Private ions 5u1114

The comedian, writer and podcaster Adam Buxton first burst onto our TV screens 30 years ago. He and his friend Joe Cornish created The Adam and Joe Show, which featured pranks, songs and re-enactments of famous films like Titanic and Trainspotting using their childhood stuffed toys. Along with work on radio and film, an eye for the weird and wonderful quirks of music videos, and a multi-award winning interview podcast, he has also written two memoirs. The first, Ramble Book, included a very poignant of his father’s final months, when he lived with Adam and his family until his death at the age of 91. More recently, his book I Love You Byeee! includes reflections on losing his mother – as he says, ‘to death – we didn’t get separated in a shop.’ And both books include plenty of musings on growing up and his many personal obsessions. Adam's musical choices include Ravel, Grieg and Thelonious Monk.

Philip Hoare is an award-winning writer whose books often describe the lure of the sea, the strange and beautiful creatures that live in it and the inspiration artists have found in its murky depths. His book Leviathan won the Samuel Johnson Prize: it drew on his lifelong obsession with whales, which began with the gigantic skeletons in the Natural History Museum and continued with his own encounters with them at sea. His most recent book, William Blake and the Sea Monsters of Love, traces Blake’s enduring influence on numerous poets, writers, film-makers and musicians. He’s also written about Noel Coward, the British socialite Stephen Tennant and the Netley Military Hospital on Spike Island, near Southampton. His musical choices including Prokofiev, Britten and Copland. Producer Clare Walker

The theatre director Emma Rice is renowned for her bold stagings of much-loved films and books including Brief Encounter, Wuthering Heights and the Red Shoes. For twenty years she worked as an actor, director, and eventually artistic director of Kneehigh, an international touring company based in Cornwall, known for its energetic productions with an inventive use of music and puppetry. In 2016, Emma became artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe, the reconstructed Elizabethan theatre on the south bank of the Thames - although her tenure there ended after two years following disagreements with the board. She has since founded her own touring theatre company, Wise Children, whose recent productions include The Buddha of Suburbia and Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest. Emma's musical ions include Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Mozart and Bach.

Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption, isn’t afraid of hard work or an intellectual challenge. He’s combined a high-profile legal career with a ion for medieval history, and his books include a five volume, 4000 page of the Hundred Years War, widely described as ‘monumental.’ For much of his career he was a very successful barrister working on commercial law, constitutional law and human rights cases, with clients ranging from the British government to Roman Abramovich. Then in 2012 he made history when he was appointed to the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, without ever having served as a full time judge. In 2019, he gave the Reith Lectures, under the title Law and the Decline of Politics, examining how the courts are taking on more of the role of making law. It’s a topic he follows up in his most recent book, The Challenges of Democracy and the Rule of Law. Jonathan's musical choices includes Berlioz, Schumann, Britten and Mozart.

The writer Colum McCann isn’t afraid to take on big subjects – and his ambition has delivered a shelf full of awards, from both sides of the Atlantic. He grew up in Dublin but moved to the United States in the mid-1980s and now lives in New York. That city is the setting for his international bestseller Let the Great World Spin, in which Philippe Petit’s tightrope walk between the Twin Towers in 1974 plays a key role. He’s also written a novel about both sides of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people, from the perspectives of two fathers. He collaborated with Diane Foley, whose son James was executed by Islamic State militants, to create a memoir, American Mother, which was published last year. Most recently his novel Twist focuses on the vulnerability of the undersea cables carrying the world’s internet data. Colum's music includes Gorecki, Prokofiev, Brahms and Haydn.

Romola Garai won her first professional acting roles as a teenager, and since then, her career has taken her in a wide range of dramatic directions. Most recently, she won a 2025 Olivier Award for her role in The Years, a sometimes shocking play based on a novel by Nobel Prize winner Annie Ernaux – and she was competing against herself, with a nomination in the same category for her part in Giant, a play about Roald Dahl. Her previous stage work includes playing Cordelia opposite Ian McKellen’s King Lear, and her extensive screen credits include the title role in a BBC adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma. She also won acclaim for The Hour, a drama set behind the scenes of a TV current affairs programme in the 1950s. In 2020, she went behind the camera to write and direct a horror film called Amulet. Romola's music choices include John Taverner, Handel and Keith Jarrett.

Terry Gilliam is one of the world’s most imaginative and original directors. He first made his mark more than 50 years ago, with the animated opening sequence of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, when a giant foot stomped on the titles with a burst of flatulence. That spirit of mischief, fun and creative adventure has informed many of his films: they include Time Bandits, Brazil, The Fisher King and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, working with stars such as Matt Damon, Uma Thurman, Brad Pitt and Robin Williams. He’d be the first to it that life as a film maker can be complicated: he’s faced natural disasters, budget overruns and clashes with studio executives. But he has no plans to retire: now in his 85th year he’s working on a new film called Carnival at the End of Days starring Johnny Depp as Satan and Jeff Bridges as God. Terry's list of musical ions includes Richard Strauss, Berlioz and Delius.

The barrister Monica Feria-Tinta has been described as one of the “most daring, innovative and creative lawyers” in the UK for her work in defending our natural world. She was born in Peru and was the first Latin American lawyer to be called to the Bar of England and Wales. She began by representing indigenous peoples, from Latin America and the Pacific, setting ground-breaking legal precedents. More recently she has found herself pleading for rivers, oceans, cloud forests and endangered species. As she says: “I had become a barrister for the earth,” and she’s written a book about ten of her landmark cases, called A Barrister for the Earth: Ten Cases of Hope for Our Future. Monica's music choices include Sibelius, Monteverdi and Chopin.

The set and costume designer Bob Crowley says he creates ‘other worlds’. The stage is where his imagination runs riot, at the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company the Royal Opera House, the West End, Broadway and beyond. He’s won numerous Olivier and Tony awards for memorable designs such as the brightly lit revolving horses for Carousel, magical black and white tissue paper drawings evoking the foggy London skyline for Mary Poppins and couture dresses and the River Seine for An American in Paris. He’s also worked on many new plays including The History Boys by Alan Bennett. His most recent credits include Richard the Second at the Bridge Theatre in London, with Jonathan Bailey in the title role. Bob's music selection includes Tallis, Gershwin, Schubert and Verdi.

Dr Sian Williams was a familiar face and voice on BBC Breakfast, television news, and Radio 4 for many years, and she’s now a presenter on Radio 3 Unwind on BBC Sounds. There she hosts a three hour programme every morning, sharing a restorative selection of music with the aim of ing your well-being. She also presents Life Changing on Radio 4, interviewing people who have lived through extraordinary events. In 2012, she started to train as a psychologist and was awarded a doctorate in Counselling Psychology four years ago. Since then she has been working in the NHS primarily, with first responders who are experiencing anxiety, stress and trauma. Sian's musical selection includes Mozart, Rachmaninov, Max Richter and Vivaldi.

Daniel Levitin is a psychologist and neuroscientist who is fascinated by the way our brains respond to music. He first worked as a musician, playing in bands, and then became a record producer and engineer. He’s worked with some of best-known names in the world, including Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Sting and The Grateful Dead. In his 30s he went back to university to study psychology. He’s now Professor Emeritus at McGill University and has written several best-sellers investigating why music has such a powerful effect on us as a species. His most recent, Music as Medicine, is about the healing power of music, and how it might be used to help treat PTSD, slow the spread of neurodegenerative diseases and even help combat multiple sclerosis. Daniel's music choices include Debussy, Dvorak, Thelonious Monk and Beethoven.

Ursula Jones is “nothing short of a musical icon” – at least according to the Royal Philharmonic Society, who made her an honorary member last year at the age of 92. She has devoted her life to music, and has long championed the work of young performers – she gave Daniel Barenboim his first break as a conductor in London, when he was just 23. Ursula was born in Lucerne in 1932, where her father was one of the founders of the Lucerne Festival, so famous musicians, including the likes of Richard Strauss, were never far away. She came to London in 1954 and worked as a secretary for the Philharmonia Orchestra, moving on to co-found the English Chamber Orchestra in 1960. She married the eminent trumpet player Philip Jones, and later managed his Brass Ensemble. Music isn’t her only fascination: she completed a doctorate in archaeology at the age of 60, and in 2021 she cycled 100km to raise money for the charity Brass for Africa. Ursula's choices include music by Britten, Mozart and Handel.

Professor Anthony Kessel has a double life – or at least two very different roles. As the National Deputy Medical Director of NHS England, he’s one of the senior leaders responsible for improving the quality of our health services and patient care. He’s an international authority on public health and played a key role in the NHS’s response to the Covid pandemic. He’s also a writer, with a prize-winning series of detective novels for young adults called Don’t Doubt the Rainbow – the most recent is American Mystery. The books are adventure stories and also aim to give young readers insights into how the mind works, and to improve their psychological well-being. Anthony's music choices include Brahms, Dvořák, Astor Piazzolla and Chilly Gonzales.

The economist Sir Paul Collier has spent much of his career thinking about some of the biggest challenges we face around the world – and then trying to find solutions for them. He’s focused on low-income countries, particularly in Africa, looking at why they haven’t benefitted from the forces of globalisation. He’s examined the causes and the consequences of civil war, and the role of foreign aid. He received a knighthood in 2014 for his work on Africa. His most recent book is called Left Behind and it offers a vision for how neglected places – from South Yorkshire to South America – can start to catch up. His music choices include Bach, William Lawes, Schubert and medieval composer Martin Codax.

Miranda Hart burst into our living rooms in 2009 with her semi-autobiographical, multi-award winning TV sit-com Miranda. Her irrepressible physical comedy and willingness to make fun of herself quickly endeared her to audiences, as she battled through socially awkward situations - particularly dating. She also had to deal with her overbearing mother, while popularising phrases like “Such Fun”, “Keep calm and Gallop on” and “Bear with”. She then took a leading role in the BBC drama series Call the Midwife as Chummy - Camilla Fortescue-Cholmondeley-Browne – and appeared in films including Emma, playing Jane Austen’s chatterbox Miss Bates. Her recent memoir I Haven’t been Entirely Honest With You describes how she lived for years with undiagnosed Lyme disease and the lessons she has learnt – she calls them “treasures” on her journey from illness to recovery. Miranda's musical choices include Grieg, Bach, Bizet and Mozart.

In the hot, dry summer of 1976, Mary Joy Langdon made a very bold decision: she ed the fire service. She was the first woman in the UK to work as a professional operational fire-fighter. Then, after eight years, she changed course - and became a nun. In 1989, as Sister Mary Joy Langdon, she founded the Wormwood Scrubs Pony Centre, introducing inner-city children and young people with disabilities to horse riding. Recently it helped children traumatised by the Grenfell Tower fire. The Centre also attracted one of Britain’s most acclaimed painters – Lucian Freud - who came to draw the horses. Mary Joy's music selections include Mozart, Strauss, Bach and Grieg. Presenter Michael Berkeley Producer Clare Walker

Michael Berkeley shares festive music choices from Private ions over the years. We’ll hear how Handel can evoke memories of roast potatoes in the oven on Christmas day; we’ll spend time by the fire in a remote Irish castle, take a seasonal trip to the ballet, and share heart-warming singing from a variety of traditions. His guests include Chris Addison, Nina Stibbe, Brian Moore, David Mitchell, Shirley Collins and Sue Black.

The actor, comedian and writer Nick Mohammed hasn’t followed an obvious career path. His youthful obsessions included performing magic and playing the violin, followed by a first-class degree in geophysics. He even began a PhD in seismology – before his love of comedy took him in a very different direction. He’s ended up on the red carpet at the Emmys, thanks to his role as Nate the football coach in the much-acclaimed TV series Ted Lasso. He’s starred with David Schwimmer in the sitcom Intelligence, which he wrote and co-produced. For his live shows he created the much-loved Mr Swallow, a peevish and pedantic magician – who has also attracted millions of views on social media. Nick's musical choices include Copland, Beethoven, Dvorak and Prokofiev.

Lola Young, Baroness Young of Hornsey, grew up in care, and when she left school, she worked first for the gas board, then as a social worker and as an actor on stage and television. The idea that she would one day sit in the House of Lords never crossed her mind. When she was in her early 30s she decided to study for a degree. That led to a PhD, academic posts and eventually a Professorship in Cultural Studies at Middlesex University. She entered the House of Lords as a crossbench peer 20 years ago, where she has campaigned for change in areas such as modern slavery and fast fashion. She recently wrote a memoir called Eight Weeks, in which she pieces together her upbringing, drawing on care records and her own reflections on her childhood. Her music choices include works by Ravel, Errolyn Wallen, Philip Glass and Puccini. Presenter Michael Berkeley Producer Clare Walker

Rupert Everett left school at 16 to train as an actor and first shot to wider fame in 1984 as a dashing public schoolboy in the film Another Country. Since then his career has been defiantly unpredictable: he’s starred in Hollywood films, taken leading roles on stage in the West End and on Broadway, and directed, written and played the lead in a ion project about Oscar Wilde’s final years. He’s made documentaries and written three candid and acclaimed memoirs. Most recently he’s turned to short stories with a collection called The American No, drawing on ideas he had pitched to film producers, all of which were rejected. His musical ions include works by Handel, Purcell, Wagner and Mahler. Presenter Michael Berkeley Producer Clare Walker