Last Word

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

Radio 4,891 episodes

Episodes

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Anne Scargill, Ronnie Appleton, Cecil Wright, Mario Vargas Llosa
Matthew Bannister on a campaigner, a lawyer, a cricketer and a writer.
18 Apr 2025,28 mins
Lord Kalms, Melissa Llewallyn-Davies, Rex Cowan, Wilma Finla
Matthew Bannister on a businessman, an anthropologist, a shipwreck hunter and a farmer.
11 Apr 2025,28 mins
Val Kilmer, Jane Reed, Sir Torquil Norman, Dr Marika Sherwood
Matthew Bannister on an actor, an editor, a businessman and a historian.
04 Apr 2025,28 mins
Oleg Gordievsky, Renee Goddard, Professor Richard Fortey, Sofia Gubaidulina
Matthew Bannister on a spy, a TV commissioner, a palaeontologist, a composer.
28 Mar 2025,28 mins
Group Captain John Allman ‘Paddy’ Hemingway DFC, Dame Julie Kenny, Tuppy Owens, Dick McTaggart
Matthew Bannister on a pilot, a businesswoman, a campaigner and a boxer.
21 Mar 2025,28 mins
Athol Fugard, Janet Pharaoh, Alison Halford, Johnny Green
Kirsty Lang on a playwright, a dancer, a senior police officer and a roadie.
14 Mar 2025,28 mins
Bill Dare, Clint Hill, Valérie André, Gene Hackman
Matthew Bannister on a comedy producer, a Secret Service agent, a French general, an actor
07 Mar 2025,28 mins
Roberta Flack, Dr D G Hessayon, Keith Dewhurst, Rose Hanks
John Wilson on a musician, an author, a playwright and a sidecar passenger.
28 Feb 2025,28 mins
Rick Buckler, Margaret Miles-Bramwell, Harry Stewart Jr, Maureen Halton
John Wilson on a musician, a businesswoman, a fighter pilot and an entrepreneur.
21 Feb 2025,28 mins
Nigel McCrery, Andrée Dumon, Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas, Diana Melly
Matthew Bannister on a writer, a wartime courier, a politician and an author.
14 Feb 2025,28 mins
Tony Martin, Pete Wilkinson, Loretta Ford, Marianne Faithfull
Matthew Bannister on a farmer, a campaigner, a nurse practitioner and a singer.
07 Feb 2025,28 mins
Rev Don Cupitt, Phyllis Dalton, Cecile Richards, Michael Longley
Matthew Bannister on a theologian, a costume designer, an activist and a poet.
31 Jan 2025,28 mins
Dame Joan Plowright, Sir Jim Walker, Barbara Clegg, Denis Law
Matthew Bannister on an actress, a businessman, a script writer and a footballer.
24 Jan 2025,28 mins
Tony Slattery, Rosalind Savill, Paddy Hill, Noreen Riols
Matthew Bannister on a comedian, a curator, a campaigner and an SOE agent.
17 Jan 2025,28 mins
Special Edition: Tony Slattery
Stephen Fry pays tribute to comedian and actor Tony Slattery
17 Jan 2025,24 mins
Jean-Marie Le Pen, Catherine Brown, Baroness Oppenheim-Barnes, Johnnie Walker
Matthew Bannister on a French politician, a food writer, a parliamentarian and a DJ.
10 Jan 2025,28 mins
Jimmy Carter, Caroline Miller, Manmohan Singh, Jean Adamson
Kirsty Lang on a president, a ballet company CEO, a prime minister and an author.
03 Jan 2025,28 mins
Nikki Giovanni, Gerd Heidemann, Cherry Hill, Sir Richard Carew Pole
John Wilson on a poet, a journalist, a model engineer, and a fundraiser.
27 Dec 2024,28 mins
Baroness Wilkins, Charles Handy, Renee Bornstein, Tony Brignull
Matthew Bannister on a campaigner, a philosopher, a holocaust survivor and a copywriter.
20 Dec 2024,28 mins
Wolfgang Stange, Lord Renfrew, Julie Stevens, Mary McGee
Matthew Bannister on a choreographer, an archaeologist, a TV presenter and a racing driver
13 Dec 2024,28 mins
Vicky Stone, Penny Chuter, Clifton Wharton Junior, Peter Sinfield
Matthew Bannister on a film-maker, a rower, a university leader and a lyricist.
06 Dec 2024,28 mins
Madeleine Riffaud, Chris Topp, Barbara Taylor Bradford, Dr Julian Litten
Matthew Bannister on a resistance fighter, a blacksmith, an author and a historian.
29 Nov 2024,28 mins
Lord Prescott, Stephanie Collie, Dame Janet Nelson, Frank Auerbach
Matthew Bannister on a politician, a costume designer, an historian and an artist.
22 Nov 2024,28 mins
Timothy West, Sir John Nott, June Spencer, Nadia Cattouse
Matthew Bannister on an actor, a politician, an actress and a singer.
15 Nov 2024,28 mins
Quincy Jones, Janey Godley, Lyudmila Trut, Dr Paul Stephenson
Matthew Bannister on a musician, a comedian, a geneticist and a campaigner.
08 Nov 2024,28 mins
Dick Pope, Sister Sally Butler, Professor Tim Darvill OBE, Patti McGee
Matthew Bannister on a cinematographer, a nun, an archaeologist, a skateboarder
01 Nov 2024,28 mins
Sir Mike Jackson, Lily Ledbetter, Safeya Binzagr, Steve Piotrowski
Matthew Bannister on a general, a campaigner, an artist and an ornithologist.
25 Oct 2024,28 mins
Alex Salmond, Ethel Kennedy, Ratan Tata, Fleur Adcock
Kirsty Lang on a politician, a campaigner, a businessman and a poet.
18 Oct 2024,28 mins
Lord Ouseley, Norman Ackroyd, Lore Segal, Cissy Houston
John Wilson on a campaigner, artist, writer and a singer.
11 Oct 2024,28 mins
Kris Kristofferson, Camilla Carr, Hassan Nasrallah, Maria Benitez
John Wilson on a songwriter, an aid worker, a militia leader and a flamenco dancer
04 Oct 2024,28 mins