Inheritance Tracks

Star of TV and radio, Vernon Kay comes from a Northern working-class family. His first job, at 14, was putting stickers on boxes of bananas at a ripening factory…and he also worked as caretaker, deep cleaning schools before his break came as a model. TV came next with stints on T4 and All-Star Family Fortunes and has recently taken over the mid-morning show on Radio 2. Last November Vernon ran an...

Marcus Brigstocke and Rachel Parris are a funny couple. Quite literally! The comedians have been regulars on comedy quiz panels, with Parris one of the hosts on the Mash Report, and Brigstocke appearing on many programmes here on Radio 4, including the popular I’ve Never Seen Star Wars amongst countless other shows. They're new podcast ‘How was it for you?’, offers a peek into the joyful mess that...

The Michelin starred chef and restaurateur Angela Hartnett likes crisps, prefers cheese to dessert, and her favourite pasta is spaghetti in a tomato sauce. Simple tastes for someone who’s famous for giving people fine dining experiences. A protegee of Gordon Ramsay, Angela cheffed in some of the best restaurants in the world before opening her own Murano in Mayfair. She’s famous and in demand for...

The comedian, podcaster and self described Vibe-Magnet John Robins is an Edinburgh Comedy Award winner whose dry stand up has taken him on several sold out tours, a BBC 5 Live programme with Elis James, and the latest series of Taskmaster. He openly talks about all aspects of his life, from the ridiculous to the sublime, and has been praised for the way he has discussed the way he has dealt with m...

Born in Paris, Liz Bonnin grew up in Ireland where she studied biochemistry at Trinity College Dublin. She joined an all-girl pop band rather than doing a PhD at Oxford and then came TV, initially on entertainment shows before her real calling pulled her back for a Masters in wild animal biology. When Liz returned to our tv screens it was as a science presenter; Tomorrow’s World, Bang Goes the The...

Broadcaster Lauren Laverne has, arguably, two of the best jobs in radio - 6 Music’s Breakfast Show and Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs. Her career in entertainment began though as the lead singer and a guitarist in the band Kenickie and her love of performing and sharing music see's her takes Desert Island Discs to the London Palladium for a series of special live shows. As someone who encourages pe...

Natalie Cassidy has grown up in front of the nation. She was only ten years old when she joined the cast of Eastenders. Over the last 30 years, her character - Sonia - has become one of the most popular residents of Albert Square, as she’s dealt with a teenage pregnancy, a cancer scare and bereavements. Natalie had to have music lessons when her character famously took up the trumpet on Eastenders...

Strictly Come Dancing's longest serving professional dancer Karen Hauer was born in Valencia, Venezula where she lived until the age of eight before moving with her family to the Bronx in New York. Dance allowed Karen to express herself and at the age of nine she won a scholarship to the Martha Graham School of Contempoary Dance. On the show she has danced with the likes of Will Young and Eddie Ka...

Alex Horne is the comedian and creator of the BAFTA winning Channel 4’s hit comedy game-show, Taskmaster. On the show Alex is the Taskmaster’s assistant and this week, we’ve given him the task of assisting us with choosing our Inheritance Tracks. He is a musician himself and he will be will be on tour around the country with ‘The Horne Section’ and their brand-new show from March 2024. Inherited:...

Tommy Tiernan is a stand-up comedian, actor, writer and extraordinary talk show host, extraordinary because on The Tommy Tiernan Show on RTE he doesn’t know who his guest is until they walk on, there’s no script or preparation, so the conversation can go anywhere, and it does! As a comedian, he’s won the big award and even though his sense of humour has on occasions been controversial, he maintain...

Adam Hills is a seriously funny man, and most well known as host of Channel 4’s hugely successful The Last Leg on Friday nights. Born in Sydney without a right foot, he turned his disability to his advantage and often referred to it in his comedy. His first stand up show was in 1997, and he became a hit at the Melbourne International comedy festival and the Edinburgh Fringe. Some alternative comme...

The Grand Tour presenter and lover of high-speed adventures Richard Hammond, was born in Birmingham, the eldest of three boys, and describes himself growing up as ‘a little fella’ in a close-knit family. His first broadcasting experience, and love, was not TV but local radio and as bass guitar player we wondered what his Inheritance Tracks might be. Inherited: Call Me The Breeze by J.J. Cale Passe...

Millions of cricket fans all over the world have grown up with Jonathan Agnew’s voice as he’s expertly guided us through the highs and lows of the best sport ever invented. He’s joined Test Match Special in 1991 after a very successful career as a fast bowler for Leicestershire and a slightly less successful career as a fast bowler for England – which he often jokes about on air. He’s a keen flyer...

Iain Stirling started doing stand-up while studying law at University in Edinburgh and quickly drew the attention of the comedy world. Soon after, his popularity grew, and now sells out venues all over the country. In 2015 he became the voice of ITV2's dating show Love Island. He also clearly loves music so we asked him to share with us the song that have changed his life. Inherited: Africa, Toto...

The London born ceramic artist Keith Brymer-Jones, who regularly wells up when he’s moved by beauty and effort on The Great Pottery Throw Down, was eleven years old when he made his first pottery object. After a brief stint in the punk band The Wigs, he got an apprenticeship at Harefield Pottery in London and learned to make modern ceramics. We asked him to turn his hand to this week's Inheritance...

Owain Wyn Evans has been working in broadcasting since he was 18. He's an accomplished television and radio presenter and shot to superstardom during the pandemic in 2020 as the drumming weather presenter playing along to the BBC News Theme. He became a viral sensation and in 2021 he raised an extraordinary £3million for Children in Need by drumming non-stop for 24 hours. This week he took a break...

When he’s not working on his own gin brand, or his latest book, or guest editing the Today programme former petrol head James May is perhaps best known as the thinking man’s car guy from Top Gear and Grand Tour. His trademark wry humour and self-deprecation make him an interesting TV presenter, no matter what he turns his attention to and he’s an excellent travel guide on the various James May Our...

Opera singer Wynne Evans was indelibly etched into the UK’s collective TV watching consciousness when he played Gio Compario - the moustachioed opera singer in those famous comparison site adverts. Born in South-West Wales, Wynne is a professionally trained opera star and his operatic roles have seen him onstage at major opera houses here in the UK and across the globe, with his debut album ‘A Son...

Writer, comedian and broadcaster Sandi Toksvig was born in Denmark to a Danish father and English mother and was brought up in Europe, Africa and the United States. She’s done it all; politics, children's books, theatre plays, the great British Bake Off, and taken part in pretty much every panel show worth its salt, including of course hosting QI, the much loved and quite interesting panel show sh...

Kelvin Fletcher is best known for his portrayal of Andy Sugden in Emmerdale, a role he played for twenty years, and for which he won Best Actor at the British Soap awards for his portrayal. When he was just six years old he went to Oldham Theatre Workshop where, before getting his big break in 1996. He’s a father of four and a keen motor racer, and documented his buying of a 120 acre farm in the P...

Before Lucy Worsley became a fixture on our TV screens as a trusted architectural and social historian she wanted to be either a spy, a witch or a nun. But her father was a geologist and he wanted Lucy to be a scientist, so when she switched from the sciences to the humanities he was unimpressed and told her she’d never earn a living with a history degree! It was a visit to Mompesson House, a Nati...

This edition of Inheritance Tracks are chosen by Jonathan Ranganathan – better known, of course, by his middle name, Romesh. The comedian, presenter and DJ was born in West Sussex in the late 1970s to Sri Lankan parents. When he was 11, a friend left a cassette-tape at his house – labelled Public Enemy. Romesh listened – and that day, his love of hip-hop music began. But not just hip-hop. Music ha...

If farmer, TV presenter and writer Adam Henson was a stick of rock the word Cotswolds would be sweetly written through him. He’s loved by millions of Countryfile viewers and probably a lot of lambs, Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, Highland cattle and horses too. And he knows a thing or two about how food gets from farm to fork being an ambassador for British farming. But will his Inheritance Tracks...

The actor, writer, comedian and Radio 4 treasure, Miles Jupp has been delighting audiences for decades; from Balamory to The News Quiz and Rev. Miles recently shared the news that he’d suffered a brain seizure - requiring complex neurosurgery. Happily, he’s has made a good recovery, and he's about to go on tour...no doubt with his favourite music playing in the car as he criss-crosses the country....

Derren Brown amazes audiences with his extraordinary illusions and showmanship, as a mentalist and magic creator. He captivates with his charm and is also disarmingly forthright and emotionally eloquent which is evident in his writing, podcast Bootcamp and painting. Born in London and brought up in Purley, which he describes as the epitome of middle-class suburbia, Derren studied law and German at...