Great Lives Episodes Episode guide
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Katherine Graham
Broadcaster Kirsty Young chooses newspaper publisher Katherine Graham.
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Andrew Adonis on Joseph Bazalgette
Lord Adonis chooses Victorian engineer, aka 'The Sewer King', Sir Joseph Bazalgette
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Tom Spring
Sports writer Frank Keating nominates 19th century bare knuckle boxer, Tom Spring.
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Stella Rimington on Dorothy L Sayers
Dame Stella Rimington explains to Matthew Parris why Dorothy L Sayers fascinates her.
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Labi Siffre on Arthur Ransome
Matthew Parris invites singer songwriter Labi Siffre to nominate his choice of life.
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Lord Byron
Sue Limb nominates 'mad, bad and dangerous to know' poet, Lord Byron.
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Tom Shakespeare on Gramsci
Dr Tom Shakespeare tells Matthew Parris why Antonio Gramsci's is a Great Life.
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Ray Mears on Rommel
Ray Mears champions the life of Field-Marshal Erwin Rommel.
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Louis Armstrong
Band leader Chris Barber chooses legendary jazz trumpeter, Louis Armstrong.
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Baroness Oona King on Ida B Wells
Ida B. Wells the African American civil rights activist is chosen by Baroness Oona King
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Alexander the Great
Writer Frederic Raphael chooses part man, part myth Alexander the Great.
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Jazzie B on James Brown
Soul II Soul's Jazzie B chooses the life of musician and singer James Brown.
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Viscount Slim
Lord Carrington and Lord John Slim discuss military leader, Field-Marshal Viscount Slim.
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Jonathan Meades on Edward Burra
Writer Jonathan Meades nominates the English artist Edward Burra.
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Franz Schubert
Cellist Steven Isserlis and musicologist Brian Newbould on the composer Franz Schubert.
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George Eliot
Ex-parliamentary standards commissioner Elizabeth Filkin chooses novelist George Eliot.
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Sir Donald Wolfit
Humphrey Carpenter invites Ned Sherrin to discuss actor Sir Donald Wolfit.
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King Hussein
Jackie Stewart discusses his good friend King Hussein of Jordan with writer Patrick Seale.
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Vivekananda
Rabbi Lionel Blue and Gwilym Beckerlegge discuss Swami Vivekananda.
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Clement Attlee
Bookseller Tim Waterstone and biographer Ben Pimlott discuss the former prime minister.
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Marshall McLuhan
Kim Henry Veltman joins director Jonathan Miller to discuss the Canadian writer on media.
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Henri Matisse
Writer Frank Delaney and biographer Hilary Spurling discuss the painter Henri Matisse
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Sylvia Pankhurst
Barbara Castle and biographer Mary Davis discuss the life of suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst.
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Ernest Hemingway
Monty Python's Michael Palin chooses the American writer, Ernest Hemingway.
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Friedrich Nietzsche
Cartoonist Ralph Steadman and translator Adam Czerniawski discuss the philosopher's life.
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Ernest Hemingway
Michael Palin nominates Ernest Hemingway as his Great Life.
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Michelin Brothers
Sir Terence Conran nominates the makers of pneumatic tyres.
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Emma Kirkby on Henry Purcell
Soprano Emma Kirkby discusses the life of composer Henry Purcell with Matthew Parris
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Sir Ernest Shackleton
The polar explorer's life is scrutinised by Rosie Boycott and his granddaughter Alexandra.
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John Craven on Brunel
John Craven proposes Victorian Engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, as a great life.
