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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A sculptor, a comedian, a social worker and Yugoslavia's First Lady
Matthew Bannister recalls Sir Anthony Caro, Jovanka Broz, Felix Dexter and Olive Stevenson
25 Oct 2013,28 mins
A Buddhist leader, a cookery writer, a Motown stylist, an Australian criminal and a whisky distiller
Aasmah Mir on Choje Akong Rinpoche, Marcella Hazan, Maxine Powell and Mark 'Chopper' Read.
18 Oct 2013,28 mins
Maria de Villota, General Vo Nguyen Giap, Dr Ruth Patrick, Kathleen Watkins, Phil Chevron
Matthew Bannister remembers Maria de Villota, General Vo Nguyen Giap and Dr Ruth Patrick.
11 Oct 2013,28 mins
A thriller writer, a musician, the Kabbalah Centre founder and a Hammer Horror producer
Matthew Bannister on Tom Clancy, Lindsay Cooper, Rabbi Philip Berg and Anthony Hinds.
04 Oct 2013,28 mins
A Ghanaian poet, an addiction counsellor, a beat writers' muse and a special branch officer
Matthew Bannister remembers Kofi Awoonor, Peter Kay, Carolyn Cassady and Ferguson Smith.
27 Sep 2013,28 mins
An RAF air marshal, a cancer care centre founder, a chocolate maker, a singer and a broadcaster
Sir John Curtiss, Pat Pilkington, Brian Sollitt, Joan Regan, Tom Vernon, Franco de Gemini.
20 Sep 2013,28 mins
An inventor, an autogyro pilot, a photographer, a science fiction writer and a circus performer
Matthew Bannister on Ray Dolby, Wing Cdr Kenneth Wallis, Frederick Pohl and Lydia Gridneff
13 Sep 2013,28 mins
Two broadcasters, a folk singer and a science journalist
Matthew Bannister on Sir David Frost, David Dickson, Louisa Jo Killen and David Jacobs.
06 Sep 2013,28 mins
An Irish poet, a woman stockbroker, a Roma King and a Welsh rugby player
Matthew Bannister remembers Seamus Heaney, Muriel Siebert, Florin Cioaba and Cliff Morgan.
30 Aug 2013,28 mins
A writer, a lawyer, a motor racing team owner, an actress and an entrepreneur
Aasmah Mir on Elmore Leonard, Rosalia Mera, Jacques Verges and John Coombs.
23 Aug 2013,28 mins
A Holocaust activist, a Hollywood actress, a jazz keyboardist, a stuntman and a tugboat hero
Aasmah Mir recalls Betty Maxwell, Mark Sutton, Karen Black, Kenneth Dancy and George Duke.
16 Aug 2013,28 mins
A Falklands War admiral, a writer and rock musician, an engineer who developed fracking, a French actress, a folk singer
Matthew Bannister remembers Admiral Sir Sandy Woodward, Mick Farren and Bernadette Lafont.
09 Aug 2013,28 mins
A sex therapist, an archeologist, a modelling agent, a meditation teacher and a guitarist and songwriter
Jane Little on Virginia Johnson, Mike Morwood, John Casablancas, Sonia Moriceau, JJ Cale.
02 Aug 2013,28 mins
A White House journalist, a comedian, an artist, a technology guru, and a blues musician
Matthew Bannister on Helen Thomas, William Turner, Mel Smith, Dr James Martin and more.
26 Jul 2013,28 mins
A footballer, a Scottish nationalist, painter, an evolutionary theorist, a Liberal activist and a TV producer
Matthew Bannister on Bert Trautmann, Kay Matheson, Elaine Morgan, Lord Chitnis, Ray Butt.
19 Jul 2013,28 mins
An Afghan police officer, a prisoner of war, a TV presenter, an Egyptian princess and an American jazz pianist
Matthew Bannister on Alan Whicker, Islam Bibi, Lord Campbell, Paul Smith, Princess Fawzia.
12 Jul 2013,28 mins
A computer pioneer, a Hungarian politician, a choral director, an animator and a Native American tribal executive
Aasmah Mir remembers Douglas Engelbart, Gyula Horn, Richard Marlow and Marjorie Anderson.
05 Jul 2013,28 mins
An archaeologist, a psychoanalyst, a former Lord Advocate, a writer and an aboriginal singer
Matthew Bannister on Mick Aston, Betty Joseph, Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, Michael Baigent.
28 Jun 2013,28 mins
An actor, a youth worker, a ballet dancer, a poet and a local radio presenter
Matthew Bannister on James Gandolfini, Elizabeth Braund, David Wall and Oliver Bernard.
21 Jun 2013,28 mins
A novelist, a racehorse trainer, a swimmer and film star, a key figure in the Warsaw Pact and 'the fastest granny on water'
Matthew Bannister on Iain Banks, Sir Henry Cecil, Esther Williams, the Countess of Arran.
14 Jun 2013,28 mins
A novelist, a botanist, a TV writer, a missionary and a composer
Mark Coles on Tom Sharpe, Nigel Hepper, Anne Valery, Henri Dutilleux, Molly Clutton-Brock.
07 Jun 2013,28 mins
An actor, a child behavioural researcher, a French singer-songwriter, a chemist, a lighthouse keeper and a bass player
Matthew Bannister recalls Bill Pertwee, Joyce Robertson, Georges Moustaki and George Gray.
31 May 2013,28 mins
A comedy writer, a founding member of The Doors, an Argentine dictator, a Pakistani politician and an escapologist
Matthew Bannister on Ray Manzarek, Jorge Videla, Zahra Shahid Hussain and Eddie Braben.
24 May 2013,28 mins
A geophysicist, a pro-life campaigner, a former Ford UK chief executive, a composer and an actor
Matthew Bannister on Joe Farman, Dr Margaret White, Sir Terence Beckett and Arnold Peters.
17 May 2013,28 mins
An architect, the founder of Ms magazine, an Olympic sailor, an Italian politician and a film director
Remembering Andrew Simpson, Bryan Forbes, Giulio Andreotti, Mary Thom and Rick Mather.
10 May 2013,28 mins
A country singer, a Labour Party General Secretary, a film star, a cellist and a co-housing campaigner
Matthew Bannister on George Jones, Jim Mortimer, Deanna Durbin, Janos Starker.
03 May 2013,28 mins
An interior designer, a theatre director, a cricketer, a prima ballerina and a musician
Matthew Bannister on Jocasta Innes, Patrick Garland, Mike Denness and Maria Tallchief.
26 Apr 2013,28 mins
A conductor, a Hillsborough campaigner, an album cover designer, an immunologist and an ethnomusicologist
Matthew Bannister on Sir Colin Davis, Anne Williams, Storm Thorgerson and Brigitte Askonas
19 Apr 2013,28 mins
A former Prime Minister, an IVF pioneer, a Corgi toy designer and a Muppets co-creator
Matthew Bannister on Baroness Thatcher, Sir Robert Edwards and Marcel Van Cleemput.
12 Apr 2013,28 mins
A screenwriter, a champagne maker, a learning disabilities campaigner, a president, a Welsh poet and a music producer
Matthew Bannister remembers Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Henri Krug, Mabel Cooper and Moses Blah.
05 Apr 2013,28 mins