Great Lives Folgen

Novelist and screenwriter, Deborah Moggach, nominates the Potteries writer Arnold Bennett, whose work she thinks has been wrongly overlooked, as he was considered as being too popular. Moggach believes that because he was a working writer who earned his living writing both serious and light fiction, he was not taken seriously until after his death in 1931, despite his books being hugely popular during his lifetime. Bennett wrote many novels including ‘Anna of the Five Towns’ and ‘The Old Wives Tale’. As a journalist, Bennett also wrote self-help and lifestyle articles for magazines including 'How to Bathe a Baby Part One' and 'Do Rich Women Quarrel More Frequently Than Poor?' Gyles Brandreth has been a lifelong Bennett fan and believes him to be one of the greatest writers of the 20th century who deserves to be rediscovered. Presenter: Matthew Parris.Producer: Maggie Ayre.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.

Mathematician Marcus de Sautoy champions the blind Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges. He is fascinated by the connection between the creator of 'The Library of Babel' and science - did Borges really understand notions of infinity and space? Biographer Jason Wilson adds colourful detail to the life of a great writer whom he insists was just being impish when it came to the weighty matters that have excited more than one mathematician over the years. The programme includes beautiful recordings of Borges in conversation in 1971. Marcus du Sautoy is the Charles Simonyi Professor for the Understanding of Science. Presented by Matthew Parris.Produced by Miles Warde.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra in 2014.

Sir Mark Walport, the government's Chief Scientific Advisor champions the life of Sir Hans Sloane, founder of the British Museum. Along with expert Marjorie Caygill they tell Matthew Parris why they think Sloane is the mother and father of all collectors.Producer : Perminder Khatkar.