The 5 Best Great Lives Podcast Episodes
1) Rob Rinder on Jessica Mitford
Jessica Mitford was the fifth born of the notorious Mitford Sisters. Born into the aristocracy, as a child she had her own language, collected a running-away fund and fought to set herself apart from ...Show More
2) George Orwell
Whilst at school, a young Alan Johnson was given some money by a teacher and told to go and buy four copies of any book for the school library. He headed down the Kings Road in Chelsea, stopping only ...Show More
3) Hans Fallada
The Fast Show comedian Simon Day tells Matthew Parris why he's fascinated by the life and work of German author Hans Fallada. Matthew is also joined by Fallada's biographer Jenny Williams. Hans Falla...Show More
4) Edward Said
Edward Said was a man, who, in his own words, lived two quite separate lives. First there was the scholar and literary critic of Columbia University, and then there was the fierce critic of American a...Show More
5) Peaches Golding on Shirley Chisholm
American-born Peaches Golding OBE - Bristol's former Lord Lieutenant and first black female High Sheriff - nominates African American politician Shirley Chisholm who ran unsuccessfully for US Presid...Show More
6) Helen Carr picks Christine de Pizan at the Gloucester history festival
Christine de Pizan was born in Italy but most of her life was spent in Paris, where her father was astrologer to the King of France. After her husband died she was left alone to bring up her three ch...Show More
7) Alex Wheatle, the Bard of Brixton
After a childhood in care in Surrey, Alex Wheatle was moved to a hostel in Brixton aged fourteen. Later he was involved in the riots and given a prison sentence, events which were covered in one of th...Show More
8) Spitfire pilot Jeffrey Quill picked by astronaut Tim Peake
"It was brilliant to read some of the old techniques the Spitfire test pilots were using, and in some respects test pilot flying isn't that different today, but we don't have to do everything by noteb...Show More
9) Oliver Postgate
"Postgate's work is deep inside me and I think that's true for so many of my generation...His work represents nothing less than a touchstone for our national imagination and in that sense it's profoun...Show More
10) Sylvia Plath
Lucy Jones, author of Matrescence, chooses the writer Sylvia Plath. Sylvia Plath was a precocious, prize-winning child,. Her mother had high expectations for her. Her father had died when she was 8 (b...Show More