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The New Elizabethans: Queen Elizabeth II who celebrates her Diamond Jubilee this year. As the longest-lived and second-longest-reigning monarch of the United Kingdom after Queen Victoria, she has been served by a total of twelve different Prime Ministers and has witnessed tremendous social, political and cultural changes, including the transformati…

Simon Cowell is today's New Elizabethan. Cowell started out on Pop Idol in 2001, before devising X-Factor and Britain's Got Talent. Franchised around the world, these programmes have helped Cowell into the top ten of the Sunday Times music rich list, estimated worth £200-million. Known for offering his blunt opinions to less than talented wannabes,…

The New Elizabethans: Rupert Murdoch the global media magnate whose career began when he inherited newspapers from his father, founded Australia's first national daily paper, the Australian and then came to the UK to buy The News of the World, The Sun and eventually The Times and The Sunday Times. His influence spread to the USA where he acquired o…

The New Elizabethans: James Naughtie examines the legacy of banker Fred Goodwin. Having turned the Royal Bank of Scotland into a major player in global banking, he lost millions of pounds, a knighthood, and any public esteem. Just how much did the actions of "Fred the Shred" and other leading bankers jeopardise the global economy? The New Elizabeth…

The New Elizabethans: Tony Blair James Naughtie considers the political legacy of Tony Blair, the youngest and longest serving Labour Prime Minister. Sweeping Labour to power in 1997, Blair enjoyed huge popularity, and his government, under the banner of "New Labour" was credited with policies improving schools and the health service, as well as br…

The New Elizabethans: Alex Salmond Jim Naughtie considers the influence of Alex Salmond, one of the leading Scottish politicians of the Second Elizabethan age. Salmond's passion for an independent Scotland has changed the political geography of the British Isles and may yet change it even more radically. The New Elizabethans have been chosen by a p…

The New Elizabethans: Jim Naughtie on Diana, Princess of Wales whose glamorous life and untimely death touched the lives of million, shook the nation and changed the Royal Family forever. The New Elizabethans have been chosen by a panel of leading historians, chaired by Lord (Tony) Hall, Chief Executive of London's Royal Opera House. The panellists…

The New Elizabethans: Jim Naughtie on Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web and unlikely hero of the Olympic opening ceremony. Berners-Lee is a key figure in the digital revolution that has re-fashioned social lives, working practices and the flow of information around the globe. The New Elizabethans have been chosen by a panel of leading…

The New Elizabethans: Doreen Lawrence. Jim Naughtie considers the achievement of the mother of murdered teenager, Stephen Lawrence, whose campaign for justice revealed uncomfortable truths about British society. The New Elizabethans have been chosen by a panel of leading historians, chaired by Lord (Tony) Hall, Chief Executive of London's Royal Ope…

Jim Naughtie on John Hume and David Trimble who shared the Nobel Peace Prize after the Good Friday Agreement and whose lives help to illuminate the complex politics of Northern Ireland. The New Elizabethans have been chosen by a panel of leading historians, chaired by Lord (Tony) Hall, Chief Executive of London's Royal Opera House. The panellists w…

The New Elizabethans: Goldie. James Naughtie considers the contribution of musician, artist, actor and DJ Goldie to the rise of dance music and club culture over the past 25 years. Goldie began as a graffiti artist but was interested in the breakbeat scene. After visiting America in the late 80's he turned his attention to music - particular jungle…

The New Elizabethans: Charles Saatchi James Naughtie reflects on the high flyer from the advertising world Charles Saatchi. The company he founded with his brother - Saatchi & Saatchi - was one of the most successful ad agencies in the 1980's. Saatchi is also a major art collector, known for his early sponsorship of Damien Hirst and Tracy Emin. He …

The New Elizabethans: Norman Foster. James Naughtie considers the significance of the British architect whose prolific output has transformed skylines and landscapes around the world. Foster's breakthrough was his innovative designs for the Willis Building in Ipswich in 1974, an office complex which now has listed status. He is probably best known …

The New Elizabethans: Anita Roddick. James Naughtie considers the influence of one of Britain's most successful businesswomen, Anita Roddick. She was the first to base a large High Street business on being socially and environmentally conscious. Her cosmetics company The Body Shop championed fair trade long before it became a buzz word. The New Eli…

The New Elizabethans: Salman Rushdie James Naughtie portrays the British Indian novelist Salman Rushdie, whose celebrated novel Midnight's Children takes the moment of India's Independence as its starting point and won him the Booker Prize. "The Satanic Verses" was more controversial. When it was published, Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against…

The New Elizabethans: Amartya Sen the Nobel-winning laureate known as the Mother Theresa of economics for his work understanding and fighting the causes of poverty. Best known for his work on the causes of famine, his book Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation, argued that famine occurs not only from a lack of food, but from …

The New Elizabethans. Ralph Robins James Naughtie on one of the foremost industrialists of the second Elizabethan age, Ralph Robins, who is credited with turning around the fortunes of Rolls-Royce. In 1971 Rolls-Royce was nationalised by Edward Heath's government in order to save the ailing company. Their fortunes improved and under the leadership …

James Naughtie considers Scottish comedian Billy Connolly, who went from from the Clyde shipyards to being one of the UK's most popular and enduring stand up comedians. Connolly began as a folk singer in The Humblebums but realising his gift for humour, he changed direction to concentrate on comedy. He came to wide public attention with his first a…

Born in Bradford, artist David Hockney's work has been shown around the globe. Now 75, his recent exhibition at London's Royal Academy, 'The Bigger Picture' had people queuing round the block to look at his latest collection of Yorkshire landscapes - epic in scale and ambition. Accompanying his paintings, were a collection of pictures he'd drawn on…

The New Elizabethans. Margaret Thatcher, politician. James Naughtie considers the lasting influence of Margaret Thatcher, the longest serving Prime Minister of the 20th Century and the only woman to hold the post. Her uncompromising policies and leadership style earned her the enduring nickname "The Iron Lady". Among her initiatives were the deregu…

The New Elizabethans: David Attenborough Britain's well-known broadcaster and naturalist whose landmark Life series changed the way we watched TV and attracted record audiences. He received more public votes to be a New Elizabethan than anyone else. Starting as a trainee producer at the BBC in 1952 making shows like 'Animal, Vegetable, Mineral' and…

The New Elizabethans: Stuart Hall. To mark the Diamond Jubilee, James Naughtie examines the lives and impact of the men and women who have given the second Elizabethan age its character. Stuart Hall is a leading thinker on British culture, race and identity. Born and educated in in Jamaica, Hall won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University and arr…

Jayaben Desai, defied stereotyping all her life. "A person like me, I am never scared of anybody," she told managers at the Grunwick film processing plant in Willesden, London shortly before she led a walkout in August 1976. Desai and her co workers were dubbed "strikers in saris" by the media but she went on to lead a campaign which eventually led…

She's worked in a factory and was a primary school teacher for a while. But it's her career as a fashion designer which has brought her fame. She's been designing clothes and shoes which have seized the headlines since the late 70s. Dame Vivenne Westwood has won British Designer of the year three times and has influenced young designers in the UK a…

The New Elizabethans: Lord Jenkins of Hillhead. Jim Naughtie considers the politician, Roy Jenkins who left the Labour Party to set up the Social Democratic Party. Roy Jenkins made the journey to Government from a school in south Wales, via Oxford University and a spell at Bletchley Park. He held high office in a Labour government but never made Pr…

The New Elizabethans: Jocelyn Bell Burnell the astrophysicist who discovered pulsars, the beams of radiation emitted by rapidly spinning neutron stars. Bell Burnell was a PhD student trying to track quasars at the time of her discovery, but it was through analysing the data from the radio telescope she had helped to build at Cambridge University th…

The New Elizabethans: Talaiasi Labalaba. Britain's military history during the current Queen's reign has featured many interventions in Middle East politics - some successful, some disastrous - nearly all of them highly public and controversial. The Battle of Mirbat is a little-known secret. Fought in 1972, it was part of the British Army's clandes…

The New Elizabethans: David Bowie. James Naughtie considers the musical influence of the man who first came to public attention in 1969 with his song "Space Oddity", and then exploded onto the music scene in the early 70's with his glam rock, androgynous alter ego, Ziggy Stardust. Bowie has proved the master of reinvention, breaking into the Americ…

The New Elizabethans: Roald Dahl. To mark the Diamond Jubilee, James Naughtie examines the lives and impact of the men and women who have given the second Elizabethan age its character. James Naughtie explores the life Roald Dahl who put his huge success down to conspiring with children against adults in his stories and sharing a child's sense of h…

The New Elizabethans: Jack Jones. James Naughtie on the trade union leader who as general secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union in the 1970's, exercised more power over government economic policy than any other trades union leader in British history. Jones fought to maintain the power of the shop steward, and his resistance to sanct…

The New Elizabethans: Robert Edwards. To mark the Diamond Jubilee, James Naughtie examines the lives and impact of the men and women who have given the second Elizabethan age its character. Scientist Robert Edwards who won the Nobel Prize in 2010, was the pioneer of In Vitro Fertilisation alongside his colleague Dr Patrick Steptoe. The pair came to…

The New Elizabethans: Germaine Greer. To mark the Diamond Jubilee, James Naughtie examines the lives and impact of the men and women who have given the second Elizabethan age its character. James Naughtie considers the provocative Australian born feminist and academic who is credited with making feminism appealing and accessible for a large audienc…

The New Elizabethans: George Best. James Naughtie considers the life and achievements of the footballer from Northern Ireland, whose exceptional talent was harnessed by Manchester United in the 1960's, where he rose rapidly to the top of the game. Success gave him the whole world at his feet, and while he is admired as one of the greatest ever foot…

The New Elizabethans: Basil d'Oliveira. To mark the Diamond Jubilee, James Naughtie examines the lives and impact of the men and women who have given the second Elizabethan age its character. James Naughtie remembers the South African cricketer who became a British citizen. The D'Oliveira affair was a landmark in the South African story. Peter Hain…

The New Elizabethans: Dame Cicely Saunders, the founder of the modern hospice movement who revolutionised palliative care and helped people to die with dignity, free from fear and pain. Cicely Saunders was inspired to build St Christopher's Hospice in south London by two Polish patients with whom she developed very close friendships. She raised the…

No political figure in our time has risen to such heights of fame and influence on such a brief, fragmentary career in office as Enoch Powell. For more than half his Parliamentary career he was defined in the minds of many people by one speech about immigration made at a Birmingham hotel in 1968. He was sacked the next day by the Conservative party…

The New Elizabethans: Terence Conran. To mark the Diamond Jubilee, James Naughtie examines the lives and impact of the men and women who have given the second Elizabethan age its character. Terence Conran has changed the way Britain looks and introduced the concept of good taste and design to the living room in post war Britain. Still working at 80…

The New Elizabethans: To mark the Diamond Jubilee, James Naughtie examines the lives and impact of the men and women who have given the second Elizabethan age its character. Today James Naughtie considers Peter Hall, colossus of 20th Century English theatre, who was responsible for the development, success and longevity of both the RSC and The Nati…

The New Elizabethans: Margot Fonteyn. James Naughtie considers the life and legacy of Dame Margot Fonteyn, widely considered to be one of the greatest classical dancers of the 20th century. She spent her whole career with the Royal Ballet and was appointed prima ballerina absoluta by The Queen. Her greatest artistic work was with the Russian star R…

James Naughtie examines the lives and impact of the men and women who have given the second Elizabethan age its character. John Lennon and Paul McCartney were two young men from Liverpool whose dazzling talent created first a band, then a cultural phenomenon and finally became a short hand for vast social change. The New Elizabethans have been chos…

The New Elizabethans: Francis Bacon the haunting artist of suffering, pain and death most famous for his triptychs of the crucifixion and images of the screaming Pope Innocent X. Bacon was born in Ireland but had an turbulent relationship with his parents and spent much of his life in London, especially in Soho, where he explored his emerging homos…

The New Elizabethans: Paul Foot. Although he was born into a political family, Paul Foot chose not to go down the Parliamentary route, he was instead a lifelong, unapologetic campaigning journalist of the political left. A career in newspapers and at Private Eye brought many hard-found exclusives. He's best known for his work exposing corruption an…

The New Elizabethans: Lord Denning. To mark the Diamond Jubilee, James Naughtie examines the lives and impact of the men and women who have given the second Elizabethan age its character. James Naughtie looks at one of the most outstanding judges of the 20th century, whose love of liberty and passion for justice stayed with him throughout his excep…

The New Elizabethans: Barbara Windsor. To mark the Diamond Jubilee, James Naughtie examines the lives and impact of the men and women who have given the second Elizabethan age its character. As a star of the BBC's long-running soap Eastenders as well as of the popular "Carry On..." film series, "Babs" can rightly claim to have a career which spans …

The New Elizabethans: Philip Larkin. To mark the Diamond Jubilee, James Naughtie examines the lives and impact of the men and women who have given the second Elizabethan age its character. Philip Larkin is one of the great English poets, famous also for his day job as Librarian at the University of Hull. In 2003 he was chosen as the nation's best-l…

The New Elizabethans: Richard Doll. To mark the Diamond Jubilee, James Naughtie examines the lives of the men and women who have given the second Elizabethan age its character. 60 years ago, 80% of British adults were smokers. The fact that this figure is now nearer 20% is largely down to the work of epidemiologist Sir Richard Doll, who in 1954 pub…

The New Elizabethans: Harold Pinter. To mark the Diamond Jubilee, James Naughtie examines the lives and impact of the men and women who have given the second Elizabethan age its character. Not many playwrights bequeath an adjective based on their name to the nation's vocabulary like 'Kafkaesque' or 'Chekhovian'. In this case, it's "Pinteresque". It…