Great Lives is a 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 they feel 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.
Programmes
Series 0, August–November 2001
| 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
|
Series 1, May–August 2002
| 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
|
Series 2, October–December 2002
| 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
|
Series 3, April–June 2003
| 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
|
Series 4, October–December 2003
| 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
|
Series 5, April–June 2004
| 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
|
Series 6, October–December 2004
| 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
|
- 1The 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]
Hogmanay Special, 31 December 2004
- Carpenter died on 4 January 2005, this was his last Great Lives programme 1
Series 7, April–June 2005
| 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 cartoonist
|
| 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
|
Series 8, October 2005 – February 2006
| 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
|
Series 9, April–June 2006
| 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
|
1Coward was previously nominated by Peter Bazalgette in Series 4 Programme 1
Series 10, August–September 2006
| 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
|
Series 11, December 2006 – January 2007
| 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
|
Series 12, April–May 2007
| 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
|
Series 13, August–October 2007
| 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
|
Series 14, December 2007 – January 2008
| 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
|
Series 15, April–May 2008
| 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
|
Series 16, August–September 2008
| 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
|
Series 17, December 2008 – February 2009
| 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
|
Series 18, April–May 2009
| 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
|
Series 19, August–September 2009
| 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
|
Series 20, December 2009 – February 2010
| 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
|
Series 21, April–May 2010
| 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
|
Series 22, August–September 2010
| 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
|
Series 23, November 2010 – January 2011
| 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
Series 24, April–May 2011
| 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
|
Series 25, August–September 2011
| 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
|
Series 26, December 2011 – January 2012
| 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
|
Series 27, April–May 2012
| 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
|
Series 28, July–September 2012
| 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
|
Series 29, December 2012 – January 2013
| 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
|
Series 30, April–May 2013
| 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
|
Series 31, August–October 2013
| 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
|
Series 32, December 2013 – January 2014
| 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
|
Series 33, April–May 2014
| 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
|
Series 34, August–October 2014
| 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
|
Series 35, December 2014 – January 2015
| 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
|
Series 36, April–May 2015
| 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
|
Series 37, August–September 2015
| 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
|
Series 38, December 2015 – January 2016
| 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
|
Series 39, April–May 2016
| 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
|
Series 40, August–September 2016
| 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
|
Series 41, December 2016 – January 2017
| 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
|
Series 42, April–May 2017
| 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
|
Series 43, August–September 2017
| 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
|
Series 44, December 2017 - January 2018
| 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
|
Series 45, April–May 2018
| 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
|
Series 46, July–September 2018
| 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
|
Series 47, December 2018 – January 2019
| 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
|
Series 48, April–May 2019
| 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
|
Series 49, July–September 2019
| 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
|
Series 50, December 2019 – January 2020
| 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
|
Series 51, April–June 2020
| 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
|
Series 52, August–September 2020
| 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
|
Series 53, December 2020 – January 2021
| 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
|
Series 54, April–June 2021
| 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
|
Series 55, August–September 2021
| 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
|
Series 56, December 2021 – January 2022
| 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
|
Series 57, April–May 2022
| Guest
|
Nominee
|
Presenter
|
| Brian Cox, actor
|
Lindsay Anderson, film director
|
Matthew Parris
|
| Donald Macintyre, journalist
|
Tom Hopkinson, newspaper editor
|
| Janet Ellis, Blue Peter presenter
|
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
|
Series 58, May–September 2022
| 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
|
Series 59, December 2022 – January 2023
| 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
|
Series 60, April–May 2023
| 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
|
Series 61, June–September 2023
| 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
|
Series 62, November 2023 – January 2024
| 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
|
Series 63, April 2024 – May 2024
| 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
|
Series 64, August 2024 – September 2024
| 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
|
Series 65, December 2024 – February 2025
| Guest
|
Nominee
|
Presenter
|
| Ekow Eshun, writer and broadcaster
|
Justin Fashanu, the first professional footballer to be openly gay
|
Matthew Parris
|
| 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
|
| Jessica Fostekew, comedian
|
Boudica, warrior queen
|
| A. N. Wilson, writer
|
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, polymath
|
| Ellen E. Jones, media journalist
|
Florynce Kennedy, lawyer and activist
|
| Mark Billingham, crime writer
|
George Harrison, Beatle and more
|
Series 66, April 2025 -
| Guest
|
Nominee
|
Presenter
|
| Maggie Hambling, artist
|
Henrietta Moraes, model and muse
|
Matthew Parris
|
| Jonathan Maitland, playwright
|
Benny Hill, comedian
|
| Kevin Cummins, photographer
|
Richey Edwards, musician
|
| Alex von Tunzelmann, writer and presenter
|
Ned Ludd, legenday namesake of the Luddites
|
| Hilary Bradt, travel publisher
|
Dervla Murphy, Irish cyclist and travel writer
|
| Raymond Blanc, chef
|
Nicholas Kurti, physicist
|
| Rebecca Humphries, actress and author
|
Tina Turner, Rock icon
|
| Hannah Bourne-Taylor, author
|
Emily Williamson, co-founder of the RSPB
|
| Mike Bode, Professor of astrophysicist
|
Seretse Khama, first president of Botswana
|
References
External links
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