Profile

BBC Radio 4
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Apr 20, 2013 • 14min

Robert Mueller

Mark Coles profiles the long-serving and influential head of the FBI, Robert Mueller. Mueller took on the job one week before the 2001 World Trade Center attacks. Now, as he approaches retirement, the FBI is again dealing with the aftermath of an attack on American soil.The squared-jawed Princeton graduate was decorated for bravery during the Vietnam War before training as a lawyer. Dissatisfied with private practice, he found a government job as assistant US attorney in San Francisco - a move which marked the beginning of a steady climb to the top of law enforcement in America.He transformed the FBI from an organisation that solves crimes into one that also seeks to prevent terrorist attacks. He's now the longest-serving FBI director since J Edgar Hoover. Yet surprisingly little is known about him.
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Apr 13, 2013 • 14min

Elizabeth Llewellyn

Mary Ann Seighart profiles Elizabeth Llewellyn, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, who had an obvious talent for singing from an early age. Her school-teachers in south London encouraged her to take lessons and go to concerts, and she won a place at the Royal Northern College of Music. But ill-health forced her to drop out. She then pursued an alternative career in IT recruitment, her talent lying dormant. But when, years later, she joined an amateur choir, her new colleagues urged her to take her voice more seriously. She auditioned for the Glyndebourne chorus and from that point on her rise has been meteoric.
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Apr 6, 2013 • 14min

Jeff Bezos

Amazon first became the world's biggest bookshop and then went on to revolutionise shopping as we know it. What began in 1994 as a small start-up in a Seattle suburb has become arguably the most significant technology company on the planet. Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder, is now a billionaire many times over. Bezos rarely makes public pronouncements and avoids media interviews. Those who have worked with him describe him as a hands-on manager, who plans the grand strategy as a well as the tiny details. His wealth has given him the opportunity to pursue a passion for space travel. He has been building research facilities in a remote part of Texas for a secretive space programme. But who exactly is Jeffrey Preston Bezos?Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane.
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Mar 30, 2013 • 14min

Lucy Winkett

Mary Ann Sieghart profiles the Reverend Lucy Winkett, Rector of St James's Piccadilly, and a former Canon of St Paul's Cathedral in London. Many inside the Church see her as favourite to become the first female bishop of the Church of England, if the rules change.Lucy Winkett read history at Cambridge before studying theology, and then trained as a soprano at the Royal College of Music for a year, even though she'd already decided to enter the priesthood. She uses her musical and creative side in her ministry, too, and has been known to burst into a rendition of Aretha Franklin's Natural Woman while playing the piano after morning service.Her appointment to St Paul's was controversial at the time and was initially tough for Lucy Winkett. Some couldn't accept the presence of a woman priest, and refused to take communion from her. But today her supporters are, it seems, many.Producer Fiona Leach.
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Mar 22, 2013 • 14min

Magnus Carlsen

Chris Bowlby looks at the 22-year old Norwegian chess player Magnus Carlsen. He has the highest rating in the world ever and has been called the Mozart of chess.He is currently in London playing the tournament that will determine which top player gets to challenge the reigning world champion, Vishy Anand, for that title. Carlsen has been amazing the world of chess since he was a child. He became a Grandmaster after just four years of playing, when he was thirteen. He also achieved a draw against chess legend Gary Kasparov at that age. His talent and achievements later caught the attention of the fashion world, and he was asked to model for denim brand G-Star Raw, giving the image of chess a make-over in the process. He is said to have a photographic memory, but uses it to remember sports results and trivia more than chess openings. An instinctive and fast player, he also has extraordinary staying power and can change a game five hours in, when his opponents start to flag. Can this chess wunderkind now become world champion? And what is he actually like? Lesley Curwen talks to those who know him best, from his dad and his first coach, to famous chess players like Nigel Short.Producer: Arlene Gregorius.
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Mar 16, 2013 • 14min

Zhang Xin

Chris Bowlby profiles the British-educated Chinese property billionaire Zhang Xin, one of the most powerful women in business. She is in advanced talks to buy 40 per cent of Manhattan's iconic General Motors building.Zhang Xin stands out as the high-profile CEO of the prominent, upmarket property developer SoHoChina, which she founded with her husband. Unusually for Chinese billionaires, she is also a philanthropist and speaks out about issues ranging from democracy to smog, in the international media and on her micro-blog.A rags to riches story, she grew up in very modest circumstances, particularly after her Chinese-Burmese translator parents split up, and her mother moved her from Beijing to a tiny room in Hong Kong, where she worked in a factory.After saving up for the airfare to the UK, she was then educated at Sussex and Cambridge universities, worked for Goldman Sachs, and returned to China where she built up her business with her husband.What motivates this billionaire mother-of-two to carry on working, particularly as property developers are often reviled in China?
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Mar 9, 2013 • 14min

Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber, the 19-year-old Canadian pop star, is an internet phenomenon with 35 million Twitter followers. His first hit is the most-watched video in YouTube history.He has upset fans on his UK tour by keeping them waiting before taking the stage, prompting some to suggest that the pressure of such extraordinary fame, experienced at such a young age, is beginning to show.Although Justin Bieber came to fame as a musical prodigy, who found his audience through the internet, these days his power as a global brand overshadows his reputation as an artist.Business is playing a growing part in his activities as he branches into venture capitalism by buying stakes in tech start-ups like Spotify.
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Mar 2, 2013 • 14min

Beppe Grillo

Beppe Grillo has achieved a stunning success in the Italian elections with the performance of the new citizens' protest network - the Five Star Movement. He is its guiding star, a comedian-turned politician. The movement emerged from the web and took its argument into town squares all over Italy. The citizen activists oppose what they regard as the corrupted, self-serving traditional parties - the entire failed political establishment. The movement has connected with huge numbers of Italians who have developed a contempt for the governing elite. Producer Ian MuirCochrane.
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Feb 23, 2013 • 14min

Mike Ashley

Mike Ashley began his business career as a teenager with a single shop in 1980s Maidenhead. Now his international Sports Direct empire makes him millions. Among his more recent acquisitions was Newcastle United football club. Chris Bowlby searches for the secret behind Ashley's huge retail success, and discovers what happened when a southerner who hates publicity tried to win over the Geordie faithful.
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Feb 16, 2013 • 14min

Tom Ford

Designer Tom Ford has become a brand in his own right. Running his own label, producing and directing the film 'A Single Man' and dressing the stars are just some of his successes.Now as he prepares his first full scale catwalk show for London Fashion Week, he's credited with attracting record interest and unprecedented numbers of US buyers to the event.In the 1990s he turned around the fortunes of Gucci, the luxury fashion house and revolutionised the luxury brand market. Despite controversial advertising campaigns his unique designs attracted celebrity clients and financial success.With his collections under his own label now eagerly anticipated, James Silver looks for the secret of his success.Producer: Gail Champion.

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