Last Word

Radio 4's weekly obituary programme, telling the life stories of those who have died recently

Radio 4,892 episodes

Episodes

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Olympia Dukakis (pictured), Eric McGraw MBE, Anthony Thwaite
Matthew Bannister on an actor, an editor and a poet.
14 May 2021,28 mins
Baroness O'Cathain, Michael Collins, Sharon Matola, Jim Steinman (pictured, with Meat Loaf)
Matthew Bannister on a businesswoman, an astronaut, a zoo director, a songwriter.
07 May 2021,28 mins
Geoff Crowther, Isamu Akasaki, June Newton, Les McKeown (pictured)
Matthew Bannister on a guide book writer, a physicist, a photographer, a pop star.
30 Apr 2021,28 mins
Helen McCrory (pictured), Hans Küng, Eric Gordon, George Reynolds
Matthew Bannister on an actor, a theologian, an editor, a businessman.
23 Apr 2021,28 mins
Baroness Shirley Williams (pictured), Glynn Lunney, Lyn Macdonald
Matthew Bannister on a politician, a Nasa flight director and a historian.
16 Apr 2021,28 mins
Doreen Lofthouse OBE, Dr Chris Doake, Barbara Hosking CBE, Bernice Cohen
Matthew Bannister on a businesswoman, a glaciologist, a civil servant, an investor.
09 Apr 2021,28 mins
Bob Davey MBE; George Segal (pictured); Lady Violet Aitken; Tony Hendra
Matthew Bannister on a church restorer, an actor, a power boat racer, a comedian.
02 Apr 2021,27 mins
Nawal El Saadawi (pictured), Brigadier Jack Thomas, President John Magufuli, Ion Mihai Pacepa
Matthew Bannister on a feminist writer, a soldier, a president and a spy.
26 Mar 2021,27 mins
Murray Walker (pictured), King Goodwill Zwelithini, Mary Asprey, Bunny Wailer
Julian Worricker on a king, a commentator, a charity founder, a musician.
19 Mar 2021,27 mins
Nicola Pagett (pictured), Stan Shaw, Prof John Mallard, Rupert Neve
Matthew Bannister on an actor, a “little mester”, a physicist, a recording engineer.
12 Mar 2021,27 mins
Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani (pictured), Sidney Alford, Alison Lurie, Chris Barber
Matthew Bannister on an oil minister, an explosives expert, an author and a jazz musician.
05 Mar 2021,28 mins
Sir William Macpherson (pictured), Margaret Snyder, Eleanor Wadsworth, Iain Pattinson
Matthew Bannister on: a judge, a UN civil servant, a pilot, a comedy writer.
26 Feb 2021,27 mins
Carlos Menem (pictured), Mary Wilson, Robin Pooley, Larry Flynt
Matthew Bannister on a president, a singer, a businessman and a pornographer.
19 Feb 2021,27 mins
George Shultz, Yvonne Conolly, Maureen Colquhoun, Christopher Plummer (pictured)
Matthew Bannister on a politician, a headteacher, an MP and an actor.
12 Feb 2021,27 mins
Lewis Wolpert, Cicely Tyson, Prince Khalid Abdullah and Captain Sir Tom Moore (pictured)
Matthew Bannister on a biologist, an actor, a Saudi Prince and a national hero.
05 Feb 2021,27 mins
Larry King (pictured), Catherine Ennis, Margaret Weston, Gerry Cottle
Matthew Bannister on a broadcaster, an organist, a curator, a circus owner
29 Jan 2021,28 mins
Phil Spector (pictured), Grace Robertson, Paul Nihill
Matthew Bannister on a record producer, a photographer, a race walker.
22 Jan 2021,28 mins
Michael Apted (pictured), Kay Ullrich, Katharine Whitehorn, Reginald Foster
Julian Worricker on a film-maker, a politician, a journalist, a translator.
15 Jan 2021,28 mins
Sir Brian Urquhart (pictured), Albert Roux, Dame Rachel Waterhouse, Gerry Marsden
Matthew Bannister on a civil servant, a chef, a consumer champion, a singer.
08 Jan 2021,28 mins
Stella Tennant, George Bizos, Joan Feynman, Rishi Kapoor
Matthew Bannister on a model, a lawyer, an astrophysicist and an actor.
01 Jan 2021,28 mins
Millie Small, JJ Williams, Maurice Healy, Dame Fanny Waterman
Julian Worricker on Millie Small, JJ Williams, Maurice Healy and Dame Fanny Waterman
27 Dec 2020,28 mins
John le Carré (pictured), Patience Thomson, Doug Scott, Dame Barbara Windsor
Matthew Bannister on an author, an educator, a mountaineer, an actor
18 Dec 2020,28 mins
Mario Molina, Irina Antonova, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, Peter Alliss (pictured)
Matthew Bannister on a chemist, a curator, a President, a golf commentator.
11 Dec 2020,28 mins
Hamish MacInnes OBE, José Padilla, Anne Rasa
Matthew Bannister on a mountaineer, an ethologist, a DJ.
04 Dec 2020,28 mins
Diego Maradona, Rosalind Grimshaw, Jan Morris CBE
Matthew Bannister on a footballer, a glass artist, an author
27 Nov 2020,28 mins
Des O’Connor CBE, Richard Trim OBE, Dr Ataullah Siddiqui, Edith Raymond Locke
Matthew Bannister on a comedian, a radar engineer, a scholar, an editor.
20 Nov 2020,28 mins
Lord Sacks, John Sessions, Joanna Harcourt-Smith, Jim Radford
Matthew Bannister on a rabbi, an actor, a podcaster, a singer.
13 Nov 2020,28 mins
Sir Sean Connery, Eavan Boland, Nobby Stiles MBE, Bobby Ball
Matthew Bannister on an actor, a poet, a footballer, a comedian.
06 Nov 2020,28 mins
David Toole OBE, Professor Valerie Curtis, Frank Bough, Jill Paton Walsh CBE
Matthew Bannister on a dancer, a hygiene expert, a TV presenter, an author
30 Oct 2020,28 mins
Herbert Kretzmer, James Nash, Tom Maschler, Sister Chiara Hatton Hall
Matthew Bannister on a lyricist, an adventurer, a publisher, a nun.
23 Oct 2020,28 mins