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Great Lives
Manage series 1301287
The biography show where famous guests choose a life they admire or love. Our only rule is their choice must be dead.
David Attenborough chose the first man to draw a flea under a microscope, Sara Pascoe picked the writer Virginia Woolf, and Arlo Parks an American musician who inspired her debut album. We then match our guest with a biographer or family member in the studio – someone who really knows about their choice of life. This way, enthusiasm (and occasional obsession) meets understanding and expertise to provide a rich, rounded conversation about some of the greatest names in history – influential characters from the world of arts, politics, sport and science.
Our musicians range from Bob Marley to Frank Zappa via David Bowie, Nina Simone and Billie Holliday. Among our kings and queens include Elizabeth I, Henry Tudor and the Roman emperor Nero. Our guests have chosen female heroes such as Jeanne Baret, the first woman to sail around the globe; Rosalind Franklin who helped discover DNA; and the Women of the Morant Bay Rebellion, picked by Bonnie Greer. From heroic leaders to infamous dictators - including Genghis Khan and Mussolini - Great Lives acknowledges that both good and bad can still result in an extraordinary story.
363 episodes
Manage series 1301287
The biography show where famous guests choose a life they admire or love. Our only rule is their choice must be dead.
David Attenborough chose the first man to draw a flea under a microscope, Sara Pascoe picked the writer Virginia Woolf, and Arlo Parks an American musician who inspired her debut album. We then match our guest with a biographer or family member in the studio – someone who really knows about their choice of life. This way, enthusiasm (and occasional obsession) meets understanding and expertise to provide a rich, rounded conversation about some of the greatest names in history – influential characters from the world of arts, politics, sport and science.
Our musicians range from Bob Marley to Frank Zappa via David Bowie, Nina Simone and Billie Holliday. Among our kings and queens include Elizabeth I, Henry Tudor and the Roman emperor Nero. Our guests have chosen female heroes such as Jeanne Baret, the first woman to sail around the globe; Rosalind Franklin who helped discover DNA; and the Women of the Morant Bay Rebellion, picked by Bonnie Greer. From heroic leaders to infamous dictators - including Genghis Khan and Mussolini - Great Lives acknowledges that both good and bad can still result in an extraordinary story.
363 episodes
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