Great Lives Folgen

4 Extra broadcast to mark the 300th Anniversary of the death of Sir John Vanbrugh.From acting in TV's Men Behaving Badly and Jonathan Creek to restoring dozens of period properties and touring India for TV, Caroline Quentin loves variety. When she discovered the life of the playwright and architect Sir John Vanbrugh, she had found a kindred spirit. Caroline appeared in an RSC production of The Provoked Wife by Vanbrugh - who also designed Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. Architectural critic and broadcaster, Jonathan Glancey, joins Caroline and presenter Matthew Parris, to explore the full and meandering life of this flamboyant figure.Producer Camellia SinclairFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2019.

Laura Marling nominates the first female psychoanalyst, Lou Andreas-Salomé.Folk singer-songwriter, Laura has been unravelling the mysteries of Russian-born Lou Andreas-Salomé ever since she came across her name in the biography of the poet, Rainer Maria Rilke. She'd never heard of Salomé's name but discovered she was Rilke's literary mentor for years. As well as this, she was the only woman allowed in Sigmund Freud's Inner Psychoanalytic Circle, and was proposed to by Friedrich Nietzsche, who called her “the cleverest person I ever knew...” Yet today, she's been largely forgotten. Laura makes the case for remembering this enigmatic woman who inspired some of the greatest minds of our time. Laura Marling has been nominated for the Grammy Awards, the Mercury Prize and has won a Brit award for best British Female Solo Artist. Presented by Matthew ParrisProducer: Eliza Lomas in BristolFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2019.

Was Robinson Crusoe real? According to the book it was 'written by himself'.To establish the facts, Matthew Parris is joined by two notable desert island survivors to discuss Crusoe’s life and strange adventures, during 28 years on an uninhabited island near the mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque. Crusoe's nominator is Lucy Irvine, who spent a year on Tuin Island with a man called Gerald. Her exploits resulted in a book and a film called ‘Castaway’. The second guest is journalist Martin Popplewell, who was inspired as a teenager to try desert island life by Brooke Shields in the film ‘The Blue Lagoon’.As Martin points out, "There's no mention in the entire Crusoe book of coconuts" in this entertaining dissection of both Crusoe and his creator, Daniel Defoe.Producer: Miles WardeProduced in Bristol and first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2019.