Last Word

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

Radio 4,901 episodes

Episodes

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Ben Ferencz, Seymour Fortescue, Valerie Elliott, Rachel Pollack
Matthew Bannister on a lawyer, a banker, a journalist, an author
14 Apr 2023,28 mins
Nigel Lawson, Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou, Ken Buchanan, Mary Rayner
Matthew Bannister on a politician, a musician, a boxer and a writer.
07 Apr 2023,28 mins
Paul O'Grady, Gordon Moore, Vera Selby, Simon Emmerson
Matthew Bannister on an entertainer, a tech entrepreneur, a snooker player, a musician.
31 Mar 2023,28 mins
Jacqueline Gold CBE, Lance Reddick, Traute Lafrenz, Lynn Seymour
Matthew Bannister on a businesswoman, an actor, a campaigner, a ballerina
24 Mar 2023,28 mins
Chaim Topol, Zandra Flemister, Bill Tidy MBE, Avis Fawcitt
Matthew Bannister on an actor, a special agent, a cartoonist and a music teacher.
17 Mar 2023,28 mins
Judith Heumann, Brian Tufano, Sir David Elliott KCMG, Elizabeth Foulkes
Matthew Bannister on a campaigner, a cinematographer, a diplomat and an architect.
10 Mar 2023,28 mins
Lady Betty Boothroyd, Marianne Mantell, John Motson OBE, Sulamita Aronovsky
Kirsty Lang on a politician, a publisher, a football commentator and a pianist.
03 Mar 2023,28 mins
Dorothy Pitman Hughes, Ralph Hooper OBE, Raquel Welch, Dickie Davies
A feminist, an engineer, an actress and a sports presenter.
24 Feb 2023,28 mins
David Vaughan OBE, Burt Bacharach, Janet Anderson, Eileen Sheridan
Matthew Bannister on a glaciologist, a composer, an MP and a cyclist.
17 Feb 2023,28 mins
Frene Ginwala, Lady Martha Bruce OBE, Pervez Musharraf, Paco Rabanne
Matthew Bannister on an activist, a prison governor, a president and a designer.
10 Feb 2023,28 mins
Ralph Ehrmann, Sylvia Syms, Rabbi Dr Abraham Levy, Jo Sandilands
Matthew Bannister on a businessman, an actor, a Rabbi and an editor.
03 Feb 2023,28 mins
Howard Baderman, David Crosby, Milly Thompson, Brenda Heywood
Matthew Bannister on a doctor, a musician, an artist and an archaeologist.
27 Jan 2023,28 mins
Jeff Beck, Alice Mahon, Tom Karen OBE, Gina Lollobrigida
Matthew Bannister on a guitarist, an MP, a designer and an actress.
20 Jan 2023,28 mins
Gianluca Vialli, Fay Weldon, Michael Dower, Anita Pointer
Matthew Bannister on a footballer, an author, a conservationist and a singer.
13 Jan 2023,28 mins
Pope Benedict XVI, Dame Vivienne Westwood, James Caan, Georgia Holt
Matthew Bannister on a pope, a fashion designer, an actor and a singer.
06 Jan 2023,28 mins
Terry Hall, Dame Beryl Grey, Heather Iandolo, Eric Allison
Matthew Bannister on a singer, the daughter of Lord Haw Haw, an ex-offender, a ballerina
30 Dec 2022,28 mins
Victor Lewis-Smith, Maureen Doherty, Pablo Milanés, Ailsa Irving
Matthew Bannister on a columnist and broadcaster, a designer, a singer, and a campaigner.
23 Dec 2022,28 mins
Joyce Bryant, George 'Johnny' Johnson MBE, Dame Clare Marx, Joseph Kittinger
Matthew Bannister on a singer, a squadron leader, a surgeon, a skydiver.
16 Dec 2022,28 mins
Christine McVie, Jiang Zemin, Derek Granger
Matthew Bannister on a musician, a Chinese leader and a producer.
09 Dec 2022,28 mins
Doddie Weir, Hebe de Bonafini, Irene Cara, Cornelia Schroeder
Matthew Bannister on a rugby player, a campaigner, a singer and a virologist.
02 Dec 2022,28 mins
Mehran Karimi Nasseri, Ann Savours, Sue Baker, Wilko Johnson
Matthew Bannister on a migrant, a journalist, an archivist and a musician.
25 Nov 2022,28 mins
Peter de Savary, Bob Le Sueur MBE, Ela Bhatt, Hannah Pick-Goslar
Matthew Bannister on an entrepreneur, a war hero, a campaigner and a Holocaust survivor.
18 Nov 2022,28 mins
Leslie Phillips CBE, Dame Valerie Beral, Avtar Singh Jouhl, Atarah Ben-Tovim MBE
Matthew Bannister on an actor, an epidemiologist, an activist and a musician.
11 Nov 2022,28 mins,
Baroness Blood, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ian Jack, Hilaree Nelson
Matthew Bannister on a campaigner, a musician, a journalist and a ski mountaineer.
04 Nov 2022,28 mins
Dame Carmen Callil, Ivy Jo Hunter, Kathleen Booth, Dietrich Mateschitz
Matthew Bannister on a publisher, a songwriter, a computer pioneer and a billionaire.
28 Oct 2022,28 mins
Ian Hamilton KC, Audrey Evans, Parvatiben Solanki, Robbie Coltrane OBE
Matthew Bannister on a lawyer, a paediatric oncologist, a publisher and an actor.
21 Oct 2022,28 mins
Dame Angela Lansbury, Lady Keswick, Sacheen Littlefeather, Franca Fendi
Matthew Bannister on an actor, a special adviser, a campaigner, a businesswoman
14 Oct 2022,28 mins
Yusuf al-Qaradawi, 'Ma' Smith MBE, Mike Burrows, Loretta Lynn
Matthew Bannister on a Muslim scholar, a voluntary worker, a cycle designer and a singer.
07 Oct 2022,28 mins
Dame Hilary Mantel, John McVicar, Joyce Reynolds, Paul Sartin
Matthew Bannister on an author, an ex-offender, a classicist and a musician.
30 Sep 2022,28 mins
Jean-Luc Godard, Barbara Ehrenreich, Dennis Wilson, Mavis Nicholson
Kirsty Lang on a film-maker, a writer, a war poet and a broadcaster.
23 Sep 2022,28 mins