Great Lives - Series 22 - Simone Weil

Simone Weil - mystic, social activist, and sort of latter day saint - is one of the more unexpected recent choices for Great Lives. She is remembered chiefly these days for her writings and the controversy over whether she starved herself to death, at the age of 34. But for Eleanor Bron she remains the supreme example of someone who lived her life according to her ideals. Born in 1909 in Paris, Simone Weil chose to work in factories, volunteered for the anarchist militia in the Spanish Civil War, and tried to persuade General de Gaulle in the Second World War to parachute nurses onto the frontline. She seemed permanently compelled to identify with suffering, but not, argues Eleanor Bron, in a preachy way. Grahame Davies, who based his first novel on Simone Weil's life, largely agrees. Eleanor Bron's career began with satire at the Establishment Club. She appeared alongside the Beatles in Help - her name is said to have inspired McCartney's Eleanor Rigby - and on television she has featured in Yes Minister, Doctor Who, Absolutely Fabulous, and so the list goes on. The presenter is Matthew Parris, and the producer is Miles Warde.