For more than fifty years, Gyles Brandreth has been a dedicated diarist. This series recalls some of the famous and notorious people he met in a long and varied career.

Programme four is on Characters.

The diaries are full of characters, people such as Jeffrey Archer. Jeffrey was the court jester at the court of Mrs Thatcher, but thought of himself as Cardinal Wolsey.

Gyles met Fanny Cradock when he was President of the Oxford Union and he persuaded her to speak. He recalls: "she has drawn on eyebrows, orange lipstick around her lips, and a voice like a foghorn, but she was a triumph and is now my best friend."

Producer: Chris Bond. Show less