Inheritance Tracks

From the moment he became a cub scout in Sussex in the 1970s, Tim Peake wanted to have adventures. He joined the army...became an Apache helicopter pilot...and then set his sights even higher...A LOT higher. As an astronaut, he became the first Brit to walk in space during a voyage to the International Space Station. But what kind of music did he listen to while he was up there? Inherited: It Must...

The Reverend Kate Bottley is a not your run of the mill vicar... ...since rising to fame on Channel 4’s Gogglebox she’s gone on to become a writer and broadcaster on the likes of Songs of Praise, and you can hear her every Sunday with Jason Mohammad (formerly of this parish) on Radio 2’s Good Morning Sunday. Kate’s latest book, Have a Little Faith, isn’t out to convert, quite the opposite, it’s a...

Simon Farnaby is famed for his parts in Ghosts, Horrible Histories and Detectorists, but it's his starring role in that iconic sketch from the Diamond Jubilee, seen over 30 million times on YouTube, in which he served the late Queen tea with Paddington Bear. Indeed, he was one of the writers of Paddington 2 – and his latest screenplay, Wonka, is actually a musical origin story of Roald Dahl’s ecce...

She’s cycled to the South Pole, ran the Namibia ultra-marathon, kayaked the entire length of the River Amazon, solo, yet competing on Strictly made TV presenter and adventurer, Helen Skelton feel most vulnerable. Helen began her presenting career at Newsround and has been a household name since 2008, when she became a Blue Peter presenter and graduated to Countryfile. Her new memoir In My Stride c...

Chef Tom Kerridge is more than just a Michelin-starred foodie – he's a TV presenter, author and entrepreneur. Married to sculptor Beth Cullen-Kerridge, Tom’s new book ‘Pub Kitchen: The Ultimate Modern British Food Bible’ was recently published and we asked him to serve up his Inheritance Tracks. Inherited: English Rose by The Jam Passed on: Proof by I Am Kloot As featured on BBC Radio 4's Saturday...

Casual, fun, yet competent and assuring Alan Fletcher's character, Dr Karl Kennedy, along with his on-screen wife Susan, was a genuine tea-time idol to a generation. What you might not know is that the actor is a country music aficionado, part of a burgeoning Australian Americana scene, and at the age of 65, he's just released his first solo album. As Neighbours returns to our screens we asked him...

The actor, comedian and writer Mawaan Rizwan, recently told the NME, “In every job I do, I want to smash the box that people put me in”. Born in Pakistan, Mawaan’s family moved to the UK when he was three, he grew up in East London, with a mother who’d been a child star in Pakistan so if the performance gene were a thing, he very much has it it. As an actor he’s played roles in Simon Amstell’s Ben...

If you type ‘right wing comedian’ into a search engine the top answer will be Geoff Norcott. Amazingly...the second, third and fourth results would also be the comedian and podcaster. He's certainly cornered his niche making us laugh on Live At The Apollo, Have I Got News For You, and his own stand-up special for Radio 4 Geoff-erendum. But, ironically, it seems Geoff doesn't necessarily skew right...

Born in Billericay, Richard Osman got his first taste for broadcasting on BBC Radio Sussex, when he was still at school. He read Politics and Sociology at Cambridge and then worked behind the scenes in TV before creating and co-presenting the BBC quiz show, Pointless. His own show, Richard Osman’s House of Games followed, another huge success, and along the way he’s managed to become an internatio...

Johnny Flynn - actor, poet, musician - he can do pretty much anything. On stage and screen, he’s played Albert Einstein, Richard Burton and David Bowie - and in the studio he’s recorded albums of classic folk as well as the title track for The Detectorists. Johnny took a break from playing a political broadcaster in his new show The Lovers to tell us about the musicians who have inspired him throu...

Comedian, writer and actor Rose Matafeo grew up in New Zealand, the daughter of a Samoan father and a mother with Scottish/Croatian heritage. In 2018 she won the prestigious ‘Best Show’ at The Edinburgh Fringe for ‘Horndog' - only the second woman, and the first person of colour, to win it. As an actor, she was brilliant in the New Zealand movie Baby Done and she’s soon to be back on our screens i...

You’ll no doubt have seen the comedian Lou Sanders on pretty much every tv comedy show; from Live at the Apollo, to 8 out of 10 Cats and she was even champion on Taskmaster. Her memoir "What's that Lady Doing?" charts a life of mistakes with funny look at what happens when we work through our issues and come out the other side. The songs she has chosen to cherish from her past and to pass on to th...

The BBC’s News Analysis Editor, Ros Atkins, knew he wanted to be a journalist when he was ten years old. He grew up in Cornwall and the Caribbean and read history at Cambridge. He’s now a trusted broadcaster and a man synonymous with news and, he became a bit of a social media sensation with his explainer videos. As he once dabbled as a drum’n’bass DJ we wondered what his Inheritance Tracks might...

Award-winning author, illustrator and screen-writer Alice Oseman created the hugely popular “Heartstopper” series about two teenage boys, Nick and Charlie, falling in love at a British school. The story has been a sensation going from online-comic to printed book to blockbuster Netflix show. Inherited: Everywhere by Fleetwood Mac Pass On: Dance with me by Beabadoobe Producer: Ben Mitchell

The Megadeth frontman on the tracks that inspire him both personally and his music.

The barrister turned broadcaster reveals the music that is most important to him.

Actor and musician Minnie Driver's breakout film roles include Circle of Friends, Grosse Pointe Blank and the hugely successful 1997 movie, Good Will Hunting, for which she was Oscar nominated. You may have recently seen her in the movies Cinderella or Chevalier - and on TV in the US sitcom Speechless or in Rose Matafeo’s Starstruck here on the BBC. Minnie’s side-hustles are equally successful, sh...

Annie MacManus, known professionally as Annie Mac, is the DJ turned author whose new book ‘The Mess We're In’ is a story about how music can break you down and build you back up again. Annie presented shows on BBC Radio 1 for seventeen years and, as well as writing, performs at music festivals all over the world and at some of the biggest clubs. Inherited: A Rainy Night in Soho by The Pogues Pass...

After the indie rock band, The Audience, disbanded in the late 90’s, their lead singer began her solo career. Sophie Ellis-Bextor had early solo hits like Murder on the Dancefloor and Groovejet (If This Ain't Love). Sophie has now released her seventh studio album, Hana. BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live asked Sophie to share her Inheritance Tracks with us. Inherited: Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd Pass...

Actor, writer and stand-up comedian Guz Khan was born in Birmingham and raised in Coventry. The former humanities teacher quit his job to pursue a career in comedy after his social media videos gained a following. He went on to create the hit BBC television series Man Like Mobeen, and the fourth series is currently streaming via the BBC iPlayer. Inherited: Tumhein Dillagi Bhool Jani Paray Gi by Us...

On her Instagram profile, actor Tanya Moodie describes herself as Buddhist, actor, Willow’s mum, Mini Bull terrier mum. Born in Canada to Jamaican parents Tanya came to England at the age of 17 and got a place at RADA. She’s since worked with the RSC and The National Theatre and on TV is known for her award-winning work on the BBC series Motherland and for the RTE show The Clinic Inherited: Duppy...

You might know Ben Bailey Smith better as Doc Brown, an actor, comedian, rapper and screen writer. Ben was born to a Jamaican mother and English father in Willesden, north west London, his older sister is the celebrated writer Zadie Smith. He started rapping when he was 15, competing in Rap Battles in the early 2000’s, and became a successful stand up comedian. His acting talents have appeared in...

The frontman of one of the biggest music acts of the 90’s, Supergrass, Gaz was born in Oxford to a food scientist father and an English teaching mother. The family moved to San Francisco for a few of Gaz’s formative years, before returning to Oxford and at 13, he met 15-year-old Danny Goffey on the school playing field and that was the beginning of musical history. Supergrass released six studio a...

Sadiq Khan was born in 1970 in Tooting, south London. He became a solicitor in the early 90’s specializing in Human rights issues, and an MP in 2005. He was first elected as London Mayor in 2016, becoming the third mayor of the city and its first Muslim mayor. In his new book 'Breathe: Tackling the Climate Emergency' he describes his reaction to being diagnosed with adult-onset asthma. He reveals...

Alex George was an A & E doctor in London when he entered the nation’s consciousness by appearing on the fourth series of Love Island. Although he initially returned to work on the ward, the media clamour for his talent eventually lured him away. Using his medical expertise, he hosted a podcast, made appearances on many of the nation’s favourite TV shows and then, in 2020, his youngest brother...