Great Lives: Sathnam Sanghera on Alexander Gardner

Series 7, episode 0

Author and Journalist Sathnam Sanghera nominates a Great Life; a man dismissed as a fantasist and a liar in his own lifetime. Alexander Gardner was a Scottish-American soldier, a traveller, an explorer and adventurer - a white man with a tartan turban, who ended up in India in a Maharaja's Sikh Army in the 19th Century, just before the British Raj took over. Possibly a plagiarist and touted as a scoundrel, yet Sathnam claims he's worthy of a bigger place in history. If just a tiny portion of what we think we know about him is true, he is a genuinely remarkable figure. Joining Sathnam is our expert witness to Gardner's life, the historian John Keay. The presenter is Matthew Parris, and the Producer is Perminder Khatkar

Cast (unconfirmed)

Sathnam Sanghera
Matthew Parris