Profile

Born and raised in south east London, James Cleverly once dreamed of being an artist, then opted for an army career. But never expected to become a politician. Yet now, after swiftly climbing the cabinet ladder, the high-flying statesman has made the step up from Foreign Secretary to Home Secretary. But with a bulging in-tray - including the government's troubled plan to deport asylum seekers to R...

As President Biden's top diplomat, Antony Blinken is in the eye of the storm as the conflict rages in Israel and Gaza. The US Secretary of State has been preparing for this role his whole life. But has he got what it takes? After a gilded upbringing - living in New York and Paris, an Ivy League education and a passion for music - he reluctantly turned his back on rock and roll to pursue a career a...

The US pop superstar, Taylor Swift, who's just become a billionaire entirely through music. Recent success includes a new re-recorded album, her live tour and accompanying film.

One of Britain's most popular comedians, Sir Lenny Henry, has spent nearly 50 years in show business. His new TV drama series 'Three Little Birds' is inspired by his mother's generation, who came to Britain from the Caribbean to make a new start in post-Windrush Britain. Timandra Harkness charts his life from impersonator and stand-up comedian, to Shakespearean actor, scriptwriter and campaigner f...

After helping to secure strong results for opposition parties in Poland’s most recent election, former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk looks highly likely to return to his country’s top job. Best known in the UK as a former President of the European Council, Donald Tusk is a political survivor, forged in the struggle and resistance against communist-era Poland in the 1980s, but who then went on...

Adam Kay is a Bafta-winning TV writer, author and comedian who previously worked as a hospital doctor. He's famous for using his medical experiences to highlight the pressures of working in the NHS. He recently spoke out in support of junior doctors and hospital consultants who've been demanding better rates of pay. Despite give up a career in medicine in 2010, celebrity friends occasionally ring...

The Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer is hoping to become the UK's next prime minister. He first won his seat in Parliament in 2015 after a successful career working as a human rights lawyer and then being appointed the UK's Director of Public Prosecutions. He was previously rumoured to be the inspiration for the handsome but stuffy character Mark Darcy, a lawyer and love interest in the novel...

Lachlan Murdoch will become the boss of one of the world's most powerful media empires. His father, Rupert, has said his eldest son will succeed him as chairman of Fox and News Corp. Lachlan's appointment ends years of speculation over which one of the siblings will take control of the businesses their father built. At one point Lachlan's younger brother James was favourite for the top job but it...

Miriam Margolyes is at the peak of her career, even though she's been acting on our screens for decades. Her career started in the 1960 but despite playing many roles on stage, TV and film she is more famous now than ever before. She's in demand not only for her acting talents and presenting documentaries, but also as a sofa guest on chat shows. Her potty mouth, refreshing honesty and shocking sto...

Davina McCall is regularly referred to as the queen of reality TV and has been a familiar face on our screens for decades. From the unpredictable dating show Streetmate, to the iconic Big Brother and now her latest show Your Mum, My Dad, which features middle-aged singles looking for a second chance at love. She’s been open about overcoming addiction, taking drugs with her mum and surviving an ove...

The recently appointed defence secretary Grant Shapps is no stranger to getting his teeth into a new job, it’s his fifth cabinet role in less than a year. He's widely seen as a safe pair of hands and an effective communicator but has received criticism over his latest appointment because of his lack of military experience. A married father of three and a cousin of The Clash guitarist Mick Jones, h...

Benjamin Netanyahu is Israel's longest-serving Prime Minister, but his government’s plans for judicial reform have triggered one of the most serious crises of his political career. Timandra Harkness looks at the life of the man who has won six elections and who is known to his supporters as 'King Bibi'. Credits: The Hoover Institution: “Bibi: My Story,” Benjamin Netanyahu On His Life And Times The...

The multi-millionaire climate campaigner and Just Stop Oil donor Dale Vince, made his fortune in green energy. He started generating his own power with a homemade windmill before setting up green energy provider, Ecotricity in the 1990s. He’s since commissioned a record-breaking electric car and added a football club and lab-grown diamonds to his sustainable businesses. Mark Coles looks at the lif...

Joe Biden has been involved in US politics for more than fifty years, becoming one of America’s youngest senators in 1972, when Richard Nixon was in the White House. Now, aged eighty, Biden is the oldest US president in history and is seeking re-election in 2024. He’s experienced terrible tragedies in his life, when his first wife and baby daughter were killed in a car accident in 1972, and the de...

Lee Anderson, MP for Ashfield and Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, is no stranger to media attention. He has made headlines for his controversial statements about poverty, migration and the death penalty. Now he is reported to be a prominent figure in the New Conservatives, a pressure group calling on the Prime Minister to drastically cut migration before the next general election. Yet h...

Russia's Defence Minister, Sergei Shoigu, was publicly condemned by Wagner leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, during his march on Moscow. Yet despite the criticism, this long-term ally of President Putin remains in post. Timandra Harkness looks at the life and career of the former construction engineer, who once headed Russia's disaster relief programme, becoming a minister under Boris Yeltsin. Presenter:...

The youngest person ever to receive a life peerage, Charlotte Owen’s elevation to the House of Lords, after less than six years in Westminster - some of it working as an intern - has made newspaper headlines. She’s had a remarkably quick rise through the Conservative party, starting as an intern and ending up a special advisor to then Prime Minister, Boris Johnson - the man who recommended her pee...

Jack Smith is no stranger to the courtroom. He counts mob bosses, public officials and war criminals among those he has put behind bars. But no case he has been involved with has been as high profile as the one he is bringing against the former, and possible future, President of the United States - Donald J. Trump. In the last week, he made a very rare public appearance announcing his charges agai...

Former High Court judge Baroness Hallett is no stranger to a high-profile case, having previously chaired an inquiry into the 2005 London terror attacks. But her most recent appointment as chair of an inquiry looking at the UK's response to the pandemic could be her biggest job to date. In the past few weeks she’s been stuck in a legal battle with the Government after refusing to withdraw her orde...

Suella Braverman, the current home secretary and former attorney general, has found herself making the headlines for all the wrong reasons in the last few weeks. After a row over a speeding fine, and data showing record levels of net migration on her watch, her poll ratings have dipped. However, she is still a popular figure among many in her party, and despite losing out on the last leadership co...

Succession - the dark comedy following an American media family - has won 13 Emmys, 5 Golden Globes and a BAFTA. As it draws to a close, we take a look at the life of its creator, a British writer who has co-written some of the best television of the last 20 years including Peep Show, The Thick of it and Fresh Meat. From the border town of Oswestry, Shropshire to the toast of Manhattan and LA, Jes...

Enter the murky world of one of the most dominant men in Russia. From selling hotdogs to running a private army and meddling in the US elections, from Syria to Ukraine- who is this man in the shadows? One of the most powerful figures you may not have heard of - Yevgeny Prigozhin. Once a hotdog seller in St Petersburg, this former prisoner has risen to become a friend of Putin and his private army...

This weekend the controversial President of Turkey faces one of the most important elections ever for his country and the wider Middle East region. But how did the son of a Black Sea coastguard rise to live in a thousand-room palace? And how will he cope with one of the biggest political challenges of a career spanning more than twenty years? Mark Coles hears from Turkish and British guests who kn...

South African opera star Pretty Yende is performing her biggest gig yet at the Coronation. She was personally selected by the King to sing at the service in Westminster Abbey. Growing up in the small rural town of Mpumalanga, Yende’s passion for opera began when she saw a British Airways advertisement featuring the Flower Duet by Delibes. She asked her teacher about it, who advised her to join the...

The country girl who won the heart of a prince: Queen Consort, Camilla, will be crowned Queen at the Coronation of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey. The BBC’s Royal correspondent, Jonny Dymond, talks to friends and royal authors about her life so far. Presenter: Jonny Dymond Producers: Sally Abrahams and Diane Richardson Researcher: Louise Byrne Sound: James Beard Editor: Simon Watts