Great Lives

Ramsay MacDonald, Labour's first Prime Minister, is chosen by Shaun Ley.In 1931 Ramsay MacDonald went to see the king in order to resign. George V persuaded him to stay, and a story of party betrayal ...

27 Aug 201924min

4 Extra broadcast to mark the 300th Anniversary of the death of Sir John Vanbrugh.From acting in TV's Men Behaving Badly and Jonathan Creek to restoring dozens of period properties and touring India ...

20 Aug 201927min

Laura Marling nominates the first female psychoanalyst, Lou Andreas-Salomé.Folk singer-songwriter, Laura has been unravelling the mysteries of Russian-born Lou Andreas-Salomé ever since she came acros...

13 Aug 201927min

Was Robinson Crusoe real? According to the book it was 'written by himself'.To establish the facts, Matthew Parris is joined by two notable desert island survivors to discuss Crusoe’s life and strange...

13 Aug 201924min

Former Member of Parliament Ed Balls chooses the 20th-century English composer, organist and teacher, Herbert Howells. With the biographer of Herbert Howells, Paul Spicer. Presented by Matthew ParrisP...

12 Aug 201927min

Kamila Shamsie champions the life of the Pakistani human rights lawyer Asma Jahangir. Author of award-winning novel 'Home Fire', Kamila says she was only ten years old, growing up in Karachi, when Asm...

28 Maj 201927min

The prolific and most significant of American song-hunters - Alan Lomax - is the choice of English folk singer Shirley Collins. She's joined by singer-songwriter and activist Billy Bragg. Lomax did wh...

21 Maj 201927min

Turner Prize Winner Jeremy Deller believes the music entrepreneur and The Beatles' manager Brian Epstein, has never been properly credited for his role within popular culture.He's arguing that if Bria...

15 Maj 201927min