Private Passions

Elif Shafak is a best-selling writer who is as happy telling a story from the point of view of a fig tree or a water droplet as a fellow human being. She began writing in her native Turkish and now writes in English, and her 13 novels have been translated into dozens of languages. Her books cross continents and centuries. Her novel There Are Rivers in the Sky moves from ancient Mesopotamia to 21st-century London, and she loves uncovering forgotten histories and giving voices to the silenced.In her most recent book, In One Brief Moment All Eternity, she tells the story of the great French writer Gustave Flaubert, author of Madame Bovary, from the perspective of the women, both real and imagined, who influenced him.Elif is also a passionate campaigner for books and freedom of expression, and is the President of the Royal Society of Literature.Her musical passions include Rachmaninov, Chopin and Hildegard of Bingen.Presenter Michael Berkeley Producer Clare Walker

The American political scientist Francis Fukuyama loves big ideas, and his 1992 book The End of History and the Last Man was an international best-seller.It argued that – after the collapse of the Soviet Union - Western liberal democracy was the best system of governance. It wasn’t perfect and hadn’t achieved everything, but it was the most humanly satisfying model.He also stated that “the end of history will be a very sad time” – predicting that safe, prosperous "last men" would grow bored and restless. Eventually this would fuel a rage against the establishment that would invite populism.Francis’s most recent book is a memoir called In the Realm of the Last Man, in which he reflects on his political evolution over five decades, and also writes about some of his favourite music. His choices for Private Passions include works by Bach, Handel, Mozart and Carl Orff. Presenter Michael Berkeley Producer Clare Walker

The actor Sylvester McCoy was a familiar face to millions of TV viewers when he played the Seventh Doctor in Doctor Who in the 1980s. On the big screen, he has played the eccentric wizard Radagast the Brown in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy, and on stage, he has played the Fool opposite Ian McKellen’s King Lear for the Royal Shakespeare Company. His route into acting was unconventional. He spent his teenage years preparing for the priesthood, then later honed his physical comedy skills in Ken Campbell's maverick Roadshow. His music choices include tracks by Stravinsky, Satie, Beethoven, and Britten's Shakespearean opera A Midsummer Night's Dream.Presenter Michael Berkeley.Producer Graham Rogers