Tony Benn
"It's the complicated ones I enjoy the most." Matthew ParrisEllie Gibson picks Labour politician Tony Benn, who was a rock star politician in older age, but a divisive figure in his own party.Tony Ben...
1 Juni 202327min
Jon Ronson picks Terry Hall of The Specials
When Jon Ronson was growing up, he went to see The Specials play in Cardiff. "I went on my own to Sophia Gardens," he says. "The crowd was fantastically wild. There’s a lot to not like about the feral...
16 Maj 202327min
Sir Edward Coke, prosecutor of Guy Fawkes
Sir Edward Coke was born in Norfolk in 1552. He's best known as a judge and Parliamentarian, the link says Jesse Norman between Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights. He was also, the programme c...
10 Maj 202327min
Kofi Annan
In 1997 Kofi Annan became the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations. The nineties were a turbulent period for the organisation and it had received criticism for a lack of action in both Rwa...
2 Maj 202327min
Frank Zappa
"The most important thing to do in your life is not to interfere with somebody else's life." Frank Zappa was born December 1940 in Baltimore, USA. Comedian John Robins - who is obsessed - reckons tha...
25 Apr 202327min
Frederick the Great of Prussia
Frederick the Great had a brute of a father. When young Frederick was captured trying to run away, he was locked up and forced to watch his friend - possibly his lover - being beheaded in front of his...
11 Apr 202327min
Arthur Ashe
Broadcaster Qasa Alom chooses the first African-American tennis player to win the US Open and Wimbledon, Arthur Ashe. Arthur was born in Richmond, Virginia, a state in the US that in 1943 was still pa...
4 Apr 202327min
Astrid Lindgren, creator of Pippi Longstocking
The best-selling author of How to Train Your Dragon, Cressida Cowell, explains her love for the Swedish author, Astrid Lindgren. Born in 1907, Lindgren invented the Pippi Longstocking stories to tell ...
20 Feb 202327min
