Margot Fonteyn was an icon: a ballerina who helped build and indeed embodied the traditional image of a dancer, just as the artform was finding its feet on the British cultural scene.

From humble beginnings she became an international star, enjoying a dazzling career with the Royal Ballet, a glamorous social life as a diplomat’s wife, and an electric dancing partnership with Rudolf Nureyev. But it was also a life infused with disappointment, controversy and heartbreak; much of which seems to have been hidden behind Margot's smiling public facade.

Dedicated listeners might remember that Margot Fonteyn has been the subject of a previous episode and although we rarely revisit past greats, when we do it’s an opportunity to look afresh and see more. So today, with the assistance of nominating guest Lauren Cuthbertson - herself a dancer who has been with the Royal Ballet for more than 20 years - we take a closer look at the highs and lows of Margot's life.

Joining Matthew and Lauren to share their expert perspectives are Rosie Gerhard, a Lecturer in Dance Studies at the Royal Academy of Dance and creator of the blog 'British Ballet Now & Then'; and the film director and author Tony Palmer, who directed the 2005 film ‘Margot’.

Presented by Matthew Parris and produced for BBC Studios Audio by Lucy Taylor.

Professor Colin Blakemore was a famous communicator of science, the youngest ever Reith lecturer on the BBC. He was also targeted by members of the animal rights movement, which sent bombs and letters lined with razor blades to his home address. Born in 1944 and brought up in Coventry, Colin Blakemore was committed to brain research and the connection between vision and early development of the brain. Nominating him is the author and neuroscientist Dr Hannah Critchlow, who knew him before he died in 2022.

The programme includes contributions from his friends and colleagues, including Professor Barbara Sahakian and David Nutt; plus moving archive of his daughter, Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore and reports from the animal rights campaigners who protested outside his Oxford house.

Dr Hannah Critchlow is the author of Joined Up Thinking and The Science of Fate. She's based at Cambridge University.

Presented by Matthew Parris and produced for BBC Studios Audio by Miles Warde

Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau was an oceanographer, filmmaker and explorer who made the seas a subject of fascination for millions.

During his time in the French Navy, Cousteau co-invented the Aqua-Lung: the first self-contained kit that allowed a diver to breathe underwater. This and his fascination with capturing images of the subaquatic world paved the way for a career filming the first underwater documentaries.

Travelling the seas with his trusty crew on their boat, the Calypso, Captain Cousteau in his trademark knitted red cap became a household name; thanks to shows including his TV series ‘The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau’. He came across as a charming and eloquent showman - but his life wasn't without its tragedies and controversies...

Nominating Cousteau is wildlife cameraman and and trained biologist Doug Allan, whose career filming animals, primarily in polar regions and underwater, was hugely inspired by the Frenchman. Doug says: "There's a mischievousness about him that he carried thorugh his whole life... I think he was just a really powerful, charismatic character."

The presenter is Matthew Parris and the producer for BBC Studios Audio is Lucy Taylor.

In 1981 Brian Clough paid £1 million pounds to bring Justin Fashanu to Nottingham Forest. It was the climax of a meteoric career, but within months the goals had dried up, he'd been going to gay nightclubs, and Fashanu had also become become a born again Christian. Four decades later Justin Fashanu remains top flight English football's only openly gay player. From his beginnings in care with brother John as Barnardo's boys, via adoption, boxing, football and failed pop star, this is an extraordinary life, beautifully highlighted by his nominator, Ekow Eshun.

"He was a pioneer - he broke ground. He was a prominent black footballer at a time when to be black and a footballer was fraught territory, when players were barracked from the terraces for no other reason than the colour of their skin." Ekow Eshun

Also in studio is Richard Williams of the Guardian, who saw Fashanu play on the way and on the way down. Plus there is moving archive of Fashanu himself, and also from his niece, Amal Fashanu, talking at the time of the release of her documentary, Britain's Gay Footballers.

The producer for BBC Studios Audio is Miles Warde

The biography show where famous guests picks someone they admire or love. Jane Morris was the wife of William Morris and muse of Gabriel Dante Rossetti. Anneka Rice believes her contribution to 19th-Century art and culture has been largely overlooked.

"I'm not a big fan of needle point," she says, "but we cannot ignore what she brings to art history". Plus she comes from absolutely NOWHERE to marry Morris and have an affair with Rossetti. Joining Anneka in the discussion is Suzanne Fagence Cooper, the author of How We Might Live: At Home with Jane and William Morris. The presenter is Matthew Parris.

The biography show where famous guests pick someone from history they admire or they love. Our only rule is they must be dead. Today neurosurgeon Dr Henry Marsh chooses “the saviour of mothers” Dr Ignaz Semmelweis

Despite the evidence, the medical establishment was resistant to change and Semmelweis became increasingly traumatised, frustrated and angry. In his final months, he seems to have also developed an organic brain disorder which led to his friends and wife having him restrained and sectioned in a mental asylum where he subsequently died from injuries. Nominator Dr Henry Marsh is the author of Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery.

An unexpected choice for Great Lives, the Roman Emperor Nero has a reputation for debauchery and murder. He was also surprisingly popular, at least during the early years of his reign, and the writer Conn Iggulden argues he may be a victim of bad press. The Christians decided he was the anti-christ some three centuries after he died, and the three main sources are no more positive about his achievements and life. But a recent exhibition at the British Museum - entitled the man behind the myth - worked hard to soften Nero's terrible reputation. So is there more to Nero than we think?

Joining Conn Iggulden in studio is Dr Shushma Malik of Cambridge University. Matthew Parris presents. Conn Iggulden is co-author of The Dangerous Book for Boys and the best-selling historical fiction about Nero with the strapline, "Rome wasn't burned in a day."

The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde

Julien Temple, director of The Great Rock n Roll Swindle, Glastonbury and Absolute Beginners, chooses Christopher Marlowe, writer of brilliant plays including Doctor Faustus and Tamburlaine the Great. "I'm excited to talk about him," he says, "because I've known him for more than 50 years."

The link? An attempt as a student to summon up Marlowe in his old college cellar room.

Christopher Marlowe was born in 1564 - the same year as Shakespeare. He was a spy, a writer, a counterfeiter .. and he famously died in a bar room brawl in Deptford in 1593. Was it an accident, or was he killed deliberately? Helping us negotiate the mythic moments of Marlowe's life is Professor of Shakespeare studies Emma Smith.

Julien Temple's film credits include The Filth and the Fury, Pandaemonium, Earth Girls are Easy and Joe Strummer: The Futureis Unwritten

The presenter is Matthew Parris, the producer in Bristol for BBC Studios is Miles Warde

Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) was barely known during her lifetime but an exhibition of her work at the Guggenheim Museum in 2018 shattered attendance records. it was called Paintings for the Future, and the giant abstract work astounded visitors who had not heard of her before.

Zing Tsjeng is a former editor-in-chief of Vice UK and presenter of Good Bad Billionaire. She is author of the Forgotten Women series of books.

The producer for BBC Studios Audio in Bristol is Miles Warde

Future programmes include Anneka Rice on Jane Morris, wife of William Morris; Jo Brand on blues singer, Bessie Smith; and Conn Iggulden on the emperor Nero.

The great Miriam Margolyes chooses Charles Dickens, author of Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol.

"He's the man in my life. He's tugged me into his world and never let me go. He writes better prose than anyone who's ever lived. He's told the most interesting stories, invented 2000 of the best characters, and because he was a wicked man."

Miriam Margolyes is author of Oh Miriam! Helping the award-winning actor and chat show terror explore the wicked life of Charles Dickens is Professor Kathryn Hughes, author of Victorians Undone: Tales of the Flesh in the Age of Decorum. Programme includes archive of Simon Callow and Armando Iannucci.

Future episodes include Reginald D Hunter on Eugene V Debs, five times socialist candidate for the US presidency; Dr Hannah Critchlow on Colin Blakemore; director Julien Temple on Christopher Marlowe, and Zing Tsjeng on Hilma af Klint, a Swedish painter who was virtually unknown throughout the twentieth century. Her recent Paintings for the Future show at the Guggenheim was the most visited in their history. Also Conn Iggulden on the Emperor Nero, and comedian Jo Brand picks the American blues singer Bessie Smith.

PLUS!

AN Wilson on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; Anneka Rice on the largely forgotten wife of William Morris; and Ekow Eshun on Britain’s first openly gay footballer, Justin Fashanu

The presenter is Matthew Parris and the producer for BBC studios is Miles Warde who launched the series over twenty years ago in Bristol.