Great Lives Folgen

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein in 1892. Orphaned before he was a teenager, he fought at the Somme in the First World War before going on to become one of the best-selling authors of all time. Bilbo, Gandalf, Gollum, Frodo, Sauron - these are just a few of the famous characters he created for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.Nominating Tolkien - an Oxford University professor - is the popular historian, Niall Ferguson. He aims to rescue Tolkien from the hippies, who, he says, claimed Tolkien as their own. "The fascinating thing to me about Tolkien is that his sensibility is so profoundly conservative - with a small 'c'. ...when you look at the man's politics, he was such a reactionary!" Presenter Matthew Parris, who doesn't believe in elves or dwarves, is not so sure that the fantasy author deserves to be rescued. With additional help and guidance from Malcolm Guite.Niall Ferguson is senior fellow of the Hoover Institution and author of Empire: How Britain made the Modern World.Producer: Ellie RicholdFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2021.

The chef and co-founder of The River Cafe, Ruth Rogers, picks the life of the writer and activist James Baldwin.A writer, poet, playwright and activist, Baldwin was known as a trailblazing explorer of race, class and sexuality in America and the “literary voice of the Civil Rights movement”. Joining Ruth and Matthew is Professor Rich Blint from the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts in New York. He is director of the college’s race and ethnicity programme and is a contributing editor to the James Baldwin Review. Together they explore Baldwin's writing style, the turbulent times faced both politically and personally; and ask - were he alive today - whether he would feel the world had progressed in its attitude to race.Presented by Matthew Parris and produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Caitlin Hobbs.

The Greek politician and economist takes us back to ancient Alexandria and the life of the first woman to make her name as a mathematician. But Hypatia is best known now for being brutally murdered. Yanis Varoufakis makes the case for her as a philosopher and mathematician, and explores how her story has been interpreted and misinterpreted in the centuries after her death. He's joined by the writer and broadcaster, Professor Edith Hall.Presented by Matthew Parris and produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Chris Ledgard