Guests from all walks of life discuss their musical passions and talk about the influence music has had on their lives.
Latest episodes
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55 min ↗
Eric Idle, comedian and writer
Eric Idle has been making audiences around the world laugh for nearly 60 years. As a member of the legendary Monty Python group, he helped redefine British television comedy – foll…
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52 min ↗
Elif Shafak, novelist
Elif Shafak is a best-selling writer who is as happy telling a story from the point of view of a fig tree or a water droplet as a fellow human being. She began writing in her nativ…
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46 min ↗
Courtney Pine, saxophonist
As part of the BBC's collaboration with The Music is Black, the V&A East Museum exhibition celebrating Black British music and musicians, Michael Berkeley talks to the saxophonist…
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52 min ↗
Francis Fukuyama, political scientist
The American political scientist Francis Fukuyama loves big ideas, and his 1992 book The End of History and the Last Man was an international best-seller.It argued that – after the…
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54 min ↗
Louisa Young, writer
Family is at the heart of the work of the writer Louisa Young. Her first book was about her grandmother, Kathleen, a sculptor who was also the widow of the Antarctic explorer Capta…
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51 min ↗
Sylvester McCoy, actor
The actor Sylvester McCoy was a familiar face to millions of TV viewers when he played the Seventh Doctor in Doctor Who in the 1980s. On the big screen, he has played the eccentric…
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58 min ↗
Lyse Doucet, journalist
When Lyse Doucet was a child growing up in a small town in eastern Canada, she borrowed a library book called How to Become a Journalist. It clearly made an impact. She is now the…
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53 min ↗
Carlos Acosta, dancer
In the world of dance, Carlos Acosta is a superstar. He grew up in a poor part of Havana, where he was the 11th child in his family, and began his training at the National Ballet S…
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54 min ↗
Leslie Cavendish, former Beatles hairdresser
Leslie Cavendish left school at the age of 15 years, without any artistic qualifications, and decided to become a hairdresser. Within three years, his clients included Terence Stam…
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53 min ↗
John Nichol, writer, former RAF Navigator
Thirty-five years ago, during the Gulf War, the face of the RAF navigator John Nichol appeared on news bulletins around the world. His Tornado jet had been shot down over Iraq, and…
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54 min ↗
Ruth Ozeki, writer
Ruth Ozeki won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2022 with her novel The Book of Form and Emptiness. The judges called it a ’complete joy to read.’ She’s also a film-maker and a Zen…
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58 min ↗
Jeremy Vine, broadcaster
Jeremy Vine is one of the most familiar voices and faces in British broadcasting. He's presented his Radio 2 lunchtime show since 2003, and its mixture of music and news reaches 6…
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54 min ↗
Sofka Zinovieff, writer
Like many writers, Sofka Zinovieff draws on her own history in her books – and her family tree offers plenty of inspiration. Her paternal grandmother was born into Russian high soc…
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55 min ↗
Simon Barnes, journalist
The writer Simon Barnes has two very public passions - sport and the natural world. He wrote about both for The Times for 30 years, covering seven Olympic Games and six World Cup f…
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54 min ↗
Margaret Busby, publisher and editor
Margaret Busby is a publisher and editor who's helped change our literary landscape. She's been lauded by the writer Zadie Smith as the cheerleader, instigator, organiser, defender…
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56 min ↗
Michael Wood, historian
The historian Michael Wood has shared his enthusiasms and expertise with television viewers and readers around the world for almost five decades.He’s brought us complex individuals…
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54 min ↗
James Aldred, cameraman and writer
James Aldred is an Emmy award-winning documentary wildlife cameraman and filmmaker who has collaborated with David Attenborough on projects such Planet Earth, The Life of Mammals a…
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52 min ↗
Professor Dame Ijeoma Uchegbu, chemist
Professor Dame Ijeoma Uchegbu has dedicated her career to studying nanoparticles, finding ways to carry medicines to parts of the body that are notoriously hard to reach, such as t…
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51 min ↗
Dietmar Mueller-Elmau, entrepreneur
Dietmar Mueller-Elmau is the owner of Schloss Elmau, a resort hotel in the Bavarian Alps, 60 miles from Munich. It was set up in 1916 by his grandfather, the philosopher and writer…
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53 min ↗
Rachel Eliza Griffiths, poet and novelist
The American writer Rachel Eliza Griffiths creates poetry that resonates with music: she writes about her mother cleaning the house while ‘Pavarotti trembled across the terse sunli…