Daisy Dunn on Marcus Agrippa, ancient Rome's king of cement
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa was a Roman general best known for his military victories, but he also helped rebuild Rome, providing aqueducts, st...
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Great Lives
Biographical series in which guests choose someone who has inspired their lives.
Great Lives Podcast Guide
Listen to Great Lives, a Society & Culture podcast by BBC. Stream 399 episodes in English, follow new audio stories, and play episodes online on Radio and Podcast.
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Browse this show under Society & Culture podcasts.
Episodes
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Episodes
20 of 399 episodesDr Sian Williams nominates Anna Freud
Matthew Parris invites a fellow Radio 4 presenter into the studio to nominate a Great Life. Dr Sian Williams, who as well as a broadcaster i...
Pianist and broadcaster Keelan Carew nominates Russian composer Nicolai Medtner
Matthew Paris is joined by the pianist and broadcaster Keelan Carew, who nominates the Great Life of the early 20th century composer Nicolai...
Comedian Helen Lederer on Joan Rivers
Born Joan Molinsky in 1933, Joan Rivers shot to fame on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, who she later infuriated by hosting a late nigh...
John Cooper Clarke on Johnny Green, road manager of The Clash
Johnny Green was a hippy, a driver, a writer, a father and the road manager of The Clash. He wrote about this experience in a memorable book...
Helen Carr picks Christine de Pizan at the Gloucester history festival
Christine de Pizan was born in Italy but most of her life was spent in Paris, where her father was astrologer to the King of France. After h...
Alex Wheatle, the Bard of Brixton
After a childhood in care in Surrey, Alex Wheatle was moved to a hostel in Brixton aged fourteen. Later he was involved in the riots and giv...
Spitfire pilot Jeffrey Quill picked by astronaut Tim Peake
"It was brilliant to read some of the old techniques the Spitfire test pilots were using, and in some respects test pilot flying isn't that...
Oliver Postgate
"Postgate's work is deep inside me and I think that's true for so many of my generation...His work represents nothing less than a touchstone...
Sylvia Plath
Lucy Jones, author of Matrescence, chooses the writer Sylvia Plath. Sylvia Plath was a precocious, prize-winning child,. Her mother had high...
Elizabeth Day on Hatshepsut
"One of the things that she claimed was that her mother had been impregnated by the sun god Amon-Ra." Elizabeth Day's interest in the female...
Comedian Stewart Lee on Derek Bailey
"The area I mostly work in is generally known as free - the free music area. And free is one of those four letter words, like rock or jazz o...
Jock Stein, first British football manager to win the European Cup
Jock Stein, first British football manager to win the European Cup, picked by composer Sir James MacMillan and aided by Jock Stein’s biograp...
Benjamin Franklin
Matthew Parris heads to the house where Benjamin Franklin lived for almost 17 years to meet banker and philanthropist John Studzinski. Frank...
Miles Jupp on JL Carr, author of A Month in the Country
"I find his novels extraordinarily beautiful .. and they're an excellent length." Miles Jupp picks an author he loves, but knows little abou...
Helen Castor on Richard II
Today's great life is possibly more famous as a Shakespearean character - King Richard II who was deposed by his cousin Henry Bolingbroke in...
DJ Deb Grant on John Prine
DJ Deb Grant picks US mailman turned country-folk singer John Prine, whose beautiful songs captured the world in which he lived. Bob Harris,...
Sir Seretse Khama, first president of Botswana
Seretse Khama was born in 1921 in Bechuanaland when it was still a British Protectorate. In 1966 he became Botswana's first president. In be...
Emily Williamson, co-founder of the RSPB
For over a hundred years no one thought too much about the origins of the RSPB, but among its founders was a woman in Didsbury opposed to th...
Tina Turner
Rock Icon Tina Turner proposed by the actress and author Rebecca Humphries. Tina Turner began life as Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tennessee...
Questions About Great Lives
Where can I listen to Great Lives episodes?
You can listen to Great Lives episodes online on Radio and Podcast. Open an episode and the site player will stream the available audio.
What is Great Lives about?
Great Lives is listed as a Society & Culture show. The show language is listed as English.
How many Great Lives episodes are listed?
This page lists 399 episodes for Great Lives. More episodes are available from the View more button when the list continues.
Quick Answers About Great Lives
Where can I listen to Great Lives?
You can listen to Great Lives episodes on this page by opening an episode and using the site player.
What type of podcast is Great Lives?
Great Lives is listed as a Society & Culture show by BBC.
How many episodes are available?
This page lists 399 episodes for Great Lives where feed data is available.