Great Lives

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BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Discussion & Talk

Factual: Life Stories

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

BBC Radio 4 LW

Great Lives: The Great Lives of Great Lives

The Great Lives of Great Lives

BBC Radio 4 - Great Lives, The Great Lives of Great Lives

After 450 episodes, Matthew Parris thinks it's time to find out what makes a great life.

After more than 450 episodes, presenter Matthew Parris reckons it's time to find out what makes a great life.

Back in the late summer of 2001, a new biography series aired on Radio 4. Matthew Parris was not the first presenter, but he has chaired more editions than anyone else. His very first episode was about Morecambe and Wise, since when he's listened to claims for Leon Trotsky, Donna Summer, Doris Day and Benito Mussolini. So what makes a great life, and can anyone join? Here, with some help from the first programme's producer, he starts to draw some conclusions of his own.

Extracts include Toni Morrison, Frank Sinatra, Muhammad Ali, Virginia Woolfe, Kenny Everett, and Clement Attlee, Nominators include Jessie Ware, Christopher Hitchens, Ken Dodd, Andi Oliver, Penelope Keith, David Attenborough, and Grace Dent.

The presenter is Matthew Parris, the producer in Bristol Miles Warde

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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Great Lives

The Great Lives of Great Lives

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