Great Lives Folgen

For soul singer Mica Paris, when she first dreamt of becoming a singer it was Josephine Baker who inspired her most. Baker was a young black American dancer who became an overnight sensation in Paris in 1925 after performing wild, uninhibited routines in the skimpiest of costumes.So can Mica Paris make the case for Baker who wore a string of bananas and little else while performing the 'banana dance? Joining presenter Matthew Parris to help tell the story of Josephine Baker is author Andrea Stuart.Producer: Perminder KhatkarFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 May 2018.

Actor Simon Callow joins Matthew Parris to nominate the life of a giant of Hollywood's golden age, Orson Welles. Aged just 26, Welles wrote, directed and starred in Citizen Kane. He once recalled how he 'started at the top and worked his way down' - never managing to recreate his initial film success.Welles's friend and collaborator Henry Jaglom talks about knowing him for the last years of his life.The movie industry had turned its back on him leaving him strapped for cash and looking for work.Producer: Maggie AyreFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2018.

Stand up comedian and political commentator Ayesha Hazarika's hero is Jayaben Desai.Jayaben led a two year strike at Grunwick Film processing factory in North London. The majority of the workers were migrant women and they became known as the 'strikers in sarees'. Matthew Parris remembers the strike in 1976 as he was working in Margaret Thatcher's office at the time, but only recalls the violence at the picket line and the fact that the strike failed.Can Ayesha convince Matthew Parris that Jayaben Desai deserves the accolade of a great life?With Dr Sundari Anitha, co- author of 'Striking Women'. Producer: Perminder KhatkarFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2018.