Coming soon
The Mark Steel Lectures
The Mark Steel Lectures are a series of radio and television programmes. Delivered and written by Mark Steel, each scripted lecture presents arguments for the value of a historical figure.
The lectures were originally broadcast over three series between 2002 and 1999. Tiny sketches illustrated A number of the arguments. These sketches featured Femi Elufowoju Junior, Martin Hyder, Mel Hudson, Carla Mendonça, Mark Steel and Debbie Isitt. The very first show was subtitled"A series of lectures about Englishmen who changed the course of history", with the rest two changing to"A series of lectures about individuals who have a passion". Phil Clark produced the original show. The rest by Lucy Armitage. The lecture on Ludwig van Beethoven was nominated for a Sony Radio Comedy Award.
The programme transferred to television with an Open University show, in 2003. This featured:
Gerard Logan as Lord Byron
Martin Hyder as Ludwig van Beethoven, Sigmund Freud, Aristotle, Che Guevara, Oliver Cromwell, Isaac Newton along with Charles Darwin
Ainsley Harriott as Robert Boyle
Linda Smith as Martha Freud