This Cultural Life

The soprano Dame Felicity Lott talks to John Wilson about her distinguished career and cultural influences. One of Britain's best-loved sopranos, her breakthrough role was as a last minute stand-in for Pamina in The Magic Flute in 1975. Over the next four decades, she built an international career, performing at opera houses and concert halls around the world, singing works by composers including Richard Strauss, Schubert and Mozart. At home, she was seen frequently on television, sang regularly at the BBC Proms and was made a Dame in 1996. She was also the recipient of the Légion d’Honneur, France’s highest cultural award.
Dame Felicity sadly died on 15 May 2026, shortly after this programme was first broadcast.
Producer: Edwina Pitman
Music and archive used:
Ruhe sanft from Zaide, W A Mozart, sung by Felicity Lott
Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer, courtesy of Felicity Lott
The Last Night of the Proms, 1996, Ah! que j'aime les militaires from La grande-duchesse de Gérolstein, J Offenbach, sung by Felicity Lott
Overture to The Magic Flute, W A Mozart
An Die Musik, F Schubert, piano: Graham Johnston, sung by Felicity Lott
Licht und Liebe, F Schubert, piano: Graham Johnson, sung by Anthony Rolfe Johnson and Felicity Lott
Vier letzte Lieder: Im Abendrot, R Strauss, sung by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Closing scene from Capriccio, R Strauss
Act 1 from Der Rosenkavalier, sung by Anne Sofie von Otter and Felicity Lott
Act III from Der Rosenkavalier, sung by Anne Sofie von Otter, Barbara Bonney and Felicity Lott
Vier letzte Lieder: Beim Schlafengehen, R Strauss, sung by Felicity Lott

Over a seven-decade career, Michael Frayn has been acclaimed as a novelist, playwright, journalist, translator & memoirist. From his comedies – including the stage farce Noises Off, and a screenplay for Clockwise starring John Cleese, and the novels Headlong and Skios – to the complex political, historical and scientific themes of his stage plays Democracy and Copenhagen, he has been prolific in a diverse array of genres and subjects. He is also renowned for his stage adaptations of the works of Russian writers including Anton Chekhov. At 92, Michael Frayn advised on a recent revival of Copenhagen for the Hampstead Theatre.
Producer: Edwina Pitman
Archive used:
Extract from To A Skylark, Percy Bysshe Shelley, read by Timothy West, BBC Radio 4, 27 April 1998
Extract from Spies, Michael Frayn, read by Martin Jarvis, BBC Radio 4, 29 April 2002
Clip from Wild Honey, Michael Frayn/Anton Chekov, BBC Radio 4, 20 January 1989
Extract from Scoop, Evelyn Waugh, read by Robert Hardy, BBC Radio 4, 3 April 1998
Clip from Noises Off, Peter Bogdanovich, 1992
Clip from Clockwise, Christopher Morahan, 1986
Clip from Copenhagen, Howard Davies, 2002

Turner Prize-winning Artist Lubaina Himid talks to John Wilson about her formative influences. She made her name in the mid-1980s as a pioneering member of the British black arts movement, organising exhibitions to champion the work of fellow women artists. Having trained as a theatre designer, her paintings and installation pieces often have a strong narrative aspect, telling stories of race, history and identity. In 2017, at the age of 63, she became the oldest artist to win the Turner Prize, as well as the first black woman to do so. The following year, she was made a CBE for services to art. In 2026, Lubaina Himid will represent Britain at the international arts festival, the Venice Biennale.
Producer: Edwina Pitman

Theatre director and writer Robert Icke talks to John Wilson about his formative creative influences. Described by Variety magazine as ‘the great hope of British theatre’ and with his radical new versions of classic plays, Icke has built a reputation for revelatory productions. Born in Stockton on Tees in 1986, he made his name in 2015 with an epic new version of the Greek tragedy Oresteia, which he had adapted himself. It won several awards and, at 29, Icke became the youngest ever recipient of the Best Director award at the Olivier Awards. More acclaim followed for his 2017 production of Hamlet, starring Andrew Scott, his adaptation of the Arthur Schnitzler play The Doctor, and his new version of Oedipus which transferred to Broadway in 2025. His latest West End production is Romeo and Juliet, starring Sadie Sink of Stranger Things fame.
Producer: Edwina Pitman

Booker Prize-winning author David Szalay talks to John Wilson about his creative influences. His 2009 debut novel London and The South East, based on his experience of working in telesales, won the Betty Trask Award. The author of six books, his work often defies easy classification: his 2016 novel All That Man Is comprises nine standalone short stories which share the overarching theme of masculinity. His 2018 novel Turbulence follows 12 loosely-linked characters on a dozen flights around the
world. In 2025 he won the Booker with Flesh, a rags to riches story told across several decades.
Producer: Edwina Pitman
Archive used:
Extract from T S Eliot, Preludes 1, read by Jeremy Irons, BBC Radio 4, 25 December 2021
Extract from T S Eliot, The Waste Land, read by Jeremy Irons, BBC Radio 4, 2 January 2022
Clip from trailer of Downhill Racer, Michael Ritchie, 1969
Clip from trailer of Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese, 1976
Extract from David Szalay, Flesh, read by David Szalay
Clip from Barry Lyndon, Stanley Kubrick, 1975
Clip from 2025 Booker Prize ceremony