Great Lives

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Factual: Life Stories

Biographical series in which guests choose someone who has inspired their lives.

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Matthew Parris

Chris Patten

Eamon Duffy

Perminder Khatkar

Great Lives: Chris Patten on Pope John XXIII

Chris Patten on Pope John XXIII

BBC Radio 4 - Great Lives, Chris Patten on Pope John XXIII

Chris Patten nominates Pope John XXIII. With Professor Eamon Duffy and Matthew Parris.

Chris Patten nominates Pope John XXIII. With Professor Eamon Duffy. Presented by Matthew Parris. From January 2017.

Chris Patten, Lord Patten of Barnes, nominates a great life who was born a peasant and became a Pope. 

Pope John XXIII did well at school but was no star. He wasn't a striking figure of a man and struggled to keep his weight under control.

There was nothing about him that stood out and his election as Pope took many by surprise. But he was the man who began to push the Roman Catholic church into the modern world.

Presenter: Matthew Parris.

With Eamon Duffy, Professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Cambridge.

Producer: Perminder Khatkar

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2017.

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