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Great Lives Episodes

  1.

    Ekow Eshun on the first openly gay footballer, Justin Fashanu

    Biography show where famous guests pick someone they admire or love.

  2. Anneka Rice picks the largely forgotten Jane Morris, muse to Rossetti and wife of William Morris

    Anneka Rice picks Jane Morris, wife of William Morris and muse to Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

  3. Jo Brand picks American blues singer Bessie Smith

    The biography show where famous guests pick someone they admire or love.

  4. The surgeon Henry Marsh picks 'the saviour of mothers' Dr Semmelweis

    Biography show where famous guests pick someone from history they admire or love.

  5. The Roman Emperor Nero

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

  6. Film director Julien Temple on Elizabethan bad boy Christopher Marlowe

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

  7. Zing Tsjeng on Swedish painter Hilma af Klint

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

  8. Miriam Margolyes on Charles Dickens

    The great Miriam Margolyes chooses her hero, Charles Dickens

  9. Mary Portas on Anita Roddick

    Mary Portas chooses the founder of The Body Shop Dame Anita Roddick as her Great Life.

  10. Harriet Harman on Maria Callas

    Harriet Harman nominates opera star Maria Callas.

  11. Lady Rachel MacRobert, chosen by Hayaatun Sillem

    Dr Hayaatun Sillem chooses the extraordinary life of Lady Rachel MacRobert.

  12. Queen Emma

    Alice Roberts chooses the wife of two kings - Aethelred and Canute.

  13. James Dyson on Frank Whittle

    James Dyson chooses the inventor of the jet engine, Frank Whittle.

  14. Katherine Rundell on E Nesbit

    Writer Katherine Rundell nominates fellow children's author E Nesbit.

  15. Antoni Gaudi

    Antoni Gaudi, nominated by Baroness Ros Altmann.

  16. Sir Bruce Forsyth

    Sir Bruce Forsyth, nominated by the political writer and broadcaster Steve Richards

  17. Harry Enfield on Gerard Hoffnung

    Comedian Harry Enfield chooses the cartoonist, musician and raconteur Gerard Hoffnung.

  18. Alan Freeman picked by Simon Mayo

    Simon Mayo picks his broadcasting hero, Pick of the Pops's Alan 'Fluff' Freeman.

  19. Actor Niamh Cusack on the life of poet Mary Oliver

    Actor Niamh Cusack chooses the American poet Mary Oliver.

  20. Mr Motivator picks Harry Belafonte

    Mr Motivator chooses the King of Calypso, whose hits include Day-O and Jump in the Line.

  21. Jimmy Wales on Thomas Jefferson

    The founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, picks the third president of the United States.

  22. Eartha Kitt proposed by Faye Tozer

    Faye Tozer from Steps nominates a singer and dancer with a trademark growl.

  23. John Gray on JG Ballard

    Philosopher John Gray chooses the iconic futuristic writer JG Ballard.

  24. Iszi Lawrence on Diana Barnato Walker

    Iszi Lawrence chooses record-breaking aviator Diana Barnato Walker.

  25. Mohammad Mossadegh, PM of Iran ousted in a coup

    Mohammad Mossadegh was toppled in a coup in Iran in 1953.

  26. Burt Lancaster

    Broadcaster Gerry Anderson chooses Hollywood legend, Burt Lancaster.

  27. Ken Loach on Gerrard Winstanley

    Ken Loach on Gerrard Winstanley.

  28. Chi-chi Nwanoku on Jessye Norman

    Chi-chi Nwanoku picks the American singer Jessye Norman who became a global star of opera.

  29. Lady Eve Balfour

    Lady Eve Balfour was a pioneering organic farmer and founder of the Soil Association.

  30. Ninette de Valois

    β€˜The Godmother of English ballet’, Dame Ninette De Valois

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