Great Lives

How many people realise the impact Elsie Widdowson had on the way we view nutrition? She was a food scientist who devoted her life to improving the diets of adults and children in Britain and abroad. Matthew Parris hears why Helen Sharman, the first Briton to go into space, thinks Widdowson deserves her nomination. They are joined by Elsie's friend and biographer Margaret Ashwell, President for the Association for Nutrition.You can download the podcast to hear an extended version of the broadcast programmeProducer: Maggie Ayre.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2017.

Novelist Tracy Chevalier discusses the life of Mary Anning with Matthew Parris.Mary was a working class woman from Lyme Regis who discovered full dinosaur skeletons on Dorset's Jurassic Coast and sold them to collectors in the early 1800s. Her remarkable finds came before Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and she believed them at first to be giant crocodiles, but as scientists began flocking to Lyme Regis to buy her specimens, she started to educate herself in geology, becoming an authority on fossils.However, as with many of the subjects of Great Lives, she was never fully credited for her efforts and faded from public consciousness after her death.With Hugh Torrens, Emeritus Professor of History of Science and Technology at the University of Keele. Producer: Maggie AyreFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2017.

In 1968 Norman Lewis wrote an article called Genocide in Brazil. The photographs that accompanied it were by Don McCullin. Lewis later said that this one piece of journalism was the great achievement of his life. It led directly to the creation of Survival International and a change in the law relating to the treatment of indigenous people in Brazil. Lewis is known as a brilliant writer - one of our best, said Graham Greene, 'not of any particular decade of our century'. He's best remembered for A Dragon Apparent and Naples '44.Don McCullin didn't travel with Norman Lewis to Brazil, but they struck up an unexpected friendship. He was like my father, the great photographer says. And in Norman Lewis's later years they worked together in Venezuela, Papua New Guinea and elsewhere. But McCullin didn't read many of his books. "I struggled through Naples '44" he admits. Yet his admiration for the way Lewis opened his eyes to the world remains undimmed.Recorded on location at McCullin's Somerset farmhouse with Norman

Actress Maxine Peake nominates her working class hero, Ellen Wilkinson, as a great life. Ellen is regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of British radical left politics. She joined the Communist party, met Lenin and Trotsky in Moscow and then went on to become one of the Labour Party's youngest people entering parliament in 1924.For Maxine, the tragedy is that Ellen Wilkinson is now virtually a forgotten figure despite her remarkable achievements. With help from historian Helen Antrobus from the People's History Museum in Manchester, they make the case for Ellen Wilkinson meriting the description of a great life. Presented by Matthew Parris. Producer: Perminder KhatkarFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2017.

Stephen Fry nominates his hero PG Wodehouse, a writer who he says simply cheers him up like no one else. Fry wrote to his hero when he was a schoolboy and his most treasured possession is a signed photograph which reads: "To Stephen Fry, All the best, PG Wodehouse." PG Wodehouse was a self-made man, he began as a bank clerk, married a chorus girl and was interned by the Nazis. He wrote some of the most entertaining novels, stories, plays and lyrics of the 20th century and created enduring characters; the most popular being Reginald Jeeves and Bertie Wooster.Stephen makes the case for why PG Wodehouse is a great life. To help him he is joined by Dr Sophie Ratcliffe Associate Professor in English, University of Oxford and author of 'PG Wodehouse - A life in Letters'. Presented by Matthew Parris. Producer: Perminder Khatkar First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2017.

Peter Williams - founder of British retail chain, Jack Wills - nominates Steve Jobs as his great life. For Williams, despite the fact that Steve Jobs was an abrasive and difficult person, it was his ability to predict what people wanted. It was his Apple products that have touched the lives of so many people world wide and for Peter it's his gadgets that have changed our attitudes to technology. To help Peter Williams make his case, he is joined by Luke Dormehl, technology journalist and author of The Apple Revolution. Presenter: Matthew Parris Producer: Perminder Khatkar.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2017.

There were so many hoaxes in Andy Kaufman's brief career that for years his fans believed that he wasn't really dead. Kaufman's best known as Latka Gravas in the American TV sitcom Taxi, and his life was undoubtedly weird. Performance artist, Elvis impersonator, wrestler - he's difficult to pin down. Nominator Iain Lee believes he was a genius, while Olly Double of the University of Kent school of arts reckons Kaufman didn't really care if his audience laughed or not. Presenter Matthew Parris draws his own conclusions about Kaufman's extraordinary life, later turned into a film starring Jim Carrey called Man on the Moon.Produced at BBC Bristol by Miles Warde.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2017.

Twice Queen of England and mother of two kings, but have you heard of Emma of Normandy? Doyenne of Whitehall and Westminster journalists, Sue Cameron names William the Conqueror's aunt as her great life. Matthew Parris explores the time 1,000 years ago when England was emerging as a new nation in the decades before the Norman invasion, when the country's Anglo Saxon rulers were beset with Viking invasions. Emma, herself of French Viking descent, was pitched into a maelstrom of war and politics, when she crossed the channel as a teenage bride in 1002. Joined by medieval historian Vanessa King of Goldsmiths, University of London, Sue and Matthew conjure the fortunes of a woman who emerged as a key powerbroker and kingmaker. Emma bestrode early English court politics for half a century during her life, and for years afterwards. Married first to Aethelred, the Saxon king, she was promptly summoned to marry his successor after his death in 1016, the Danish king of England, Canute, who's alleged to have ordered the

For Steven Knight, the screen writer and director of ‘Peaky Blinders’ and ‘Taboo’, it was easy to nominate his great life. For him there was just one choice, his all-time hero Sitting Bull. As a young boy growing up in Birmingham in the 1970s, Steven was obsessed with stories and tales of Native Indians. At the age of thirteen, Steven searched for pen-pals and ended up exchanging letters with the great grand-children of Sitting Bull who lived in South Dakota. The correspondence and friendship he built up has continued into his adult life.Steven, makes his case for why Sitting Bull is a great life and to help unravel this story he is joined by Jacqueline Fear-Segal, Professor of American and Indigenous Histories at the University of East Anglia. Presented by Matthew Parris.Producer: Perminder KhatkarFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2017.

American-born Peaches Golding OBE - Bristol's former Lord Lieutenant and first black female High Sheriff - nominates African American politician Shirley Chisholm who ran unsuccessfully for US President in 1972.Fellow guest Dr Kate Dossett, Professor of American History at Leeds University, describes Chisholm’s contribution to the cause of African Americans and to feminism.Presented by Matthew Parris.Producer: Maggie AyreFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2017.

Strictly Come Dancing's Anton Du Beke chooses the golf legend Arnold Palmer as his great life. Along with the sports broadcaster John Inverdale, he sets out the reasons why Palmer left a legacy far beyond the sporting world and far beyond the golf course. Producer: Maggie AyreFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2017.

Since her death in 1997, it's been fashionable in some quarters to decry the work of Mother Teresa among India's poor. Fellow Albanian - opera singer, Ermonela Jaho, offers an alternative view of the nun who dedicated her life to running homes in Calcutta and later around the world, providing food, shelter and care for the poor and dispossessed. Despite her hard-line views on abortion and despite criticism over her dealings with some of the most brutal regimes, Mother Teresa was purely a force for good, argues Ermonela Jaho. Presented by Matthew Parris - with biographer, Anne Sebba.Producer: Maggie AyreFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2017.

Germaine Greer nominates sculptor Dame Elizabeth FrinkShe was best known for striking sculptures ranging from horses and goats, to wild eagles and disembodied heads. As a female sculptor working in a man's world, Elisabeth Frink found it hard to establish herself in the 1950s. To help tell the story of her hero, Germaine Greer is joined by Frink's son, Lin Jammet, and the art critic Richard Cork. Presented by Matthew Parris.Producer: Perminder KhatkarFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2017.

Gary Kemp, songwriter and guitarist with hit 1980s band Spandau Ballet, chooses the architect and designer Edward William Godwin as his great life. Gary began collecting pieces of Godwin's work as soon as he started making money from hit singles. He's remained fascinated by the life and work of the man who formed part of the Aesthetic Movement in the 19th century, designed houses for Oscar Wilde and James Whistler, and influenced Charles Rennie Mackintosh.Presented by Matthew Parris with guest expert, Dr Aileen Reid.Producer: Maggie Ayre.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2017.

Chris Patten, Lord Patten of Barnes, nominates a great life who was born a peasant and became a Pope. Pope John XXIII did well at school but was no star. He wasn't a striking figure of a man and struggled to keep his weight under control.There was nothing about him that stood out and his election as Pope took many by surprise. But he was the man who began to push the Roman Catholic church into the modern world.Presenter: Matthew Parris.With Eamon Duffy, Professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Cambridge.Producer: Perminder KhatkarFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2017.

Len Goodman's great life was one of the biggest figures in creating British musicals and pop music in the 1960's. The writer and lyricist behind the hit musical Oliver, knew everybody who was anybody, made a fortune and partied with Royalty. But like many who flourished in that era he also lost everything in a blitz of booze, drugs and bad behaviour.Len Goodman makes a case for why he regards Bart as a genius.With Matthew Parris. Helping Len him to unravel the story of his hero the expert witness is broadcaster David Stafford who co-wrote a biography on Lionel Bart named after Bart's second most famous musical: Fings Aint Wot They Used T'Be . Producer: Perminder Khatkar.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 January 2017.

In 1914, a self-taught Mathematics student named Ramanujan left India for Trinity College Cambridge.Here, alongside the celebrated English mathematician GH Hardy, he completed some extraordinary work on Pi and prime numbers. What was even more extraordinary was that he couldn't prove a lot of his work, and attributed many of his theories to a higher power.For the renowned UK choreographer Akram Khan, there is a beauty in patterns and maths, and he sees Ramanujan's genius as a clash between Eastern and Western cultures. Together with presenter Matthew Parris, he explores the mathematician's life. Guest Professor Robin Wilson, who once visited Ramanujan's home, takes them through some of the maths, and explains why you'll never look at the number 1729 in the same way again.Producer: Toby Field.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2017.

Step though the wardrobe - as historian Suzannah Lipscomb selects the creator of the Narnia Chronicles, CS Lewis. The writer was a fascinating and extremely complicated man. Born in Northern Ireland, his mother died when he was a child, and his university career was interrupted so he could fight in the Great War.Suzannah views his writings as deeply moving, as they have influenced her faith.Presenter Matthew Parris is less convinced by the religious influence in his work. But contributor to the Cambridge Companion to CS Lewis, Malcolm Guite sits firmly on Suzannah Lipscomb's side.Produced in Bristol by Miles Warde.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2017.

Ruth Holdaway - the former Chief Executive of Women in Sport - picks pioneering sports broadcaster Helen Rollason. Helen trained as a teacher, but after stints in community and local radio moved to the BBC to report for and later present the BBC’s 'Newsround' for children. She kept her hand in with sport and made history in 1990 when she was appointed as the first female presenter of BBC TV’s flagship 'Grandstand'. Sport was largely a male-dominated world at the time and there were plenty both inside and outside the Corporation who would have happily have seen her fail.Presented by Matthew Parris, with John Caunt who helped Helen write her autobiography.Plus contributions from Clare Balding, James Pearce and Deb Crook.Producer: Toby FieldFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2016.

For many piano music lovers, Dinu Lipatti [1917-1950], the Romanian concert pianist, stands head and shoulders above others. Dinu lived during a time of great turbulence, leaving his native Romania for Switzerland at the outbreak of the Second World War. He left behind a wealthy family but they subsequently lost everything under communism.Food writer and former chef, Orlando Murrin explains his love for Lipatti's music and his fascination with his life. It has led him to spending time trying to save Lipatti's family home from demolition in Bucharest.He joins Matthew Parris and the London based Romanian concert pianist Alexandra Dariescu to champion the life and work of one of classical music's greatest 20th century talents.Producer: Maggie AyreFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2016.