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Great Lives

Petra Kelly

Great Lives

BBC

Documentary, History, Society & Culture

4.21.3K Ratings

🗓️ 10 May 2011

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Matthew Parris presents the biographical series in which his guests choose someone who has inspired their lives. Green MP Caroline Lucas nominates German Green politician Petra Kelly. Kelly was one of the first Green parliamentarians to be elected anywhere in the world. Intense, charismatic and beautiful, she became an international political superstar who rejected the idea of conventional politics. But she fell out with her colleagues and became reliant on her lover, a former German army General turned peace activist, Gert Bastian. Bastian, possibly fearing exposure as a Stasi agent, murdered Kelly and himself in 1992. Joining the discussion is Kelly's biographer and former Green Party activist, Sara Parkin.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Choosing what to watch night after night the flicking through the endless

0:06.8

searching is a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the

0:11.8

telly we share what we've been watching

0:14.0

Cladie Aide.

0:16.0

Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming.

0:19.0

Lovely. Off the telly with me Joanna Paige.

0:21.0

And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less searching

0:25.7

and a lot more auction. Listen on BBC Sounds.

0:29.8

Thank you for downloading this great lives podcast from BBC Radio 4.

0:34.0

For more information and details of other podcasts, just visit BBC.co. UK slash radio 4.

0:41.0

There's a distinctly green tinge to this week's programme. My guest is Caroline

0:46.8

Lucas, the leader of the Green Party. She's the first person from that party to be

0:51.4

elected to the House of Commons, where she's represented

0:54.2

Brighton Pavilion since last year. Caroline, welcome, you've chosen as your great life,

1:00.0

another very prominent green politician, but not a British one who

1:04.9

Petra Kelly from Germany I mean for me she was just one of the most inspiring women most inspiring

1:10.5

politicians and it's been a a wonderful opportunity really to prepare for this

1:14.1

program going back over some of the things that she wrote and just remembering what

1:17.7

an amazing person she was. Did you know her? I met her once. I mean I was

1:22.0

joining the Green Party back in 1986 so that's almost 25 years ago and

1:26.8

very soon after joining the party I found out more about Petr Kelly read more of

1:30.6

her work and she really was like this wonderful star burning brightly.

...

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