Great Lives Folgen

Thomas Mann was a German writer whose books explored themes around family, beauty and the creeping threat of fascism in Europe. Mann's best-known 'Death in Venice' revealed the author's attraction to young boys and it was turned into a film in 1971 directed by Visconti and starring Dirk Bogarde. He moved to Switzerland before the outbreak of the Second World War and lived in exile in Europe and the USA for the rest of his life. From his home in California he rubbed shoulders with the likes of Einstein and Brecht, and he recorded broadcasts for the BBC urging the German people to rise up and overthrow Hitler. He was married and had six children, two of whom took their own lives.Lexicographer and TV word expert on 'Countdown' Susie Dent says German was her first love and she loves the tension in Mann's work between the pull of one's senses and the desire to stay aloof and detached. Presented by Matthew Parris.With expert witness, Karolina Watroba, Research fellow in German and Comparative Literature at the University of Oxford. Karolina was born in Poland where Mann is a huge cultural icon. Produced at BBC Bristol by Toby Field.First broadcast on Radio 4 in August 2023.

"It's the complicated ones I enjoy the most." Matthew ParrisTony Benn, MP from 1950 to 2001, packed so much into a long career. He renounced the peerage inherited from his father, served in the Labour governments of both Harold Wilson and Jim Callaghan, led the Stop the War Coalition from 2001 and became pretty much the country’s pre-eminent rock star politician in older age. Comedian Ellie Gibson says she was a Tony Benn groupie and saw him speak many times. A brilliant orator and prolific diarist, he was by the 1980s distrusted by many in his own party, and a bogey figure in the right wing press. Contributors include ex Labour MP, Chris Mullin, and his biographer, Jad Adams; plus rare early archive of Tony Benn himself talking about his constitutional fight to give up his inherited peerage. Ellie Gibson is one half of the Scummy Mummies podcast duo.The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde

When Jon Ronson was growing up, he went to see The Specials play in Cardiff. "I went on my own to Sophia Gardens," he says. "The crowd was fantastically wild. There’s a lot to not like about the feral nature of British street culture – i.e. getting beaten up - but out of turmoil can come great art, songs like Ghost Town and Concrete Jungle. Anyway, before The Specials came on, I made a decision: I would pretend to faint in the hope that I could watch the show from the side of the stage. It worked like a dream. I was carried by the bouncers to the wings, and left there. This was probably the most exciting moment of my life, and as I stood there, Terry Hall noticed me and came over to ask if I was okay. Terry Hall, the coolest man in Britain, being kind and showing concern."Years later Terry Hall publicly announced that he'd been abducted by paedophiles as a boy. Jon Ronson immediately remembered the care and concern Terry had shown him and wondered if this was why. Programme includes Terry's bandmate, Lynval Golding, giving his first interview since Terry died in December; plus two of his friends, Shaun O'Donnell and Gary Aspden, and the voice of Terry himself.Jon Ronson is the author of Adventures with Extremists and presenter of Things Fell Apart, about the culture wars.The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde