News
Cerys Matthews on why 12th-century nun Hildegard von Bingen qualifies as a great life.
Simon Jenkins proposes Edwin Lutyens, architect of New Delhi and the Cenotaph.
Fast Show comic Simon Day tells Matthew Parris why he is fascinated by writer Hans Fallada
Poetry curator Daisy Goodwin nominates the Bard himself, William Shakespeare.
Restaurateur Antonio Carluccio nominates the Scottish artist Sir Eduardo Paolozzi.
The reclusive American poet Emily Dickinson is the choice of fellow poet Gwyneth Lewis.
Broadcaster Janice Long champions the life and work of singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl.
War reporter Tim Butcher chooses an exploration into the strange world of Graham Greene.
Matthew Parris introduces the life of writer Harold Pinter, chosen by Diane Abbott MP.
Matthew Syed chooses the first African-American world heavyweight boxing champion.
Green MP Caroline Lucas nominates Petra Kelly, the German Green superstar politician.
Writer Lynne Truss chooses the creator of Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll.
Broadcaster Sue MacGregor nominates singer Kathleen Ferrier who died tragically young.
Actress Diana Quick selects philosopher Simone de Beauvoir for Great Lives.
Conductor Charles Hazlewood chooses Leonard Bernstein.
Sir Clive Sinclair discusses fellow inventor Thomas Edison with Matthew Parris.
Katharine Whitehorn chooses journalist and campaigner Mary Stott.
Physicist Jim al-Khalili nominates Gertrude Bell who shaped modern-day Iraq.
Comedian Barry Cryer nods to his Yorkshire roots by choosing JB Priestley.
Lord Kinnock chooses the life of Aneurin Bevan, the founder of the NHS.
Dancer and actor Lionel Blair chooses his friend, Sammy Davis Jr.
Business guru Sir Gerry Robinson chooses playwright Samuel Beckett.
Poet John Hegley chooses the author of Lady Chatterley's Lover, DH Lawrence.
Public relations expert Mark Borkowski discusses the life of the Sex Pistols' manager.
Gerald Scarfe, merciless political cartoon satirist, chooses an icon who created icons.
Professor Robert Winston chooses a famous writer from the French Renaissance.
Lord Digby Jones chooses wartime leader, Winston Churchill.
Edwina Currie discusses the life of former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir.
Eleanor Bron discusses the life of French philosopher and mystic Simone Weil.
Camila Batmanghelidjh discusses the life of her Victorian equivalent, Mary Carpenter.
