The Mark Steel Lecture
- Radio stand-up
- BBC Radio 4
- 1999 - 2002
- 16 episodes (3 series)
Mark Steel presents a series of lectures about people who changed the course of history. Also features Melanie Hudson, Martin Hyder, Carla Mendonca and Debbie Isitt.
The Mark Steel Lectures
Radical comedian Mark Steel profiles sixteen historical figures who shaped their era.
Sony Award-winning satirist and stand-up comedian Mark Steel takes us through the life stories of some of his favourite historical characters in this acclaimed radio series, which ran for three series on BBC Radio 4 before transferring to TV in 2003. From Oliver Cromwell to Ludvig van Beethoven, Mark's chosen personalities are all passionate, driven - and more than a little eccentric...
Among the inspirational people he profiles are W. G. Grace, one of cricket's greatest players and the first modern celebrity; Mary Shelley, a radical's daughter who married a poet and invented science fiction; Che Guevara, who became a left-wing hero despite chronic asthma; and Aristotle, who deserves to be remembered for much more than a line in a Monty Python song.
In addition, he delves into the lives of Renaissance genius (and absent-minded buffoon) Leonardo da Vinci; Carthaginian elephant-wrangler and scourge of the Romans, Hannibal; jazz singer Billie Holiday, whose trademark song Strange Fruit was so inflammatory that Columbia refused to record it; and gravity-defining mathematician Isaac Newton, who was obsessed with alchemy and tried to turn lead into gold.
Illustrated with idiosyncratic sketches featuring Melanie Hudson, Martin Hyder, Kim Wall, Carla Mendonça, Femi Elufowoju Junior and Debbie Isitt, these informative, accessible and hugely entertaining lectures celebrate the remarkable men and women whose ideas and enthusiasm changed the world.
First released: Thursday 22nd February 2024
- Released: Tuesday 22nd February 2022
- Distributor: BBC Digital Audio
- Minutes: 448
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