A N Wilson selects Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"I've chosen him because I think he was possibly the most interesting human being who has ever lived". A N WilsonBorn in the middle of the 18th century in Frankfurt, Goethe went on to become the pre-e...
17 Feb 202527min
Jessica Fostekew on Boudica
"The Queen Boadicea, standing loftily charioted, Brandishing in her hand a dart and rolling glances lioness-like, Yell'd and shriek'd between her daughters in her fierce volubility": so wrote Alfred, ...
10 Feb 202527min
Reginald D Hunter selects Eugene V Debs
Eugene Victor Debs, born 1855 in Indiana USA, was a railway worker, a trade unionist and a five time candidate for the presidency. He was imprisoned during the First World War for sedition. He'd urged...
3 Feb 202527min
Pen Hadow nominates Sir Peter Scott
"Make the boy interested in natural history," wrote Captain Scott from his tent in the Antarctic. He was talking about his son, three year old Peter Scott, whom he never saw again and who went on to f...
27 Jan 202527min
Lauren Cuthbertson on Margot Fonteyn
Margot Fonteyn was an icon: a ballerina who helped build and indeed embodied the traditional image of a dancer, just as the artform was finding its feet on the British cultural scene. From humble begi...
20 Jan 202528min
Dr Hannah Critchlow picks Professor Colin Blakemore
Professor Colin Blakemore was a famous communicator of science, the youngest ever Reith lecturer on the BBC. He was also targeted by members of the animal rights movement, which sent bombs and letters...
13 Jan 202527min
Doug Allan on Captain Jacques Cousteau
Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau was an oceanographer, filmmaker and explorer who made the seas a subject of fascination for millions.During his time in the French Navy, Cousteau co-invented the Aqua-Lun...
6 Jan 202528min
Ekow Eshun on the first openly gay footballer, Justin Fashanu
In 1981 Brian Clough paid £1 million pounds to bring Justin Fashanu to Nottingham Forest. It was the climax of a meteoric career, but within months the goals had dried up, he'd been going to gay night...
23 Sep 202427min
