Great Lives

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 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.

Great Lives

Genre	discussion
Running time	28 mins
Country of origin	Great Britain
Language(s)	English
Home station	BBC Radio 4
Hosted by	Joan Bakewell Humphrey Carpenter Francine Stock Matthew Parris
Produced by	Chris Ledgard
Original release	24 August 2001
No. of series	44
No. of episodes	282
Website	Website
Podcast	Podcast RSS feed

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

Guest	Nominee	Presenter
Eddi Reader, Scottish singer-songwriter	Robert Burns, Scottish poet	Humphrey Carpenter1

• 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 singer; Coward was previously nominated by Peter Bazalgette in Series 4 Programme 1
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

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, entrepreneur, columnist, 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 , actress	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 –

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
Ekow Eshun, writer and broadcaster	Justin Fashanu, the first professional footballer to be openly gay

References

1. Great Lives at radiolistings.co.uk

External links

• Great Lives at BBC Online
• Detailed list of Great Lives episodes