Inheritance Tracks

Broadcaster Georgia Mann chooses Gabriel Fauré’s ‘Pie Jesu’ and ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ by Bonnie Tyler.

Comedian and writer Ivo Graham chooses ‘Glastonbury Song’ by The Waterboys and ‘Funky Town’ by Lipps Inc.

Nature writer Robert Macfarlane chooses River Man by Nick Drake and Monkey Gone to Heaven by Pixies.

The actor Rory Kinnear has won two Olivier Awards, played Bill Tanner (M’s chief of staff) in four Bond Movies and his wide acting range has also seen him play Frankenstein’s monster and a fictional British Prime Minister. Born in London, educated at Oxford and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, if there is such a thing as an inherited performer’s gene, Rory got it. Both his parents wer...

Comedian, actor, screen-writer, voice-artist, podcaster - Jason Mantzoukas can do it all. He’s gone from improvised stand-up to starring in films and shows including Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The League. Born into a family of Greek-Americans in the early 1970s, he studied religion at college, drummed in a marching band, riffed in jazz clubs and moved to Morrocco to immerse himse...

The actor and presenter Nigel Havers was born in Middlesex in 1951 to a barrister father and an author mother. His screen roles have been varied, from His portrayal of Lord Andrew Lindsay in the film Chariots of Fire in 1981 which earned him a BAFTA nomination, to Lewis Archer in Coronation Street for over a decade and a guest spot in Downton Abbey amongst other. He was the face of Nescafe for man...

Archers actor Charles Collingwood chooses ‘My Blue Heaven’ by Frank Sinatra and ‘The Hungry Years’ by Neil Sedaka.

Actor Dame Penelope Wilton chooses ‘Que Reste-t-il de nos Amours? by Charles Trenet and ‘I'll Remember April’ by Erroll Garner.

The stand-up comedian and writer Sophie Duker has appeared in venues around the UK and she’s also been seen on TV, popping up on the likes of 'Taskmaster', ‘Live at the Apollo’ and 'Celebrity Mastermind'. She has also hosted programmes for BBC Sounds including the ‘Obsessed’ strands – which accompany hit television shows – ‘I May Destroy You’ and ‘Everything I Know About Love.’ And there’s still a...

The BAFTA award winning actor Gina McKee, in a career spanning over three decades, has showcased her range in dramas, comedies and thrillers. Born in Durham, she grew up the daughter of a coal miner, but has gone onto become perhaps best known for her work in The Lost Prince, Our Friends in the North, Brass Eye and Notting Hill. Gina focuses on the craft rather than the fame and that’s so evident...

Rachel Burden is a familiar voice on the BBC airwaves, she’s been a regular on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Breakfast programme, regularly brings us the news on the television, and hosts Cafe Hope - Radio 4’s virtual coffee shop where guests pop in for a brew and a chat to tell us what they're doing to make the world a better place. Born in Buckinghamshire, she graduated from Trinity College Dublin and stud...

Time for some radio gold...or silver? Christina Trevanion is an internationally-recognised jewellery expert whose work as an auctioneer has led her to a sparkling role presenting TV antiques shows like Antiques Road Trip, Bargain Hunt and Flog It. After studying Fine Art at University, Christina worked at Christies in London before setting up her own auction house in her home county of Shropshire....

Carrie Hope Fletcher is a true triple threat: a powerhouse performer, a bestselling writer and an inspiring voice off stage too. She’s been in the spotlight since she was seven years old and has made her name as a West End star playing iconic roles…Éponine and Fantine in Les Misérables, Veronica Sawyer in the original West End production of Heathers: The Musical, and she originated the role of Cin...

From playing Lane Price in Mad Men to King George VI in the Crown, and now Claudius in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Hamlet, performing is in Jared Harris' blood. His earliest memory is being in Hawaii while his late father – the actor Richard Harris – was filming a movie with Julie Andrews. But as a child, he wanted to be an astronaut...which might explain his Inheritance Tracks....

The journalist and broadcaster Steph McGovern is one of the most recognisable faces and voices and is currently on the run from Bear Grylls in new Netflix show Celebrity Bear Hunt. She grew up in Middlesbrough and went to a truly egalitarian school which believed that all children have skills, whatever their family’s background. A classic swot but also the class clown, she just wanted people to li...

Musician Olly Alexander was born in Harrogate, and discovered a love of acting at school, where tread the boards in Guys and Dolls and the bug had bitten. His role as Ritchie in Russel T Davies' acclaimed Channel 4 drama It's a Sin, bringing to life the horrors of HIV/Aids in the Gay community in the 1980's, brought him serious attention and plaudits, earning him a Bafta TV nomination in the Best...

The acclaimed actor Jesse Eisenberg was born in New York, and raised in New Jersey, in a secular Jewish home, by his parents and two sisters. His latest film A Real Pain, honours that heritage, and alongside Succession's Kieran Culkin they play Jewish American cousins who travel to former Nazi German-occupied Poland to honour their late grandmother. The film is tipped to do well at this years Osca...

For some of you, before Wicked's Elphaba and Glinda entered our consciousness...there was Felicity Jones in the TV series The Worst Witch...the double Oscar nominee's first starring role before spending a decade as Emma Carter in The Archers. Born in Birmingham, down the road from Ambridge, it was in a galaxy far, far, away that she cemented her place in Hollywood in Rogue One: A Stars War Story H...

Jonathan Joseph, DJ Spoony to his friends, is someone who spends his life selecting music – and has just taken over the late-night slot on Radio 2. Born in Hackney in the early 1970s to British West Indian parents, he loved music from an early age and quickly moved from underground pirate radio stations in the 90's before bringing garage music to Radio 1. At Christmas he revealed that he’d recentl...

The double BAFTA Cymru winning Welsh actor Eve Myles was born to a Scottish father and a Welsh mother and grew up in Powys. Choosing three films from the video shop on a Saturday and watching them on repeat all week is how young Eve fell in love with the possibilities and escapism of acting. Her compelling role in Keeping Faith saw her not only having to learn Welsh, act alongside her real-life hu...

Professor Alice Roberts is an anatomist, broadcaster and author famous for making science accessible and captivating. Initially she wanted to be a doctor and studied medicine and anatomy at Cardiff University and developed an interest in biological anthropology, looking at what ancient skeletons can tell us about human evolution…getting human remains to give up their secrets. The clavicle is her f...

Russell Howard is a familiar face on television having hosted Russell Howard's Good News and The Russell Howard Hour, and has been a regular on Mock the Week. He is now of the UK’s most successful comedians, and there’s not a panel show worth its salt that he hasn’t been on over the years, each won benefitting from his unique perspective. Born and raised in Somerset, he studied economics at univer...

Josh Widdicombe is a comedian who many will know from his hit parenting podcast with Rob Beckett – and as one of panellists on Channel 4’s The Last Leg. Raised in a small village on Dartmoor, his love of all things Devon, Plymouth Argyle and the 90’s has informed much of his work – and his new tour is sure to be steeped to perfection. Before becoming a comedian he worked as a bookseller, in a petr...

Alex James became famous as the bassist in Blur, indie rock icons who helped define the sound of English guitar music in the 1990’s. Born in Bournemouth and now living in Oxfordshire with his wife and five children, Alex discovered a love of farming, and in particular, cheese, during a quiet period in Blur’s history. The cheese he produces is award winning, among them Blue Monday and Good Queen Ma...

After working at Pizza Hut in his twenties, Mackenzie Crook suddenly shot to fame playing the hapless paper salesman Gareth Keenan in the smash-hit BBC comedy “The Office” Since then, he’s starred in blockbuster franchises including Pirates of the Caribbean and Game of Thrones, as well as Shakespeare, Dickens and his beloved Worzel Gummidge. He also created, directed and starred in the charming co...