This Cultural Life

Annie Leibovitz

22 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

American photographer Annie Leibovitz talks to John Wilson about her career and cultural influences.

Guillermo del Toro

15 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Oscar-winning Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro talks to John Wilson about his cultural influences. From his 1992 debut Cronos to his recent big bu...

Ricky Gervais

08 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Comedian and writer Ricky Gervais talks to John Wilson about his formative creative influences and inspirations. Ricky Gervais made his name as the co...

Jennifer Lawrence

13 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jennifer Lawrence's breakthrough role in the 2010 drama Winter’s Bone secured her first Academy Award nomination when she was just 20, and she won t...

Rufus Wainwright

06 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Rufus Wainwright is a singer-songwriter and composer renowned for his distinctive voice and the theatricality of his performances. Born into a family ...

Mark Ronson

30 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Having spent his early years in London, Mark Ronson grew up in Manhattan, began working as a DJ as a teenager and quickly made a name for himself on t...

Rose Tremain

23 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dame Rose Tremain is one of Britain’s most prolific and popular writers, having written 17 novels and five collections of short stories over the las...

Thomas Adès

16 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

One of the most revered and prolific British classical musicians, Thomas Adès made his name with his 1995 opera Powder Her Face, written when he was ...

Jonathan Anderson

09 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jonathan Anderson was appointed as creative director of the French fashion house Dior in March 2025, becoming one of the world’s most influential de...

Jackie Kay

02 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jackie Kay is one of the best known and most popular Scottish literary figures. A poet and novelist, she served as Makar - the name for Scotland’s p...

Kerry James Marshall

25 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

American artist Kerry James Marshall is one of the world’s most important living painters. Marshall has been making his large-scale, vividly colourf...

Alicia Vikander

18 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Swedish-born Alicia Vikander won global acclaim in 2015 for playing Vera Britten in Testament Of Youth, and a humanoid robot in the thriller Ex-Machin...

Alison Balsom

11 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Classical trumpeter Alison Balsom talks to John Wilson about the most significant influences and experiences that have inspired her career. Having rec...

Eric Idle

04 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Comedian, writer, musician and actor Eric Idle talks to John Wilson about his creative influences. A founding member of the Monty Python comedy troupe...

Anselm Kiefer

10 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Anselm Kiefer is one of the world’s greatest living artists. Born in Germany at the end of the Second World War, much of his work in paintings, scul...

Katherine Rundell

03 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Children’s writer and academic Katherine Rundell is the multi-million selling author of adventure stories including Rooftoppers, The Wolf Wilder and...

Steve Reich

26 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Composer Steve Reich is one of the most influential musicians of modern times. In the 1960s he helped rewrite the rules of composition, using analogue...

Jenny Saville

19 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Painter Jenny Saville, renowned for her large-scale portraits of fleshy, naked women, made her name soon after leaving art school when her graduation ...

Alan Menken

12 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Composer Alan Menken is the winner of more Academy Awards in competitive categories than any other living person. He’s best known for his scores for...

Gillian Anderson

05 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gillian Anderson’s breakthrough television role in the sci-fi series The X Files made her a global star in 1993, and she played cool-headed Agent Da...

Pete Townshend

29 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Pete Townshend is the songwriter, guitarist and co-founder of The Who. The band first stormed the pop charts sixty years ago, with teenage anthems inc...

James Rhodes

22 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Pianist James Rhodes was a relative latecomer to a professional music, and was 30 when he performed his first concert. In 2010 he became the first cor...

Doris Salcedo

15 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Since the late 1980s, Colombian artist Doris Salcedo has made work in response to conflict and political violence, drawing on the testimonies of victi...

Sheku Kanneh-Mason

08 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason was born in Nottingham in 1999 into a big musical family. He and his six siblings all grew up learning classical instrumen...

Wayne McGregor

01 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Choreographer Sir Wayne McGregor is one of the most acclaimed, innovative and influential figures in contemporary dance. His works are often the resul...

Simon Russell Beale

24 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Actor Sir Simon Russell Beale is widely acclaimed as one of the greatest actors of his generation. He has played many leading roles at National Theatr...

Maggie O'Farrell

17 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Maggie O’Farrell is the author of nine novels. Her debut, After You’d Gone, was published 25 years ago this year and won the Betty Trask Prize in ...

Abi Morgan

10 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Screenwriter and playwright Abi Morgan has worked across a diverse array of themes and genres for more than 25 years. She wrote the television series ...

Theaster Gates

20 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The internationally acclaimed and hugely influential artist Theaster Gates was born, raised and works in Chicago. He trained as a ceramicist, and stil...

David Hare

13 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The premiere of David Hare’s play Plenty at the National Theatre in 1978 marked him out as one of the UK’s most skilled and socially conscious pla...

Cynthia Erivo

06 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Born and raised in south London, Cynthia Erivo made her name with musical theatre in London, starring in shows including The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg an...

Marin Alsop

30 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

American conductor Marin Alsop was the first woman to lead major orchestras in the UK, South America and in the United States, becoming principal cond...

Robert Harris

23 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Having worked as a BBC television journalist, and as political editor for the Observer newspaper, Robert Harris published his debut novel Fatherland i...

James Ivory

16 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

James Ivory formed the filmmaking company Merchant Ivory with producer Ismail Merchant and the writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala in 1961. The company went o...

Isabel Allende

09 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Chilean author Isabel Allende became an international literary star after the publication of her 1982 debut novel The House Of the Spirits, an epic fa...

Thelma Schoonmaker

07 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Thelma Schoonmaker has, for over five decades, been Martin Scorsese’s cutting room collaborator. Having edited his first feature film in 1967, she h...

Bill Nighy

31 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A star of stage and screen, Bill Nighy has enjoyed a fifty year career and is now among Britain’s most prolific and much loved actors. Acclaimed for...

Julie Taymor

24 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Theatre, opera and film director Julie Taymor is regarded as one of the most imaginative directors and designers working today. Her stage version of t...

Hanif Kureishi

17 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Novelist, playwright and screenwriter Hanif Kureishi's first screenplay, My Beautiful Launderette brought him Oscar and BAFTA nominations in 1985. Fiv...

Nile Rodgers

10 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Nile Rodgers is one of the most successful and influential figures in popular music. As a songwriter, producer and arranger he has enjoyed a 50 year c...

Margaret Drabble

03 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The novelist, biographer and critic Dame Margaret Drabble published her debut novel in 1963. She quickly went on to become a bestselling and criticall...

Marina Abramović

26 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For over more than five decades the Serbian conceptual and performance artist Marina Abramović has used her own body as her artistic medium, explori...

Peter Kosminsky

19 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Having started out as a current affairs journalist, Peter Kosminsky made his name by telling contemporary social and political stories in the form of ...

Marlon James

12 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Marlon James made his name in 2014 with A Brief History Of Seven Killings, a novel which interweaves various narratives over several decades, starting...

Kiri Te Kanawa

05 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The New Zealand born opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa is one of the world's greatest sopranos. She enjoyed a 50 year career singing lead roles in oper...

Lee Child

29 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Lee Child created his tough guy protagonist Jack Reacher, a former military policeman who roams America fighting crime, in 1997. Writing a book a year...

Peter Blake

04 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The grandfather of British Pop Art, Sir Peter Blake is one of most influential and popular artists of his generation. A Royal Academician with work in...

Simon McBurney

27 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Director and actor Simon McBurney, one of the founders of the ground breaking theatre company Complicité, reveals his creative inspirations and influ...

Salman Rushdie

20 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

One of the world’s greatest novelists, Salman Rushdie has won many prestigious international literary awards and was knighted for services to litera...

Judy Chicago

13 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

John Wilson's guest is the pioneering American artist, author and educator Judy Chicago. Having run the first ever feminist art course in California, ...

Neil Jordan

06 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Oscar-winning director, screenwriter and novelist Neil Jordan made his name with the 1984 movie The Company Of Wolves, adapted from an Angela Carter s...

Zadie Smith

30 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Zadie Smith grew up in north west London and studied English at Cambridge University. After a publisher’s bidding war when she was just 21, her debu...

Lily Allen

23 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Renowned for the autobiographical candour of her lyrics, Lily Allen has sung about the pitfalls of fame, drugs, broken relationships and motherhood. S...

John Adams

16 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The work of composer and conductor John Adams blends the rhythmic vitality of Minimalism with late-Romantic orchestral harmonies. He emerged alongside...

Anne Enright

09 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Irish novelist Anne Enright is the author of seven novels, including The Gathering, winner of the Booker Prize in 2007. Her 2012 novel The Forgotten W...

Sebastião Salgado

02 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado is best known for his captivating black and white photographs. He has documented scenes of hardship and desp...

Antony Gormley

25 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For over forty years, the sculptor Sir Antony Gormley has been using his own body as the basis for his artistic work, and is known for creating cast i...

Sam Taylor-Johnson

18 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As part of the so-called Britart generation of the early 1990’s, artist Sam Taylor-Wood, as she was then known, made her name with photographic and ...

Antonio Pappano

11 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sir Antonio Pappano is one of the world’s most acclaimed conductors. He started work at the age of ten as an accompanist for his father, who worked ...

Michael Palin

05 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

John Wilson talks to actor, comedian, broadcaster and writer Sir Michael Palin. A founding member of the hugely influential comedy troupe Monty Python...

Yorgos Lanthimos

10 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos first emerged as part the so-called ‘weird wave’ of Greek cinema, and is known for unsettling themes and absurdist humo...

Juliette Binoche

03 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

French actor Juliette Binoche is known for her portrayal of emotionally complex characters. Over a forty year career, her films have included Three Co...

Frank Auerbach

27 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A rare interview with Frank Auerbach, one of the world’s greatest living painters. At 92 years old, he has been painting for over 70 years and still...

Boy George

20 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Born George O'Dowd, Boy George shot to pop stardom in 1982 as frontman with the band Culture Club and later as a solo artist. With his soulful vocals ...

Patricia Cornwell

13 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Patricia Cornwell’s books have sold over 120 million copies in thirty-six languages in over 120 countries. She’s authored dozens of New York Times...

Andrew Scott

06 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Andrew Scott won a BAFTA as the evil Moriarty in Sherlock, but is equally loved for a divine television role as the hot priest in Fleabag. A prolific ...

Nigel Kennedy

30 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

John Wilson's guest is the violinist Nigel Kennedy. A prodigy whose childhood talents were nurtured by Yehudi Menuhin, one of the greatest violinist o...

Judi Dench

04 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Dame Judi Dench reflects on her career playing Shakespearean roles on stage and screen across seven decades.Judi Dench has spent her career bringing t...

Werner Herzog

28 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Werner Herzog is one of the most idiosyncratic, original and prolific filmmakers of modern times, having made nearly 80 films over six decades. His fe...

Bernie Taupin

21 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Lyricist Bernie Taupin is one half of one of the most successful songwriting partnerships of all time. For more than 50 years, he has written the lyri...

George the Poet

14 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Born George Mpanga, George the Poet is a British spoken-word artist and podcast host. Having started out as a rapper, he made his name as a spoken-wor...

Matthew Bourne

07 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

One of the world’s most successful living choreographers, Sir Matthew Bourne shook up classical ballet in the mid 1990s with his ground-breaking com...

Lucy Prebble

30 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Renowned for tackling big themes on stage, Lucy Prebble made her name as a playwright in her mid-twenties when she wrote the hugely successful Enron. ...

Michael Rosen

23 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Author, poet and performer Michael Rosen is one of Britain’s best loved and most prolific children’s writers, having published hundreds of books o...

Angélique Kidjo

16 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Angélique Kidjo, often described as "the queen of African music", has recorded fifteen albums, worked with a diverse array of musical collaborators f...

Edmund de Waal

09 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

One of the world’s most acclaimed ceramicists, Edmund de Waal is renowned for simple, hand-made porcelain pots and bowls which are usually displayed...

Leïla Slimani

02 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

French Moroccan author Leïla Slimani won critical acclaim and a reputation as an author of bold & brutal fiction with her first two novels. Adele...

Sally Potter

19 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Sally Potter is a ground-breaking film-maker, best known for her bold 1992 adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando. Starring Tilda Swinton, it ...

Stephen Fry

12 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Actor, writer, comedian and broadcaster Stephen Fry first made his name as a comic performer as a Cambridge University undergraduate with the Footligh...

Ian McEwan

17 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ian McEwan made his name in the 1970s with short stories and slim novels that explored the darker aspects of human nature. He won the Booker Prize in ...

Jeremy Deller

10 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Winner of the Turner Prize in 2004 and Britain’s official representative at the 2013 Venice Biennale, Jeremy Deller is an unconventional artist whos...

Errollyn Wallen

03 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Errollyn Wallen is one of Britain's most acclaimed and widely performed contemporary composers. Born in Belize and brought up in north London, she was...

Nicole Farhi

27 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

John Wilson talks to fashion designer and sculptor Nicole Farhi. Born in the south of France, she designed for various labels before teaming up with S...

Nick Cave

20 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Nick Cave, the Australian born singer-songwriter and author, reveals the formative influences and experiences that have inspired his own creativity. W...

Gilbert & George

13 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

An inseparable duo for over 55 years, Gilbert Prousch and George Passmore are the artistic couple known as Gilbert & George. Always formally dress...

Baaba Maal

06 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Now one of West Africa’s most internationally acclaimed musicians, Baaba Maal trained at a Paris conservatoire and went on to become a kind of music...

Donna Leon

29 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The internationally bestselling crime writer Donna Leon talks to John Wilson about her career. Although American born, Donna is most associated with V...

Sally Wainwright

22 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Award-winning television dramatist and director Sally Wainwright talks to John Wilson about her formative cultural influences. After learning the art ...

Linton Kwesi Johnson

15 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Reggae poet Linton Kwesi Johnson reveals the influences and experiences that inspired his own creativity. Born in Jamaica, he moved to south London in...

Martin Parr

08 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

John Wilson talks to photographer Martin Parr about the formative influences and experiences that inspired his own creativity. Globally renowned for h...

Margaret Atwood

01 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Margaret Atwood talks to John Wilson about the formative influences and experiences that shaped her writing. One of the world’s bestselling and crit...

Alejandro Iñárritu

11 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Mexican-born filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu talks to John Wilson about his cultural influences. Iñárritu's movies are often epic in scale ...

Rachel Whiteread

04 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

John Wilson speaks to internationally acclaimed artist Dame Rachel Whiteread about the influences on her practice as she recalls some of her most fam...

Eliza Carthy

28 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Musician Eliza Carthy was born into an English folk dynasty. The daughter of acclaimed folk singers Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson, she joined the f...

Damien Chazelle

21 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Oscar-winning film-maker Damien Chazelle talks to John Wilson about his career and cultural influences.As a child, Chazelle first started experimentin...

Stephen Hough

14 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The British born musician, composer and writer Stephen Hough grew up in Cheshire, won the piano section of the very first BBC Young Musician of the Ye...

Whoopi Goldberg

07 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Whoopi Goldberg is the one of very few people to have won all four of America’s big awards - Emmy, Grammy Oscar and Tony - for her work in film, the...

Sam Mendes

31 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Theatre and film director Sam Mendes first made his mark when he launched London’s Donmar Warehouse theatre in the early 90s. He has won Olivier and...

Tim Minchin

05 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Comedian, actor and composer Tim Minchin wrote the songs for the musical adaptation of the Roald Dahl story Matilda which, after more than a decade of...

Florence Pugh

29 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Florence Pugh was Oscar and BAFTA nominated for her role as Amy March in the adaptation of Little Women. She has won huge acclaim for films including ...