence music has had on their lives.
Latest Episodes
View all 511 episodesFrancis Fukuyama, political scientist
Louisa Young, writer
Sylvester McCoy, actor
Lyse Doucet, journalist
Carlos Acosta, dancer
Leslie Cavendish, former Beatles hairdresser
John Nichol, writer, former RAF Navigator
Ruth Ozeki, writer
Jeremy Vine, broadcaster
Sofka Zinovieff, writer
Simon Barnes, journalist
Margaret Busby, publisher and editor
Michael Wood, historian
James Aldred, cameraman and writer
Professor Dame Ijeoma Uchegbu, chemist
Dietmar Mueller-Elmau, entrepreneur
Rachel Eliza Griffiths, poet and novelist
Francis Spufford, writer
Sir Ian Blatchford, Science Museum director
Sir Ian Blatchford has been the Director of the Science Museum in London for more than 15 years – the longest serving director in its history. He also oversees the National Railway Museum in York, the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford, the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, Locomotion in County Durham, and the Science and Innovation Park in Wiltshire - all enjoyed by more than four million visitors last year. He was the first in his family to go to university and his early career was in banking, but his passion was for culture. He combined the two as Finance Director at the V+A, before crossing the road to lead the Science Museum. It’s currently a very challenging time for anyone running a museum, with hard questions about funding, sponsorship and exhibition content. His musical choices include Elgar, Monteverdi, Wagner and Sarah Vaughan.Producer: Katy Hickman
George Saunders, writer
The American writer George Saunders won the 2017 Booker Prize with his first novel, Lincoln in the Bardo. It’s a moving exploration of the grief of President Lincoln as he mourns his 11-year-old son Willie – and it’s voiced by the weird and wonderful spirits trapped in the cemetery. George was 58 when the novel was published. In the decades before that, he won renown and awards as a master of the short story. He’s also won legions of followers for his close analysis of the form.Most recently he’s published a second novel, Vigil, in which spirits return – this time to the deathbed of an oil tycoon. His musical choices include John Adams, William Grant Still, Caroline Shaw and Dvorak.Producer: Katy Hickman