Gabriel Gbadamosi on Fela Kuti
Poet, playwright, and critic Gabriel Gbadamosi chooses as his Great Life the political maverick and inventor of Afrobeat, musician Fela Kuti, and tells Matthew Parris why his work deserves to be bette...
13 Aug 201327min
Russell Grant on Ivor Novello
Astrologer and performer Russell Grant chooses one of the greatest screen legends of cinema's early years – Ivor Novello. Born in 1893 in Cardiff, Novello was also a talented writer and composer.He do...
6 Aug 201328min
Florence Nightingale
Dr Lucy Worsley chooses a figure as familiar as she is unknown, the great champion of Victorian nursing, Florence Nightingale. Known as 'the Lady with the Lamp' for her work in the Crimea.Born in 1820...
5 Juni 201327min
Primo Levi
Edmund de Waal chooses a writer he believes is one of the greatest of the modern age - Primo Levi, author of the Periodic Table. Born in 1919 in Turin, Levi was an Italian Jew, one of the few deported...
21 Maj 201327min
Salvador Dali
John Cooper Clarke, poetry's Punk Laureate, nominates Salvador Dali, the surrealist behind melting clocks, lobster telephones, and that trademark moustache.Matthew Paris asks whether Dali was a genius...
14 Maj 201327min
Bill Shankly
Mumsnet founder Justine Roberts champions the life of Liverpool’s football manager Bill Shankly.In the 1960s, Bill Shankley took his team from division two to become one of the world's greatest sides....
7 Maj 201327min
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Broadcaster and writer Gyles Brandreth nominates Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as his "Great Life". Matthew Parris chairs, assisted by biographer Andrew Lycett.Conan Doyle is best known as the creator of the...
30 Apr 201327min
David Livingstone
Dr David Livingstone was the Victorian equivalent of an astronaut - a man who ventured into the interior of Africa to report on territory that was wholly unknown to Europeans. In this programme, the ...
23 Apr 201327min
