Last Word BBC Radio 4
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- Personal Journals
Radio 4's weekly obituary programme, telling the life stories of those who have died recently
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Vince Power CBE, Olga Murray, Akira Toriyama, Cecilia Eckelmann-Battistello
Matthew Bannister on
Vince Power, the live music promoter whose Mean Fiddler group operated a string of London venues and built up the Reading and Leeds festivals.
Olga Murray, the American lawyer who devoted her later life to helping the children of Nepal.
Cecilia Eckelmann-Battistello, the Italian businesswoman who ran a major container shipping company.
Akira Toriyama, the Japanese manga artist who created the Dragon Ball series which has millions of fans around the world.
Interviewee: Melvin Benn
Interviewee: Shaun Clarkson
Interviewee: Gina Parker
Interviewee: Som Paneru
Interviewee: Janet Porter
Interviewee: Chris Gray
Interviewee: Shao Dow
Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies
Archive used;
Reading Festival 2023 Aftermovie promo, Reading and Leeds Festival, YouTube uploaded 27/10/2023; Vince Power interview , BBC 6Music, 27/03/2008; Vince Power interview, BBC Radio London, 04/12/2022; The Pogues appearance at the Mean Fiddler, 26/01/201986; New Order appearance at the Reading Festival, Reading Festival,1989; Olga Murray interview, Nepal Youth Foundation, YouTube uploaded, 17/09/2012; Olga Murray presentation, TEDx Talks, YouTube uploaded 18/11/2015; Cecilia Eckelmann-Battistello acceptance speech, Lloyds Group, YouTube uploaded 28/10/2015; ShaDow Clone, Shao Dow, YouTube uploaded 26/01/2024; -
Audrey Adams, Nicola Trahan, Edward Bond, Eric Carmen
Matthew Bannister on
Audrey Adams who became a tireless campaigner for the rights of black people after her son was stabbed to death in a racist attack.
Nicola Trahan, who joined the French Resistance as a teenager and was later awarded the Croix de Guerre.
Edward Bond, the controversial playwright who played a key role in the abolition of censorship in British theatre.
The singer and songwriter Eric Carmen whose biggest hit “All By Myself” was based on a Rachmaninov piano concerto.
Interviewee: Lord Simon Woolley
Interviewee: Reverend Eleanor Rance
Interviewee: Simon Callow and Sean Holmes
Interviewee: Debbie Wiseman
Producer: Ed Prendeville
Archive used:
French Wartime Service: Musical Items, Sound Archive, BBC; D-Day Announcement - Communique No. 1, Sound Archive, BBC; The Reverend Al Sharpton, Kilroy BBC 1, BBC; Audrey Adams interviewed by C4 news in 2021, C4 News, YouTube upload, 19/03/2021; Edward Bond interview - TX Date: 12.10.2011; Eric Carmen - Never Gonna fall in love again; Eric Carmen - All by myself; The Raspberries – Go all the way -
Iris Apfel, Colin Murray Parkes, Baroness Henig, Jim Lawrence
Matthew Bannister on
Iris Apfel the colourful fashion and interior designer whose own dress sense made an impact until her death aged 102.
Dr Colin Murray Parkes, the psychiatrist once described as “the David Attenborough of the bereavement world.”
Baroness Henig, the deputy House of Lords Speaker who was a historian and expert on the security industry.
Jim Lawrence who became skipper of a Thames sailing barge aged eighteen and went on to set up a successful sail making business in Essex.
Interviewee: Dame Zandra Rhodes
Interviewee: Laura Higginson
Interviewee: Debbie Kerslake
Interviewee: David Henig
Interviewee: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering
Interviewee: Simon Devonshire KC
Producer: Catherine Powell
Archive used:
Iris Apfel on BBC Radio 4 “Woman's Hour” 31/07/2015; Colin Murray Parkes on BBC Radio 4 “Word of Mouth - The Language of Bereavement and Grief” 14/01/23; BBC Wales “Aberfan 2 days after the disaster” 24/10/1966; BBC News 20/09/2001; St Thomas Church Memorial Service, BBC New Special, BBC, 20/09/2001; Colin Murray Parkes courtesy: Cruse Bereavement Support, YouTube 23/09/2019; Baroness Henig on Woman's Hour - 20/10/2011; House of Lords 08/11/23; Parliamentlive.tv. BBC Parliament “Levelling up and Regeneration” 6/9/24; Jim Lawrence: Jim Lawrence singing, “The Singing Bargee”, Paul Desmond, YouTube 14/11/2012; Jim Lawrence Recalls His Early Days, Paul Desmond, YouTube uploaded 14 Nov 2012 -
Nicholas Dimbleby, Lord Patrick Cormack, Wendy Mitchell, Eleanor Fazan
John Wilson on the celebrated sculptor Nicholas Dimbleby, responsible for numerous well known commissions around the country.
Lord Patrick Cormack the politician, historian and prolific author.
Wendy Mitchell, the author and blogger who was diagnosed with young onset dementia and worked tirelessly to help improve the understanding of the condition.
Eleanor Fazan, the theatre director, choreographer and actor. Her career spanned almost 70 years and saw her working with some of the biggest names in the business.
Archive Details
Archive used:. “Wogan” BBC 1 10/12/1986. BBC Midlands Today News 13/7/2011. BBC News West 09/09/1999.
“The Bright Side of Life” BBC Radio 4 21/11/2023 & 28/11/2023
Parliamentlive.tv 21/02/23 & 05/09/19.
The Michael Ball Show, BBC Radio 2, BBC, 16/01/2022
Wendy Mitchell reads from “Somebody I used to know”. Bloomsbury publishing, uploaded to Youtube 29 Jan 2018.
"The Complete Beyond The Fringe" Label - Parlophone Records Ltd, a Warner Music Group Company. Oh! It's a Lovely War, Title Oh! It's a Lovely War Performer - Courtland and Jeffries Album - Oh! It's A Lovely War (Volume 1) Label - CD41 Recordings. Stage to Screen BBC -
Alexei Navalny, Dr Brooke Ellison, Gertrude Wright, Steve Brown
John Wilson on
Alexei Navalny, the anti-corruption campaigner and leading opponent of President Vladimir Putin, who has died in a Russian state prison.
Dr Brooke Ellison, an American academic and disabilities rights advocate who drew on her own experience of living with quadriplegia.
Gertrude Wright, who survived the bombing of her German home city during World War Two and went on to become a translator for Field Marshall Montgomery.
And Steve Brown, the music composer who worked on comedy productions such as Alan Partridge, Spitting Image, Dead Ringers and many more productions. Steve Coogan and Harry Hill pay tribute.
Interviewee: Nikolai Petrov
Interviewee: Jean Ellison
Interviewee: Professor Stephen Post
Interviewee: James Holland
Interviewee: Steve Coogan
Interviewee: Harry Hill
Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies
Archive used:
Alexei Navalny, Profile, BBC Radio 4, 27/10/2012; BBC News, 05/12/2011; Alexei Navalny, HardTalk, BBC News, 19/01/2017; Navalny, Cable Network News, Dogwool, BBC Storyville, Director: Daniel Roher; 2022; Brooke Ellison, Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, 21/09/2010; Brooke Ellison, Tedx Talks, YouTube uploaded 14/07/2015; Brooke Ellison interview, Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education, YouTube upload 28/09/2023; Brooke Ellison Harvard Commencement Speech, June 2000; Magdeburg Blitzed, Pathe Gazettes/Pathe, 1944; Steve Brown, The Mitch Benn Music Show, BBC Radio 4 Extra, 12/04/2009 (original TX 2006); Steve Brown/Glen Ponder, Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge, BBC Two, 05/08/2002; Spend, Spend Spend promo, Barbara Dickson/Steve Brown/Justin Green, Chariot Records, Released 06/05/2016; I Can't Sing! The X Factor Musical, YouTube 04/11/2013; Steve Brown singing on Newsnight, BBC TWO, 20/03/1992 -
Steve Wright, Baroness Flather, Alan Mills, Angela Peberdy
Matthew Bannister on
The much-loved Radio 1 and 2 DJ Steve Wright. We have a tribute from his former colleague Simon Mayo.
Baroness Flather, who was the first Asian woman to sit in the House of Lords.
Alan Mills, the Wimbledon tennis referee who had to deal with tantrums on court.
Angela Peberdy, the train announcer known as “the golden voice of British Rail”.
Producer: Ed Prendeville
Archive Used
The Six o’clock News, BBC 1, 25/06/1985; Network East: Big Talk, Asia 2 BBC 2, 14/11/1998; Daily Politics, BBC2, 17/01/2012; Three Bridges - Platform 4 for the Victoria train - 27/01/1989; Lewisham - Platform 4 for the Bexleheath line service to Dartford - 26/07/1990; Angela Peberdy On London Plus, 27/11/1986; Newsnight, BBC Two, 17/06/1983; BBC Breakfast Time, BBC 1, 19/06/1986; Steve Wright's Sunday Love Songs Extra, BBC Radio 2, 08/02/24; Steve Writght in the Afternoon, BBC Radio 2, 09/03/2010; Steve Wright in the Afternoon, BBC Radio 2, 22/02/2008; Steve Wright in the Afternoon, BBC Radio 2, 28/09/22; Steve Wright in the Afternoon, BBC Radio 2, 27/09/22; Steve Wright, BBC Radio 1, 10/01/94; Steve Wright, BBC Radio 1, 24/12/93; Steve Wright, BBC Radio 2, 29/09/22; Steve Wright, BBC Radio 2, 25/09/22; Steve Wright, BBC Radio 2, 14/09/22; Steve Wright - Sunday Love Songs, BBC Radio 1, 04/02/2010; Steve Wright in the Afternoon, BBC Radio 2, 29/09/2022; Steve Wright, BBC Radio 1, 01/01/1988