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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Ray McFall, Richard Meade, Joan Benesh, Frank Atkinson and Brian Clemens
Obituaries of a club owner, a horseman, a choreologist, a curator and a screenwriter.
16 Jan 2015,28 mins
Jean Cabut and Georges Wolinski, Luise Rainer, Edward Brooke and Chip Young
Matthew Bannister on two cartoonists, an actress, a senator and a session guitarist.
09 Jan 2015,28 mins
Debbie Purdy, David Ryall, Willy Burgdorfer, Dame Mary Glen Haig, Graeme Goodall
Julian Worricker on a campaigner, an actor, an entomologist, a fencer and a music pioneer.
02 Jan 2015,28 mins
In a special edition of Last Word, Matthew Bannister talks to obituary editors from around the UK about the nature of their work
Matthew Bannister and guests offer an insight into the world of the obituary writer.
26 Dec 2014,28 mins
Mandy Rice-Davies, Dr Tim Black, Michel du Cille, Ian Player, Christopher Morris
Matthew Bannister on a showgirl, a doctor, a photographer and a conservationist.
19 Dec 2014,28 mins
Queen Fabiola, Stella Young, Bernard Stonehouse, Kent Haruf, Ralph Baer
Matthew Bannister on a disability campaigner, a queen, a polar scientist and an author.
12 Dec 2014,28 mins
Jeremy Thorpe, Ian McLagan, Viktor Tikhonov, Trevor Pharo and Sabah
Matthew Bannister on a politician, a musician, an ice hockey coach, a clown, and a singer.
05 Dec 2014,28 mins
PD James, 'Mad' Frankie Fraser, Glen A Larson, Medlin Lewis-Spencer, Arthur Butterworth MBE
Matthew Bannister on a crime writer, a criminal, a director, a mayor and a composer.
28 Nov 2014,28 mins
Sir Thomas Macpherson, Mike Nichols, Alexander Grothendieck, Paul Vaughan, Leonore Davidoff and Jimmy Ruffin
Matthew Bannister on a war hero, a director, a mathematician, a broadcaster, a historian.
21 Nov 2014,28 mins
Vivienne Price; Dr Dick Laws; Warren Clarke; Geoffrey Clarke; Prince David Chavchavadze
Matthew Bannister on an orchestra founder, a zoologist, an actor, a sculptor and a spy.
14 Nov 2014,28 mins
Warren Anderson, Acker Bilk, Lord Barnett, Sonia Rolt
Matthew Bannister on a company chairman, a musician, a politician and a canal campaigner.
07 Nov 2014,28 mins
Jack Bruce, Gough Whitlam, Efua Dorkenoo, James Dunlop
Matthew Bannister on a rock musician, a campaigner, a politician and a firefighter.
31 Oct 2014,28 mins
Lynda Bellingham, Ben Bradlee, Geoffrey Perry, John Holt
Andrea Catherwood remembers an actress, a war veteran, a reggae artist and newspaperman.
24 Oct 2014,28 mins
Sir Jocelyn Stevens, Jerrie Mock, John Moat, Shirley Baker, David Rayvern Allen
Matthew Bannister on a newspaper executive, a pilot, an author, a photographer, a producer
17 Oct 2014,28 mins
Andrew Kerr, Jean-Claude Duvalier, Dorothy Tyler MBE, Prof Karl Miller, Cosimo Matassa
Matthew Bannister on a festival founder, a dictator, an athlete and a literary editor.
10 Oct 2014,28 mins
Christopher Hogwood, Major General Yitzhak Hofi, Sheila Tracy, Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw, Lynsey de Paul
Matthew Bannister on a conductor, an Israeli general, a broadcaster and a mathematician.
03 Oct 2014,28 mins
The Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, Oleg Ivanovsky, Jim Petrie, Dame Julia Polak and Bob Crewe
Julian Worricker on two scientists, an illustrator, a songwriter and a leading aristocrat.
26 Sep 2014,28 mins
James Nesbitt MBE, Andrew McLaglen, Emilio Botin, Simin Behbahani, Sir Philip Dowson, George Hamilton IV
Matthew Bannister on a detective, a film director, a banker, a poet and an architect.
19 Sep 2014,28 mins
Rev Ian Paisley, Sir Donald Sinden, Caroline Gooding, Anthony Smith, Andrew McLaglen
Matthew Bannister on a politician, an actor, an adventurer, a disability rights campaigner
12 Sep 2014,28 mins
Joan Rivers, Sir David Mitchell, Werner Franz, Candida Lycett Green, Sandy Wilson
Matthew Bannister remembers a comedian, an MP, a Hindenburg survivor and a conservationist
05 Sep 2014,28 mins
Richard Attenborough, Helen Bamber, BKS Iyengar, Sam Galbraith, Bill Kerr
Matthew Bannister on a director, a human rights campaigner, a yoga guru and a Labour MSP.
29 Aug 2014,28 mins
Albert Reynolds, Ronnie Stonham, Norman Cornish, Gerry Anderson, Licia Albanese
Remembering a former Taoiseach, a BBC vetter, a painter, a broadcaster and a soprano.
22 Aug 2014,28 mins
Lauren Bacall, Prof Sir Alan Peacock, Robin Williams, Peter Sculthorpe
Andrea Catherwood on a Hollywood legend, a comic genius, a composer and an economist.
15 Aug 2014,28 mins
Chapman Pincher, Mike Smith, Lettice Curtis, Karl Albrecht, Kenny Ireland
Matthew Bannister on a journalist, a businessman, a broadcaster, a pilot, an actor
08 Aug 2014,28 mins
Sir Richard MacCormac, Eileen Ford, Nigel Ryan, Zohra Sehgal, Frank Mumford
Matthew Bannister on an architect, a modelling agent, an editor, an actress, a puppeteer
01 Aug 2014,28 mins
James Garner, Joep Lange, Alan Alan, Philip Wayre, Dora Bryan
Julian Worricker on an actor, a physician, a naturalist, an actress and an escapologist
25 Jul 2014,28 mins
Elaine Stritch, Nadine Gordimer, Michael Scudamore and Lorin Maazel
Matthew Bannister on an actress, a writer, a jockey and a conductor.
18 Jul 2014,28 mins
Alfredo Di Stefano, Eduard Shevardnadze, Ultra Violet, Chester Nez and Horace Silver
Matthew Bannister on a footballer, a Georgian politician, an artist and a code talker.
11 Jul 2014,28 mins
Bobby Womack, Stephanie Kwolek, Dermot Healy, Viktor Sukhodrev, Delia Craig
Julian Worricker on a singer, a chemist, a writer, an interpreter and a conservationist.
04 Jul 2014,28 mins
Felix Dennis, Norman Willis, Josephine Pullein-Thompson, Gerry Conlon, Eli Wallach
Matthew Bannister on a publisher, a TUC leader, an author and one of the Guildford Four.
27 Jun 2014,28 mins