Rob Newman on Franklin D Roosevelt
Comedian and writer Rob Newman is a long-time fan of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who "saved the United States, just in time for the United States to save the world". When FDR came into office in ...
17 Maj 202227min
Mr Manchester Tony Wilson nominated by Terry Christian
He was a broadcaster, music mogul, social activist, local celebrity, publicity seeker, loud mouth, surreal politician, showman and, according to Paul Morley, "a great resourceful man of the north." No...
10 Maj 202227min
Gil Scott-Heron
Described by those who knew him as a 'Revolutionary Man of Peace' Gil Scott-Heron transformed the musical landscape of the 1970's. In 2021 he was posthumously inaugurated into The Rock and Roll Hall o...
3 Maj 202227min
Lolita Chakrabarti on actor Ira Aldridge
Award-winning playwright and actor Lolita Chakrabarti celebrates the life of Ira Aldridge, an icon of theatre who rose to fame at the height of the movement to abolish slavery and brought Shakespeare ...
26 Apr 202227min
Janet Ellis on Puffin editor Kaye Webb
Writer, broadcaster and Blue Peter presenter Janet Ellis champions the life of Kaye Webb, who burst on to the children's publishing scene in 1961 and changed the industry forever. With no publishing e...
19 Apr 202227min
Tom Hopkinson, editor of Picture Post
What does it take to be a great news editor? Tom Hopkinson was sacked by the proprietor of Picture Post for trying to run a true story during the 1950 Korean War. Later he also sent a photographer - I...
12 Apr 202227min
Brian Cox on Lindsay Anderson
Actor Brian Cox chooses his one-time mentor and fellow Scot, Lindsay Anderson. "His effect is still on me to this day, and I can't throw him off. He taught me how to think. He triggered something of...
8 Apr 202227min
Spike Milligan
Henry Normal thinks Spike Milligan changed his life, in particular with his 1973 poetry collection, Small Dreams of a Scorpion. Spike's other work - The Goon Show, the books about the war (Adolf Hitl...
25 Jan 202236min
