Great Lives Folgen

Gordon Hamilton-Fairley was a brilliant cancer specialist, the father of oncology in the UK. Then in 1975 he was killed by an IRA bomb intended for a politician who lived in his street. Former editor of the Daily Telegraph Charles Moore chooses a man cut down in his prime. Joining him in the studio are three members of the Hamilton-Fairley family; plus the cancer specialist Ray Powles, who provides a compelling picture of how basic treatment for cancer sufferers used to be.Presenter: Matthew Parris Producer: Miles WardeFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016.

Richard the Lionheart has been portrayed on screen by Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins and Patrick Stewart, quite a starry list. But what is the reality behind the legend of this famous king? Richard's nominator is Timmy Mallett, a legend of children's TV but also unexpectedly a history graduate. Great historical characters, he says, have great stories attached to them, and Richard's life was not short of adventure, particularly on the Third Crusade. Applying a cool head to Richard's life is the historian and broadcaster Helen Castor. She concedes that much of Timmy's enthusiasm is probably deserved. Presenter Matthew Parris attempts to discover the truth about whether the Lionheart was in fact gay.Producer: Miles Warde.Produced in BBC Bristol and first broadcast on Radio 4 in May 2016.

Lt-Gen Sir Graeme Lamb, former head of British special forces, champions the life of wartime spy Christine Granville, assisted by her biographer Clare Mulley.Christine, born Kristina Skarbek, was a glamorous swashbuckling heroine who skied into occupied Poland to distribute Allied propaganda, and parachuted into southern France to work with the Resistance after D Day. Murdered after the war by a jilted lover, she is little known today - thanks partly to the efforts of a group of men she had been close to, who formed a committee to "protect her reputation" from suggestions of sexual impropriety. Matthew Parris chairs the discussion. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016.