Close Encounters

After three years of closure for major refurbishment and expansion the National Portrait Gallery, just off London's Trafalgar Square is set for re-opening. To mark the occasion the gallery, along with BBC Radio 4 have launched a celebration of great Briton's, with Martha Kearney hosting a Close Encounter between the likes of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Dame Katherine Grainger and Edward Enninful and a portrait they choose to champion. For Sir Tim Berners-Lee it's the Suffragette campaigner Christabel Pankhurst, for Dame Katherine Grainger it's the first English woman to swim the channel, the largely forgotten Mercedes Gleitze.

In each episode we find out about the subject of the portrait, the moment at which their image was captured for posterity and the importance of image and identity for those who find themselves in the eye of the nation's attention today.

Producers: Tom Alban and Mohini Patel

Martha Kearney hosts British celebrities past and present at the National Portrait Gallery

Martha Kearney invites ten leading figures of today to the newly refurbished National Portrait Gallery to select a favourite picture from the Gallery's star-studded collection.

After three years of closure for major refurbishment and expansion the National Portrait Gallery, just off London's Trafalgar Square is set for re-opening. To mark the occasion the gallery, along with BBC Radio 4 have launched a celebration of great Briton's, with Martha Kearney hosting a Close Encounter between the likes of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Dame Katherine Grainger and Edward Enninful and a portrait they choose to champion. For Sir Tim Berners-Lee it's the Suffragette campaigner Christabel Pankhurst, for Dame Katherine Grainger it's the first English woman to swim the channel, the largely forgotten Mercedes Gleitze.

In each episode we find out about the subject of the portrait, the moment at which their image was captured for posterity and the importance of image and identity for those who find themselves in the eye of the nation's attention today.

Producers: Tom Alban and Mohini Patel

Martha Kearney hosts British celebrities past and present at the National Portrait Gallery

The editor-in chief of British Vogue Edward Enninful joins Martha Kearney to make his selection of a favourite photograph from the National Portrait Gallery.

JJ also talks about McIndoe's 'Guinea Pig Club' made up of the airman who had come under McIndoe's care, which was the inspiration for JJ forming the Casy-Vac club for modern soldiers who have had to be evacuated from the front line as casualties.

The Series is a prelude to the re-opening of the National Portrait Gallery later this month after three years of massive renovation.

Producer: Tom Alban

Martha Kearney hosts British celebrities past and present at the National Portrait Gallery

Former Marine and now TV presenter JJ Chalmers joins Martha Kearney to make his selection of a favourite picture from the National Portrait Gallery.

It's a story that reveals much about the way Britain has changed in the last half a century and rounds off the series which itself illustrates the tone and impact the National Portrait Gallery is endeavouring to deliver as it opens its doors to the public once again.

Producer: Tom Alban

Martha Kearney hosts British celebrities past and present at the National Portrait Gallery

In the last programme in Martha Kearney's series marking the re-opening of the National Portrait Gallery her guest is the mathematician and writer Simon Singh.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee whittled his options down to two, the architect Sir Christopher Wren and his final choice, the Suffragette Christabel Pankhurst. His decision was informed in part by an admiration for a woman who saw a problem and sought to fix it, and also by a desire to pay tribute to his own mother who had her own battle for equal recognition in the world of computer science.

In each episode we find out about the subject of the portrait, the moment at which their image was captured for posterity and the importance of image and identity for those who find themselves in the eye of the nation's attention today.

Producers: Tom Alban and Mohini Patel

Martha Kearney hosts British celebrities past and present at the National Portrait Gallery

Martha Kearney invites ten leading figures of today to the newly refurbished National Portrait Gallery to champion a favourite picture from the Gallery's star-studded collection.

After three years of closure for major refurbishment and expansion the National Portrait Gallery, just off London's Trafalgar Square is about to re-open. To mark the occasion the gallery, along with BBC Radio 4 have launched a celebration of great Britons, with Martha Kearney hosting a Close Encounter between the likes of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Dame Katherine Grainger, Edward Enninful and Arlo Parks and a portrait they choose to champion. For Sir TIm Berners-Lee it's the Suffragette campaigner Christabel Pankhurst, for Dame Katherine Grainger it's the first English woman to swim the channel, the largely forgotten Mercedes Gleitze.

In each episode we find out about the subject of the portrait, the moment at which their image was captured for posterity and the importance of image and identity for those who find themselves at the centre of the nation's attention today. It's also a chance for Martha's guests to get a look behind the scenes as the gallery prepares for its grand re-opening.

Producers: Tom Alban and Mohini Patel

This time it's the turn of Mercury prize-winning Singer songwriter Arlo Parks. Her choice is the late Punk figure of Marion Elliott-Said, otherwise known as Poly Styrene, the lead singer with X-Ray Spex

After three years of closure for major refurbishment and expansion the National Portrait Gallery, just off London's Trafalgar Square is set for re-opening. To mark the occasion the gallery, along with BBC Radio 4 have launched a celebration of great Briton's, with Martha Kearney hosting a Close Encounter between the likes of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Dame Katherine Grainger and Edward Enninful and a portrait they choose to champion. For Sir Tim Berners-Lee it's the Suffragette campaigner Christabel Pankhurst, for Dame Katherine Grainger it's the first English woman to swim the channel, the largely forgotten Mercedes Gleitze.

In each episode we find out about the subject of the portrait, the moment at which their image was captured for posterity and the importance of image and identity for those who find themselves in the eye of the nation's attention today.

Producers: Tom Alban and Mohini Patel

Her guest this time became a familiar face to anyone keeping abreast of developments during the COVID pandemic. The UK's Chief Medical Adviser Professor Sir Chris Whitty has chosen a fellow medical scientist and son of Gloucestershire, Edward Jenner, the man who's work developing Vaccination made it possible to start on the road to eradicating Smallpox.

After three years of closure for major refurbishment and expansion the National Portrait Gallery, just off London's Trafalgar Square is set for re-opening. To mark the occasion the gallery, along with BBC Radio 4 have launched a celebration of great Briton's, with Martha Kearney hosting a Close Encounter between the likes of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Dame Katherine Grainger, Edward Enninful and Arlo Parks and a portrait they choose to champion. For Sir Tim Berners-Lee it's the Suffragette campaigner Christabel Pankhurst, for Dame Katherine Grainger it's the first English woman to swim the channel, the largely forgotten Mercedes Gleitze.

In each episode we find out about the subject of the portrait, the moment at which their image was captured for posterity and the importance of image and identity for those who find themselves in the eye of the nation's attention today.

Producers: Tom Alban and Mohini Patel

Her guest is multi-medal-winning Olympic Rower and Chair of UK Sport Dame Katherine Grainger. Her choice is the swimmer Mercedes Gleitze, the first British woman to swim the channel as well as breaking many swimming endurance records in the 1920s and 30s. Although uncelebrated today, she was the first person on record to swim the straights of Gibraltar.

After three years of closure for major refurbishment and expansion the National Portrait Gallery, just off London's Trafalgar Square is set for re-opening. To mark the occasion the gallery, along with BBC Radio 4 have launched a celebration of great Briton's, with Martha Kearney hosting a Close Encounter between the likes of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Edward Enninful and Arlo Parks and a portrait they choose to champion. For Sir TIm Berners-Lee it's the Suffragette campaigner Christabel Pankhurst.

In each episode we find out about the subject of the portrait, the moment at which their image was captured for posterity and the importance of image and identity for those who find themselves in the eye of the nation's attention today.

Producers: Tom Alban and Mohini Patel

Sir Tim Berners-Lee whittled his options down to two, the architect Sir Christopher Wren and his final choice, the Suffragette Christabel Pankhurst. His decision was informed in part by an admiration for a woman who saw a problem and sought to fix it, and also by a desire to pay tribute to his own mother who had her own battle for equal recognition in the world of computer science.

In each episode we find out about the subject of the portrait, the moment at which their image was captured for posterity and the importance of image and identity for those who find themselves in the eye of the nation's attention today.

Producers: Tom Alban and Mohini Patel

After three years of closure for major refurbishment and expansion the National Portrait Gallery, just off London's Trafalgar Square is set for re-opening. To mark the occasion the gallery, along with BBC Radio 4 have launched a celebration of great Briton's, with Martha Kearney hosting a Close Encounter between the likes of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Dame Katherine Grainger and Edward Enninful and a portrait they choose to champion. For Sir Tim Berners-Lee it's the Suffragette campaigner Christabel Pankhurst, for Dame Katherine Grainger it's the first English woman to swim the channel, the largely forgotten Mercedes Gleitze.

In each episode we find out about the subject of the portrait, the moment at which their image was captured for posterity and the importance of image and identity for those who find themselves in the eye of the nation's attention today.

Producers: Tom Alban and Mohini Patel

After three years of closure for major refurbishment and expansion the National Portrait Gallery, just off London's Trafalgar Square is set for re-opening. To mark the occasion the gallery, along with BBC Radio 4 have launched a celebration of great Briton's, with Martha Kearney hosting a Close Encounter between the likes of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Dame Katherine Grainger and Edward Enninful and a portrait they choose to champion. For Sir Tim Berners-Lee it's the Suffragette campaigner Christabel Pankhurst, for Dame Katherine Grainger it's the first English woman to swim the channel, the largely forgotten Mercedes Gleitze.

In each episode we find out about the subject of the portrait, the moment at which their image was captured for posterity and the importance of image and identity for those who find themselves in the eye of the nation's attention today.

Producers: Tom Alban and Mohini Patel

JJ also talks about McIndoe's 'Guinea Pig Club' made up of the airman who had come under McIndoe's care, which was the inspiration for JJ forming the Casy-Vac club for modern soldiers who have had to be evacuated from the front line as casualties.

The Series is a prelude to the re-opening of the National Portrait Gallery later this month after three years of massive renovation.

Producer: Tom Alban

She was also drawn to an earlier portrait of Queen Henrietta Maria, the wife of King Charles I, not least because of the luxuriant and beautifully painted green silk dress she's wearing. The gallery curator Rab MacGibbon is on hand to point out that it was often the case that details in portraits, the landscape or clothes or flowers, would be the work of different hands, while the main artist would concentrate on the face and perhaps the hands.

However Alexa finally plumps for a huge canvas painted in 1616, the earliest portrait of the series. It's of the favourite, and very probably the lover of King James I, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. It shows him at the height of his powers, wearing the order of the garter regalia. As well as the extraordinarily vivid colour and drama of his costume, Alexa is drawn, as she was with Emma Hamilton, to the image of a man blessed with little more than good looks and a quick wit. Armed with these Emma and George before her made the best of what they had, and while they may not have been popular figures with the establishments of their respective times, they made a statement, and its a statement that survives in the gallery.

Producer: Tom Alban

Martha Kearney hosts British celebrities past and present at the National Portrait Gallery

The model and writer Alexa Chung joins Martha Kearney at the National Portrait Gallery to celebrate a painting of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham.

In the penultimate episode of Martha Kearney's series marking the re-opening of the National Portrait Gallery in London her guest is the model, writer and presenter Alexa Chung. Alexa took the opportunity of looking around the gallery as it prepared to re-open and made a shortlist of three pictures. The first was of Emma Hamilton depicted as an alluring young woman by the artist George Romney, who was clearly besotted with her, as was Admiral Lord Nelson who's portrait hangs next to Emma's in the gallery.

She was also drawn to an earlier portrait of Queen Henrietta Maria, the wife of King Charles I, not least because of the luxuriant and beautifully painted green silk dress she's wearing. The gallery curator Rab MacGibbon is on hand to point out that it was often the case that details in portraits, the landscape or clothes or flowers, would be the work of different hands, while the main artist would concentrate on the face and perhaps the hands.

However Alexa finally plumps for a huge canvas painted in 1616, the earliest portrait of the series. It's of the favourite, and very probably the lover of King James I, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. It shows him at the height of his powers, wearing the order of the garter regalia. As well as the extraordinarily vivid colour and drama of his costume, Alexa is drawn, as she was with Emma Hamilton, to the image of a man blessed with little more than good looks and a quick wit. Armed with these Emma and George before her made the best of what they had, and while they may not have been popular figures with the establishments of their respective times, they made a statement, and its a statement that survives in the gallery.

Producer: Tom Alban

Martha Kearney hosts British celebrities past and present at the National Portrait Gallery

The model and writer Alexa Chung joins Martha Kearney at the National Portrait Gallery to celebrate a painting of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham.

It's a story that reveals much about the way Britain has changed in the last half a century and rounds off the series which itself illustrates the tone and impact the National Portrait Gallery is endeavouring to deliver as it opens its doors to the public once again.

Producer: Tom Alban

Martha Kearney hosts British celebrities past and present at the National Portrait Gallery

In the last programme in Martha Kearney's series marking the re-opening of the National Portrait Gallery her guest is the mathematician and writer Simon Singh.

Her guests in this first week of programmes are Sir Paul Smith, Arlo Parks, Sir Chris Whitty, Dame Katherine Grainger and Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

After three years of closure for major refurbishment and expansion the National Portrait Gallery, just off London's Trafalgar Square is set for re-opening. To mark the occasion the gallery, along with BBC Radio 4 have launched a celebration of great Briton's, with Martha Kearney hosting a Close Encounter between the likes of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Dame Katherine Grainger, Edward Enninful and Arlo Parks and a portrait they choose to champion. For Sir TIm Berners-Lee it's the Suffragette campaigner Christabel Pankhurst, for Dame Katherine Grainger it's the first English woman to swim the channel, the largely forgotten Mercedes Gleitze.

In each episode we find out about the subject of the portrait, the moment at which their image was captured for posterity and the importance of image and identity for those who find themselves in the eye of the nation's attention today. It's also a chance for Martha's guests to get a look behind the scenes as the gallery prepares for its grand re-opening.

Sir Chris Whitty, a household presence during the COVID pandemic, chooses the man who pioneered Smallpox vaccination, Edward Jenner. Former Marine and now TV presenter JJ Chalmers introduces Martha to Archibald McIndoe, the man whose work on burns victims during the second world war endured to the extent that treatments he developed were used on JJ' himself, after being injured serving in Afghanistan.

Sometimes the portraits are lavish oil paintings. Sometimes they're discrete photographs, never intended for display in a major art gallery. That's certainly the case for mathematician Simon Singh's choice, Alan Turing. But while the photo might be the sort of black and white headshot that would appear in the back of a textbook, Simon's celebration of his story and the extent of his importance not just to cryptography and the wartime code breaking at Bletchley Park but to Modern computing development expands the small photo portrait for listeners.

Producers: Tom Alban and Mohini Patel

After three years of closure for major refurbishment and expansion the National Portrait Gallery, just off London's Trafalgar Square is set for re-opening. To mark the occasion the gallery, along with BBC Radio 4 have launched a celebration of great Briton's, with Martha Kearney hosting a Close Encounter between the likes of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Dame Katherine Grainger, Edward Enninful and Arlo Parks and a portrait they choose to champion. For Sir TIm Berners-Lee it's the Suffragette campaigner Christabel Pankhurst, for Dame Katherine Grainger it's the first English woman to swim the channel, the largely forgotten Mercedes Gleitze.

In each episode we find out about the subject of the portrait, the moment at which their image was captured for posterity and the importance of image and identity for those who find themselves in the eye of the nation's attention today. It's also a chance for Martha's guests to get a look behind the scenes as the gallery prepares for its grand re-opening.

Sir Chris Whitty, a household presence during the COVID pandemic, chooses the man who pioneered Smallpox vaccination, Edward Jenner. Former Marine and now TV presenter JJ Chalmers introduces Martha to Archibald McIndoe, the man whose work on burns victims during the second world war endured to the extent that treatments he developed were used on JJ' himself, after being injured serving in Afghanistan. Sometimes the portraits are lavish oil paintings. Sometimes they're discrete photographs, never intended for display in a major art gallery. That's certainly the case for mathematician Simon Singh's choice, Alan Turing. But while the photo might be the sort of black and white headshot that would appear in the back of a textbook, Simon's celebration of his story and the extent of his importance not just to cryptography and the wartime code breaking at Bletchley Park but to modern computing development expands the small photo portrait for listeners.

Producers: Tom Alban and Mohini Patel