Great Lives Folgen

Peter Williams - founder of British retail chain, Jack Wills - nominates Steve Jobs as his great life. For Williams, despite the fact that Steve Jobs was an abrasive and difficult person, it was his ability to predict what people wanted. It was his Apple products that have touched the lives of so many people world wide and for Peter it's his gadgets that have changed our attitudes to technology. To help Peter Williams make his case, he is joined by Luke Dormehl, technology journalist and author of The Apple Revolution. Presenter: Matthew Parris Producer: Perminder Khatkar.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2017.

There were so many hoaxes in Andy Kaufman's brief career that for years his fans believed that he wasn't really dead. Kaufman's best known as Latka Gravas in the American TV sitcom Taxi, and his life was undoubtedly weird. Performance artist, Elvis impersonator, wrestler - he's difficult to pin down. Nominator Iain Lee believes he was a genius, while Olly Double of the University of Kent school of arts reckons Kaufman didn't really care if his audience laughed or not. Presenter Matthew Parris draws his own conclusions about Kaufman's extraordinary life, later turned into a film starring Jim Carrey called Man on the Moon.Produced at BBC Bristol by Miles Warde.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2017.

Twice Queen of England and mother of two kings, but have you heard of Emma of Normandy? Doyenne of Whitehall and Westminster journalists, Sue Cameron names William the Conqueror's aunt as her great life. Matthew Parris explores the time 1,000 years ago when England was emerging as a new nation in the decades before the Norman invasion, when the country's Anglo Saxon rulers were beset with Viking invasions. Emma, herself of French Viking descent, was pitched into a maelstrom of war and politics, when she crossed the channel as a teenage bride in 1002. Joined by medieval historian Vanessa King of Goldsmiths, University of London, Sue and Matthew conjure the fortunes of a woman who emerged as a key powerbroker and kingmaker. Emma bestrode early English court politics for half a century during her life, and for years afterwards. Married first to Aethelred, the Saxon king, she was promptly summoned to marry his successor after his death in 1016, the Danish king of England, Canute, who's alleged to have ordered the waves to cease. Sue Cameron imagines what it must have been like for Emma in the midst of these turbulent times, trying to protect the sons she had with both kings, while advancing their position at court. Producer: Mark SmalleyFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2017.