A BBC biography collection

Great Writers' Lives

Famous fans choose their favourite writers for BBC Radio 4's Great Lives 
 
For 20 years, Great Lives has been a cornerstone of the Radio 4 schedules, presented by Joan Bakewell, Humphrey Carpenter, Francine Stock and Matthew Parris. Each week, a well-known personality is invited to select someone who has inspired them. They then discuss the 'Great Life' with the presenter and a guest expert to decide whether their hero really merits the accolade. 
 
This special collection, celebrating the programme's 20th anniversary, contains the very best episodes featuring authors' lives - from novelists to poets, playwrights to food writers. The eclectic selections include Armando Iannucci on Charles Dickens, Caroline Criado Perez on Jane Austen, and Rich Hall on Tennessee Williams. Two Prime Ministers, John Major and Boris Johnson, discuss the lives of Rudyard Kipling and Samuel Johnson respectively, while MP Rory Stewart champions Sir Walter Scott and Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate, nominates Alfred, Lord Tennyson. 
 
From Fay Weldon on H. G. Wells, to Prue Leith on Elizabeth David, the lives of the guests themselves are revealed to be just as fascinating as those of their chosen candidates for greatness. 
 
Illuminating and insightful, these gripping Great Lives episodes track the highs and lows of some of the most illustrious characters in the world of literature, sifting fact from fiction to show why they achieved so much and how they have inspired and influenced so many. 
 
List of episodes and date of first broadcast on BBC Radio 4: 
HG Wells 12.10.2001 
George Eliot 7.6.2002 
Lord Byron 19.7.2002 
Charles Dickins 21.11.2003 
Edith Wharton 14.5.2004 
George Orwell 12.11.2004 
Robert Burns 31.12.2004 
Elizabeth Gaskell 20.5.2005 
Robert Louis Stevenson 22.4.2005 
George Sand 8.4.2005 
Vasily Grossman 28.10.2005 
Anton Chekhov 17.4.2007 
George Bernard Shaw 29.5.2007 
Elizabeth David 25.9.2007 
Katherine Mansfield 22.1.2008 
Charles Bukowski 8.4.2008 
Dr Samuel Johnson 8.9.2009 
Rudyard Kipling 29.9.2009 
Alfred, Lord Tennyson 4.8.2009 
Tennessee Williams 15.12.2009 
Bertolt Brecht 06.04.2010 
Michel de Montaigne 21.09.2010 
Samuel Beckett 21.12.2010 
DH Lawrence 14.12.2010 
Lewis Carroll 3.5.2011 
Simone de Beauvoir 19.04.2011 
Hans Fallada 6.9.2011 
William Shakespeare 30.08.2011 
Sir Walter Scott 14.8.2012 
John Updike 07.01.2014 
Elie Wiesel 13.12.2016 
CS Lewis 03.01.2017 
Jane Austen 7.5.2019 
 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
 
Presented by Matthew Parris, Francine Stock and Humphrey Carpenter 
Produced by Perminder Khatkar, Miles Warde, Jolyon Jenkins, John Byrne, Maggie Ayre, Toby Field, Alasdair Cross, Mary Ward Lowery, Peter Everett, Mark Smalley, Isobel Eaton, Jolyon Jenkins, Christine Hall, Lizz Pearson, Beth O'Dea, Paul Dodgson, Nicola Humphries, Chris Ledgard, Melvin Rickarby, Camellia Sinclair, Eliza Lomas, Beatrice Fenton

Famous fans choose their favourite writers for BBC Radio 4's Great Lives 
 
For 20 years, Great Lives has been a cornerstone of the Radio 4 schedules, presented by Joan Bakewell, Humphrey Carpenter, Francine Stock and Matthew Parris. Each week, a well-known personality is invited to select someone who has inspired them. They then discuss the 'Great Life' with the presenter and a guest expert to decide whether their hero really merits the accolade. 
 
This special collection, celebrating the programme's 20th anniversary, contains the very best episodes featuring authors' lives - from novelists to poets, playwrights to food writers. The eclectic selections include Armando Iannucci on Charles Dickens, Caroline Criado Perez on Jane Austen, and Rich Hall on Tennessee Williams. Two Prime Ministers, John Major and Boris Johnson, discuss the lives of Rudyard Kipling and Samuel Johnson respectively, while MP Rory Stewart champions Sir Walter Scott and Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate, nominates Alfred, Lord Tennyson. 
 
From Fay Weldon on H. G. Wells, to Prue Leith on Elizabeth David, the lives of the guests themselves are revealed to be just as fascinating as those of their chosen candidates for greatness. 
 
Illuminating and insightful, these gripping Great Lives episodes track the highs and lows of some of the most illustrious characters in the world of literature, sifting fact from fiction to show why they achieved so much and how they have inspired and influenced so many. 
 
List of episodes and date of first broadcast on BBC Radio 4: 
 HG Wells 12.10.2001 
 George Eliot 7.6.2002 
 Lord Byron 19.7.2002 
 Charles Dickins 21.11.2003 
 Edith Wharton 14.5.2004 
 George Orwell 12.11.2004 
 Robert Burns 31.12.2004 
 Elizabeth Gaskell 20.5.2005 
 Robert Louis Stevenson 22.4.2005 
 George Sand 8.4.2005 
 Vasily Grossman 28.10.2005 
 Anton Chekhov 17.4.2007 
 George Bernard Shaw 29.5.2007 
 Elizabeth David 25.9.2007 
 Katherine Mansfield 22.1.2008 
 Charles Bukowski 8.4.2008 
 Dr Samuel Johnson 8.9.2009 
 Rudyard Kipling 29.9.2009 
 Alfred, Lord Tennyson 4.8.2009 
 Tennessee Williams 15.12.2009 
 Bertolt Brecht 06.04.2010 
 Michel de Montaigne 21.09.2010 
 Samuel Beckett 21.12.2010 
 DH Lawrence 14.12.2010 
 Lewis Carroll 3.5.2011 
 Simone de Beauvoir 19.04.2011 
 Hans Fallada 6.9.2011 
 William Shakespeare 30.08.2011 
 Sir Walter Scott 14.8.2012 
 John Updike 07.01.2014 
 Elie Wiesel 13.12.2016 
 CS Lewis 03.01.2017 
 Jane Austen 7.5.2019 
 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
 
Presented by Matthew Parris, Francine Stock and Humphrey Carpenter 
Produced by Perminder Khatkar, Miles Warde, Jolyon Jenkins, John Byrne, Maggie Ayre, Toby Field, Alasdair Cross, Mary Ward Lowery, Peter Everett, Mark Smalley, Isobel Eaton, Jolyon Jenkins, Christine Hall, Lizz Pearson, Beth O'Dea, Paul Dodgson, Nicola Humphries, Chris Ledgard, Melvin Rickarby, Camellia Sinclair, Eliza Lomas, Beatrice Fenton

Great Entertainers' Lives

Well-known personalities pick their favourite entertainers for BBC Radio 4's Great Lives 
 
One of the BBC's most acclaimed programmes, Great Lives has been a regular Radio 4 fixture for 20 years, presented by Joan Bakewell, Humphrey Carpenter, Francine Stock and Matthew Parris. Every week, a famous name is invited into the studio to nominate a figure from the past who has inspired them, and discuss their subject with the presenter and a guest expert. 
 
Included in this special collection, marking the programme's 20th anniversary, are the very best episodes featuring the lives of entertainers - artists, comedians, clowns, magicians, sporting heroes and stars of stage and screen. Among them, Julian Clary champions Noël Coward, Anthony Horowitz advocates Alfred Hitchcock, Penelope Keith puts forward Morecambe and Wise and David Bailey plumps for Pablo Picasso. Here, the lives of the celebrity guests are as intriguing as those of the people they pick: as is also the case with Alan Davies on Richard Beckinsale, Mica Paris on Josephine Baker, Ken Dodd on Stan Laurel, Mark Gatiss on Peter Cushing and many, many others. 
 
From Simon Callow on Orson Welles, to Fiona Shaw on Eleonora Duse, these engaging episodes put some of the world's best-known entertainers under the spotlight, examining their achievements and probing their personalities to find out what made them so inspiring, influential and extraordinary. 
 
 
List of episode and date of first broadcast on BBC Radio 4: 
Umm Kulthum 22.11.02 
Tommy Cooper 14.11.03 
Charles M Schulz 15.4.05 
Mae West 7.10.05 
Morecambe &amp; Wise 4.4.06 
Noël Coward 18.4.06 
Johnny Weissmuller 9.5.06 
Tamara Karsavina 23.5.06 
Max Miller 15.8.06 
Joan Littlewood 5.1.07 
Richard Beckinsale 9.1.07 
Lilian Baylis 7.8.07 
Thora Hird 11.12.07 
Groucho Marx 15.1.08 
Peter Cushing 1.4.08 
Joyce Grenfell 20.5.08 
Richard Pryor 12.8.08 
Harry Houdini 22.9.09 
Gerald Durrell 27.9.11 
Stan Laurel 4.9.12 
Pablo Picasso 19.01.10 
John Ford 08.05.12 
Karel Reisz 11.09.12 
Dave Allen 14.01.14 
Lucille Ball 30.09.14 
Alfred Hitchcock 05.04.16 
Joseph Grimwaldi 31.05.16 
Gracie Fields 02.08.16 
Orson Welles 08.05.18 
Josephine Baker 15.05.18 
Eleonora Duse 10.09.19 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
Presented by Humphrey Carpenter and Matthew Parris 
Produced by John Byrne, Christine Hall, Beatrice Fenton, Perminder Khatkar, Miles Warde, Toby Field, Mary Ward-Lowery, Lucy Lunt, Jolyon Jenkins, Sarah Langan, Tim Dee, Maggie Ayre, Peter Everett, Mark Smalley, Camellia Sinclair, Beth O'Dea

Well-known personalities pick their favourite entertainers for BBC Radio 4's Great Lives 
 
One of the BBC's most acclaimed programmes, Great Lives has been a regular Radio 4 fixture for 20 years, presented by Joan Bakewell, Humphrey Carpenter, Francine Stock and Matthew Parris. Every week, a famous name is invited into the studio to nominate a figure from the past who has inspired them, and discuss their subject with the presenter and a guest expert. 
 
Included in this special collection, marking the programme's 20th anniversary, are the very best episodes featuring the lives of entertainers - artists, comedians, clowns, magicians, sporting heroes and stars of stage and screen. Among them, Julian Clary champions Noël Coward, Anthony Horowitz advocates Alfred Hitchcock, Penelope Keith puts forward Morecambe and Wise and David Bailey plumps for Pablo Picasso. Here, the lives of the celebrity guests are as intriguing as those of the people they pick: as is also the case with Alan Davies on Richard Beckinsale, Mica Paris on Josephine Baker, Ken Dodd on Stan Laurel, Mark Gatiss on Peter Cushing and many, many others. 
 
From Simon Callow on Orson Welles, to Fiona Shaw on Eleonora Duse, these engaging episodes put some of the world's best-known entertainers under the spotlight, examining their achievements and probing their personalities to find out what made them so inspiring, influential and extraordinary. 
 
 
List of episode and date of first broadcast on BBC Radio 4: 
 Umm Kulthum 22.11.02 
 Tommy Cooper 14.11.03 
 Charles M Schulz 15.4.05 
 Mae West 7.10.05 
 Morecambe &amp; Wise 4.4.06 
 Noël Coward 18.4.06 
 Johnny Weissmuller 9.5.06 
 Tamara Karsavina 23.5.06 
 Max Miller 15.8.06 
 Joan Littlewood 5.1.07 
 Richard Beckinsale 9.1.07 
 Lilian Baylis 7.8.07 
 Thora Hird 11.12.07 
 Groucho Marx 15.1.08 
 Peter Cushing 1.4.08 
 Joyce Grenfell 20.5.08 
 Richard Pryor 12.8.08 
 Harry Houdini 22.9.09 
 Gerald Durrell 27.9.11 
 Stan Laurel 4.9.12 
 Pablo Picasso 19.01.10 
 John Ford 08.05.12 
 Karel Reisz 11.09.12 
 Dave Allen 14.01.14 
 Lucille Ball 30.09.14 
 Alfred Hitchcock 05.04.16 
 Joseph Grimwaldi 31.05.16 
 Gracie Fields 02.08.16 
 Orson Welles 08.05.18 
 Josephine Baker 15.05.18 
 Eleonora Duse 10.09.19 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
Presented by Humphrey Carpenter and Matthew Parris 
Produced by John Byrne, Christine Hall, Beatrice Fenton, Perminder Khatkar, Miles Warde, Toby Field, Mary Ward-Lowery, Lucy Lunt, Jolyon Jenkins, Sarah Langan, Tim Dee, Maggie Ayre, Peter Everett, Mark Smalley, Camellia Sinclair, Beth O'Dea

Great Leaders' Lives

Household names nominate leaders from the past for BBC Radio 4's Great Lives 
Since its inception in 2001, Great Lives has been one of Radio 4's most popular programmes, presented by Joan Bakewell, Humphrey Carpenter, Francine Stock and Matthew Parris. The format is simple, but compelling: each week, a distinguished personality is invited to select an inspirational figure who has influenced them. Talking with the presenter and a guest expert, they assess the importance of their chosen candidate. 
 
This special collection, celebrating the programme's 20th birthday, comprises the very best episodes featuring leaders' lives, from the worlds of politics, religion, royalty, business and the military. Some are heroes, some tyrants, and several spark controversy. Among them AA Gill puts forward the case for Neville Chamberlain, Maxine Peake chooses Ellen Wilkinson, the Duke of Wellington is picked by Frederick Forsyth, and Leon Trotsky is selected by Christopher Hitchens in a hugely entertaining show that culminated in fireworks. In these cases, and many others, the life of the invited guest is as riveting as that of their subject - who wouldn't want to listen to Ken Livingstone discussing Robert Kennedy, George Monbiot champion Thomas Paine, and Trevor McDonald on Learie Constantine? 
 
From Nancy Dell'Olio on Lucrezia Borgia to Al Murray on Field Marshal Montgomery, these fascinating episodes showcase the lives of some of the most legendary figures from history, revealing their achievements and enduring influence and demonstrating why their greatness is undisputed. 
 
Episode list and date of first broadcast on BBC Radio 4: 
Robert Kennedy - 06/02/2009 
Henry V - 08/12/2009 
Richard Nixon - 17/08/2010 
Bernard Montgomery - 01/10/2013 
Richard III - 06/01/2015 
Elizabeth I - 18/08/2015 
Dag Hammarskjold - 23/08/2016 
Neville Chamberlain - 20/09/2016 
Gandhi - 26/12/2017 
David Lloyd George - 30/05/2003 
Queen Elizabeth 1 - 06/06/2003 
Machiavelli - 02/04/2004 
Thomas Paine - 23/04/2004 
Lyndon B Johnson - 07/05/2004 
Benjamin Disraeli - 28/05/2004 
Michael Collins - 01/10/2004 
Arthur Wellesly, the 1st Duke of Wellington - 03/06/2005 
Genghis Khan - 01/04/2005 
John Rockefeller - 06/05/2005 
Ronald Reagan - 27/05/2005 
Thomas Cromwell - 11/11/2005 
Leon Trotsky - 08/08/2006 
Eleanor Roosevelt - 22/08/2006 
Millicent Garrett Fawcett - 22/12/2006 
Julius Caesar - 25/05/2007 
George Washington - 02/10/2007 
Winston Churchill - 14/09/2010 
Rommel - 26/08/2014 
Ida B Wells - 19/08/2014 
Learie Constantine - 07/04/2015 
Abraham Lincoln - 26/01/2016 
Lucrezia Borgia - 12/04/2016 
Richard the Lionheart - 10/05/2016 
Dadabhai Naoroji - 27/09/2016 
Pope John XXIII - 24/01/2017 
Sitting Bull - 09/05/2017 
Emma of Normandy - 16/05/2017 
Constance Markievicz - 19/09/2017 
Ellen Wilkinson - 01/08/2017 
Daniel O' Connell - 19/12/2017 
Catherine the Great - 29/05/2018 
Jayaben Desai - 10/04/2018 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
Presented by Joan Bakewell, Humphrey Carpenter, Matthew Parris and Francine Stock 
Produced by Miles Warde, Peter Everett, Christine Hall, Perminder Khatkar, Mark Smalley, Charles Ledgard, Maggie Ayre, Beth O'Dea, Jolyon Jenkins, John Byrne, Polly Weston, Julia Johnson, Mary Ward-Lowery, Isobel Eaton, Toby Field

Great Musicians' Lives

Distinguished guests nominate a great musician for BBC Radio 4's Great Lives 
 
For 20 years, Great Lives has been a linchpin of Radio 4, presented by Joan Bakewell, Humphrey Carpenter, Francine Stock and Matthew Parris. In it, a household name is invited to choose one of their heroes to discuss with the presenter and a guest expert. But will their chosen person live up to intensive scrutiny, and merit the description of having led a great life? 
 
In this special collection, celebrating the programme's 20th anniversary, the very best episodes featuring musicians' lives are collected together. From Marvin Gaye to Lonnie Donegan, here are examples both classical and contemporary. Simon Armitage expresses his admiration for on Ian Curtis, Phill Jupitus nominates Joe Strummer, pianist Joanna MacGregor selects Nina Simone, and former Children's Laureate Michael Morpurgo champions Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Whether it's Hanif Kureishi on David Bowie or Stuart Maconie on Ralph Vaughan Williams or the lives of the proponents are every bit as interesting as those of their nominees. 
 
Fascinating and engaging, these captivating episodes follow the ups and downs of some of the most iconic musicians of all time, separating the truth from the myths to reveal just what made them so great, and why they continue to influence and inspire us today. 
 
 
List of episodes and date of first broadcast on BBC Radio 4: 
 
Louis Armstrong 12.7.02 
Sergei Rachmaninoff 11.4.03 
Pyotr Tchaikovsky 16.4.04 
Marvin Gaye 5.11.04 
Sir Edward Elgar 19.11.04 
Mozart 19.4.05 
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor 21.10.05 
Ella Fitzgerald 2.5.06 
Nina Simone 19.9.06 
Joe Strummer 3.4.07 
Billie Holiday 1.5.07 
John Cage 04.09.07 
Paul Robeson 29.4.08 
Ian Curtis 6.5.08 
Alan Freed 26.8.08 
Pavarotti 9.12.08 
Thomas Beecham 21.04.09 
John Coltrane 12.05.09 
Miriam Makeba 15.09.09 
Agustin Barrios Mangore 26.1.10 
Malcolm McLaren 07.12.10 
Kathleen Ferrier 26.04.11 
Kirtsy McColl 09.08.11 
Lonnie Donegan 03.1.12 
Ralph Vaughan Williams 25.12.12 
Fela Kuti 13.8.13 
Jacqueline Du Pre 1.04.14 
Dinu Lipatti 20.12.16 
Captain Beefheart 03.04.18 
Miles Davis 17.04.18 
David Bowie 31.07.18 
Ferruccio Busoni 30.04.19 
Brian Epstein 14.5.19 
Herbert Howells 06.08.19 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
Presented by Humphrey Carpenter, Matthew Parris and Francine Stock 
Produced by Mark Smalley, Miles Warde, Perminder Khatkar, Peter Everett, Isobel Eaton, Jolyon Jenkins, John Byrne, Maggie Ayre, Christine Hall, Julia Johnson, Mark Smalley, Chris Ledgard, Beth O'Dea, Lucy Lunt, Eliza Lomas, Melvin Rickarby

Humphrey Carpenter (Author, Reader) Humphrey Carpenter (1946-2005), the author and creator of Mr Majeika, was born and educated in Oxford. He went to a school called the Dragon School where exciting things often happened and there were some very odd teachers - you could even call it magical! He worked for the BBC then became a full-time writer in 1975, and he was the author of many award-winning biographies, including books about J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Benjamin Britten and Spike Milligan. 
As well as the Mr Majeika titles, his children's books also included Shakespeare Without the Boring Bits and More Shakespeare Without the Boring Bits. He wrote plays for radio and theatre and founded the children's drama group The Mushy Pea Theatre Company. He played the tuba, double bass, bass saxophone and keyboard. 
Humphrey once said, 'The nice thing about being a writer is that you can make magic happen without learning tricks. Words are the only tricks you need. I can write: "He floated up to the ceiling, and a baby rabbit came out of his pocket, grew wings and flew away." And you will believe that it really happened! That's magic, isn't it?' Matthew Parris (Reader) After working in the Foreign Office then serving as a Conservative MP, Matthew Parris joined The Times in 1988. He writes two weekly columns for The Times and one for the Spectator, and in 2011 won the Best Columnist Award at the British Press awards. His acclaimed autobiography Chance Witness was published by Penguin in 2003. He is a frequent broadcaster. Hanif Kureishi (Reader) Hanif Kureishi grew up in Kent and studied philosophy at King’s College London. His novels include The Buddha of Suburbia, which won the Whitbread Prize for Best First Novel, The Black Album, Intimacy and The Last Word. His screenplays include My Beautiful Laundrette, which received an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid and Le Week-End. He has also published several collections of short stories. He has been awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and been translated into thirty-six languages. Michael Morpurgo (Reader) Michael Morpurgo has written over 120 books, many of them award-winning. His most well-known work, War Horse, was adapted into a multi-Oscar nominated film by Steven Spielberg, and a widely-acclaimed play at the National Theatre. 
 
In 2003 Michael became the third Children's Laureate, a position he helped create with the poet Ted Hughes. 
 
With his wife, Clare, he set up the charity Farms for City Children, and for their pioneering work they were both awarded the MBE in 1999.

Distinguished guests nominate a great musician for BBC Radio 4's Great Lives 
 
For 20 years, Great Lives has been a linchpin of Radio 4, presented by Joan Bakewell, Humphrey Carpenter, Francine Stock and Matthew Parris. In it, a household name is invited to choose one of their heroes to discuss with the presenter and a guest expert. But will their chosen person live up to intensive scrutiny, and merit the description of having led a great life? 
 
In this special collection, celebrating the programme's 20th anniversary, the very best episodes featuring musicians' lives are collected together. From Marvin Gaye to Lonnie Donegan, here are examples both classical and contemporary. Simon Armitage expresses his admiration for on Ian Curtis, Phill Jupitus nominates Joe Strummer, pianist Joanna MacGregor selects Nina Simone, and former Children's Laureate Michael Morpurgo champions Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Whether it's Hanif Kureishi on David Bowie or Stuart Maconie on Ralph Vaughan Williams or the lives of the proponents are every bit as interesting as those of their nominees. 
 
Fascinating and engaging, these captivating episodes follow the ups and downs of some of the most iconic musicians of all time, separating the truth from the myths to reveal just what made them so great, and why they continue to influence and inspire us today. 
 
 
List of episodes and date of first broadcast on BBC Radio 4: 
 
 Louis Armstrong 12.7.02 
 Sergei Rachmaninoff 11.4.03 
 Pyotr Tchaikovsky 16.4.04 
 Marvin Gaye 5.11.04 
 Sir Edward Elgar 19.11.04 
 Mozart 19.4.05 
 Samuel Coleridge-Taylor 21.10.05 
 Ella Fitzgerald 2.5.06 
 Nina Simone 19.9.06 
 Joe Strummer 3.4.07 
 Billie Holiday 1.5.07 
 John Cage 04.09.07 
 Paul Robeson 29.4.08 
 Ian Curtis 6.5.08 
 Alan Freed 26.8.08 
 Pavarotti 9.12.08 
 Thomas Beecham 21.04.09 
 John Coltrane 12.05.09 
 Miriam Makeba 15.09.09 
 Agustin Barrios Mangore 26.1.10 
 Malcolm McLaren 07.12.10 
 Kathleen Ferrier 26.04.11 
 Kirtsy McColl 09.08.11 
 Lonnie Donegan 03.1.12 
 Ralph Vaughan Williams 25.12.12 
 Fela Kuti 13.8.13 
 Jacqueline Du Pre 1.04.14 
 Dinu Lipatti 20.12.16 
 Captain Beefheart 03.04.18 
 Miles Davis 17.04.18 
 David Bowie 31.07.18 
 Ferruccio Busoni 30.04.19 
 Brian Epstein 14.5.19 
 Herbert Howells 06.08.19 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
Presented by Humphrey Carpenter, Matthew Parris and Francine Stock 
Produced by Mark Smalley, Miles Warde, Perminder Khatkar, Peter Everett, Isobel Eaton, Jolyon Jenkins, John Byrne, Maggie Ayre, Christine Hall, Julia Johnson, Mark Smalley, Chris Ledgard, Beth O'Dea, Lucy Lunt, Eliza Lomas, Melvin Rickarby

Francine Stock

Various

A BBC Radio 4 history series

Francine Stock explores how the Great War shaped culture and society between 1914 and 1918 
 
The First World War was the great military and political event of its time. But it was also an imaginative event: one that profoundly altered the ways in which men and women thought about the world, and about culture and its expressions. In this compelling five-series programme, journalist and presenter Francine Stock scrutinises the diverse responses of artists and entertainers to the bitter realities of war, and reveals how their new perspectives entered the public consciousness. 
 
Each series focuses on a specific year of the conflict, beginning with 1914, as the written word was mobilised; the music industry embraced both patriotism and escapism; and painters including Kandinsky created some of their most powerful work. Stock shows how the aftershocks of war sparked the rise of modernism and the avant-garde in 1915, and looks at how trauma was addressed in the works of Freud and the compositions of Debussy. Moving on to the following year, she demonstrates how the carnage at Verdun and the Somme inspired Dadaism, galvanised creators from Picasso to Apollinaire - and made the tank into an unlikely icon on the home front. 
 
Looking at 1917, Stock tells the story of the Harlem Hellfighters and how jazz conquered France; finds out about the popular cross-dressing theatre troupes who were taking the Front Line by storm; and listens as the first meeting between poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen is celebrated in a landmark violin performance using instruments made in memory of the duo. She concludes by examining the war's final deadly year, as US troops arrive on the Western Front, Charlie Chaplin makes a film about a private with dreams of becoming a war hero; the Austro-Hungarian Empire falls; and Elgar, Stanley Spencer and Rebecca West anticipate the end of the hostilities and the soldiers' return. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Francine Stock 
Produced by Tom Alban, Mark Burman, Caitlin Smith, Mark Rickards, Clare Walker, Georgia Catt, Sarah Shebbeare, Elizabeth Duffy 
Production Coordinator: Anne Smith 
Editors: John Goudie, Philip Sellars 
 
Readers: Clive Hayward, Heather Craney, Sean Baker, Susan Jameson, Sam Rix, Sargon Yelda, Brian Protheroe, Nicola Ferguson, Nick Underwood, Lucy Doyle, Sean Murray, Ryan Whittle, Liam Fernandez, Cameron Percival and other members of the Radio Drama Company 
Singer: Eloise Irving 
Pianist: Simon Townley 
 
First broadcast on the BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Series 1 
Words for Battle 8 March 2014 
With Catriona Pennell, Samuel Hynes, Tim Kendall, Sophie De Schaepdrijver, Mark Derez, Jan Van Impe, Gerhard Hirschfeld 
Arf a Mo, Kaiser: Popular Culture on All Fronts 15 March 2014 
With Eloise Irving, Simon Townley, John Mullan, Susan Scott, Rachel Moore, Gerhard Hirschfeld, Stefan Goebel, Hubertus Jahn, Anita O'Brien 
Kandinsky, Khaki and Kisses 22 March 2014 
With Jane Potter, David Boyd Haycock, Richard Cork, Stacy Gillis, Stefan Goebel 
 
Series 2 
Glimpses of a Modern World 18 April 2015 
With Genevieve Bell, Pat Mills, Samuel Hynes, Guillaume de Syon, Richard Slocombe, Stewart Kelly, Bryony Dixon, Mark Wollaeger 
A Cubist War 25 April 2015 
With James Taylor, Nicholas Rankin, Susan Harrow, Santanu Das, Peter Stanley, Christian Liebl 
War on the Mind 2 May 2015 
With David Code, Anna Farthing, Edgar Jones, John Forrester, Dorothy Price, Matthew Hollis 
 
Series 3 
Bleeding France 9 April 2016 
With Jay Winter, Alice Kelly, Linda Robertson, Sylvie Leray-Burimi 
The Tank and the Home Fires 16 April 2016 
With Cathy Haill, Helen Brooks, Kimberley Reynolds, Diana Thompson, Vincent Thompson, Richard Slocombe, David Wiley, Alistair Fraser 
Dada and Defiance 23 April 2016 
With Toby Thacker, Alan Dein, Jed Rasula, Jan Rueger, Emily Finer, Boris Dralyuk 
 
Series 4 
The Jazz Kings Go to War 12 August 2017 
With Max Brooks, Reid Badger, Adriane Lentz-Smith, Noble Sissle Jr 
Reality and Reconstruction 19 August 2017 
With Steve Burnett, Catherine Walker, Boris Dralyuk, Richard Cork, Sylvain Bellanger, Suzannah Biernoff, James Partridge, Sarah Crellin 
An Intimate War 26 August 2017 
With Jason Crouthamel, Anke Vetter, Kevin Clarke, Jay Winters, Laraine Porter, Simon Rothon 
 
Series 5 
1918: Chaplin Goes to War 8 September 2018 
With David Luben, Claggett Wilson Read, Lucie Dutton, Ailsa Grant Ferguson 
1918: Vienna and the Fall of an Empire 15 September 2018 
With Michael Haas, Marcus Patka, Ivan Ristic, Nicolai Guteman 
The Return of the Soldier 22 September 2018 
With Boris Dralyuk, Martin Sorrell, Toby Thacker, Jane Potter, David Haycock, Ann Danks 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Francine Stock

Books by Francine Stock

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