Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Biographies & Memoirs

Passion, power, sex and suspicious deaths – the Tudor story is one of drama and dysfunction, and it has kept us enthralled for over 400 years. In these six dramatised documentaries, we take a behind-the-scenes look at Tudor England and get to know the key characters we have grown to love and hate, such as Mary Tudor, Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. Compiled from contemporary sources by Alison Plowman and featuring first-hand accounts and letters, these thrilling, historically accurate retellings bring this tumultuous era to vivid life.

If you Google 'Lemn Sissay', all the results will be about him - he's the only person in the world with that name. But that's not the only thing that makes him unique. In this fascinating series, he mixe

John Wilson (acclaimed arts and culture reporter and journalist, and presenter of Front Row, Newsnight Review and Pick of the Week) meets up with a variety of public figures from such diverse fields as food, mathematics, politics, writing and music, and takes them back to the influential schools, teachers and early workplaces they may have forgotten, but which have not forgotten them.

Historian Sunil Khilnani, Professor of History and Politics at Ashoka University, takes listeners on an immersive, whirlwind journey from ancient India to the 21st century through the life stories of 50 remarkable individuals, exploring their surprising legacies and illuminating both the wonders and the urgent conflicts of India today.

Vanessa Redgrave is an Oscar-winning actress, well known for her theatre appearances and roles in such films as Howards End and Mrs Dalloway, as well as her political activism. She discusses her life and achievements in this collection of BBC Radio and TV interviews.

Sir Derek Jacobi is an award-winning actor who is famous for his many roles on television, film and on stage. He received a Tony Award for his performance as Benedick in the RSC's production of Much Ado About Nothing and is probably most famous for his TV roles in Cadfael and I, Claudius. In this collection, we hear, in his own words, about his influences, his school years and early acting performances, as well as the many roles he has played.

World War I saw an unprecedented loss of life in Western Europe, and destruction on a scale no one alive had ever seen. All those who experienced it were irrevocably changed, including many writers and artists upon whose oeuvre it left an indelible mark. This captivating series examines the impact of the war on artists and thinkers through the prism of their great works. In each episode, a leading figure from the worlds of science, culture and the arts reflects on a single iconic piece, and discusses how the events of 1914-18 shaped its creation.

Regarded by many as the greatest actor of the 20th century, Laurence Olivier enjoyed a stellar career in film, theatre and television, winning multiple awards along the way from the 1920s to the 1980s. In this absorbing collection of archive interviews he discusses his schooldays and early acting career, his drama training, his spells as actor-manager running the Old Vic and the National Theatre (which he helped create), his wartime service and his friendship and collaboration with fellow actors, including John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson.

Sir Stirling Moss, OBE, is a legendary British racing driver. In this collection we hear - in his own words - about his family and upbringing, on starting out and his early career choices and why he became a racing driver. He discusses being a businessman, his relationships and the bittersweet feelings that occur with racing. He also touches on the many dangers involved with the sport, including the loss of friends. Stirling talks about his crash in 1962 - including his injuries and recuperation - as well as his celebrity lifestyle, his continuing popularity and reaching 70.

Beryl Reid, OBE, (1919-1996) was one of Britain's much-loved comedy actresses. She won a BAFTA for Best Actress and received a lifetime achievement award at the British Comedy Awards. In this collection, we hear - in her own words - about other funny women, as well as some of her well-known roles in The Belles of St Trinian's and Smiley's People, and the reaction to her role in The Killing of Sister George.

As the longest-lived and longest-reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II has presided over an era of tremendous social, political and cultural change. In 2012, to mark her Diamond Jubilee, Radio 4 looked back on the long span of her reign, and asked the public to choose high-profile public figures who have helped to define this New Elizabethan Age. Almost a thousand nominations poured in, and the final selection was decided by a panel of leading writers and historians, including Dominic Sandbrook, Bamber Gascoigne and Max Hastings.

A fascinating collection of archive radio programmes focusing on the life and work of crime fiction's grande dame and featuring Agatha Christie in her own words. Dame Agatha Christie published 66 detective novels and 14 short-story collections in her lifetime, but to the public she remained an enigmatic figure. This quartet of BBC radio programmes looks at the woman behind the books and explores the career of one of Britain's most famous mystery writers.

On 4 January 2011, millionaire businessman and governor of Punjab Salmaan Taseer was shot to death. He had been leading a campaign to amend Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, after an illiterate Christian woman was sentenced to death for blasphemy. Within hours, a Facebook page for the assassin Mumtaz Qadri had over 2000 members. Transferred to jail, Qadri was garlanded with roses by lawyers offering to take his case for free.

Broadcaster and current affairs specialist Clare English talks to 12 extraordinary trailblazers. Here are the inspiring stories of politicians and inventors, scientists and surgeons, models, parents, creatives and founders. All, in their own field and in their own way, have broken new ground and changed the world.

Journalist Matt Majendie brings listeners the whole story from 2012 to 2020, told by the people who were there. You'll hear from Paula Radcliffe and Sebastian Coe on London 2012, the expert German investigator who cracked the case wide open and the athletes who doped. The programme also gained access to the elite Swiss lab racing to finish testing London 2012 samples and spoke to the man who masterminded doping control at the London games.