Great Lives

Writer, broadcaster and Blue Peter presenter Janet Ellis champions the life of Kaye Webb, who burst on to the children's publishing scene in 1961 and changed the industry forever.

With no publishing experience whatsoever, Kaye persuaded renowned authors like Roald Dahl and Nina Bawden to publish their hardback bestsellers as pocket-sized paperbacks that children could buy themselves. Hundreds of thousands flocked to join her Puffin Club with its riotous exhibitions, trips and competitions. Janet shares her memories of growing up abroad with her "portable kingdom" of Puffin books, and explains why Puffin and Blue Peter have a lot in common.

Janet is joined in the studio by Kaye's biographer, the writer Valerie Grove. They talk about Kaye's three marriages, especially the last, to cartoonist Ronald Searle, then one of the most famous men in the country. We also hear personal memories of Kaye from Clare Morpurgo, daughter of Penguin founder, Sir Allen Lane.

With thanks to Puffin Club expert Sherief Hassan, Philippa Dickinson and Emma Thompson. Photo courtesy of Seven Stories - The National Centre for Children's Books in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Presented by Matthew Parris. Produced by Sarah Goodman for BBC Audio Bristol.

Actor and comedian Daniel Rigby chooses the creator of Acorn Antiques, As Seen on TV and Dinnerladies, Victoria Wood.

Victoria grew up in a bungalow high up on the moors in Lancashire. The rooms were partitioned off with plywood, and she loved to play the piano on her own.

She became the biggest comedy star in the UK, writing, directing, acting, and winning BAFTAS for being funny, and being serious too.

Nominating the star of Wood and Walters, Dinnerladies and Housewife, 49 is Daniel Rigby.

Daniel won a BAFTA playing Eric Morecambe in 2011, with Victoria Wood as his mum. She also became his landlady.

Joining the often joyful discussion is Jasper Rees - author of the authorised biography of Victoria Wood.

Presenter: Matthew Parris

Producer: Miles Warde

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2020.

Actor Sir Ben Kingsley tells Matthew Parris why he regards Elie Wiesel as his great life.

A writer, a Nobel laureate, a holocaust survivor, Elie had to endure the worst horrors of mankind and survive the darkest of crimes.

In the Holocaust he lost his mother, his father and his youngest sister. He once said: “To forget the dead would be to akin to killing them again a second time”.

Sir Ben Kingsley regards Wiesel as was one the great voices of the holocaust and says he should never be forgotten. This was a promise he made to Wiesel.

To help tell Elie’s story, the expert witness is Robert Eaglestone, Professor of Contemporary Literature and Thought and an expert in Holocaust Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Producer: Perminder Khatkar

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2016.

In the summer of 2018, the name of Laura Ingalls Wilder was erased from a children's literary medal set up in her honour six decades ago.

Readers of the 'Little House on the Prairie' series of books were widely perplexed, but the original American pioneer girl now finds herself at the centre of the culture wars in the US.

Nominating Laura is broadcaster and super-fan Samira Ahmed, who has been to Rocky Ridge Farm, now an historic museum in Missouri and Laura Ingalls Wilder's home.

Joining Samira in studio is novelist Tracy Chevalier, president of the Laura Ingalls Wilder club at the age of eight.

At the centre of the controversy - the depiction in these books of native Americans. “Her works reflect dated cultural attitudes toward indigenous people and people of colour that contradict modern acceptance, celebration, and understanding of diverse communities,” was the judgment of the ALSC.

Also featuring Laura Ingalls Wilder's biographer, Pamela Hill; plus the Commanche writer Paul Chaat Smith in an extract from The Invention of the USA. "I feel worried," says Samira Ahmed, "that we've lost the ability to have nuance. I cannot read these books without feeling aspects of racism, but why shouldn't we be able to read them and still see the beauty in them."

Presented by Matthew Parris.

Producer: Miles Warde

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2018.

"I've chosen him because I think he was possibly the most interesting human being who has ever lived". A N Wilson

Born in the middle of the 18th century in Frankfurt, Goethe went on to become the pre-eminent figure in German literature. As well as writing plays and poetry (including Faust) he was a statesman, a scientist, an artist and a critic. Queen Victoria was a huge fan of his work and his philosophy, but his fame in this country subsequently suffered because of anti-German sentiment.

Joining A N Wilson in the nest of Goethe worshippers is Dr Charlotte Lee, Director of German at Cambridge.

She notes that Goethe's "immense charisma" was there physically as well. But was he a nice man? Wilson argues that we shouldn't even ask such questions of someone like Goethe. "I just don't feel asking whether he was nice or not gets you anywhere."

Presented by Matthew Parris and produced for BBC Studios Audio by Ellie Richold