Great Lives Folgen

Chris Patten, Lord Patten of Barnes, nominates a great life who was born a peasant and became a Pope. Pope John XXIII did well at school but was no star. He wasn't a striking figure of a man and struggled to keep his weight under control.There was nothing about him that stood out and his election as Pope took many by surprise. But he was the man who began to push the Roman Catholic church into the modern world.Presenter: Matthew Parris.With Eamon Duffy, Professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Cambridge.Producer: Perminder KhatkarFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2017.

Len Goodman's great life was one of the biggest figures in creating British musicals and pop music in the 1960's. The writer and lyricist behind the hit musical Oliver, knew everybody who was anybody, made a fortune and partied with Royalty. But like many who flourished in that era he also lost everything in a blitz of booze, drugs and bad behaviour.Len Goodman makes a case for why he regards Bart as a genius.With Matthew Parris. Helping Len him to unravel the story of his hero the expert witness is broadcaster David Stafford who co-wrote a biography on Lionel Bart named after Bart's second most famous musical: Fings Aint Wot They Used T'Be . Producer: Perminder Khatkar.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 January 2017.

In 1914, a self-taught Mathematics student named Ramanujan left India for Trinity College Cambridge.Here, alongside the celebrated English mathematician GH Hardy, he completed some extraordinary work on Pi and prime numbers. What was even more extraordinary was that he couldn't prove a lot of his work, and attributed many of his theories to a higher power.For the renowned UK choreographer Akram Khan, there is a beauty in patterns and maths, and he sees Ramanujan's genius as a clash between Eastern and Western cultures. Together with presenter Matthew Parris, he explores the mathematician's life. Guest Professor Robin Wilson, who once visited Ramanujan's home, takes them through some of the maths, and explains why you'll never look at the number 1729 in the same way again.Producer: Toby Field.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2017.