Elon Musk is the billionaire owner of SpaceX and Tesla Motors, and the co-founder of Paypal. He plans to colonise Mars. Last week that dream might have been scuppered as his SpaceX rocket exploded on the Launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Florida. This is the first time a rocket has exploded at launch since 1960. It was carrying a satellite Facebook wanted to use to provide internet access to Africa. While investigations continue into what caused last week's explosion, this week Mark Coles explores the life of the man who also wants to make the travel time from London to Manchester 18 minutes and to counter global warming. 

Producers: Charlotte Pritchard and Phoebe Keane. Published on September 10, 2016.

Elon Musk

Emma Walmsley will be one of just seven female bosses in the country's top 100 companies when she takes the helm of GSK next year. The pharmaceutical giant is worth £80bn, making it the most valuable company with a woman CEO. But how did Emma Walmsley get to where she is today? Mark Coles looks back over her school days and her rise up the corporate career ladder at L'Oreal. We hear from her father, retired vice admiral Sir Robert Walmsley, her school friend and her business associate Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of advertising firm WPP. Who is Emma Walmsley and what impact will she have on one of Britain's biggest companies? Published on September 24, 2016.

Emma Walmsley

As jobs go, it's a daunting one. Three predecessors have already resigned. On Profile this week Mark Coles profiles Professor Alexis Jay, the fourth and latest person appointed to chair the independent inquiry into institutional child sex abuse in England and Wales.

Researcher Kirsteen Knight
Producer Smita Patel. Published on October 22, 2016.

Professor Alexis Jay

As Glenda Jackson returns to the West End stage, Mark Coles profiles the Oscar-winning actor and former Labour MP, with contributions from her son Dan Hodges, Hollywood actor George Segal and legendary theatre director Peter Brook. 

Producer Smita Patel 
Researcher Sarah Shebbeare. Published on October 29, 2016.

Glenda Jackson

An entrepreneur who helped found Britain's first online bank. A philanthropist who fled Idi Amin's Ugana and is now on a mission to track down the undiscovered Albert Einsteins of Africa. He embarked on a search to find a long-lost sister in Uganda after thirty years; he once rocked an 'impressive' Afro; his backers number a former head of MI6, and during his honeymoon in Mexico he sneaked away from his wife to attend a maths conference. Oh, and he's hell-bent on making it into space. You've possibly never heard him, but he's just been named the most influential black person in the UK. Becky Milligan profiles Tom Ilube. Published on November 5, 2016.

Tom Ilube

To some, she is a saboteur of democracy, a woman using her massive wealth and friends in high places to subvert the judgement of 17.4 million voters in the European Union referendum. To others, this is a woman of unimpeachable principle, fighting to protect a cornerstone of the unwritten British constitution. With the Supreme Court now set to decide on whether Article 50 can be invoked without a vote in Parliament - thus setting Brexit into motion - we ask, who is Gina Miller, the woman behind the legal bid? 

Well, she has certainly had an interesting life. Born in Guyana, this thrice-married 51-year-old now runs an investment firm, by way of modelling and plentiful philanthropy. Never one to duck a scrap, she has picked fights in the lofty world of high finance and the altogether milder waters of the third sector. 

At the end of a week that has seen her become the target of both fulminating newspaper headlines and online abuse, we learn about the formative years that thickened up Gina Miller's skin before the onslaught. School friends, Britain's richest plumber and husbands number two and three are among our witnesses; the future of the country is at stake. Mark Coles profiles Gina Miller. Published on November 12, 2016.

Gina Miller

On Profile this week, Mark Coles, examines the life and career of Stephen Bannon - dubbed by some as the 'most powerful, most dangerous political operative in America today'. 

A former US Navy engineer, investment banker and Hollywood producer, for the past four years he's been the driving force behind Breitbart News - a populist, at times deliberately provocative right wing news website. 

In August, he was drafted in to oversee Donald Trump's then faltering presidential campaign.

Now, with Trump heading to the White House, he's been appointed the President Elect's new Chief Strategist. 

Democrats and civil rights groups are appalled. They accuse Bannon of creating a platform for far right views, fostering racism and anti-semitism.

Nonsense, say his supporters. He's simply a patriot, fed up with the way his country has been governed in the past by progressive liberal elites. Published on November 19, 2016.

Stephen Bannon

Brexit negotiations between the EU and the UK are months away. And - as we keep hearing - there will be no discussion before notification (of the now infamous Article 50).

But we do know who will represent the EU in those negotiations: the French politician Michel Barnier, who met his counterpart David Davis this week.

Born in the Savoie region in south-east France, Barnier has been a committed Gaullist since he was a teenager. At 27 he made history in France by becoming the youngest MP ever elected. And in 1992 he took great pride in bringing the Winter Olympics to his region.

His allies say he is a reasonable, sensitive negotiator. His critics tell us he can be self-important and cold. Everyone agrees he will be fiercely committed to defending the EU's interests in the complex Brexit negotiations ahead.

Presenter: Becky Milligan
Producers: Smita Patel and Alex Burton. Published on November 26, 2016.

Michel Barnier

On Profile this week Mark Coles looks at the life and career of Sharon White.

The daughter of immigrant parents who came to Britain from Jamaica in the 1950s, she rose rapidly through the ranks of the civil service to become one of the most powerful women in Whitehall. 

In March 2015, she became chief executive of the communications regulator, Ofcom.

The watchdog is in the news this week for trying to force BT to legally separate from Open Reach which runs the country's broadband network. Published on December 3, 2016.

Sharon White

Skinny dipping with Nigel Farage, punching a business partner, and bankrolling Brexit - Edward Stourton tells the story of Arron Banks. 

What next for the man who spent more than £7 million campaigning for Britain to leave the EU? 

Producers: Ed Davey and Joe Kent. Published on December 10, 2016.

Arron Banks

Amid the carnage of civil war there is an organisation in Syria committed to saving lives. They are called Syria Civil Defence but they are better known as 'The White Helmets'. They have over 3000 members in rebel-held areas. When an air attack hits, they rush towards the scene to look for survivors trapped under collapsed buildings. To many, they are heroes. Others suspect a conspiracy and question whether video footage of the White Helmets at work is even real. Mark Coles tells the story of the White Helmets in the week when Aleppo was brought back under Syrian government control.

Producers: Alex Burton and Phoebe Keane. Published on December 17, 2016.

The White Helmets

Series of profiles of people who are currently making headlines. Broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Saturdays at 7pm.

BBC Radio 4: Profile

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