Great Lives Folgen

When Josiah Wedgwood had part of an injured leg amputed, he encouraged his workers to celebrate the anniversary as St Amputation Day. This remarkable man from Stoke on Trent built a pottery empire that made him famous round the world. He's nominated here, on location, by the former MP for Stoke Central, Tristram Hunt, now head of the Victoria and Albert museum in London. Featuring an interview with the head of Royal Staffordshire, Norman Tempest.Plus readings from Brian Dolan's biography, The First Tycoon. Presented by Matthew ParrisProduced for BBC audio in Bristol by ex-Stoke resident Miles WardeFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2021.

Born and raised in Martinique, Frantz Fanon fought for the Free French Forces against the Nazis, and then devoted his life to the liberation of Algeria from France. Fanon was a psychiatrist and author of two acclaimed anti-colonial works: Black Skin, White Masks, and The Wretched of the Earth. He is the choice of the writer and broadcaster Lindsay Johns, who explains why his connection to Fanon is not just intellectual and moral, but also personal. And from Paris, the Frantz Fanon expert, Françoise Vergès, offers her analysis of his life and work. The presenter is Matthew Parris and the producer for BBC Audio in Bristol is Chris Ledgard Image: Archives Frantz Fanon / IMEC

Althea Gibson made sporting history in 1957 - the first black tennis player to win a Wimbledon title. She also won the US Open and the French Open. Raised on the streets of Harlem, her story is remarkable. And yet she is relatively unknown. Devi Sridhar, Professor of Global Public Health at Edinburgh University, champions Althea's life.With writer Sally H Jacobs, who is writing a new biography of the tennis star.Presenter: Matthew ParrisProduced at BBC Audio in Bristol by Chris Ledgard. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2021.