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Arlo Parks and Poly Styrene

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.

The Second in Martha Kearney's new series celebrating portraits and portraiture through the eyes of ten Great Britons.
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 成人快手 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

Available now

14 minutes

Last on

Sat 23 Sep 2023 05:45

Broadcasts

  • Tue 6 Jun 2023 13:45
  • Fri 22 Sep 2023 14:45
  • Sat 23 Sep 2023 05:45