Private Passions
Encyclopedia
Private Passions is a weekly music discussion programme which has been running for over 10 years on BBC Radio 3
, presented by the composer Michael Berkeley
. The one-hour show is broadcast almost every Sunday in the UK, and is available on demand through the BBC website.
Every week Berkeley interviews a notable guest about their life and musical interests and plays a selection of their favourite pieces. The emphasis is on classical music
but also embraces jazz, world music and popular song.
The show's guests range from celebrities to musicians, academics and physicians. The "life and works" aspect of the interview is generally secondary to the discussion about musical passions, and Berkeley often aims to explore a guest's unexpected musical interests, such as the classical music passions of John Peel
.
In December 1997, one of Berkeley's guests was 112-year-old Viennese percussionist, "Manfred Sturmer", who told anecdotes about Brahms
, Clara Schumann
, Richard Strauss
, Arnold Schoenberg
and others so realistically that some listeners did not realise that the whole thing was a hoax
perpetrated by Berkeley and John Sessions
. As a tie-in to Comic Relief, other Sessions creations have appeared on Berkeley's show, such as Argentinian opera impresario and cocaine smuggler "Pilar Woffington" and dissolute and politically incorrect
conductor "Sir Jimmy Disprin".
Private Passions may be regarded as the Radio 3 equivalent of Desert Island Discs
on BBC Radio 4
. Writer Ian McEwan
has described it as "musically and psychologically irresistible. Probably the best programme on radio in Britain."
A book about the first ten years of the programme, written by Berkeley, was published in 2005.
The 600th edition of the programme was marked on 23 March 2008 with guest Vanessa Redgrave
.
The programme's theme tune is Michael Berkeley's "The Wakeful Poet" (from Music from Chaucer) performed by the Beaux-Arts Brass Quintet.
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
, presented by the composer Michael Berkeley
Michael Berkeley
Michael Berkeley is a British composer and broadcaster on music.-Early life:His father was the composer Sir Lennox Berkeley...
. The one-hour show is broadcast almost every Sunday in the UK, and is available on demand through the BBC website.
Every week Berkeley interviews a notable guest about their life and musical interests and plays a selection of their favourite pieces. The emphasis is on classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
but also embraces jazz, world music and popular song.
The show's guests range from celebrities to musicians, academics and physicians. The "life and works" aspect of the interview is generally secondary to the discussion about musical passions, and Berkeley often aims to explore a guest's unexpected musical interests, such as the classical music passions of John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
.
In December 1997, one of Berkeley's guests was 112-year-old Viennese percussionist, "Manfred Sturmer", who told anecdotes about Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
, Clara Schumann
Clara Schumann
Clara Schumann was a German musician and composer, considered one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era...
, Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
, Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
and others so realistically that some listeners did not realise that the whole thing was a hoax
Hoax
A hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment, or rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences or April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.-Definition:The British...
perpetrated by Berkeley and John Sessions
John Sessions
John Gibb Marshall , better known by the stage name John Sessions, is a Scottish actor and comedian. He is known for comedy improvisation in television shows such as Whose Line Is It Anyway?; as a panellist on QI; and as a character actor in numerous films, both in the UK and in Hollywood.-Early...
. As a tie-in to Comic Relief, other Sessions creations have appeared on Berkeley's show, such as Argentinian opera impresario and cocaine smuggler "Pilar Woffington" and dissolute and politically incorrect
Politically incorrect
The phrase "politically incorrect" may refer to:* Someone or something which does not meet a standard of political correctness* Politically Incorrect, a late-night U.S. political talk show* Politically Incorrect, a German political blog...
conductor "Sir Jimmy Disprin".
Private Passions may be regarded as the Radio 3 equivalent of Desert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs is a BBC Radio 4 programme first broadcast on 29 January 1942. It is the second longest-running radio programme , and is the longest-running factual programme in the history of radio...
on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
. Writer Ian McEwan
Ian McEwan
Ian Russell McEwan CBE, FRSA, FRSL is a British novelist and screenwriter, and one of Britain's most highly regarded writers. In 2008, The Times named him among their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945"....
has described it as "musically and psychologically irresistible. Probably the best programme on radio in Britain."
A book about the first ten years of the programme, written by Berkeley, was published in 2005.
The 600th edition of the programme was marked on 23 March 2008 with guest Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
.
The programme's theme tune is Michael Berkeley's "The Wakeful Poet" (from Music from Chaucer) performed by the Beaux-Arts Brass Quintet.
January
- Tim WaterstoneTim WaterstoneTim Waterstone is the founder of the United Kingdom bookselling retail chain Waterstone's. Waterstone's now employs 4,500 staff, is the largest specialist bookseller in Europe, with stores in the UK, Holland, Belgium and Ireland, and is the third largest bookseller in the world.- Early life and...
, bookseller - Katie MitchellKatie MitchellKatrina Jane Mitchell OBE is an English theatre director. She is an Associate of the Royal National Theatre.-Life and career:Mitchell was raised in Hermitage, Berkshire and educated at Oakham School. Upon leaving Oakham she went up to Magdalen College, Oxford to read English...
, theatre director‡ - Stewart CopelandStewart CopelandStewart Armstrong Copeland is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the band The Police. During the group's extended hiatus from the mid-1980s to 2007, he played in other bands and composed soundtracks...
, drummer‡ - "Mozart Compilation", special programme
February
- Richard MabeyRichard MabeyRichard Mabey is a naturalist and author.He has been called by The Times 'Britain's greatest living nature writer'. Among his acclaimed publications are Food for Free, The Unofficial Countryside and The Common Ground, as well as his study of the nightingale, Whistling in the Dark...
, naturalist - Joanna van Kampen, actress
- John SergeantJohn SergeantJohn Sergeant is the name of:* John Sergeant , English journalist and broadcaster* John Sergeant , American politician* John Sergeant , Roman Catholic priest and writer...
, journalist - Douglas GordonDouglas GordonDouglas Gordon is a Scottish artist; he won the Turner Prize in 1996 and the following year he represented Britain at the Venice Biennale...
, Turner Prize-winning artist
January
- Katie MitchellKatie MitchellKatrina Jane Mitchell OBE is an English theatre director. She is an Associate of the Royal National Theatre.-Life and career:Mitchell was raised in Hermitage, Berkshire and educated at Oakham School. Upon leaving Oakham she went up to Magdalen College, Oxford to read English...
, theatre director - Leslie CaronLeslie CaronLeslie Claire Margaret Caron is a French film actress and dancer, who appeared in 45 films between 1951 and 2003. In 2006, her performance in Law and Order: Special Victims Unit won her an Emmy for guest actress in a drama series...
, actress and dancer - Philip CampbellPhilip Campbell (scientist)Philip Campbell is the editor-in-chief of the science journal, Nature, and of the Nature Publishing Group.-Education:Campbell graduated from the University of Bristol with a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering in 1972...
, scientist, editor of Nature - Fiona ReynoldsFiona ReynoldsDame Fiona Claire Reynolds, DBE is the Director-General of the National Trust. She was awarded the DBE in the New Year Honours 2008 for "services to Heritage and conservation".-Early life:...
, director of the National Trust - Janice GallowayJanice GallowayJanice Galloway is a writer of novels, short stories, prose-poetry, non-fiction and libretti-Biography:She is the second daughter of James Galloway and Janet Clark McBride. Her parents separated when she was four and her father died when she was six. Her sister Nora, sixteen years older, died in...
, writer‡
February
- Penelope WiltonPenelope WiltonPenelope Alice Wilton, OBE is an English actress.-Life and career:Penelope Alice Wilton was born in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire, to a former actress mother and a businessman father. She is a niece of actors Bill Travers and Linden Travers and a cousin of the actor Richard Morant...
, actress‡ - Paul RhysPaul RhysPaul Rhys is a British television, film and theatre actor.Rhys was born in Wales and studied at RADA, leaving with the Bancroft Gold Medal in 1987. While there, he obtained his first major screen role, in Absolute Beginners . Since then he has seldom been off the stage and screen...
, actor‡ - John MortimerJohn MortimerSir John Clifford Mortimer, CBE, QC was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author.-Early life:...
, author and barrister‡ - Frieda HughesFrieda HughesFrieda Rebecca Hughes is an English poet and painter. She has published seven children's books and four poetry collections and has had many exhibitions.-Early life:...
, poet and painter
December
- Adam FouldsAdam FouldsAdam Foulds is a British novelist and poet.-Biography:Foulds was educated at Bancroft's School, read English at St Catherine's College, Oxford under Craig Raine, and graduated with an MA in creative writing from the University of East Anglia in 2001. Foulds published The Truth About These Strange...
, novelist - Julian Rhind-TuttJulian Rhind-TuttJulian Alistair Rhind-Tutt is an English actor. He is best known for his starring role as "Mac" McCartney in the comedy television series Green Wing, the second series of which finished on Channel 4 in May 2006...
, actor - Pamela Stephenson Connolly, clinical psychologist
January
- Jonathan DimblebyJonathan DimblebyJonathan Dimbleby is a British presenter of current affairs and political radio and television programmes, a political commentator and a writer. He is the son of Richard Dimbleby and younger brother of British TV presenter David Dimbleby.-Education:Dimbleby was educated at Charterhouse School, a...
, broadcaster - Kate O'MaraKate O'MaraKate O'Mara is an English film, stage and television actress. She is perhaps most widely known for her role as Caress Morell, the scheming sister of Alexis Colby in the 1980s American primetime soap opera Dynasty, though is also known for playing other villains such as The Rani in Doctor Who and...
, actress - Carol DrinkwaterCarol DrinkwaterCarol Drinkwater is an Anglo-Irish actress and author, best known for her award-winning portrayal of Helen Herriot in the television adaptation of the James Herriot books, All Creatures Great and Small...
, actress and author - Tariq AliTariq AliTariq Ali , , is a British Pakistani military historian, novelist, journalist, filmmaker, public intellectual, political campaigner, activist, and commentator...
, writer and campaigner
March
- Ffion Hague, political wife‡
- Clive Stafford SmithClive Stafford SmithClive Adrian Stafford Smith OBE is a British [see talk] lawyer who specialises in the areas of civil rights and the death penalty in the United States of America....
, civil rights lawyer - Jane AsherJane AsherJane Asher is an English actress. She has also developed a second career as a cake decorator and cake shop proprietor.-Early life:...
, actress - Terence Davies, director
- Anthony HorowitzAnthony HorowitzAnthony Craig Horowitz is an English novelist and screenwriter. He has written many children's novels, including The Power of Five, Alex Rider and The Diamond Brothers series and has written over fifty books. He has also written extensively for television, adapting many of Agatha Christie's...
, author
May
- Michael PenningtonMichael PenningtonMichael Vivian Fyfe Pennington is a British director and actor who, together with director Michael Bogdanov, founded the English Shakespeare Company...
, actor - Felix MendelssohnFelix MendelssohnJakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
and Fanny MendelssohnFanny MendelssohnFanny Cäcilie Mendelssohn , later Fanny Hensel, was a German pianist and composer, the sister of the composer Felix Mendelssohn and granddaughter of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn...
, composers (special programme, portrayed by John Sessions and Rebecca FrontRebecca FrontRebecca Front is a BAFTA Award–winning English comedian and actress best known for her performances in The Thick of It in the late 2000s, and series of critically acclaimed satirical comedies in the early 1990s: On The Hour, The Day Today and Knowing Me, Knowing You...with Alan Partridge...
) - Fleur AdcockFleur AdcockKareen Fleur Adcock , CNZM, OBE is a poet and an editor of English and Northern Irish ancestry, who has lived much of her life in England.-Life and career:...
, poet - James Le FanuJames Le FanuJames Le Fanu is a British physician, medical journalist and author of several books. He is best known for his weekly columns in the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph.-Life:...
, physician
June
- Jasper ConranJasper ConranJasper Alexander Thirlby Conran OBE is an English fashion designer. He is the son of the designer Sir Terence Conran and the author Shirley Conran.-Education:He was educated at Port Regis School and Bryanston School in the 1970s...
, designer - Penelope WiltonPenelope WiltonPenelope Alice Wilton, OBE is an English actress.-Life and career:Penelope Alice Wilton was born in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire, to a former actress mother and a businessman father. She is a niece of actors Bill Travers and Linden Travers and a cousin of the actor Richard Morant...
, actress - Michael PortilloMichael PortilloMichael Denzil Xavier Portillo is a British journalist, broadcaster, and former Conservative Party politician and Cabinet Minister...
, politician - Amit ChaudhuriAmit ChaudhuriAmit Chaudhuri is an internationally recognised Indian English author and academic. He is currently Professor of Contemporary Literature at the University of East Anglia.-Life:...
, novelist
July
- Jeremy NorthamJeremy NorthamJeremy Philip Northam is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Ivor Novello in the 2001 film Gosford Park, as Dean Martin in the 2002 television movie Martin and Lewis, and as Thomas More on the Showtime series The Tudors...
, actor - Richard HudsonRichard HudsonRichard “Dick” Hudson is a British linguist. He has lived in England for most of his life . He turned into a linguist via Loughborough Grammar School in Leicestershire , Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and the School of Oriental and African Studies...
, theatrical designer - Sarah DunantSarah DunantSarah Dunant is the author of many international bestsellers, most recently Sacred Hearts, the completion of her Italian historical trilogy....
, writer
September
- Anthony BoltonAnthony BoltonAnthony Bolton is one of the UK's best known investment fund managers and most successful investors, having managed the Fidelity Special Situations fund from December 1979 to December 2007...
, investment fund manager - Imogen StubbsImogen StubbsImogen Stubbs, Lady Nunn is an English actress and playwright.-Early life:Imogen Stubbs was born in Northumberland, lived briefly in Portsmouth, where her father was a naval officer, and then moved with her parents to London, where they lived on an elderly river barge on the Thames...
, actress - Mark HaddonMark HaddonMark Haddon is an English novelist and poet, best known for his 2003 novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.- Life and work :...
, novelist - Hanan al-ShaykhHanan al-ShaykhHanan al-Shaykh is a Lebanese author of contemporary Arab women's literature.- Biography :Hanan al-Shaykh's family background is that of a strict Shi'a...
, authoress
October
- Christopher Wynn Parry, rheumatologist
- Paul McKennaPaul McKennaPaul McKenna is an English hypnotist and self-improvement author.McKenna has written and produced books and multimedia products, hosted self-improvement television shows and presents seminars in hypnosis, neuro-linguistic programming, weight loss and motivation.-Career:Paul McKenna started in...
, hypnotist - Ian RankinIan RankinIan Rankin, OBE, DL , is a Scottish crime writer. His best known books are the Inspector Rebus novels. He has also written several pieces of literary criticism.-Background:He attended Beath High School, Cowdenbeath...
, crime novelist - Stewart CopelandStewart CopelandStewart Armstrong Copeland is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the band The Police. During the group's extended hiatus from the mid-1980s to 2007, he played in other bands and composed soundtracks...
, musician
November
- John Stefanidis, interior designer
- Vincent CableVincent CableDr. John Vincent "Vince" Cable is a British Liberal Democrat politician and economist who is currently the Business Secretary in the coalition cabinet of David Cameron. He has been Member of Parliament for Twickenham since 1997....
, Liberal Democrat politician - Jason RebelloJason RebelloJason Rebello is a British jazz pianist, currently part of Sting's live and studio band, who has recorded a handful of albums under his own name. His debut album, A Clearer View was produced by Wayne Shorter....
, jazz pianist - Deborah WarnerDeborah WarnerDeborah Warner CBE is a British director of theatre and opera known for her interpretations of the works of Shakespeare, Bertolt Brecht, Georg Büchner, and Henrik Ibsen, and for her long-term working relationship with the Irish actress Fiona Shaw.-Early years:Warner was born in Oxfordshire,...
, theatre director - Bill BaileyBill BaileyBill Bailey is an English comedian, musician and actor. As well as his extensive stand-up work, Bailey is well known for his appearances on Black Books, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News for You, and QI.Bailey was listed by The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy in...
, comedian
January
- Mark RavenhillMark RavenhillMark Ravenhill is an English playwright, actor and journalist.His most famous plays include Shopping and Fucking , Some Explicit Polaroids and Mother Clap's Molly House . He made his acting debut in his monologue Product, at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe...
, playwright‡ - Christopher NupenChristopher NupenChristopher Nupen is a South African-born filmmaker based in the United Kingdom specialising in biographical documentaries of musicians.Nupen was born in South Africa to a family of Norwegian descent — his father, E. P...
, filmmaker - Katie MeluaKatie MeluaKetevan "Katie" Melua is a British-Georgian singer, songwriter and musician. She moved to Northern Ireland at the age of eight and then to England at fourteen. Melua is signed to the small Dramatico record label, under the management of composer Mike Batt, and made her musical debut in 2003...
, pop singer - Bryan AppleyardBryan AppleyardBryan Appleyard is a British journalist and author.- Career :Appleyard was educated at Bolton School and King’s College, Cambridge and after graduating with a degree in English, he became Financial News Editor and Deputy Arts Editor from 1976 to 1984 at The Times. Subsequently he became a...
, journalist
February
- Martin RowsonMartin RowsonMartin George Edmund Rowson is a British cartoonist and novelist. His genre is political satire and his style is scathing and graphic. His work frequently appears in The Guardian and The Independent...
, cartoonist - Sandi ToksvigSandi ToksvigSandra Brigitte “Sandi” Toksvig is a Danish comedian, author and presenter on British radio and television.-Career:...
, comedienne - Vernon BogdanorVernon BogdanorVernon Bogdanor, CBE, FBA is Research Professor at the Institute for Contemporary History at King's College London, and a Fellow of Brasenose College, University of Oxford. He is one of Britain's foremost constitutional experts and has written extensively on political and constitutional issues...
, historian - Maureen LipmanMaureen LipmanMaureen Diane Lipman CBE is a British film, theatre and television actress, columnist and comedienne.-Early life:Lipman was born in Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, the daughter of Maurice Julius Lipman and Zelma Pearlman. Her father was a tailor; he used to have a shop between the...
, actress
March
- Frank Tallis, clinical psychologist and crime novelist
- Edward Gillespie, Cheltenham racecourse manager
- Ian McKeeverIan McKeeverIan McKeever is a British artist who has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally. He began painting in 1968, following studies in English Literature in London, and in 1970 took his first studio at SPACE, St. Katherine's dock, London, an artists' initiative set up by Bridget Riley...
, artist - Vanessa RedgraveVanessa RedgraveVanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
, actress (600th edition of the programme) - Paul Old, dancer
April
- Edward FoxEdward Fox (actor)Edward Charles Morice Fox, OBE is an English stage, film and television actor.He is generally associated with portraying the role of the upper-class Englishman, such as the title character in the film The Day of the Jackal and King Edward VIII in the serial Edward & Mrs...
, actor - Simon Baron-CohenSimon Baron-CohenSimon Baron-Cohen FBA is professor of Developmental Psychopathology in the Departments of Psychiatry and Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. He is the Director of the University's Autism Research Centre, and a Fellow of Trinity College...
, psychologist - PJ HarveyPJ HarveyPolly Jean Harvey is an English musician, singer-songwriter, composer and occasional artist. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments including piano, organ, bass, saxophone, and most recently, the autoharp.Harvey began her career in...
, musician - Colin LowColin Low, Baron Low of DalstonColin Mackenzie Low, Baron Low of Dalston, CBE is a British politician, law scholar and member of the House of Lords....
, chairman RNIB
May
- Brian Foster, physicist
- Colin SalmonColin SalmonColin Salmon is a British actor best known for playing the character Charles Robinson in three James Bond films.-Personal life:...
, actor - Terry BurnsTerence Burns, Baron BurnsTerence Burns, Baron Burns, GCB is a British economist, made a life peer in 1998 for his services as former Chief Economic Advisor and Permanent Secretary to HM Treasury. He is currently Chairman of Santander UK, Non-Executive Chairman of Glas Cymru, and a Non-Executive Director of Pearson Group...
, economist
June
- Maria Chevska, artist
- Philip StottPhilip StottPhilip Stott is a professor emeritus of biogeography at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and a former editor of the Journal of Biogeography .-Background:...
, biogeographer - Robert FiskRobert FiskRobert Fisk is an English writer and journalist from Maidstone, Kent. As Middle East correspondent of The Independent, he has primarily been based in Beirut for more than 30 years. He has published a number of books and has reported on the United States's war in Afghanistan and the same country's...
, journalist - Rowan WilliamsRowan WilliamsRowan Douglas Williams FRSL, FBA, FLSW is an Anglican bishop, poet and theologian. He is the 104th and current Archbishop of Canterbury, Metropolitan of the Province of Canterbury and Primate of All England, offices he has held since early 2003.Williams was previously Bishop of Monmouth and...
, Archbishop of Canterbury - Matt FreiMatt FreiMatthias Frei better known as Matt Frei is a German-born British television news journalist and writer, presently the Washington, D.C. correspondent for Channel 4 News.-Personal life:...
, journalist
July
- Jeanette WintersonJeanette WintersonJeanette Winterson OBE is a British novelist.-Early years:Winterson was born in Manchester and adopted on 21 January 1960. She was raised in Accrington, Lancashire, by Constance and John William Winterson...
, authoress‡ - Derren BrownDerren BrownDerren Victor Brown is a British illusionist, mentalist, painter, writer and sceptic. He is known for his appearances in television specials, stage productions and British television series such as Trick of the Mind and Trick or Treat...
, magician‡ - Margaret HodgeMargaret HodgeMargaret Hodge MBE MP, also known as Lady Hodge by virtue of her husband's knighthood, is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Barking since 1994. She was the first Minister for Children in 2003 and was Minister of State for Culture and Tourism at the Department...
, politician
August
- Bryan AppleyardBryan AppleyardBryan Appleyard is a British journalist and author.- Career :Appleyard was educated at Bolton School and King’s College, Cambridge and after graduating with a degree in English, he became Financial News Editor and Deputy Arts Editor from 1976 to 1984 at The Times. Subsequently he became a...
, critic‡ - Ffion Hague, political wife
- Kiran DesaiKiran DesaiKiran Desai is an Indian author who is a citizen of India and a permanent resident of the United States. Her novel The Inheritance of Loss won the 2006 Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award...
, authoress‡ - Richard ForteyRichard ForteyRichard A. Fortey FRS is a British palaeontologist and writer.-Career:Richard Fortey studied geology at the University of Cambridge and had a long career as a palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum in London. Prof. Fortey’s research interests include, above all, trilobites...
, palaeontologist - Barry FantoniBarry FantoniBarry Ernest Fantoni is a writer, comic strip cartoonist and jazz musician of Italian and Jewish descent, most famous for his work with the magazine Private Eye, for whom he also created Neasden F.C. As of 2005 he remains a shareholder in the company that owns Private Eye, Pressdram Limited...
, satirist‡
September
- Judy CollinsJudy CollinsJudith Marjorie "Judy" Collins is an American singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records ; and for her social activism. She is an alumna of the University of Colorado.-Musical career:Collins was born and raised in Seattle, Washington...
, folk singer - Alex Ross, music critic
- Dominic WestDominic WestDominic Gerard Fe West is an English actor best known for his role as Detective Jimmy McNulty in the HBO drama series The Wire.-Film and TV:...
, actor - Jennifer Worth, authoress
October
- John BurnsideJohn BurnsideJohn Burnside is a Scottish writer, born in Dunfermline.-Background:Burnside studied English and European Languages at Cambridge College of Arts and Technology. A former computer software engineer, he has been a freelance writer since 1996...
, poet - Nick CleggNick CleggNicholas William Peter "Nick" Clegg is a British Liberal Democrat politician who is currently the Deputy Prime Minister, Lord President of the Council and Minister for Constitutional and Political Reform in the coalition government of which David Cameron is the Prime Minister...
, MP - Peter KosminskyPeter KosminskyPeter Kosminsky is a British writer, director and producer. He has directed Hollywood movies such as White Oleander and television films like Warriors, The Government Inspector and The Promise.- Biography :...
, director - Marcia Schofield, doctor and former keyboardist in The Fall
November
- Richard AlstonRichard Alston (choreographer)Richard Alston is a British choreographer. He has been Resident Choreographer and Artistic Director for the Ballet Rambert and is currently Artistic Director at The Place....
, choreographer - David AlmondDavid AlmondDavid Almond is a British children's writer who has written several novels, each one to critical acclaim.-Early life:Almond was born and raised in Felling and Newcastle in post-industrial North East England and educated at the University of East Anglia, he was born in 1951...
, author - Terence BlanchardTerence BlanchardTerence Oliver Blanchard is an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger, and film score composer. Since he emerged on the scene in 1980 with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and then shortly thereafter with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Blanchard has been a leading artist in jazz...
, jazz trumpeter - Rick WakemanRick WakemanRichard Christopher Wakeman is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes...
, musician - Paul RhysPaul RhysPaul Rhys is a British television, film and theatre actor.Rhys was born in Wales and studied at RADA, leaving with the Bancroft Gold Medal in 1987. While there, he obtained his first major screen role, in Absolute Beginners . Since then he has seldom been off the stage and screen...
, actor
December
- Janice GallowayJanice GallowayJanice Galloway is a writer of novels, short stories, prose-poetry, non-fiction and libretti-Biography:She is the second daughter of James Galloway and Janet Clark McBride. Her parents separated when she was four and her father died when she was six. Her sister Nora, sixteen years older, died in...
, authoress - Jan PieńkowskiJan PienkowskiJan Michel Pieńkowski is a Polish-born British illustrator and author of children's books.Pieńkowski illustrated his first book at the age of eight, as a present for his father. During World War II, Pieńkowski's family moved about Europe, finally settling in Herefordshire, England in 1946...
, illustrator - Sue PerkinsSue PerkinsSue Perkins is an English comedienne, broadcaster, actress, and writer.-Education:Perkins was educated at Croham Hurst School, an independent school for girls in Croydon in South London, at the same time as the BBC Breakfast News presenter Susanna Reid...
, comedienne
2007 guest list
Includes repeated broadcasts- Dr Miriam StoppardMiriam StoppardMiriam Stoppard OBE , is a British doctor, author, television presenter and agony aunt.- Early life and medical career :...
, physician - Charlie HigsonCharlie HigsonCharles Murray Higson , more commonly known as Charlie Higson - also Switch - is an English actor, comedian, author and former singer...
, actor and author - Colin WilsonColin WilsonColin Henry Wilson is a prolific English writer who first came to prominence as a philosopher and novelist. Wilson has since written widely on true crime, mysticism and other topics. He prefers calling his philosophy new existentialism or phenomenological existentialism.- Early biography:Born and...
, author - Henry GoodmanHenry GoodmanHenry Goodman is a British theatre actor. He trained at RADA in London alongside Jonathan Pryce.In 1988, he played George Green's brother-in-law Cyril in London's Burning. He played character roles in episodes of the popular UK police drama The Bill...
, actor - James MayJames MayJames Daniel May is an English television presenter, journalist and writer. He is best known for his role as co-presenter of the award-winning motoring programme Top Gear alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond....
, TV presenter - Stephen VenablesStephen VenablesStephen Venables is a British mountaineer and writer, and is a past president of the South Georgia Association and of the Alpine Club.-Mountaineer:...
, mountaineer - Diana QuickDiana Quick-Life:Quick was born in London, England. She grew up in Dartford, Kent, the third of a dentist's four children. She was educated at Dartford Grammar School for Girls, Kent. She was greatly aided by her English teacher, Miss Davis, who encouraged her to pursue acting...
, actress - Alex JenningsAlex JenningsAlex Jennings is an English actor whose roles have included Charles, Prince of Wales in The Queen .-Early years:...
, actor - William Dalrymple, historian
- Audra McDonaldAudra McDonaldAudra Ann McDonald is an American actress and singer. She currently stars in the ABC television drama Private Practice as Dr. Naomi Bennett. She has appeared on the stage in both musicals and dramas, such as Ragtime and A Raisin in the Sun...
, soprano - Annalena McAfeeAnnalena McAfeeAnnalena McAfee is a British writer, journalist and was the editor of The Guardian's literary supplement, the Guardian Review until July 2006. She has written a number of children's books, some which have been translated into French, German and Dutch...
, writer and journalist - Clemency Burton-HillClemency Burton-HillClemency Margaret Greatrex Burton is a British actress, novelist, journalist and violinist.-Private life:The daughter of the TV presenter and writer Humphrey Burton and Gillian Hawser, an agent , she attended St Paul's Girls' School and Westminster School and went on to read English at Magdalene...
, violinist and actress - Victoria HislopVictoria HislopVictoria Hislop is an award winning British author.-Personal:Born in Bromley, she grew up in Tonbridge and attended Tonbridge Grammar School for Girls....
, novelist - David RintoulDavid RintoulDavid Rintoul is a stage and television actor.Rintoul was born in Aberdeen, Scotland. He studied at Edinburgh University and won a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London....
, actor - Martin RowsonMartin RowsonMartin George Edmund Rowson is a British cartoonist and novelist. His genre is political satire and his style is scathing and graphic. His work frequently appears in The Guardian and The Independent...
, political cartoonist - Vernon BogdanorVernon BogdanorVernon Bogdanor, CBE, FBA is Research Professor at the Institute for Contemporary History at King's College London, and a Fellow of Brasenose College, University of Oxford. He is one of Britain's foremost constitutional experts and has written extensively on political and constitutional issues...
, professor of government at Oxford University - Kenneth CranhamKenneth CranhamKenneth Cranham is a film, television and stage actor. He starred in the title role in the popular 1980s comedy drama Shine on Harvey Moon. He also appeared in Layer Cake, Gangster No. 1, Rome, Oliver! and many other films. He is probably best known to horror genre fans as the deranged Dr...
, actor - Mark RavenhillMark RavenhillMark Ravenhill is an English playwright, actor and journalist.His most famous plays include Shopping and Fucking , Some Explicit Polaroids and Mother Clap's Molly House . He made his acting debut in his monologue Product, at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe...
, playwright - James LovelockJames LovelockJames Lovelock, CH, CBE, FRS is an independent scientist, environmentalist and futurologist who lives in Devon, England. He is best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis, which postulates that the biosphere is a self-regulating entity with the capacity to keep our planet healthy by controlling...
, scientist - Liz Calder, publisher
- David YallopDavid YallopDavid Anthony Yallop is an agnostic British author who writes chiefly about unsolved crimes. In the 1970s he also contributed scripts for a number of BBC comedy shows...
, writer - Gyles BrandrethGyles BrandrethGyles Daubeney Brandreth is a British writer, broadcaster and former Conservative Member of Parliament and junior minister.-Early life:...
, humourist - David HarsentDavid HarsentDavid Harsent is an English poet & TV scriptwriter. As Jack Curtis and David Lawrence he has published a number of crime fiction novels....
, poet - Lenny HenryLenny HenryLenworth George "Lenny" Henry, is a British actor, writer, comedian and occasional television presenter.- Early life :...
, comedian - Linda ColleyLinda ColleyLinda Colley, CBE, FBA, FRSL, FRHistS is a historian of Britain, empire and nationalism. She is Shelby M. C. Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton University in the United States.-Early life and education:...
, historian - Scott Stroman, jazz trombonist
- Joanna DavidJoanna DavidJoanna David is a British actress, best known for her television work.She was born in Lancaster, England. Her first major television role was as Elinor Dashwood in the BBC's 1971 dramatisation of Sense and Sensibility followed a year later in War and Peace, in which she played Sonya...
, actress - Colm ToibinColm TóibínColm Tóibín is a multi-award-winning Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic, and, most recently, poet.Tóibín is Leonard Milberg Lecturer in Irish Letters at Princeton University in New Jersey and succeeded Martin Amis as professor of creative writing at the...
, writer - Felicity KendalFelicity KendalFelicity Ann Kendal, CBE is an English actor known for her television and stage work.Born in 1946, Kendal spent much of her childhood in India, where her father managed a touring repertory company. First appearing on stage at the age of nine months, Kendal appeared in her first film, Shakespeare...
, actress - Joan Bakewell,TV presenter
- Simon HefferSimon HefferSimon James Heffer is a British journalist, columnist and writer.-Education:Heffer was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.-Career:...
, journalist - Alexander ArmstrongAlexander Armstrong (comedian)Alexander Henry Fenwick Armstrong is a British comedian, actor and television presenter.-Early life and career:Armstrong was born in Rothbury, Northumberland, the youngest of three children, to Henry Angus Armstrong and his wife Emma Virginia Peronnet Thompson-McCausland, daughter of Lucius...
, actor and comedian - Michele Hanson, journalist
- Professor Robin WilsonRobin Wilson (mathematician)Robin James Wilson is a professor in the Department of Mathematics at the Open University, a Stipendiary Lecturer at Pembroke College, Oxford and, , Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, London, where he has also been a visiting professor...
, mathematician - Kiran DesaiKiran DesaiKiran Desai is an Indian author who is a citizen of India and a permanent resident of the United States. Her novel The Inheritance of Loss won the 2006 Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award...
, novelist - Barry FantoniBarry FantoniBarry Ernest Fantoni is a writer, comic strip cartoonist and jazz musician of Italian and Jewish descent, most famous for his work with the magazine Private Eye, for whom he also created Neasden F.C. As of 2005 he remains a shareholder in the company that owns Private Eye, Pressdram Limited...
, cartoonist - Tim Hely HutchinsonTim Hely HutchinsonTim Hely Hutchinson is a British publisher, group CEO of the largest British publisher, Hachette UK-Life:Tim Hely Hutchinson is the younger son of Richard Hely-Hutchinson, 8th Earl of Donoughmore...
, publisher - Peter NicholsPeter NicholsPeter Nichols FRSL is an English writer of stage plays, film and television.Born in Bristol, England, he was educated at Bristol Grammar School, and served his compulsory National Service as a clerk in Calcutta and later in the Combined Services Entertainments Unit in Singapore where he...
, playwright - Jeanette WintersonJeanette WintersonJeanette Winterson OBE is a British novelist.-Early years:Winterson was born in Manchester and adopted on 21 January 1960. She was raised in Accrington, Lancashire, by Constance and John William Winterson...
, novelist - Sir John Enderby, physicist
- Joyce Carol OatesJoyce Carol OatesJoyce Carol Oates is an American author. Oates published her first book in 1963 and has since published over fifty novels, as well as many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction...
, novelist - Peter HennessyPeter HennessyPeter John Hennessy, Baron Hennessy of Nympsfield, FBA is an English historian of government. Since 1992, he has been Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary, University of London.-Early life:...
, historian - William CrozierWilliam Crozier (Irish artist)William Crozier was an Irish-Scots still-life and landscape artist based in Hampshire, England and West Cork in Ireland. He was a member of Aosdana.-Life and works:...
, artist - Chris HigginsChris Higgins (academic)Chris Higgins is, since April 2007, the Vice-Chancellor of Durham University. He was previously the director of the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre and Head of Division in the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London....
, academic - Charlie HadenCharlie HadenCharles Edward Haden is an American jazz musician. He is a double bassist, probably best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman...
, bassist - Claire BloomClaire BloomClaire Bloom is an English film and stage actress.-Early life:Bloom was born in the North London suburb of Finchley, the daughter of Elizabeth and Edward Max Blume, who worked in sales...
, actress - Derren BrownDerren BrownDerren Victor Brown is a British illusionist, mentalist, painter, writer and sceptic. He is known for his appearances in television specials, stage productions and British television series such as Trick of the Mind and Trick or Treat...
, magician - Lenny HenryLenny HenryLenworth George "Lenny" Henry, is a British actor, writer, comedian and occasional television presenter.- Early life :...
, comedian