Great Lives

CHARLIE CONNELLY on a Jewish actress who considered a kick in the behind from Hitler the luck of her life

CHARLIE CONNELLY on a stick-up merchant whose victims were often left feeling almost flattered

CHARLIE CONNELLY on the chat show staple often described as the closest thing Munich had to royalty.

CHARLIE CONNELLY on arguably the most enigmatic figure to orbit the strange world of The Beatles

On Christmas Eve 33 years ago, he died a criminal, but perhaps Hans Gruber should've been remembered for something else...

Wolff was almost impossible to mistake for anyone else. Yet, he was in The Sun's obituary section.

It was in her art that she truly lost herself, but this didn't stop Amrita Sher-Gil from finding fault with her work.

The Austrian-American singer and actress shone on stage. But, her greatest role was a matter of the heart, and she undertook it out of obligation.

For all his undoubted literary genius, Marcel Proust was an underwhelming dinner guest.

Even without his leading role in the French Revolution, Bailly would have been remembered as an exceptional man.

She was the most Weimar of the Weimar figures, with scandal following her wherever she went.

The "Swedish Nightingale" soared to fame, burned brightly, but then burned out retiring in her early thirties.

His work stood out amongst Post-Impressionism, but the artist was still crippled by a lack of self-belief

From the Olympic field to Parisian concert calls, Micheline Ostermeyer never failed to provide that special something

The Belgian filmmaker believed all you ever really have in life is time and she took control of her own in the most definitive way she knew how.

His greatest character was weighed down by disillusionment and ennui, but the author behind Wallander was quite different.

She lived in an extraordinary time, among some of the most colossal figures of 20th Century Europe. But, Juliette Gréco outlived them all - and did so on her own terms.

The youngest UN secretary-general who changed the world and would have done so more had he lived a little longer

He spoke no English, and had never seen an American Football before but Toni Fritsch was a natural, and he went on to change the game forever.

The actor made his living selling fantasy, but this was far from the reality of Hervé Villechaize's life off-screen, writes CHARLIE CONNELLY

She was an actress and a writer, but more importantly Erika Mann spent her life witnessing and fighting injustice

Giuseppe Meazza was the greatest footballer Milan, and arguably Italy, ever produced, meaning many turned a blind eye to his excessive habits

Otto Lilienthal was drawn to the sky by his idealism and his experience of war. It was ultimately a fatal attraction

The daughter of a Tiller Girl from Oldham, Jeanne Moreau came to be considered "the greatest actress in the world"

Anton Chekhov transformed theatre. But many critics and audiences of his era were not so enamoured by the change, writes CHARLIE CONNELLY

Great European Lives with Charlie Connelly is now available as a podcast, brought to you by Charlie Connelly and The New European.

Lili Alvarez was not only one of the greatest tennis players of her era but also a tireless campaigner for equality... not to mention champion car racer and skier

The life of Ennio Morricone, the prolific Italian composer responsible for the soundtrack of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and so much more

Italian boxer Primo Carnera’s extraordinary strength and size brought him fame and a sporting career, but not necessarily happiness As darkness fell over New York on New Year’s Eve 1929, Primo Carrera walked down the gangway of the SS Berengaria, stepped onto the quayside and wondered what the imminent decade held for him. Despite his […]

Birger Ruud helped to change his sport for good, before serving his country against its Nazi occupiers It’s hard to imagine a sport more exhilarating for the competitor than ski jumping. The jumper hauls themself onto the in-run, skis perfectly parallel, crouching as low as possible as they hurtle down a slope as steep as 38 […]

CHARLIE CONNELLY on the pacifist campaigner Bertha von Suttner, a woman not intimidated by anyone she met, even the most powerful men in the world

George Sand is no longer widely read, but once eclipsed many of the greatest names in 19th century European literature, writes CHARLIE CONNELLY