Eric Ashby, Silent Watcher of the New Forest

Poly Styrene was born Marie Joan Elliot-Said in 1957 and went on to become front woman of X-Ray Spex. When Pauline Black first saw her on Top of the Pops, Poly was wearing a red military jacket and cap. Her attitude, says the lead singer of ska band The Selecter, was captivating. ...  Show more

Laurence Olivier, Baron Olivier of Brighton, was born in Dorking in 1907. He's best known these days for roles in films ranging from Wuthering Heights to Spartacus to the ageing Nazi hunter Ezra Lieberman in The Boys from Brazil. He received twelve Oscar nominations but was in hi ...  Show more

This week, Lisa Hilton on the truth behind life as a 'grand horizontale'; and Juliette Bretan explores why Virginia Woolf served up boeuf en daube in To the Lighthouse.'Kingmaker: Pamela Churchill Harriman’s astonishing life of seduction, intrigue and power', by Sonia Purnell'Eur ...  Show more

Daliso Chaponda, Catherine Bohart and Rachel Parris explore the enigma of the Quiet Beatle. Deeply spiritual hippie or deeply selfish hippiecrite? Producer: Beth O’Dea Evil Genius with Russell Kane is a BBC Audio Bristol production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds 

This week, a special interview with the sociologist Richard Sennett takes us from Roland Barthes to Leonard Bernstein; and Hettie Judah on two memoirs inspired by a love of 17th-century art.'The Performer: Art, Life, Politics', by Richard Sennett'Thunderclap: A Memoir of Art and ...  Show more

This week, Jonathan Barnes joins us to explore the visionary work of Quatermass creator Nigel Kneale; and a wonderful conversation about literature and horticulture between Dame Penelope Lively and her daughter, musician Josephine Lively.'The Quatermass Experiment 70th Anniversar ...  Show more