The New Elizabethans

Still working at 80, Terence Conran's career spans a revolution in the restaurant world, including the founding of the Design Museum, his home retail and style makeover with the Habitat and Conran stores together with his many books on food and lifestyle.

Dame Margot Fonteyn is 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. James Naughtie looks at her life and legacy.

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. James Naughtie assesses the pair at the creative heart of the Beatles.

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.

Paul Foot. Although he was born into a political family, Paul Foot chose not to go down the Parliamentary route. Instead, he was a lifelong, unapologetic campaigning journalist of the political left, fighting miscarriages of justice and corruption.

Lord Denning was one of the most outstanding judges of the 20th century, whose love of liberty and passion for justice stayed with him throughout his exceptionally long, and occasionally controversial, career. His impact on the shaping of common law was unrivalled during his lifetime, principally due to his unwillingness to adhere to precedent and 'common-sense' approach. He is fondly remembered as 'the people's judge'.

Barbara Windsor - the actress, whose life both on and off screen is a very British combination of grit and naughtiness. James Naughtie looks at the star of the BBC's long-running soap Eastenders as well as of the popular "Carry On..." film series.

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-loved poet of the last 50 years, according to a survey by the Poetry Book Society.

Tony Hancock, comedy actor and star of radio and TV. James Naughtie looks at the life and career of a comedian best known for Hancock's Half Hour which epitomised the little man's struggle against the world.

Richard Doll: epidemiologist who linked smoking with lung cancer. James Naughtie looks at Sir Richard's life and work which also included health effects of asbestos and the contraceptive pill.

Harold Pinter. James Naughtie considers one of modern Britain's most influential dramatists, whose writing career spanned 50 years, and earned him a Nobel Prize in Literature.

Dorothy Hodgkin was one of the most successful chemists of the twentieth century, discovering the structures of penicillin, insulin, and vitamin B12 through her ground-breaking approach to crystallography. She was the first woman to receive the Royal Society's Copley medal and a winner of Nobel Prize.

Benjamin Britten is one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century who founded the Aldeburgh Festival. James Naughtie looks at the life and career of the composer who was also a conductor and pianist of gifted brilliance.

Laurence Olivier is possibly the 20th century's most revered actor whose stage and film career spanned more than 60 years with 12 Oscar nominations.James Naughtie examines his life and his genius.

With films like Psycho and North by Northwest, Alfred Hitchcock proved himself a master of suspense, obsession and terror. James Naughtie examines the career of one of the most influential British film directors and his voyeuristic use of the camera and the screams of his vulnerable blonde heroines have resonated with film goers down the ages.