Great Lives: As heard on Radio 4 - Softcover

Based on the popular Radio 4 series, Great Lives highlights some of the world's most fascinating and influential characters. Chosen by the show's guests, each biography reveals the life and times of artists, sportsmen, statesmen, authors, monarchs, actors, musicians and scientists, showing why they inspire, what they achieved and how they have influenced the world at large. Discover the intriguing lives of Clement Attlee and Henri Matisse, King Alfred and Samuel Johnson, Tommy Cooper and Robert Kennedy, Robin Day and Edith Wharton, along with many more.

From the famous to the obscure, the historical to the contemporary, each biography provides an insight into the character's personality, why they were driven to achieve so much, and separates fact from fiction. With a foreword by the show's presenter, Matthew Parris, Great Lives is an ideal gift for history and biography enthusiasts, and for fans of the Radio 4 series.

Karen Farrington has worked an an author, ghost-writer, editor and researcher for leading UK publishers. She is credited with more than 40 non-fiction titles, specialising in modern history and biographies. A former Press Association reporter at the Central Criminal Court, she has also written regularly for women's magazines and daily newspapers.

Matthew Parris was born in Africa in 1949 and grew up in Cyprus, Rhodesia, Jamaica and Britain. He became an MP in 1979, and after seven years a Conservative MP he became the regular parliamentary sketchwriter for The Times. His books include his autobiography Chance Witness, Read My Lips, Scorn with Added Vitriol, and Inca-Kola. Parris is a regular travel writer, reviewer, broadcaster and columnist, and has presented Great Lives since 2006.