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Oxford DNB podcast: over 180 episodes and counting!From this page you can listen to a selection of Oxford DNB biographies, either by downloading the individual life or by subscribing to our fortnightly podcast, released on alternate Wednesdays. Each episode lasts between 10 and 25 minutes. We've Boudicca to Bobby Moore, Mrs Simpson to Mills and Boon: current favourites include Roald Dahl, Guy Fawkes, George Orwell, and J.R.R. Tolkien. Find out who's featured so far. You can also search by place (for lives near you) or by face, via our gallery. New for teachers: from 180 episodes on offer, here’s a selection for classroom use.
Biographies for download
Current lifeCurrent podcast: Harry Patch, last surviving veteran of the First World War > listen to or download Harry Patch’s biography Coming soon: …Trieste muse… 1. Wartime livesWilfred Owen, poet > listen to or download Wilfred Owen’s biography Nella Last > listen to or download Nella Last’s biography Flora MacDonald, Jacobite heroine who helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape > listen to or download Flora MacDonald’s biography Edward Harrison, army officer and inventor of the gas mask > listen to or download Edward Harrison’s biography Lord Haw-Haw, fascist and propaganda broadcaster > listen to or download Lord Haw-Haw’s biography John Simpson Kirkpatrick, war hero at Gallipoli, known as the ‘Man with the Donkey’ > listen to or download John Simpson Kirkpatrick’s biography The Unknown Warrior, the First World War soldier buried at Westminster Abbey > listen to or download the biography of The Unknown Warrior John Travers Cornwell, boy naval hero and Victoria Cross holder (1916) > listen to or download John Travers Cornwell’s biography Edith Cavell, nurse and First World War war heroine > listen to or download Edith Cavell’s biography Jack Crawford, sailor and naval hero > listen to or download Jack Crawford’s biography Christian Fletcher, royalist heroine > listen to or download Christian Fletcher’s biography Albert Ball, WW1 airman and VC holder > listen to or download Albert Ball’s biography Hannah Snell, 18th-cent. female soldier > listen to or download Hannah Snell’s biography Charles Lucas, first recipient of the Victoria Cross > listen to or download Charles Lucas’s biography 2. Criminal livesThe Kray brothers, criminals > listen to or download the Kray brothers’s biographies Catherine Ferrers, alleged highwaywoman > listen to or download Catherine Ferrers’s biography Friar Tuck, legendary outlaw and one of Robin Hood’s ‘Merrie Men’ > listen to or download Friar Tuck’s biography Harold Davidson, Church of England clergyman and circus performer > listen to or download Harold Davidson’s biography Bogo de Clare, medieval churchman and figure of scandal > listen to or download Bogo de Clare’s biography Dr Crippen, murderer > listen to or download Dr Crippen’s biography Princess Caraboo, nineteenth-century impostor > listen to or download Princess Caraboo’s biography Alan May, physicist and Soviet spy > listen to or download Alan May’s biography Moll Cutpurse, thief > listen to or download Moll Cutpurse’s biography Guy Fawkes, conspirator > listen to or download Guy Fawkes’s biography Wat Tyler, leader of the peasants' revolt, 1381 > listen to or download Wat Tyler’s biography 3. Stage and screenIan Dury, popular singer, songwriter, and actor > listen to or download Ian Dury’s biography Cary Grant, actor > listen to or download Cary Grant’s biography Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, comedians and popular entertainers > listen to or download the Morecambe and Wise podcast Alistair Cooke, broadcaster and writer > listen to or download Alistair Cooke’s biography Aldwyn Roberts, calypso singer > listen to or download Aldwyn Roberts’s biography Fanny Cradock, television chef > listen to or download Fanny Cradock’s biography Jacqueline Du Pré, cellist > listen to or download Jacqueline Du Pré’s biography Jimi Hendrix, rock musician > listen to or download Jimi Hendrix’s biography George Harrison, musician and composer, of the Beatles > listen to or download George Harrison’s biography Madame Tussaud, founder of London’s waxworks exhibition > listen to or download Madame Tussaud’s biography Maurice Gibb, singer and songwriter, of the Bee Gees > listen to or download Maurice Gibb’s biography Thora Hird, actress > listen to or download Thora Hird’s biography Eric Thompson, actor and creator of the Magic Roundabout > listen to or download Eric Thompson’s biography Lotte Berk, dancer and fitness trainer > listen to or download Lotte Berk’s biography John Lennon, musician, composer, and political activist > listen to or download John Lennon’s biography John Peel, broadcaster > listen to or download John Peel’s biography Freddie Mercury, singer and song-writer > listen to or download Freddie Mercury’s biography Audrey Hepburn, film actress > listen to or download Audrey Hepburn’s biography Humphrey Lyttelton, jazz musician and broadcaster > listen to or download Humphrey Lyttelton’s biography Sandy Denny, folk singer > listen to or download Sandy Denny’s biography 4. Literary livesChristopher Isherwood, writer > listen to or download Christopher Isherwood’s biography William Minor, military surgeon, asylum inmate, and contributor to the Oxford English Dictionary > listen to or download William Minor’s biography Olaudah Equiano, author and slavery abolitionist > listen to or download Olaudah Equiano’s biography George Orwell, political writer and essayist > listen to or download George Orwell's biography J. R. R. Tolkien, writer and philologist > listen to or download J. R. R. Tolkien’s biography Angela Carter, writer > listen to or download Angela Carter’s biography James Murray, first editor of the Oxford English Dictionary > listen to or download James Murray’s biography Ian Fleming, writer and creator of James Bond > listen to or download Ian Fleming’s biography Alice Liddell, prototype of the character Alice (in Wonderland) > listen to or download Alice Liddell’s biography Mills and Boon, romantic publishers > listen to or download the Mills and Boon podcast Roger Hargreaves, children’s author and creator of the Mr Men and Little Miss books > listen to or download Roger Hargreaves’s biography Helene Hanff, writer and Anglophile in the USA (84 Charing Cross Road) > listen to or download Helene Hanff’s biography Dee Wells, journalist > listen to or download Dee Wells’s biography Barbara Cartland, romantic novelist > listen to or download Barbara Cartland’s biography Vita Sackville-West, writer and gardener > listen to or download Vita Sackville-West’s biography Roald Dahl, writer > listen to or download Roald Dahl’s biography Philip Larkin, poet, writer, and librarian > listen to or download Philip Larkin’s biography Douglas Adams, writer > listen to or download Douglas Adams’s biography Mary Wesley, novelist > listen to or download Mary Wesley’s biography Sir Allen Lane, publisher > listen to or download Allen Lane’s biography Malcolm Bradbury, writer and literary scholar > listen to Malcolm Bradbury’s biography Ignatius Sancho, author > listen to or download Ignatius Sancho’s biography Vera Brittain, writer > listen to or download Vera Brittain’s biography P. G. Wodehouse, writer > listen to or download P. G. Wodehouse’s biography Agatha Christie, writer > listen to or download Agatha Christie’s biography Enid Blyton, children's writer > listen to or download Enid Blyton’s biography Mrs. Beeton, writer on household management > listen to or download Mrs. Beeton’s biography Arthur C. Clarke, writer > listen to or download Arthur Clarke’s biography J.G. Ballard, writer > listen to or download J.G. Ballard’s biography Sylvia Plath, poet > listen to or download Sylvia Plath’s biography 5. Political livesSir Gordon Reece, public relations consultant who created Mrs Thatcher’s image > listen to or download Sir Gordon Reece’s biography Paul Robeson, US actor, singer, and political activist > listen to or download Paul Robeson’s biography Denis Thatcher, prime ministerial consort > listen to or download Denis Thatcher’s biography Mo Mowlam, New Labour politician > listen to or download Mo Mowlam’s biography John Profumo, politician and social worker > listen to or download John Profumo’s biography Nancy Astor, society hostess and politician >listen to or download Nancy Astor’s biography Emily Davison, suffragette >listen to or download Emily Davison’s biography Margaret Roper, scholar and daughter of Thomas More, Henry VIII's chancellor >listen to or download Margaret Roper’s biography St Augustine, first archbishop of Canterbury >listen to or download St Augustine’s biography 6. Science and inventionGeorge Hersee, television engineer > listen to or download George Hersee’s biography Charles Rolls, motor car promoter and aviator; Sir Henry Royce, engineer and motor car designer > listen to or download Charles Rolls and Sir Henry Royce’s biographies William Bowler, hatter and inventor of the bowler hat > listen to or download William Bowler’s biography George Bennie, inventor of the railplane > listen to or download George Bennie’s biography Forrest Mars, the man behind the Mars Bar > listen to or download Forrest Mars’s biography Anne Darwin, daughter of Charles Darwin and subject of experiments into human behaviour > listen to or download Anne Darwin’s biography Charles Macintosh, inventor of mackintosh waterproof fabrics > listen to or download Charles Macintosh’s biography Percy Shaw, inventor of cats-eye road studs > listen to or download Percy Shaw’s biography Charles Isham, bringer of garden gnomes to England > listen to or download Charles Ishams’s biography John Logie Baird, inventor of television > listen to or download John Logie Baird’s biography Alexander Fleming, bacteriologist and discoverer of penicillin > listen to or download Alexander Fleming’s biography Rosalind Franklin, crystallographer > listen to or download Rosalind Franklin’s biography Reginald Mitchell, aircraft designer > listen to or download Reginald Mitchell’s biography William Morris, automobile manufacturer > listen to or download William Morris’s biography Alan Turing, pioneer of computer science > listen to or download Alan Turing’s biography Frank Pantridge, physician and inventor of the heart defibrillator, 1960s > listen to or download Frank Pantridge’s biography Sir Rowland Hill, inventor of penny postage > listen to or download Sir Rowland Hill’s biography Luke Howard, namer of clouds > listen to or download Luke Howard’s biography Edward Stone, 18th cent. discoverer of the active ingredient in aspirin > listen to or download Edward Stone’s biography 7. Explorers and pioneersCaptain Scott, naval officer and Antarctic explorer > listen to or download Captain Scott’s biography Captain Oates, Antarctic explorer on Scott’s 1912 expedition > listen to or download Captain Oates’s biography Constance Markievicz, Irish republican and first woman elected to UK parliament > listen to or download Constance Markievicz’s biography Victoria Woodhull, women's rights campaigner and first female presidential candidate in the United States of America > listen to or download Victoria Woodhull’s biography Phyllis Pearsall, map publisher and creator of the London A to Z > listen to or download Phyllis Pearsall’s biography Pocahontas, Algonquian Indian princess > listen to or download Pocahontas’s biography Deen Mahomed, nineteenth-century founder of Britain’s first curry house > listen to or download Deen Mahomed’s biography Amy Johnson, international aviator > listen to or download Amy Johnson’s biography Fanny Coker, freed slave commemorated in Bristol > listen to or download Fanny Coker’s biography Lola Montez, adventuress in Latin America > listen to or download Lola Montez’s biography Pasqua Rosee, founder of London’s first coffee-house, 1656 > listen to or download Pasqua Rosee’s biography Isambard Kingdom Brunel, civil engineer > listen to or download Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s biography James Blyth, electrical engineer and university teacher > listen to or download James Blyth’s biography Charles Fortnum and Hugh Mason, 18th cent. grocers and founders of F&M > listen to or download Fortnum and Mason’s biography William Penny Brookes, 19th century originator of the Olympic movement > listen to or download William Penny Brookes’s biography John Alcock and Arthur Brown, first people to fly non-stop across the Atlantic > listen to or download Alcock and Brown’s biography 8. Sporting livesStanley Matthews, football player > listen to or download Stanley Matthew’s biography Matthew Webb, first person to swim the English Channel > listen to or download Matthew Webb’s biography Robert Dover, organizer of the Cotswold Olimpick games from 1612 > listen to or download Robert Dover’s biography The Busby Babes, Manchester United footballers and victims of the Munich air crash > listen to or download the Busby Babes podcast Fred Perry, tennis player > listen to or download Fred Perry’s biography Bobby Moore, footballer and captain of England, 1966 > listen to or download Bobby Moore’s biography Barry Sheene, racing motorcyclist > listen to or download Barry Sheene’s biography Charles Blondin, tightrope walker > listen to or download Charles Blondin’s biography Douglas Jardine, cricketer > listen to or download Douglas Jardine’s biography George Best, footballer > listen to or download George Best’s biography Alf Ramsey, footballer and football manager > listen to or download Alf Ramsey’s biography Brian Clough, football manager > listen to or download Brian Clough’s biography Lucy Morton, 1924 Olympic swimmer > listen to or download Lucy Morton’s biography Ludwig Guttmann, creator of the Stoke Mandeville Games, later Paralympics, 1945 > listen to or download Ludwig Guttmann’s biography 9. One-offsSt Godric, trader and hermit > listen to or download St Godric’s biography Abram Lyle, shipowner and sugar refiner > listen to or download Abram Lyle’s biography Diana, princess of Wales > listen to or download Diana's biography Dick Whittington, merchant and mayor of London > listen to or download Dick Whittington’s biography Margaret Clitherow, Roman Catholic martyr > listen to or download Margaret Clitherow’s biography Pannonica de Koenigswarter, musical patron > listen to or download Pannonica de Koenigswarter’s biography Thomas Barnardo, philanthropist and founder of Dr Barnardo's Homes > listen to or download Thomas Barnardo’s biography Mary Whitehouse, schoolteacher and campaigner > listen to or download Mary Whitehouse’s biography Anita Roddick, businesswoman >listen to or download Anita Roddick’s biography Hadrian, Roman emperor > listen to or download Hadrian’s biography Elizabeth Fry, penal reformer and philanthropist > listen to or download Elizabeth Fry’s biography Mervyn Griffith-Jones, barrister and judge > listen to or download Mervyn Griffith-Jones’s biography Edward Smith, captain of the Titanic > listen to or download Edward Smith’s biography Nellie Boxall, cook and servant to Virginia Woolf > listen to or download Nellie Boxall’s biography Francis Bacon, painter > listen to or download Francis Bacon’s biography Billy Butlin, fairground proprietor and founder of holiday camps > listen to or download Billy Butlin’s biography Elizabeth Pepys, wife of diarist Samuel Pepys > listen to or download Elizabeth Pepys’s biography Boudicca, queen of the Iceni > listen to or download Boudicca’s biography Thomas Parr, seventeenth-century centenarian, known as Old Parr > listen to or download Thomas Parr’s biography Bunny Roger, couturier, socialite, and man of fashion > listen to or download Bunny Roger’s biography Sidney Bloom, London restaurateur > listen to or download Sidney Bloom’s biography Nell Gwyn, actress and royal mistress > listen to or download Nell Gwyn’s biography Anthony Blunt, art historian and spy > listen to or download Anthony Blunt’s biography Elizabeth Shackleton, diarist > listen to or download Elizabeth Shackleton’s biography Alice Ayres, domestic servant and heroine > listen to or download Alice Ayres’s biography James Graham, quack > listen to or download James Graham’s biography Wallace Hartley, musician and bandleader on the RMS Titanic > listen to or download Wallace Hartley’s biography Thomas Farriner, baker > listen to or download Thomas Farriner’s biography Walter Dew > listen to or download Walter Dew’s biography John Brown, Queen Victoria's servant > listen to or download John Brown’s biography Wallis Windsor (Mrs Simpson), duchess of Windsor > listen to or download Wallis Windsor’s biography Albert Osman, pigeon racer > listen to or download Albert Osman’s biography George Scorey, policeman > listen to or download George Scorey’s biography Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright, photographers of the ‘Cottingley fairies’ > listen to or download Griffiths and Wright’s biography Henry Croft, inventor of pearly king's and queen's tradition > listen to or download Henry Croft’s biography Constance Smith, reviver of Mothering Sunday > listen to or download Constance Smith’s biography 10. Mystery and fictitious livesBritannia, allegory of a nation, emblem of empire, and patriotic icon > listen to or download Britannia’s biography The Sutton Hoo burial > listen to or download the Sutton Hoo burial podcast Piltdown Man, archaeological hoax > listen to or download the Piltdown Man podcast Spring-Heeled Jack, nineteenth-century mystery assailant > listen to or download the Spring-Heeled Jack podcast Lindow Man, archaeological discovery, known as the ‘Body in the Bog’ > listen to or download the Lindow Man podcast John Bull, fictitious epitomist of Englishness and British imperialism > listen to or download John Bull’s biography Elizabeth Parsons, [called the Cock Lane Ghost],impostor > listen to or download Elizabeth Parsons’s biography Sweeney Todd, legendary murderer and barber > listen to or download Sweeney Todd’s biography Our podcast is an experiment. Comments? Please email us: epm-oxforddnb@oup.com
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