Inheritance Tracks

The London born ceramic artist Keith Brymer-Jones, who regularly wells up when he’s moved by beauty and effort on The Great Pottery Throw Down, was eleven years old when he made his first pottery object.

After a brief stint in the punk band The Wigs, he got an apprenticeship at Harefield Pottery in London and learned to make modern ceramics.

We asked him to turn his hand to this week's Inheritance Tracks...

Inherited: Fantasy by Earth, Wind and Fire

Producer: Ben Mitchell

Owain Wyn Evans has been working in broadcasting since he was 18. He's an accomplished television and radio presenter and shot to superstardom during the pandemic in 2020 as the drumming weather presenter playing along to the BBC News Theme.

He became a viral sensation and in 2021 he raised an extraordinary £3million for Children in Need by drumming non-stop for 24 hours.

This week he took a break from warming up for Zoe Ball on Radio 2’s Early Breakfast Show to reflect on his inheritance tracks...

Inherited: The Masquerade by the Carpenters

Producer: Ben Mitchell

When he’s not working on his own gin brand, or his latest book, or guest editing the Today programme former petrol head James May is perhaps best known as the thinking man’s car guy from Top Gear and Grand Tour.

His trademark wry humour and self-deprecation make him an interesting TV presenter, no matter what he turns his attention to and he’s an excellent travel guide on the various James May Our Man In... series.

Born in Bristol, one of four children, he spent his teenage years in South Yorkshire and as someone who studied music at university and who’s apparently a rather accomplished musician.

We asked James what his Inheritance Tracks might be.

Inherited: Dream Darling Dream by McGuinness Flint

Producer: Ribika Moktan

Opera singer Wynne Evans was indelibly etched into the UK’s collective TV watching consciousness when he played Gio Compario - the moustachioed opera singer in those famous comparison site adverts.

Born in South-West Wales, Wynne is a professionally trained opera star and his operatic roles have seen him onstage at major opera houses here in the UK and across the globe, with his debut album ‘A Song in My Heart’ went to Number 1 in the classical charts.

This year, he won Celebrity MasterChef with a starter of Carmarthen-Japanese Tuna Tartare and a main course of Welsh lamb on samphire.

We asked Wynne to share his equally delicious Inheritance Tracks with us...

Inherited: Be My Love by Mario Lanza

Producer: Ben Mitchell

Writer, comedian and broadcaster Sandi Toksvig was born in Denmark to a Danish father and English mother and was brought up in Europe, Africa and the United States.

She’s done it all; politics, children's books, theatre plays, the great British Bake Off, and taken part in pretty much every panel show worth its salt, including of course hosting QI, the much loved and quite interesting panel show she’s hosted on television since 2016.

She was one of the members of the first all female comedy groups at Cambridge’s Footlights whilst gaining a first class degree, and in 2015 she co founded the Women's Equality Party. President of the Writers Guild of Great Britain, her writing credits take in radio, television and the stage.

Inherited: Secret Love by The Oscar Peterson Trio

Producer: Ben Mitchell

Kelvin Fletcher is best known for his portrayal of Andy Sugden in Emmerdale, a role he played for twenty years, and for which he won Best Actor at the British Soap awards for his portrayal.

When he was just six years old he went to Oldham Theatre Workshop where, before getting his big break in 1996.

He’s a father of four and a keen motor racer, and documented his buying of a 120 acre farm in the Peak District in a BBC documentary and in 2019 he won Strictly Come Dancing with his dancing partner Oti Mabuse.

Inherited: Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) by Frank Wilson

Producer: Ben Mitchell

Before Lucy Worsley became a fixture on our TV screens as a trusted architectural and social historian she wanted to be either a spy, a witch or a nun.

But her father was a geologist and he wanted Lucy to be a scientist, so when she switched from the sciences to the humanities he was unimpressed and told her she’d never earn a living with a history degree!

It was a visit to Mompesson House, a National Trust property in Salisbury, when she was 18 that made her realise that keeping a historical place going was an actual job and one that spoke to her - she’s now Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces with an office in Hampton Court Palace.

So who, what and when will her Inheritance Tracks come from?

Inherited: Mozart Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major played by Maria João Pires

Producer: Ben Mitchell

This edition of Inheritance Tracks are chosen by Jonathan Ranganathan – better known, of course, by his middle name, Romesh.

The comedian, presenter and DJ was born in West Sussex in the late 1970s to Sri Lankan parents.

When he was 11, a friend left a cassette-tape at his house – labelled Public Enemy. Romesh listened – and that day, his love of hip-hop music began.

But not just hip-hop. Music has been a huge part of his family’s story...across the generations.

Inherited: Love Come Down by Evelyn "Champagne" King

Producers: Ben Mitchell and Ribika Moktan

If farmer, TV presenter and writer Adam Henson was a stick of rock the word Cotswolds would be sweetly written through him.

He’s loved by millions of Countryfile viewers and probably a lot of lambs, Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, Highland cattle and horses too.

And he knows a thing or two about how food gets from farm to fork being an ambassador for British farming.

But will his Inheritance Tracks be pastorales, reflecting the bucolic nature of his life?

Inherited: Too Much Pressure by The Specials

Producers: Ben Mitchell and Ribika Moktan

The actor, writer, comedian and Radio 4 treasure, Miles Jupp has been delighting audiences for decades; from Balamory to The News Quiz and Rev.

Miles recently shared the news that he’d suffered a brain seizure - requiring complex neurosurgery.

Happily, he’s has made a good recovery, and he's about to go on tour...no doubt with his favourite music playing in the car as he criss-crosses the country.

Inherited: Just an Old Fashioned Girl by Eartha Kit

Producers: Ben Mitchell and Ribika Moktan